the evolution of "woke"

[@HeyItsShey]

I love the distinction you made between *not posting on social media* and *apathy*. It reminds me of when people say "why is no one talking about this?!" when there often ARE people talking about it or actively working towards justice based solutions - they're just not invested in the 24/7 Twitter discourse 🤷🏿‍♀️

[@amandamaryanna]

yup!!! and thank you!!

[@anonymousindividual0]

Exactly this. There were tons of celebrities hounded by people on social media to speak up about the conflict in the Middle East and people commenting “why is no one talking about the issue?”. As much as I can understand people wanting people that they look up to to be on their side, i just think that people shouldn’t rely on celebrities to be a political mouthpiece. If they want to talk about politics they can, but if they would prefer to not talk about things they shouldn’t have to do so. Silence isn’t being apathetic.

[@rachel3760]

I heard someone say "if you're not a professional activist and you've heard about an issue then people are talking about it" and I think that's very true. If an everyday joe knows about an injustice that means the professional activists have been doing their job effectively and it's not an obscure issue anymore.

[@zinck2245]

an old friend of mind posted a 'repost if ur against rxpe or i wont respect you' that shit pisses me the fuxk off, like who isnt against that??

[@KhadijaMbowe]

okay...I have to edit so Imma watch this later but I needed to come in and give you the engagement for the ✨algorithm✨

[@amandamaryanna]

You're the best thank you luv

[@danial804]

Yes! We must appease the algorithm. Feed it comments or it won’t give us its favor.

[@1joanna4ever]

Can't wait to see what you're working on Khadija! A huge fan of both of y'all

[@zainabmejja9936]

Aaww loving this interaction 🥰🥰

[@sydneyknowles6892]

Woke got propagandized… all the important words do… “empowerment” “sustainable” even “lgbtq” become synonymous with marketing (for cooperations and for internet personas) and lose all meaning… sigh

[@liliks14]

yeah , this is exactly what happened . and even worse than that , woke people have been warned by the none woke, over and over and over but all they got in return was the accusation of being racists and intolerant . there's only so much you can do until you just sit back and let the woke people see for themselves the monster they allied themselves with . and it's frustrating because things could have gone very differently , we could have been all united right now, but we all got screwed in the end .

[@kamcat2901]

@@liliks14 how so

[@kendallroy3856]

"the opposite of hollow wokeness is actually caring and being a decent person" yes!! i've heard so many people complaining about politically correct culture and wokeness, and I feel like a large part of the frustration is that the level of woke we're expecting from people (especially teenage tiktokers) is really unattainable and performative, because it is impossible to care about everything all of the time. BUT that doesn't give anyone a free pass to be a bad person and purposefully be offensive. great video!!

[@maddi1168]

and the amount of guilt trips on the internet like “if you care about blm you should be talking about this” that don’t do anything to help but instead just make ppl feel the need to state all their opinions all the time to prove they’re a decent person

[@rachel3760]

Yeah I hate this phrase but it really is virtue signaling

[@ForeignManinaForeignLand]

Gyal ya really outdid ya self with this one. Woke as a word has been hijacked and subsequently stigmatized to describe a parody of a people that were once trying to do good but have fallen victim to the exact ting they were trying to correct.

[@nateclipps]

I feel like at this point ppl call anything that’s meant to help POC or ppl who are oppressed is “being woke” people tend to use it as a insult those who do really just feel like anything that’s progressive is “wOkE”…

[@ForeignManinaForeignLand]

@@nateclipps you nuh lie. One ting the conservatives good at is branding. Trump get to the White House just by name calling ppl 😂

[@liliks14]

us human beings always fall in the same traps over and over in a time loop

[@nateclipps]

@@ForeignManinaForeignLand 😂 it’s another buzzword their hook too!! Don’t forget “ThE ComMunIst AgeNdaaaaaaaaaa”

[@kittykittybangbang9367]

@@ForeignManinaForeignLand I also feel like woke kind of replaced the term SJW in a way

[@imani0nline]

I’m starting to see a pattern it starts in the black community, it’s adopted by the mainstream, then misused to the point that it loses all meaning. Bonus points if cooperations use it to sell products 😶

[@blueisblue599]

I've noticed that too.

