Thoughts About Wokeism.

How did such a positive movement turn so sour?

The beginning of 2020 marked the inception of a huge shift in our lives.

Not so much because we were forced to self-isolate in our homes for a big chunk of the year, but because the series of unfortunate events affecting us during that period pushed a vast majority of the world’s population to consider problems they never had to face before.

Call it privilege, call it slumber, all of a sudden people woke up.

And of course, as every great movement to touch our society and trigger change (please not the sarcasm in this line), this awakening was led by aesthetically pleasing graphs and motivating quotes mindlessly slapped on social media.

What better place to prove we finally realized that there are people around us that suffer the wrath of an elitist, racist, sexist civilization that, year after year, devalues mutual support and pushes individualistic agendas and personal emancipation at the detriment of communities that do not have access to the same resources!

I mean, why make an effort to show empathy or volunteer when there is a talented illustrator sitting somewhere in their Brooklyn studio matching the right colors to Martin Luther King’s quotes or Angela Davis’ protests and saving us the time needed to find the few “diverse” friends on our contact book and reach out to them in these times of discomfort to prove to them we are not problematic.

Between the murder of George Floyd (may he rest in peace), the increased episodes of domestic violence, and any gruesome news that came in between, there was not a day of inattentive scrolling I found myself goggling at the righteous posts of individuals I knew for a fact did not give a damn, or worse, perpetuated these malicious behaviors offline.

The brazen superficiality of these online discussions appalled me. The sudden white guilt that surfaced between one baked bread and the newest Tip Tok challenge disgusted me in ways not even bad sushi could.
Deep in my gut, I knew it was all temporary virtue signaling bullshit.
Matter fact, shortly after, before the wave of solidarity could reach 2022, most of these people resumed business as usual.

What happened to all of the “open your purse and donate” posts? Or bullying peers into re-sharing discourse around the oppression of Palestinians they knew nothing about, the plight of Black Americans or the environmental damage caused by fashion? It is like, just as they woke up, people went straight back into hibernation.
Quickly, they were back to showing off their latest purchases and cheerful drinks with friends. Before borders re-opened for most countries, some flung to tropical destinations disregarding the the well-being of the locals to flaunt their “much needed” vacation to their close friends stories.

Let’s face it: while the “Woke” movement was born to improve our society, it has swiftly turned into a shallow marathon of pointing fingers at those who were not publicly showing their effort to prove how good of a person they are. In some ways, Wokeism has made the world an uglier place.

People might now have the courage to call out dangerous conducts, but it is seldom that the discussions that are pushed forward have any offline equivalent.
And, although I appreciate those who try to get acquainted with radical ideologies and absorb it into their personality, I can’t but laugh and shake my head at all of those keyboard warriors that are only on duty as long as their favorite social media app is open.

Not to mention these internet lions preach liberal thoughts while completely disregarding and silencing their opposition, because - you know - that is not a technique used by totalitarian regimes to advance their agendas.

Some of the themes that most give me goosebumps when discussed online are sustainability in fashion, oppression of marginalized communities and sexism.

Why? Because those are the easiest topics to debunk in the New Age leftists that the internet has brewed in the last decade.

To start with a theme that affects me directly, as I, too, sin of hypocrisy by continuing to accept and receive money from fashion brands, I would like to spend a few lines on sustainability.

While I am not an environmental expert, nor I claim to be somebody who lives with minimum waste, I can easily look around and point to those useless policies the fashion industry has claimed to be implementing since the pandemic started.

Around April 2020, some of the major brands in the field came together to address the impossible frenzy of the fashion calendar, claiming it was time to change, slow down and consume less.
If the message sparked positive surprised in many of us, the delivery of the sentiment left us more perplexed.
Sure, the public statement was efficient and lectured us on all of the negative mechanisms of the industry, however it always only remained a letter and nothing more.

