What tendencies specifically would you classify as “woke”? Having an intentionally diverse cast? Progressive messaging? Other things? And which of these tendencies do you think would alienate a significant portion of the consumer base, and why?
By “woke” I’m referring to a pretty specific memeplex. I don’t know how to name memeplexes with precision, but I can gesture at some of its key features:
Intersectionalist social justice theory. There’s systemic oppression, and there are beneficiaries of systemic oppression. This is folded in a basic way into the functioning of society. It can be changed, and there’s a moral obligation to change it, but only the beneficiaries (people with “privilege”) can actually do it. Therefore having privilege is a moral responsibility — which the privileged are systemically encouraged not to notice. There’s lots of disagreement about who’s where in the privilege hierarchy (e.g., do cis women or trans women have more privilege?), but there’s a pretty general agreement that cis hetero white men have the most privilege.
Shame tactics. It’s necessary and appropriate and good to pressure privileged people to accept their responsibility. Any privileged person who hasn’t done so is part of the problem and is therefore a bad person. It’s forgivable if they simply do not know the evil they’re perpetuating, but if they’ve been exposed to this truth and they resist then they are willful beneficiaries at the expense of others and deserve condemnation.
Cancel culture. People who voice disagreement with this message are encouraging systemic oppression and need to be deplatformed. We deplatform them by refusing to listen to them and by shaming and deplatforming people who continue to listen to them. (A common extension: People who object to this canceling tactic are also supporting systemic oppression and must, in turn, be shamed and/or canceled.)
Western culture must repent. The West took over the world through colonialism, which is the origin for a lot of / most of / all of the systemic oppression. In order to purge ourselves of this systemic oppression, we need to uproot all the elements that descend from Western colonization and replace them with something better. It’s also necessary for Western cultures and people to apologize and make material amends for this past so as to heal the damage done. Education of history should focus on the West’s atrocities and avoid mentioning its virtues, since those virtues are usually just ways of justifying privilege and the atrocities aren’t emphasized enough for us to collectively notice the need to repent.
[No clear vision.] This is a meaning-making framework, not a vision for the future. It’s about what to destroy, not what to create. It’s a memetic mutation blending postmodernism, Calvinism, and a watered-down version of Marxism. It’s not clear what a world free of systemic oppression looks like, but it’s counted as victory if those who aren’t on board with the fight get alienated or destroyed, or if more people start loudly using these tear-down tactics and repeating the message. It also comes with a total disregard for the potential downsides of tearing down culture this way (since concern for the downsides is just an argument for perpetuating systemic oppression).
The main problem with this memeplex is that it’s a war machine, not an idea. One is not allowed to debate with it. You either agree and align, or get attacked. There’s no room for “Hey, I think you might really have a good point about systemic oppression being a thing, but these approaches for creating change seem like they’ll create more problems than they solve. Maybe we could think of what else to do instead?” The usual refrain is some version of “Get with the program!” or “You’re just trying to protect your privilege” (or “You’ve internalized white supremacy” when speaking to someone from an obviously oppressed category).
It even comes with a ban on being named, which is curiously demonic. The term “woke” actually came from its early origins. It was a reference to waking up to the reality of systemic oppression, instead of continuing to sleepwalk as a kind of accomplice. In recent years it seems to have evolved a demand that it be viewed as totally normal, that disagreement is a sign of moral corruption, that trying to name this thing means you’re resisting and thereby choosing to align with evil. I hadn’t realized how strong that particular mutation had become when I first posted this question.
By “woke” I’m referring to a pretty specific memeplex. I don’t know how to name memeplexes with precision, but I can gesture at some of its key features:
Intersectionalist social justice theory. There’s systemic oppression, and there are beneficiaries of systemic oppression. This is folded in a basic way into the functioning of society. It can be changed, and there’s a moral obligation to change it, but only the beneficiaries (people with “privilege”) can actually do it. Therefore having privilege is a moral responsibility — which the privileged are systemically encouraged not to notice. There’s lots of disagreement about who’s where in the privilege hierarchy (e.g., do cis women or trans women have more privilege?), but there’s a pretty general agreement that cis hetero white men have the most privilege.
Shame tactics. It’s necessary and appropriate and good to pressure privileged people to accept their responsibility. Any privileged person who hasn’t done so is part of the problem and is therefore a bad person. It’s forgivable if they simply do not know the evil they’re perpetuating, but if they’ve been exposed to this truth and they resist then they are willful beneficiaries at the expense of others and deserve condemnation.
Cancel culture. People who voice disagreement with this message are encouraging systemic oppression and need to be deplatformed. We deplatform them by refusing to listen to them and by shaming and deplatforming people who continue to listen to them. (A common extension: People who object to this canceling tactic are also supporting systemic oppression and must, in turn, be shamed and/or canceled.)
Western culture must repent. The West took over the world through colonialism, which is the origin for a lot of / most of / all of the systemic oppression. In order to purge ourselves of this systemic oppression, we need to uproot all the elements that descend from Western colonization and replace them with something better. It’s also necessary for Western cultures and people to apologize and make material amends for this past so as to heal the damage done. Education of history should focus on the West’s atrocities and avoid mentioning its virtues, since those virtues are usually just ways of justifying privilege and the atrocities aren’t emphasized enough for us to collectively notice the need to repent.
[No clear vision.] This is a meaning-making framework, not a vision for the future. It’s about what to destroy, not what to create. It’s a memetic mutation blending postmodernism, Calvinism, and a watered-down version of Marxism. It’s not clear what a world free of systemic oppression looks like, but it’s counted as victory if those who aren’t on board with the fight get alienated or destroyed, or if more people start loudly using these tear-down tactics and repeating the message. It also comes with a total disregard for the potential downsides of tearing down culture this way (since concern for the downsides is just an argument for perpetuating systemic oppression).
The main problem with this memeplex is that it’s a war machine, not an idea. One is not allowed to debate with it. You either agree and align, or get attacked. There’s no room for “Hey, I think you might really have a good point about systemic oppression being a thing, but these approaches for creating change seem like they’ll create more problems than they solve. Maybe we could think of what else to do instead?” The usual refrain is some version of “Get with the program!” or “You’re just trying to protect your privilege” (or “You’ve internalized white supremacy” when speaking to someone from an obviously oppressed category).
It even comes with a ban on being named, which is curiously demonic. The term “woke” actually came from its early origins. It was a reference to waking up to the reality of systemic oppression, instead of continuing to sleepwalk as a kind of accomplice. In recent years it seems to have evolved a demand that it be viewed as totally normal, that disagreement is a sign of moral corruption, that trying to name this thing means you’re resisting and thereby choosing to align with evil. I hadn’t realized how strong that particular mutation had become when I first posted this question.