[@JulianSteve]

Yeah, I am noticing it too🙄💯

[@existing..6235]

YES lol. I’m 20 years old and I’ve been hearing “period” used by my family since I was a child... it’s so overused now that it does even hit the same...

[@PesteNegro]

I really wish you just blamed capitalism because that's it...

[@aperson2140]

Also with mental illness. Terms like “triggered” became another word for angry. Some people use hyperfocus and hyperfixation when talking about politics as a way to make fun of someone with a different political opinion.

[@talkativejo]

I find this happens a lot with words that are created by certain groups, where it's absorbed by the mainstream culture to the point it loses it meaning. I know woke genuinely means to be socially conscious, but there are people who are too overzealous and others who are performative, that the meaning of the word gets muffled or comes off as a front. It's also sad because people who are "anti-woke" use the word as an insult in any instance where people bring up things that affect black people or other marginalized people. It's a particular problem in Christian communities where people who want to be for social justice are being accused of being "woke", like it's an insult to be socially aware.

[@Anita-md9ze]

Christians should always be for social justice full stop....otherwise they are kidding themselves and doing performative social climbing. Just my experience out here.

[@kittykittybangbang9367]

It's the SJWs vs anti-SJWs era all over again

[@ArielBissett]

Really loved this video, so much to think about. You touched on a bunch of things that have been rattling around in my brain. I’ve been thinking a lot about how different being “woke” online is different to being compassionate offline and if the patterns that have become normal online are the most useful to these causes!

[@themarias8350]

This is so interesting! thank you for making it! I’ve noticed recently, especially in online fandom, that there’s an increase in searching through people’s tweets or posts to see how much times they talked about x incident or used a specific hashtag as a way to gauge how “woke” or a “good” person someone is. It’s kind of… concerning especially since it perpetuates this notion that activism begins and ends on social media when that shouldn’t be the case at all. A share and a repost is good if that’s all a person can do for whatever reason, but in my own personal opinion, I would prefer someone who actually emails their reps or works with in their local area to build community action. Idk, I know it’s not realistic for everyone but yeah, it’s sad to see a lot of activism boiling down to pure performance. Lovely video!

[@LLCoolJ_25]

I was wondering if posting action items to take and mutual aids is performative? I’m gonna be honest, I always question everyday if I’m performative. I do know I have to keep up with educating myself and contacting representatives. I just can’t physically go most places that aren’t in walking distance bc I’m terrified of driving. I also post online most days, so people can join calls about social issues and I do feel like I’m working most of the day so I feel like I’m not always contributing 100% like I should. Idk why this is giving me bad anxiety, I guess I’m being honest as I can..

[@emmakates]

aaaaa i loved the bit where you talk about equating not posting about an issue with apathy. when the pressure was really on last summer i totally joined in with pressuring companies & influencers, not even questioning whether that was actually productive for the movement

[@cupidsulfer7504]

I was guilty of looking at their page to see if they ever posted anything about BLM embarassing

[@anonymousindividual0]

I’m a black person and I honestly couldn’t give a damn about who posted BLM or not, I rarely use social media and didn’t even post anything myself.

[@agnesnathalie]

I was watching a video by a (relatively small) British fashion youtuber recently and someone in the comments asked her why she hadn't spoken out about the Israel/Palestine conflict. Like yes, it is an important topic but why do you need this young white woman from northern England who is reviewing tank tops to speak up about it? People need to stop expecting random influencers on the internet to be so constantly politically active on their platforms when they are just doing their daytime jobs as fashion bloggers or other types of content creators imo

[@foshio1598]

Yeassss omg!!!! I saw people randomly commenting on tik tok lives for people to talk about it. It was so odd to me

[@person-fu1ex]

I never thought about it as their job. I get where it comes from because these people have a bigger platform to spread awareness, but yeah they're trying to do their job and they can't do it all.

[@phantomology13]

Yeah, I saw a pinned comment on a channel about that the other day when the channel has absolutely nothing to do with world politics I guess the creator was ok with it since they pinned it but idk it’s just strange to mention that when it has nothing to do with anything mentioned in the video

[@JackieChandler69]

Your hair totally rocks in this video.

