What Is Woke?

It's a word you hear in almost every discussion about modern entertainment, but what does woke really mean, how do you define it in a story, and what are the dangers of seeing it everywhere? Join me for this little think piece.

[@anotherhuman8173]

My only criticism is: _Why isn't this on the main channel?_ It's got to be one of the most thoughtful, relevant, and well-balanced videos you've ever made, and more people should see it!

[@hypocriticalgrammarnazi]

I think his main channel is mostly for new media reviews and news. Edit: Okay guys you can shut up now, this video should be on the main channel. I was just trying to answer the rhetorical question.

[@processing4426]

@@hypocriticalgrammarnazi What about his "Why modern movies suck" series?

[@lftr_react]

@@hypocriticalgrammarnazi Perhaps, but sometimes you lay down a message that is poignant enough to transcend the genre of the channel. Besides, this video is discussing an aspect that heavily affects the content he reviews so, it's not as though it would be completely out of place.

[@captbuckyohare5585]

Drinker has the subscribers he has because as per his own advice regarding growing a youtube presence, the second your main short form content gets two political or partisan, you alienate half your audience. He literally does what Hollywood dont. So for a video like this, looking specifically at wokeness, it makes sense to put it on the 2nd channel just in case his thoughts or delivery dont land the way they were intended.

[@apricane8467]

Entirely agree with this, I like how the Drinker is clearly and unambiguously aligning himself as someone who cares about good entertainment and who genuinely cares about social norms such as inclusiveness and diversity.

[@fredbarron8582]

I think the problem for me is that it becomes a distraction, because I'm constantly noticing deliberate choices made by directors & producers to include agendas, I lose any form of suspension of disbelief and that effects my enjoyment of whatever I'm watching because instead of just engaging with the narrative my brain reacts to things which are obvious and often out of place, it constantly pulls me out of the story so I have to think about some random thing I've just seen before I can get back into just watching and enjoying the narrative.

[@skeith1543]

For me, It's started tainting older works. I'll look at a show that's focused towards woman or girls and every time they make fun of the Males in the cast, i'll immediately start thinking it's more woke, when in reality, they make fun of the female characters just as often or more so cause they're present far more often. Or for older shows focused on Boys or men, i end up judging the sole female character on the team when she outdoes her team mates at something, thinking they've just cranked up her competence to stick it to the males. When in reality everyone gets their time in the spot light. It's rather annoying to me how badly the 'Woke' has tainted my ability to enjoy things, now it seems like i'm seeing constant jabs at men all over the place even when such things didn't exist. It's especially damaged my ability to enjoy female action characters.

[@InfernosReaper]

What, you didn't think that girls of Marvel assemble scene in Endgame wasn't cinematic gold?! That makes at least 2 of us. I've never been so jarringly pulled from a viewing experience than that moment.

[@johnnyskinwalker4095]

@@skeith1543 ah ha so true. I often wonder when I watch older stuff if it's me or if it's cause woke was there further back than I thought?

[@nelisezpasce]

Dimitri Monroe talked about that in his latest vid "You can accept dragons, elves and talking trees, but you can't accept a 2021 BMW 5 Series 530i?"

[@InfernosReaper]

@@johnnyskinwalker4095 There is a line between "progressive" and "woke" with woke basically being what happens when those jokes about liberals became the norm instead of satire.

[@67L48]

An often overlooked example is the most recent Netflix adaptation of the children's classic Watership Down (a tale that should be more relevant to the Drinker, given its setting in England). The book contains two main storylines: the rabbits' escape to their new home at Watership Down and then their "battle" with the militant warren of rabbits (General Woundwort). Why did the second half of the book even exist? That is an amazing twist the author put in. The rag-tag group of rabbits that escapes to Watership Down goes through extremely dangerous and arduous challenges. Finally, they get to their destination ... basically they are in Eden. Then, they look around and the cold, hard reality smacks them in the face (and the reader's face, too!). There are no female rabbits. Their warren dies with them. They need to find some female rabbits! But where? How? It's one of those great "Oh my gosh, you're right! I never noticed that, but that's a real problem!" moments. But, the makers of the Netflix story couldn't do that. Couldn't have a storyline that was just a bunch of males. So, they gender-swapped a few of the rabbits. This completely neutered the second half of the story. It was a major sacrifice to the motivation of the rabbits and completely dampened the "twist" of that obvious thing right in front of your face that you never saw. In the book, you don't notice it until the rabbits notice it ... and it's a truth that hits with striking force. It's awesome. You water that down for "the message" and the story is massively compromised. Sad.

