Tonight seems like as good a time as any to unleash this rant I’ve been wanting to for a while, so here it goes …
I don’t like ‘woke.’
I’d rather you didn’t call me ‘woke’ even if you mean it as a compliment.
The problem I have with ‘woke’ (and I realize this is a very well-meaning term meant to separate me from people that refuse to wake up and see and all that) is this: Maybe this is a white people thing, but we have this way of finding out what the positive terms are and gravitating and ingratiating ourselves toward them.
It’s sociopathic, but we keyword. Hard. We find a way to do just enough of the conspicuous public things that will get us a title (and we love titles) and we will construct among ourselves an arms race to get ourselves there, even if (and especially when) we don’t mean it. We want that trophy. And wokeness has of late become another social trophy. So we will present ourselves in whatever way gets us that trophy in the quickest and most public manner.
Further, it’s an aspirational title for what should be a basic default setting: You don’t need to be woke. Just don’t be a horrible piece of shit. Be curious. Listen to people. Especially people that are different than you are and maybe give them the benefit of the doubt about what they say their life is, even if it seems far-fetched to you.
I don’t need to be woke. I just want to not be terrible.
—jason malmberg
Flommist Jason Malmberg is a simple man who believes in brown liquor and small dogs. He also makes art sometimes. Copyright © 2018 Jason Malmberg. Pictured: Aleksandra Ekster, Costume Design for Salome, 1917, source.
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