[@ListeningToMusicProbably]

baby this is keke palmer

[@assmilk9674]

@@ListeningToMusicProbably 😐

[@grooviestmaster]

Right! She popped put with the butterfly locs 😍😍😍

[@tavvviaiavia]

you missed the chance to say "your hair totally locs"

[@andreacastro8338]

I loved your point about how deciding not to be "woke" is not/should not be used to just be an insensitive jerk. I've seen people say or do racist/sexist/homophobic things purely to "defy" the "woke culture" and it's like...you're not defying anything; you're just being racist/sexist/homophobic. Try as you might, there's nothing noble or countercultural about that.

[@chrissy3875]

PREACH

[@saraha4972]

FR! like woke used to BE counterculture. now it’s been satarized but the opposite of it isn’t counterculture it’s just mainstream like…

[@annagraceodom5352]

Amanda you are such a humble genius. you say "I don't know much" and then present us with academic research in an incredible format. You're brilliant, don't sell yourself short :)

[@realizingerin]

I like what you said about the fine line between awareness and allowing awareness to suffocate you. I think a lot of us are grappling with that now, and I believe it’s one of the defining challenges of the digital age where information is coming in at such a rapid pace that it is literally impossible for any person to “get woke” on every topic. Great video as always :)

[@mouni1400]

you may not have studied anthropology but the very existence of your platform and the analytical/ethnological nature of your content are a perfect example of cultural anthropology :)

[@prenuptials5925]

As a culture we need to expect consistent actions before words across the board. Even the majority of "big" activists just spend their careers travelling and giving paid speeches, but not actually doing much beyond that. It's just sterilized activism that for the most part asks for concessions from the power structures that are behind injustice, instead of building power. I think that's why companies like Nike and even Lockheed Martin of all things are so happy to jump on these movements, because they're literally not even a threat to all these people that are behind all the exploitation.

[@no.reply_]

I agree we’ve allowed activists to just talk for money, giving nothing to the community or the cause

[@elisam9054]

Great video!! Really resonated with me, I have felt quite down realising how the word 'woke' is tossed around in a very superficial and performative way.. I actually found what you said vivifying, especially your conclusion about the opposite of all this performative wokeness being "actually caring". Thank you!

[@amandamaryanna]

Thank you!!

[@briella5356]

Excellent video. My friend and I were just talking about how we have retired from the cult of wokeness. I remember marching and rallying 2015-2017 and being extremely devoted to “the movement” in fact all of this stuff was my life. It was exhausting and actually made me sick physically as well as contributed to a declining mental health. Now, I’m about to be 35, I go to brunch, go on walks, enjoy art and just try to restore the joy that resided in me before I joined the cult 😂. Also, please for the love of god ppl- divesting is not an excuse to be racist or colorist or homophobic or transphobic. Respect ppls pronouns and be a good human. Simple 🙂. Happy early Juneteenth, y’all!

[@ZechsMerquise73]

I'm just excited that we can have these conversations now. Back then it was like "don't question the cult!" Etc. Love the way you put it about the cult and divesting.

[@briella5356]

@@ZechsMerquise73 I couldn’t agree more, so glad we are finally here 🙃

[@IsThatAni]

heyyy, i literally had a mental break down on everything that is going on and being "woke" i think being awake to what is going on in the world is good, but don't no longer forget and destroy their mental and physical health. When you said that you and your friend had escaped the cult of the awakened ones I had a small smile because it reminded me of a video of a woman who had made a video on it and who had said that mentally she was very much better. I am thinking of doing the same and getting away from it all because it makes me really bad 😭 (note that I am such a sensitive person) and I completely agree with you that this is not an excuse to be transphobic, homophobic or even racist etc... thank you very much for your comment ily 🥺🍄🍄 and keep going !!💧💧

[@briella5356]

@@IsThatAni yessss, free yourself. We all deserve happiness and emotional/psychological well being. Much love 🤗

[@no.reply_]

I like this new discussion we are having from Shanspeare, Kim and now you, like blk women realizing that the continuous activism and fighting is draining us and just relaxing. But it shouldn’t be a turn to the extreme and ignore prejudice and attacks. 2021 is about balance, it’s time to pressure those in power instead of teens and the lady who influences you to buy a thousand dollar bag.

[@mschell350]

THIS!!