Everybody snapped their fingers in unison after reading the carefully crafted dispatch of which the acclaimed Belgian designer Dries Van Notes was the poster child, but soon after, fashion shows resumed and brands like Pangaia - who sells “sustainable” cotton sweatsuits - started plastering the internet with testimonials sporting their $300 Portuguese cotton hoodies and pants that are now for sale on Vestiaire Collective. So much for offsetting your Carbon Footprint!

And again, the mischievous editors and brand managers who were outed by their employees for their ambiguous misconduct and essentially intimidated into releasing their deepest, heartfelt apologies written on the note app and pleading to do better from their forced sabbatical in Mexico City, are now back enjoying the high life with their useless circle of cokehead friends somewhere Downtown.

And what about marginalized communities? I guess after the black square fiasco, people realized that going back to their everyday life of exaggerated consumption and blissful ignorance was better than trying to prove something they were never about from the get go.

I wonder if these temporary woke people look back and pat themselves on the back for sacrificing  (did they sacrifice it though?) their daily $5 caramel macchiato from their neighborhood Starbucks to donate to the first link they saw their socially active friend post on Twitter.
We will never know because they are now too busy unfriending that very friend for having a different stance on the vaccine mandate as they retrieve their Uber Eats delivery during a snowstorm.

Lastly, but absolutely not the least, let’s chat misogyny.

As somebody active in the very male dominated space of football, even more so in a Southern European country like Italy where women barely have professional status, I can’t but dedicate a minute to the elephant in the room that has been making headlines for the past weeks, but truly has been shoved to the side since the early days of the sport: violence against women.

If you are even remotely interested in football and don’t live under a rock, you must have certainly seen magazines and individuals at the intersection of sport and creativity come out with statements denouncing the actions of Mason Greenwood without actually naming the perpetrator because “it is better to be general than actually talking about the facts at hand”.

Once again sport’s platforms that usually do nothing to improve the very problems they abruptly decided to address thought a simple post on Instagram was “doing the right thing” and while I can’t bash them for trying, I most definitely can criticize their insufficient effort to eradicate a problem from an industry that mirrors society.

Are men to blame once again for the predicament in which us women find ourselves in? Maybe, but I doubt releasing a statement of solidarity for the alleged victims on social media will do anything to improve the situation when we are still covering Ronaldo who infamously gave his victim a fat bank transfer of hush money to continue his ascension to football God in peace.

But if we are being honest, these violent manly behaviors need deeper analysis.

From Maradona, to Ronaldo, Robinho all the way down to Greenwood, these are men who came out of the mud, dedicated their lives to a sport that propelled them to the top of the Olympus and - as proven - attracted the wrong attention.

As much as they received proper athletic training, I bet nobody ever tried to instill decency in them, or educate them on violence against women - a huge problem in communities with poor access to resources - because their talent and wealth was more beneficial to their entourage than making sure these kids turned into global stars understood how to properly manage their power.

It is obviously easier to graze over the tip of the iceberg rather than try and exacerbate it from the root, hence why I have adopted a new technique when encountering these sad journalistic attempts to raise awareness around issues that cannot be minimized to a one page essay.

I read, shrug, smirk and move on to make sure I do not make the same mistake of superficially touching upon the subject to prove I am a good samaritan to people who literally do not give a fuck in their everyday life.

And while the spotlight is on retired players or those who are just starting their career, I cannot help but think about the Muslim women in France who risk not being able to playing sports due to the Hijab ban proposal. Sport, an activity that often temporarily takes these women away from brutal home environments and empowers them to express themselves and fight back.

But hey, this news is not worthwhile so why even bother?

Wokeism has quickly become synonym with sensationalism and honestly, I would prefer people go back to sleep rather than hijack seats and positions from those people who can actually put together open minded discourse that isn’t blindsided or virtue signaling.

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A good read to understand how we got to where we are now in the Woke movement: The Coddling of The American Mind by Jonathan Heidt & Greg Lukianoff.