Why I’m DONE With Being “Anti-Woke”
For years I was staunchly-and proudly!-what would be considered “anti-woke”. I regularly posted pieces on sites like Medium and the now-defunct Commaful and on so-called social media my disdain for anything & everything deemed to be “woke”. So if you read some-or many-of my older pieces & posts it was “anti-woke” this and anti-SJW that. But I am here to say that-at least for the time being-that I am DONE posting this “anti-woke” stuff.
Now does THIS mean I now consider myself to be “woke” and support anything & everything that’s regarded as “woke”? Hardly. Actually, I support some of the topics & ideas that the “wokesters” claimed to support such as diversity & inclusion. What I always objected to was the blatant weaponization of these ideals which, of course, led to such detrimental things like so-called cancel culture and censorship.
Which, of course, leads to why I’m DONE with being “anti-woke”.
One of the MAIN reasons why I now no longer consider myself to be among the “anti-woke” crowd is because the “anti-woke” crowd are NOW the ones who are blatantly engaging in so-called cancel culture and censorship and a lot of the SAME bullshit they went after the “woke” side for engaging in.
For instance, up until very recently I used to regularly watch and listen to a number of these “anti-woke” personalities and YouTubers-who were also admittedly right-wing-such as Dana Loesch, Steven Crowder, Ben Shapiro and Tim Pool. And that even included, I’m rather ashamed to say, Fox (Non) News personalities like Tucker Carlson and Greg Gutfeld. I did this NOT because I agreed with every single thing they said since I am NOT right-wing (nor, of course, am I left-wing) but because they were or at least claimed to be-you guessed it!-”anti-woke” and they were among the FEW people who had the “courage” to go against the “woke” side’s engaging in cancel culture and censorship and the like.
Or so I thought!
So WHAT ultimately changed my mind about these “anti-woke” personalities? Well, back when I was listening to them and watching them religiously, I noticed some rather contradictory statements on their part; like, for instance, I would hear Ben Shapiro-or Little Benny Shapiro, as I now affectionately call him!-rant & rave on his radio show about some “woke” leftist engaging in cancel culture and/or censorship and THEN in the very next segment rant & rave about the “evils” of so-called pornography and how the government should-that’s right!-BAN said “evil” pornography. (Little Benny Shapiro also stated his desire for the government should likewise BAN men wearing women’s clothes which even drew the “anti-woke” ire of not transgendered right-wing “influencer” Blair White but I digress!)
Here’s another example: I used to be a BIG fan of Fox (Non) News’s “popular” personality Greg Gutfeld as far back as when he was hosting his late-night show Red Eye. And Greg, of course, was or claimed to be “anti-woke” and how he was (supposedly) against cancel culture and censorship and this “victim” culture. Greg gave a many “impassioned” rant on his shows about the importance of defending so-called free speech and how the masses should be free to engage in speech even if that speech is deemed “offensive” and “hateful” and whatnot. Greg appeared particularly incensed whenever right-wing figures would be denied their “right” to speak on college campuses whom he insisted were awash in “woke” ideologies such as the dreaded diversity & inclusion. And THEN came the protests on these SAME college campuses against the Israeli “genocide” against the Palestinians after the October 7th Hamas attacks. That’s when free speech champion Greg Gutfeld all of a sudden seemingly had a change of heart about the “importance” of freedom of speech, especially on college campuses, and started going on these impassioned rants on his show AGAINST allowing these “woke” students to engage in such “offensive” and “bigoted” protests against the “victimized” Israelis.
WTF, Greg!
And it’s NOT just these right-wingers who have engaged in this blatant “anti-woke” hypocrisy. I actually started to have reservations about the “anti-woke” crowd back when the so-called Fandom Menace got started. For those of you who don’t know what the Fandom Menace is, it’s this group of pop culture YouTubers and other commentators who claim to be against the “wokeness” in such IPs like Star Wars and Star Trek and video games and the like. And, like their “anti-woke” right-wing counterparts, I used to watch these YouTubers and listen to these commentators on a regular basis and agreed with almost everything they said because they were or claimed to be-again, you guessed it!-”anti-woke”. Some of these YouTubers include such “popular” channels like Geeks & Gamers, The Critical Drinker, Melonie Mac and Nerdrotic. But, like their right-wing counterparts, I no longer watch or subscribe to these channels. Why? Well, for one, if you watch their videos for any length of time, it becomes apparent they DON’T know the most basic plot points of IPs like Star Wars and Star Trek. Not only that, but the vast majority of their videos they post on YouTube look the SAME. For instance, most of their videos are some variation of “Disney Is Dead!” or “Kathleen Kennedy Is Fired!” and the like. Hell, even their thumbnails are all the SAME! And, as for their “anti-woke” hypocrisy, some years ago all of these Fandom Menacers unleashed their “anti-woke” fury on this poor woman on Twitter-back before “techno-tyrant” Elon Musk bought the site-for daring to suggest how SJWs-back when they were STILL using that insipid term-had “infiltrated” their “anti-woke” ranks. I even called them out for using the same “mob” tactics against this woman they routinely criticized the “woke” side for engaging in. And, judging from the more recent videos I’ve seen from these YouTubers, they’ve been aligning themselves with the right-wing/far-right side. For instance, on one video (I don’t remember who it was from), they had none other than conspiracy theorist crackpot-whom I used to watch, BTW-Alex Jones and noted right-wing YouTuber Benny Johnson as guests. And one of the other commentators on this particular stream was wearing a MAGA hat. I was like WTF does this have ANYTHING to do with fucking Star Wars?! (Which I also find rather ironic-and hypocritical!-that a lot of these “anti-woke” YouTubers have whined for YEARS about “politics” being forced into so-called entertainment and yet they’ve all seemed to become “politicized” in their own content but, again, I digress!) And now, unsurprisingly, these Fandom Menace YouTubers like “Christian” Melonie Mac are calling for the “censoring” of video games that she claims are “pornographic” and “too gay” when in the past she seemingly defended such games.
Seriously, Melonie, what the hell!
So the question is will I ever start listening to these YouTubers and commentators again? Doubtful. Nowadays I try to be WAY more discerning about who I spend my time watching and listening to. For instance, I follow journalists like Whitney Webb and Lee Fang and YouTubers like Due Dissidence who, though I again don’t necessarily agree with every single thing they say, I feel they tend to be more reasoned in their arguments and they seem to offer more documented evidence for their viewpoints than a lot of the other YouTubers I used to waste my time with provided (or rather didn’t provide). Now do I feel that these YouTubers I listened to before are grifters, as they’ve also been accused of being, who are primarily interested in getting money from their (gullible?) listeners? All I can say is that NONE of these YouTubers ever got a single dime outta me so at least there’s THAT!
And, though I no longer align myself with the “anti-woke” crowd, I’m still against things such as cancel culture and censorship regardless of who it’s directed at and whether or not I “agree” with them. Unlike what a number of these “anti-woke” personalities (and, of course, a number of the “woke” personalities) espouse, freedom of speech is either for everyone or it’s for no one and you CAN’T pick & choose who you’re going to “cancel” or “censor” or whatever. But if there’s ONE thing the “pro-woke” left and “anti-woke” right share in common is HYPOCRISY.
And that’s why I now say a pox on BOTH their “woke” houses!