[@biedronkagirl]

this video came at such a weirdly coincidental time for me. i was just think about this earlier. i was properly "enlightened" last year and it started off great and i was being quite productive imo. but it eventually got so deep and perfectionistic for me that i developed OCD-like symptoms around social issues and trying to be "woke" myself. it got to the point where i didn't even want to go outside because i thought that if i looked at someone the wrong way they would feel uncomfortable and think i was racist. but that avoidance in and of itself is racism so now i'm just trying to recover and be a decent person and just move through life with awareness and do more quiet but material things. moderation kids, it goes a long way. edit: also i forgot to say, this video was amazing! i love your content so much and also your voice is so soothing lmao

[@LLCoolJ_25]

Oh gosh, I’m glad someone said this. I feel like I’ve been doing this since last year. Like every interaction I have, I feel like somehow I was being racist. Like I’m still trying not to overthink my interactions bc it’s more harmful staying in that guilt. I’ve become so overly aware of every interaction I have. This comes with having bad anxiety. I think I’ve become more of a hermit anyways, bc every interaction let’s me overthink to the point I don’t want people to see me. I’m trying to figure out ways to what you’re describing.

[@cloudyheart5148]

@@LLCoolJ_25 what do y'all be saying that makes you think your being racist?👀

[@LLCoolJ_25]

@@cloudyheart5148 it’s more of what my tone of voice is in the moment. Sometimes I don’t think of how I can sound to some people. I was also mindlessly straightening out a $20 bill while waiting for the drawer to open and a guy got concerned and thought I was over inspecting it. Idk, if I’m being honest I just felt bad. It’s more like action stuff that I don’t think could come off wrong. Also, I know a Black woman who says she doesn’t like when white people compliment her bc she doesn’t see it as genuine. It’s more of having to be mindful of those things. I know it’s probably weird responding to this. I guess I’m basically describing if I’m ever doing something that may seem like not a big deal to me, but to a BIPOC person it is, bc I have privilege to not have to worry about it in my day to day life.

[@cloudyheart5148]

@@LLCoolJ_25 mmm that poor black lady she must have had so many bad experiences with white people and backhanded compliments from them. I get why the guy got nervous you could have said it was false 20$ and called the cops. At least you acknowledge your privilege and are being mindful/trying to be mindful. Its actually funny cause for years black people had to be mindful of their tone to white people/cops and know vice versa is happening, except the reasoning for both are waaaay different and the other is far more dark and scary.

[@maddi1168]

i loved this!! the point you made about how ridiculous it is to know every injustice happening at all times, which has only been made possible by the internet, really puts things in perspective

[@LexxB_]

I am so happy you have these in depth analytical takes on the twisted qualms of social media bc I was starting to feel crazy bc it all feels very performative these days. Love these videos! ❤️

[@LexxB_]

I mean what real change is happening from these social media post? I mean really let’s be honest here

[@taylah4057]

i loved bo burnham’s special, the song that is how the world works i think perfectly encapsulated a lot of issues that exists with both “woke” leftists and white liberals

[@angelojermainex]

"being woke" started way before 2014. Actually, I would argue that it was such a popular thing to be woke (on youtube in the spiritual community) in 2012 and was a very trendy topic for spiritual KZbinrs.

[@jerryvang5149]

YESS! No one talks about this but yes, the spiritual community called themselves woke as a derivative of "spiritual awakening". Then the conspiracy theorists took it for their own crazy use, then the political people totally bastardised it.

[@chrissy3875]

Great video!!! I remember when people were harassing Charli Damelio to talk about global warming and when she did they made fun of her for doing it at the last minute. It feels like some people are forgetting about the ACTUAL problem.

[@Rachopin77]

I love how right when you said the word enlightenment at the end of the video the camera started to refocus and everything got brighter for a moment

[@tararobinson5923]

I also watched Kimi's video and it's really stuck with me in the past couple of weeks! I've talked to a lot of people who think that political correctness is too difficult to abide by and that there are too many rules, but I think what you're getting at (and Kimi as well) was that being "woke" may just be being a compassionate, loving person and caring. And that means still honoring people's pronouns or validating the experiences of those different from your own, but not because that's the "politically correct" thing to do, and rather because it's the compassionate thing to do. And we're all probably gonna mess up at times and say the wrong things, but if we're grounding ourselves in these kind of big fundamentals of kindness and understanding and forgiveness, those mistakes can be profound moments of learning. This is a great video, loved it so much!

