Our generation has been consistently labelled as the ‘overly woke’ generation, who are ‘offended by everything’ and
‘can’t handle jokes’
, simply because we are the group that has decided to sit up and take notice of harmful language and
content circulating in the world, and attempt to resist it. Plenty of good has been done by our generation, particularly
online, where we don’t hesitate to call out influencers and celebrities for offensive language and harmful assumptions
made about various groups of people.
However, in the past few years online, we have witnessed a rise of people using ‘wokeness’ as a personality aesthetic:
calling out harmless videos for the wrong things, throwing out accusatory language without evidence, and perpetuating
the stereotype that we are just ‘offended by everything.
’ Whilst plenty of positive changes have occurred in the way that
different groups of people are discussed online, with many subtly problematic language now being made known and more
easily avoided, a new problem has the potential to arise if people continue to view being ‘politically correct’ as a
performative trait.
Lots of prejudice and exclusive language still pervades many corners of the internet, which our efforts need to continue to
focus on combating. But it feels as though, in recent times, attacks are being flippantly thrown at creators and videos who
have done nothing wrong, and thus attention is being removed and diluted from the types of discourse where it still very
much needs to remain present.
For example, in the comment sections of harmless videos that recommend specific hair-care tips for a certain hair type, or
videos that suggest an exercise regime for a certain category of people, or videos showing what someone has eaten for
dinner; more and more comments are arising ‘calling out’ people for being ‘exclusive’ and ‘disregarding’ of people who
for whatever reason can’t follow these specific hair, diet, or beauty suggestions. More and more people seem to view
everything online in relation to themselves, and how it aligns or doesn’t align with their own life.
I have seen comments calling people ableist for recommending a walk as a method of mental health support, or comments
calling people thoughtless and insensitive for showing a recipe that includes a food that some people cannot eat, or a
hairstyle video that some hair types wouldn’t be able to do. This extremely self-centred view of online spaces that some
people seem to be adopting is causing more harm than good to our shared online community. Important words such as
ableist and discriminatory are losing their value, and being taken much less seriously due to how frequently they appear in
the comments of videos that are doing nothing wrong. It is important that words such as these retain their social value,
otherwise creators and videos that are truly promoting harmful ideas against certain groups of people will go unnoticed,
due to how the inaccurate and excessive use of these words is taking away their power.
Lots of people seem to enjoy appearing morally righteous online, by calling out anything that may not apply equally to
everyone, yet remain silent when it comes to real instances of exclusivity and harm online. As the generation with the
largest online presence than any other, we need to be reminded that “wokeness” and morality cannot be performed when
we feel like it, in superficial situations that had no real issue in the first place. Many people are still being victimised in
many online spaces, and our attention needs to remain focused on where the real harm is being done, instead of letting it slide under the radar.