What the woke Internet demands of us

Consistency, authenticity

As a follow up to the post I called social jurisprudence, I’ve been thinking about the RULES of the new woke Internet.

I’m using the shorthand Woke Internet without any disparagement.

what the new woke Internet demands is consistency and authenticity.

it can be tempting to adopt woke attitudes as the power flavor of the times. But one cannot do so without being prepared to do so authentically and consistently.

if one is not willing or able to do so authentically and consistently, it’s advisable NOT to do so.

the woke Internet has the power to strip away only what one has gained through trading in its currency.

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so, for example, if you are content with capitalism, don’t pretend you aren’t. If you are supportive of the more warm and fuzzy telling of American history, don’t pretend you aren’t.

if you truly support what leftists are fighting for—the strengthening of oppressed groups, the lifting of aboriginal indigenous claims on spaces, the inversion in some sense of traditional power dynamics in American society—then by all means, put up the sign in your business and SAY SO.

but if you, like me, are pretty much a content white male capitalist, you must admit to yourself that there is a power dynamic rising in which you don’t get to participate. You have to sit it out. This is new for traditionally powerful classes and races and genders like my own. It would be inauthentic for me to add my pronouns to my profiles because I don’t fundamentally believe misgendering people to be an important enough issue to fight for. I can be supportive of and encouraging of individuals I meet who are not gender normative, but I can’t trade broadly in the currency of transgender rights because I’m not authentically aligned with that as a primary concern in the world. On the other hand I’m comfortable referring to myself as a cisgender heterosexual white guy because I do think that both cisgender and heterosexual are terms that may be useful for others to know about me. The pronouns I prefer are not a thing I care about or believe others must care about for themselves or others. Guess what: that means I don’t get to cash in any on contemporary transgender rights arguments. For those who believe anyone not with them is against them, I will necessarily be cast as against them. But I can sit it out and hold my own perspective, which is that I’m not actually against them, I’m simply holding my own perspective.

so: you sit it out, observe, support the ideas you support and hold your tongue or criticize the ones you disagree with, your choice, and accept that your position is not the most popular or powerful in current times, and then, the woke Internet has no claim on you, because you have not cheated your way to riding its wave.

I wonder if this makes sense to anyone but me?