[@JulianSteve]

I enjoy this video a lot Amanda. I still use the word “woke”, but not as frequently as before. I believe it’s because of everything you mentioned in this video. The word got overly used in the wrong way and broken down for propaganda purposes too🤔💯

[@miniyzzaty]

Very awesome and thought-provoking video! I personally have mixed feelings about the usage of social media to raise attention towards causes. I think that overall, the power that social media has to raise awareness towards causes is amazing, although it does have quite a few downsides. The Twitter witch-hunting against celebrities and influencers is completely pointless because what change will it bring to the actual cause in the long run? Instead, it only encourages more performative activism on the celebrities, influencers, and brands’ parts, out of fear that they will be cancelled if they’re not posting about the latest issue that gained traction. And like you said, is it really necessary to track down every influencer and brand down to get their opinions on racial injustice? I don’t think so. However, I think social media could be very powerful, as we’ve seen with the traction over BLM last summer and also recently with the injustices in Palestine. Consistent posting helped bring attention to the issues and encouraged more people to become more “woke” about the issues. While I don’t see the point in brands and influencers showing their “solidarity” towards causes if they are not actively trying to work towards change offline, I do still see power in mass posting about issues to raise awareness.

[@SUPERchakalaka1]

I loved this video. I have also been watching a slow factory class on wakewashing/greenwashing, that I can recommend to everyone interested in this topic. I like the dark academia glasses on you, Amanda btw

[@chronicallychic]

Thanks so much for the video! I have been thinking A LOT about how "woke" has become completely different and misused from its original meaning (also had read that Vox article recently!) so this was great timing 😊

[@tadpole53]

I've been thinking about the whole apathy thing so much lately. Like I think it's great to see people posting their receipts from donating to organizations, or their vote on a specific issue. But it also makes me think that not all of those people are genuine in their actions. Don't get me wrong, it's great to donate and it's great to vote. But how many of these people are doing it because they truly WANT to. Or are they just doing it because they've got an extra $20 and some influencer they like posted a charity to donate to? It's like when people record themselves giving money to homeless people. Did you really have to record it? Your actions would still be just as good if you had done it and never showed anyone. Or when someone does something and everyone demands an apology, and then said person apologizes. Well then everyone picks apart their apology down to their body language and says it's not genuine. Like, but you guys wanted an apology and they gave you one? If you don't see it as genuine, then that's fine, but like you said, we have to manage our expectations. The irony is that an apology that is so thought out and catered to the people who are wanting to hear it, isn't very genuine itself. It's more "genuine" to just turn on the camera and say what you think. Idk, BASICALLY what I'm trying to say is that there's a lot of things people do that make them think they're doing good, because they're afraid to stay quiet and be deemed apathetic. When in reality, maybe the best thing those people can do is be quiet, listen, and do the work in their actual lives instead of doing something performative online. Sorry for the rant, this was a great video 👏👏👏 Teenage me thought "woke" meant your third eye was open to the spiritual world or something LOL

[@tamiahector8649]

Love the video! Also like the tortoise shell one the most

[@annagraceodom5352]

Your hair is so beautiful in this video!!!

[@whitneycarter3555]

Im glad i woke up this morning to scroll down and stumble upon you!

[@janeh9962]

as usual, you've absolutely BLOWN this video out of the park. love love love this

[@rebeccagebrekidan8593]

I really appreciate this video! I was loosely studying this in my anthropology class, and I have revisited it a couple of times. The effects of new technologies on language like the internet and 24 hr. news. These technologies caused the commodification and shift from earnest to parody to occur at a rate never seen before. Largely due to the speed of information digestion increasing substantially because of the amount of content and the rapid rate dispersal. The rate at which language around “wokeness” has shifted is very similar to the rate of black language generally. Where a word that was once said in earnest to communicate a feeling then is shifted to the mainstream and looses the original meaning and adopts the new more general meaning. I also believe that as we become more dependent on the internet for news, the quicker earnest endearing words will become the very thing that stood in opposition to. The idea of wokeness beginning as a term of consciousness to now describing performative acts and not really being aware is an irony that would often take a much longer time to develop therefore would likely feel less abrupt.