[@Reminiscent1990]

Me remembering being a terrified eight year old at my great grandmother's house when I watched that film; nobody told me Watership Down was a children's political horror story

[@englishatheart]

Man, I wish people would say "sex swapped," especially when it comes to nonhumans. Nonhumans don't have genders. They don't identify as anything other than what they are. Only humans have brains that can see themselves as something different than what their bodies are. Even most people don't have genders, since most people's brains align with their bodies. It would be one thing if people hadn't changed the definition of gender, which was literally just a different word for sex, but now that it's seen as something different than sex, we need to stop applying that term when we're referring to the sex of someone or something.

[@ClavainRS]

Why is it's setting in England more relevant to him? He's from Scotland, not England.

[@67L48]

@@ClavainRS Yes, I get that, but it's the same island and the same political entity (United Kingdom). Much more relevant than if it were set in Canada or some mythical place and time. The settings of Watership Down are a few hours outside of London, which is pretty near Scotland (in a relative way).

[@ClavainRS]

@@67L48 Yes, but culturally the two countries are quite distinct and also have an adversarial history given elements of Scotland would still like to break away from the United Kingdom given England conquered the nation and forced it to be apart of the UK in the first place. It figures you're a fan of this guy, not surprised his own followers would say something this dumb.

[@ROVA00]

This is a difficult topic to discuss without major audience backlash, so I tip my hat to you for the excellently put argument. Bravo!

[@brendaspence1824]

Unfortunately I have seen some growing backlash accusing drinker of “becoming mainstream” cause of this vid,him saying good things bout some parts of the mandalorian,and his review of the last of us Netflix show

[@ROVA00]

@@brendaspence1824 yeah that is unfortunate. Some people prefer to be extremists instead of being objective and balanced.

[@sandwichninja]

​@@ROVA00 There's nothing "extreme" about taking the side of your own people instead of being some cuckservative limp noodle. Just listen to him curate what he says with all those qualifiers about what would be fair representation for non-Whites, etc., for fear of being called a _"racist"._ He completely fails to mention that the only reason those people are in White countries in the first place is because that was *_also_* forced on us. Is the rest of the world "diverse"? No, just White countries. It's anti-White, and anything less than dropping the hammer is selling out. This guy is only even on KZbin because he's a coward. Anyone who tells the _actual_ truth won't last on KZbin for more than a couple days.

[@jdneilso]

This should be played in every movie and television executive's office. It won't be, but it should.

[@thisisnotachannel]

Even if it was, I'm sure a majority of them would fail to grasp the ideas and opinions being expressed here... they simply wouldn't understand. And those who actually DID understand what was being said? They would either ignore it, or just pretend that they didn't understand so they can continue on their merry way.

[@gladiatorscoops4907]

I've saved this video in my favourites category just so I can show it to anyone I know who doesnt think pushing woke ideology into our entertainment is a bad thing.

[@thursoberwick1948]

It's already been discussed in Davos and elsewhere, just maybe not in the way you think.

[@jonbaxter2254]

If anything, they'd watch it and double-down.

[@jdneilso]

@@gladiatorscoops4907 Same

[@Dreadjaws]

I will always use the Artemis Fowl movie for a good example of this. They have this character in the books called "Butler". That's literally his last name. He's a Russian white guy, so of course they cast a black actor in the film. But, also of course, they couldn't have a black actor refer to himself as "butler", so they came up with the idea that he hates that name and goes by "Dom" instead. They literally had to change the character's backstory to accomodate their race swap. This is a completely different character at this point. Why bother? Oh, but that's not the only example. There's also Holly, a member of the magic realm's police force. In the novels she's the only female member, because it's a sexist organization. She's asked to do more than others and is celebrated less, but she presses on just to prove her merits are genuine and that she deserves to be treated as equal. This is all completely ignored by the movie, that only saw there was one woman in the police force and decided that it should include more. Now there are several female members, including, of course, the police chief, which completely misses the point of the novel. They destroyed a genuine progressive message so they could pretend to have one. This is what people mean when they say "woke" in a negative light. Companies very clearly not caring about progressive issues yet still lecturing the audience on them.

