be woke... and stay awake!!

Periodically throughout the day I love to indulge in some mindless scrolling on TikTok. I like to think that I have a very funny FYP that feeds me with great content. Recently though, my mindless scrolling has been filled with deep and intense "think pieces." I genuinely cannot go 5 scrolls without coming across a video of someone giving their opinion on the latest TikTok scandal, dissecting something they heard a celebrity say, or arguing with other people about whether something is "overly woke" or "not woke enough."

We are at the point in time (at least I hope) where we are starting to really wake up to the many cruel injustices, prejudice, and bullying that is happening in our real lives and not just online. While all of this is amazing and about time (!!!), it's starting to feel like we are trying so hard to be woke that we actually are still sleeping. I've come across a couple videos on TikTok talking about how they miss the dancing era of social media. While I personally enjoy hearing so many different opinions on certain topics, sometimes it feels like beating a dead horse DEEP into the ground.

photo credit - Pinterest

I've heard a joke before of someone saying "you 'out-woked' me" and I thought this was funny, but as of recently it seems like everyone is on a mission to be the "most woke" that it is actually making them small minded. Let me explain this. A person who is "overly woke" will view many aspects of the world in strict binaries: black and white, good or bad. Because of this, they will fail to see different perspectives and nuances. I'll give you a few examples of this.

There has been a HUGE negative stigma lately about women who are in relationships with men and what that "says about them." Let's create an imaginary scenario (because I think it'll be fun). Katie is talking to her "overly woke" friend Alexis about the fact that one day she wants to get married and have kids. Alexis's immediate response is, "Ugh marriage is deeply rooted in the patriarchy. Why would you want to get married to a man anyway?" Katie explains that it is a personal goal she has for herself, and Alexis says that Katie wanting to get married is "male-centered." Now, is marriage rooted in the patriarchy? Yes, but a woman wanting to get married doesn't automatically correlate to her being male-centered. Someone who is "overly woke" might quickly jump to this extreme. Another similar example would be being so pro-choice that you hate on women who actually want to be a mother and have kids in the future.

One last example would be inadvertently increasing the stigma against those who are neurodivergent and treating them as "less functioning." (Imaginary scenario time!) Jake has been diagnosed with autism since he was a kid. On his first day at his new high school, he made some new friends and informed them about his autism. His friends would then slow down their sentences when speaking to Jake or avoid getting too aggressive with him during gym class. One day another student simply asked Jake about his autism and Jake's friends immediately became upset. They'd say things like "You aren't allowed to ask him about that" and would speak up on Jake's behalf. Instead of making Jake feel more comfortable like they thought they were doing, Jake began to feel more isolated because his friends weren't treating him the same way they treated each other.

We all should make a conscious effort to continue to educate ourselves in areas that we aren't familiar, but (on social media especially) so many people will claim to be "woke" and form "think pieces" on topics that they don't actually understand because they fail to look at the bigger picture. With so many people trying to be considered "more woke" than the next person, our perspectives tend to get smaller and smaller until we no longer see the complexities in life. SO many people go on TikTok and share opinions from other videos that they saw without putting much thought into it. In doing so, you often are taking the opinions you've gathered from other people rather than forming your own. This life is far too complex to only look at things through one simple lens.

It's a great thing to analyze social issues we face as a society, but it's very important we don't have restrictive blinders on when we do it.

photo credit - Pinterest (🙏🏾)

Thank you guys SO much for reading, and happy first blog of the new semester! Safe to say I've missed you but I've returned. I hope you all have a great rest of your day and an amazing weekend!

Don't overheat!!

With love always,

~ Side Note xoxo 💋 (we backkkk)