[@leticiabrc]

i just ADORE your brightness, intelligence and your hair, you're straight up amazing

[@LittleRedTeaCake]

As always this was very informative and interesting and I did enjoy it. Thank you for sharing with us. I was in Missouri when Michael Brown was murdered, in fact I still remember how we were driving away from St. Louis back to where we lived, I can't even remember why we were in St. Louis, but I remember all of the sirens and wondering what happened. Waking up in the morning to finding out. I was taking Social Psychology at the time with a professor from South Korea, so this was not something she was very familiar with. So we talked about it. I remember when the conversation turned towards talking about people's experiences with the police, mainly the black students, one of the girls just got up and left. Her dad is a police officer and she didn't want to hear people talk shit about her dad and his profession. Our professor was a little confused until one of the girls friends explained. I remember one of the black guys thanking the class for letting him talk about his experiences and being accepting because he had never felt that way before and he felt comfortable enough in the class to talk. It was also when I learned that not that long ago, the campus had a huge KKK following and there was a lot of civil rights rallies and sit ins that happened in and around the school.

[@NefariousHippie]

I think your points made a lot of sense, especially around performative interactions on social media -- like do you really wanna hear a 16 year old tiktok star talk about the issue because it would help, or is it just an easy way to make it seem like you (the person demanding it) get to feel a little better without doing something that might be higher effort, but more useful? Also I really like the way you phrase things poetically to make your point, it's quite enjoyable. Like "an easily puncturable but ephemeral cloud of support", do you write these scripts ahead of time, because it seems off the cuff, but wow either way! Please keep making videos :)

[@marisamusic11]

super insightful!! esp the distinction between apathy and loudness on social media

[@jits8767]

this really didnt go the way i expected it, but it was such a delightful video, i've been having discussions with some of my friends about this and i would send them this video if it comes up again, you sum it up so well! and that's such a huge achievement, because we all know how annoying it is to be expected to watch 20 min videos, but i would def risk it with this one

[@LA-tz8zr]

As a young AA girl, being woke felt like a coming of age. Like you said, the sunglasses came off and I could see the world for what it was more clearly. But, as all things in the AA community, once a part of our culture goes mainstream, it get commodified, becomes a gimmick, and is usually misrepresented. And I suppose it's interesting (albeit obvious) being "woke" for an AA means something totally different for a white American as it calls for one to take a clear and earnest look at history, leaving one to either accept it and try to change the outcomes, ignore it, or fight against people who are bringing these truths to attention. I 100% agree that performative "wokeness" is awful, and should not be demanded of anyone (especially not children). Though the term is now a passing fad, the action of 'waking up', of taking a good clear look at the world (it's histories, -isms, structures, etc) and gaining a deeper understanding of it, is still something people go through! Lastly, after watching your video, I think I have a new opinion of the word. It's something to be used once, that moment when you finally take the sunglasses off. After that, now that you are "woke" what do you want to do about? How will you move through the world differently? And how can you protect your peace after gaining that knowledge?

[@exaggeratedswaggerofablackteen]

what does AA stands for ?

[@92Kandee]

@@exaggeratedswaggerofablackteen African American

[@Heyitskatiekindred]

We *love* a well researched and edited video essay! Wonderful job and Bo Burnham is amazing :) looove the point about apathy

[@amandamaryanna]

Thanks so much!

[@paigebutler5721]

Yesssss haven’t seen much discussion about this

[@ingridb.7068]

This so closely related to the performative activism subject you developed a couple of months ago. I actually left a comment on that video talking about Nike’s activism (and other companies activism as well) and how it was so “fake” and money-driven (at least imo) and today you upload this lol. Another video I’ll most definitely like

[@lalalillymo4]

I never realized that people have been growing up believing that a social media presence is ur reputation & even more the wholeness of other people. Wow. Idk that subjectivity shift is really getting me right now. Thanks for making this video

[@arctodsjourneybud7566]

first gray glasses are so cute, they fit you so well

[@ibrahim.a9912]

honestly, I agree during the goerge floyd protest i suddenly gained a new level of consciousness became overly aware of how race and prejudice affect every facet of our life