[@WhiteManOnCampus]

My only consideration is that Butler wasn't really white, he and his baby sister were always described as Eurasian, probably Kazakh or Uzbek. It was often noted that he was both huge and had a skin tone that never quite fit in with any crowd, but his training in body language let him disappear simply by behaving in a completely unassuming manner. But the funniest thing is that his surname was, in the book, the literal origin of the term. The Butler family had been bodyguards and manservants so consistently and for so long that their surname became the shorthand for a manservant.

[@armondtanz]

Search and destroy...

[@silverchairsg]

Oh damn I read the books but had no idea they butchered the movie so badly. Although I didn't even bother to watch it because the trailer was so bland and boring.

[@mnomadvfx]

The new Dune film did this too. For some reason they took an IP perhaps the most packed with strong female characters that I have ever read and for some reason decided to gender swap the male character Kynes to a woman. Which not only adds nothing at all to the film, it actually breaks the Fremen cultural norms within the film because they clearly state that female leaders are automatically Sayyadina (spiritual leaders) and therefore cannot be challenged in combat. Whereas Kynes is clearly shown commanding men which means she is actually a Naib instead which only makes sense if she was a man which the character is supposed to be! 😂 They also barely develop the character so it is relegated to no more than a token diversity casting much as the Drinker was talking about in this video. I waited basically 2 decades to see the new Dune film so I can't express just how deeply I was disappointed with this hollowed out version of the Dune story that Warner Bros gave us. What a waste, it's going to be at least another 10-20 years before we get another adaptation.

[@Dreadjaws]

@@WhiteManOnCampus Well, while he certainly wasn't necessarily white he sure as hell wasn't black. Also, what's up with the blue robotic eyes they gave him in the movie?

[@bethcoddington2150]

I agree with the your analysis of this. There were just as many stereotypes in past cinema as there are currently. The difference was, they WERE primarily subtle and nuanced with well crafted, clever plots. Sure, there were annoying, even insulting stereotypes. But the ratio was much lower. The thoughtful, entertaining, organic storylines and characters rarely exist in today's entertainment. I go for entertainment, not a lecture. I used to live in Florida where I worked with a very diverse number of individuals. It was a wonderful experience. I worked with a disabled man married to a Philippine woman, a white, very far right conservative male, a liberal {so was I at the time} black man, and a lesbian in a relationship. That was just my small area. There was no systematic racism. People were paid according to their merit reviews, and I was not making more or less money because I am white woman. We are now creating oppression and victimhood for the sake of divisiveness. And it is done with a nauseating level of moral superiority and contempt for those who do not fall at the feet of their ideology.

[@sleepykittyMMD]

I agree, I watch stuff to entertain me and stiumulate my brain. lecture type shows that get borderline preechy are not my thing. I'd prefer the plotline to do the talking, and if its a good one you'll have to and want to watch it again and again to see all the stuff you missed the first time

[@thesouloftheinternet4829]

only thing i say beth is people need ot realize that africans have lost all of our historical stories, about real life people through this method as well.

[@bethcoddington2150]

@@thesouloftheinternet4829 That may be true. It has been no secret since I went to school back in the 60s and 70s that there was much injustice done. I would, however, recommend Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, and Larry Elder to get some perspective on what is true and what has been modified in modern times. If you have Prime Video there is an excellent documentary called Uncle Tom, and another on Epoch TV called Uncle Tom II. Both give a very different account of the situation of black people in the first few decades of the 20th century, up until welfare and the Civil Rights movement. It is very educational.

[@ROVA00]

“There was no systemic racism” , says the white lady.. As long as racism and sexism exists, there will be racism and sexism in the system. I work outside sales in rural texas and I am exposed to blatant racism every single week.

