Twitter and the Performative Nature of Wokeness

You were asleep.

You were dreaming. The dream was comforting, and it felt so real. You dreamed you were born in a free country, where the prevailing belief that all men are created equal, as stated in our founding documents, was a governing principle. You dreamed meritocracy was real, that justice was something that applied to all, that your advantages in life weren’t built on centuries of oppression.

Then you woke up.

You woke up to find the dream wasn’t real. That you were lied to in school, that you were never taught the real history of your country, that the mythology of Exceptionalism you so deeply embraced was all a lie designed to keep you in place. You woke up to find yourself a beneficiary of a system designed to advantage you (even slightly) above others, with the hope that someday, with enough work and that slight advantage given, you could someday join The Elites. You woke up to discover the beautiful lies that supported you were actually holding you down.

So you hit the snooze button.

Because waking up means there’s shit to do. It means acknowledging you were asleep, that your dreams weren’t real, that real work and change would be needed to achieve what was given you in slumberland. Waking up means admitting your breath stinks and you need to brush your teeth and wash your ass before you can begin the work of the day. So you brush the boogers out of your eyes, make some hashtags, plant some lawn signs.

Then you go back to sleep.

Because let’s face it, this shit is exhausting. Your bed is cozy and warm and sleep is lovely and let’s face it: dreaming is easier than making dreams real. Except, eventually the affairs of the day will demand your attention. Sooner or later, you be forced to realize:

Unless you have the courage to move beyond your slogans, you will never experience your truths.

If, for example, you are a corporation with worldwide influence, like Twitter, you can change your bio to say: Black Lives Matter. It sounds good, you feel good about yourself, it’s great PR, you get SO many kudos, because YAY! You did a thing!

But did you, really?

Sure you said the thing that you should have said YEARS ago. But did you remove racist accounts? Did you ban hate speech and impose consequences for those who use it? Did you finally shut down the Racist in Chief, who has used his account to spread hate and incite racial violence?

If you did, great.
If not, nice performance. Slow clap and side-eye.

The term wokeness has been overused and watered down to the point of meaninglessness. And yet, if you woke up today, free from the illusions of white supremacy and its detriment to society, and committed to make a change for the betterment of all:

G’morning.

Coffee is on. It’s BEEN on for CENTURIES. And it’s served, BLACK, no sugar.