[@dees.8278]

i hope you'll see this. i just wanted to mention how much the impact of social awareness on tumblr was for me growing up in the 2010s, even before the events of fergusson. i live in kuwait, i didn't know much of racism until i had social media. i was apart of fandoms and one of them specifically was the vampire diaries. when bonnie bennett became my favourite character on the show, bonnie fans mentioned about the mistreatment on bonnie because she was black. i was shocked, i didn't know of this to be true because i thought racism ended in the 1950s. whilst growing up, i learnt so much about the negative tropes of characters of colour and how they were percieved in fandoms and i just was in generally disgusted. when the events of fergussons occured, i didn't not want this to become a reality but it is. i knew about fergusson on tumblr, i didn't hear about it anywhere else, i even brought it up with my family and in school but it has always been shut down. i'm pretty sure, since you mentioned that it was on cnn that my parents did know about this. i'm just glad that everyone is now socially aware about it and is speaking out against it, especially the younger generation. i hope we bring a new future for us so to social injustice.

[@esterferreira2060]

Love hearing you, Amanda!

[@tylenolover]

I’m so glad I’m not the only who thought bo burnham’s special felt like a great youtube video

[@ally2633]

I love your thoughts on this topic! A huge problem in online activism seems to be the translation from online to real life.

[@apollo6519]

thank you for saving my day every single time 😍

[@rowanatkinsonn]

GIRL U LOOK SO PRETTY WITH THE HAIRRR

[@Saoirse_don_Phalaistín]

Concise, articulate, well-researched and personal takes backed by evidence and reasoned through offering an informative and insightful piece. Excellent content Ms Maryanna! Hope to see more :)

[@niamhl6964]

Wonderful video, as usual. Commenting for the algorithm

[@ashleye819]

such a powerful video!!! it's so infuriating that practically every word a marginalized group creates to describe their experience or organize against oppressors is eventually co-opted and appropriated by the mainstream, and ultimately used against the group that created it in the first place...

[@KeianaByfield]

girl your hair looks GOOOOD!!

[@bluewescott4631]

i can relate to the concept of a "second consciousness." ever since i became aware of gender and sexuality issues, specifically heteronormativity and institutionalized gender roles, i view everything through that lens, even if i would sometimes like to turn it off because of how overwhelming it can be.

[@Alyssa-rd8ne]

Would you ever consider starting a podcast?! I learn so much from your video essays 🙏🏽

[@lbw6081]

This is such great commentary. Thanks for sharing these perspectives

[@emilyr1582]

I have learned so much from your videos!! Thank you for talking about these important topics

[@auds7326]

thank you for this! I’m so sick of my identity being used as a marketing gimmick every june…

[@anthonyhernandez5113]

I agree with everything that’s being said by you and everyone in comments! What I am getting is that many people are inauthentically being performative via their online presence. As such, they care not for the people they “support” but actually for their reputation. Because what matters in this case is not what you do but how your perceived by other people. This is important because choosing a singular focus on our reputations blinds us from our responsibility for our actions and intentions towards ourselves and other people. Therefore, wokeness kinda becomes synonymous with inauthenticity because people avoid truly who they are, what they have done, and what they can do better on while considering how their actions inflect change in the people around them. (Sorry for the summarizing! I just wanted to get an idea of what everyone is saying and I could honestly be wrong on this)

[@aspiringsuccessfulwoman8766]

I've always thought "woke" was the past tense of "wake".

[@TownofTawiah]

Now this is a video topic!!! I’m gripped.

[@rootedro]

wow I never attributed "woke" to BLM. Thank you for bringing this to my attention 🙏

[@dinoalien6213]

eloquent and to the point as always!!

[@samantharose1001]

Thanks for your thoughts as always!! Great, thought-provoking video 🤓💛✨

[@renl9893]

Such an interesting topic! Ur hair is so cute btw!

[@Shellykat-p4w]

The apathy thing was rlly reflective during the noname barrage on J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar they had been doing things for years to change and protested but as soon as they decide not to tweet they are performative now

[@audreymann924]

love love love all of your videos are so incredible

[@lopes_2000]

Thank you for this educational video 🙏🏻

[@beatboxbill]

Wokeness is interpreted widely by so many different people. I was introduced to the idea of wokeness as almost a dogmatic connotation. Probably from all of the intellectual dark web people. Now whether or not the word wokeness should be used to describe that is up for debate. But whatever you want to call it, there certainly is a dogmatic type mindset that lingers on the left. But the right has it too as we saw on January 6th. I've always felt that "stay woke" and "redpilled" were opposite sides of the same coin. They basically have the same meaning, it just depends on what camp you fall into.

[@IshtarNike]

Yes. There's now a cottage industry of people who make it their business to find influencers or content creators and "call them out" for not posting about social justice issues. I'm sorry but it is the most sickening witch hunt level idiocy. That is NOT how you make change. It's not how you change hearts and minds. It's idiocy.

[@moof101]

wow this was exactly how I was feeling about Instagram activism

[@Ana-mx2fr]

i LOVE YOUR HAIR

[@leahdemers1263]

Amazing work as always!

[@amandamaryanna]

thank you!

[@dao-diannbui997]

you really put my thoughts into words. really enjoyed this video!

[@pahamabg5312]

Your hair looks really good!😊 i always get good hair inspo from watching your videos haha!

[@Mojojoejo]

I think you’re super smart and funny lol even without the glasses. Loved the video can’t wait for the next one

[@amandamaryanna]

Thank you so much!!

[@lhingchonghoihaokip9932]

Bo Burnham's piece on a white women ig and the chain reaction were golden. Btw love ur video

[@lhingchonghoihaokip9932]

@Queen queen to my understanding it wasn't misogynistic because he just point out how idealistic and beautiful their ig feed are. But if it has a misogynistic undertone i wasn't aware.

[@Grace-os6zz]

@Queen queen oh yeah he had a whole song about white men

[@abraaromar5284]

I noticed in words from the black american dialect are misused and bastardized by non black ppl than corporations use it and it becomes "cringy" and i think it's related the anti blackness around aave and how the way "black" ppl speak caricatured.

[@unfazedjae2645]

They’ve ran the word simp into the ground

[@cloudyheart5148]

@@unfazedjae2645 no freaking way simp is aave???!?

[@Chidds]

I love your point of view. It is different from my own. I have just found your channel but have already binge-watched a bunch of your videos. Where apathy is concerned on matters of injustice, it may well just be people simply disagree with the narrative. I found your description of adding/removing lenses through which you see the world fascinating. The same analogy is often applied in cases of religious conversion. I personally find it toxic the way people demand others agree with their perception. Wokeness (at least the way it was used following 2014) appeared to me like a sectarian quasi-religious cult.

[@bernadettemary2135]

great video. im from south east asia and my sisters company ( in malaysia) got so much hate from white people online for not posting about blm last year. like, what?

[@Sofia-ssn]

off topic but you are SO PRETTY

[@Alexandra-ek9yq]

I've been using warby Parker for yearsssss :)

[@ZechsMerquise73]

I'm just blown away by how well you get it all. Like, there should be a strong distinction between fauxwoke and real woke, and you're all kinds of real woke.

[@stories7904]

1. dark academia 2. tortoise shell moment (super cute for quirky nerd days) 3. clear grey (for their versatility, of course)

[@lihlithembamazibuko5920]

Wish you could have a collab with Khadija Mbowe

[@JACK-OMARI]

MY INTERNET CRUSH 🥰🥰🥰

[@KSlessthan3]

this was such a good video

[@DM_70]

Great talk.

[@persephone2706]

3:51 Okay but the moths in her hair are 😍👌🏼

[@lockheart619]

Something I didn't like was the performative act of ppl plastering on a black screen on their ig feeds just to prove they weren't "racist". Tbh, I'd rather have had those people say nothing than have ingenuine posts about the blm movement.

[@lina.mandarina.15]

Great video! Btw... 19:48 did you do the "enlightenment" thing on purpose or it just randomly happened? I need to know but love both scenarios anyways (?)

[@MrReset94]

I'd love to see you Americans acknowledge (for once) that there is more than just Left and Right and that not everything needs to be on an extreme. To quote the ancient Romans "In medio stat virtus - The virtue is in the middle".