[@carlpolen7437]

@@thesouloftheinternet4829Umm. No you haven’t lost all your stories. This is a myth repeated ad nauseum by black Americans. There’s a ton of African history.. from the Ivory Coast to Angola and beyond. All you have to do is look it up. Sure it’s all oral tradition mythology because Africans never indigenously developed reading or writing and so there simply isn’t thousands of years of written records like there are in Europe and Asia, but that’s not other peoples fault. You still have a rich oral tradition to fall back on. One of my biggest gripes is that black people complain in America about there being no shows about black people… but even black panther had to be written by white writers/directed by a white director. Here’s a thought, instead of continuously complaining about how much of a victim you are, go out and work for what you want. Do you want black written, directed content? Then WRITE IT! Direct it! Show us how strong black peoples are! Tyler Perry has been doing well for decades… but then there are black people like you who never actually bother to research your rich history, just complain.

[@rgama1173]

Arcane is a wonderful example of a non-woke work that is full of progresive themes and characters

[@viciouslyeatingaburger]

I never even noticed that until now that you mentioned it. Love the show and the protagonist especially Jinx coming from straight Asin Filipino guy.

[@arawn1061]

What are you talking about? Arcane is woke as all hell. And its amazing

[@rgama1173]

@@arawn1061 a woke show would spend hours attacking it's male cast about how they are responsible for every real world problem, and make the audience know that they need to vote for Biden otherwise they are not black. Arcane decided to be a good story first

[@arawn1061]

@@rgama1173 No, what you are describing is a badly written politically motivated woke show. Arcane is the other side of the coin. Its just as woke, it has a ethnically diverse cast, two of its protagonists are a gay couple. It has themes of social justice, inquality and systemic issues and ofcourse it has a blue haired anarchist as the lead. It is one of the wokest things i have ever seen. But it is the other side of the coin because its well written. But it has the same qualities as all woke media.

[@arawn1061]

@@rgama1173 You should vote for Biden or you are not american. The republicans are all traitors

[@sterling7]

I find that watching older movies and television shows, and content created in Korea or Japan, often comes with a tangible sense of relief, these days. The sense that story and character choices weren't made out of fear of reprisal. That a performer was cast because its original creator envisioned them a certain way. That pleasing the audience was a goal, not a reason for disgust and a thing that takes away time that could have been used to berate and lecture to that audience. I'm tired of watching modern "entertainment" feeling like an abused animal waiting for the inevitable lashing out. Something has to give.

[@LittleMopeHead]

I agree. I've been doing just that with movies from the 90s which I grew up with. Definitely different.

[@TonySpark-er2hj]

Same!!

[@spencesanders7879]

yep, old movies and K-Dramas. I completely cut the TV/Cable/SatTV cord and just stream or watch DVD/Blu-rays. Every once in a blue moon they will make something that was crafted for the audience to actually enjoy. But most US fair these days is the 2x4 to the forehead MESSAGE.

[@frankspeakmore7104]

I agree, I saw "Parasite" and "Everything, everywhere...." both excellent and enjoyable to watch.

[@pete3011]

Yep. Funny how content created anywhere but the west is not woke or "diverse".

[@lance134679]

I take Puss in Boots: The Last Wish as a great example of a modern family movie done right. It deals with adult themes while still having all the silliness and irreverence that the Shrek franchise is known for.

[@Zac_Frost]

That's nothing new, though. Avatar: The Last Airbender did that way back in 2005. The old golden age of Disney was doing that in the late 80's - early 90's.

[@addictiontransfer3731]

@@Zac_Frost it was done by plenty of old school disney movies long before Avatar the last airbender lol.. the point is that it can still be done in modern times. Puss in boots 2 came out a month or so ago. A movie doesn't have to reinvent the wheel in order to be good. It can have classic tropes and just execute them well and thoughtfully to manage to avoid coming off as unoriginal. Its all about execution. Avatar the last Airbender came out at a time when hollywood and tv in general wasnt slumped into a dark age of hypersensitivity and political messaging ruining storytelling. It was good, but Puss in boots 2 managed to be good and have lots of depth and comedy in a time where that is practically unheard of due to the sea of mediocrity we find ourselves in. Thats why its noteworthy.

[@SuperLuis225]

That's a brilliant example. I remember watching "Modern family" which has a gay couple in it. But I never saw them as "The gay couple" because they were well written characters with funny stories. They just happened to be gay characters

[@rockettheracoon85]

*hears the whistle of woke*

[@mkeogh76]

My youngest sibling, a mother of three (1, 4 & 7) and as anti-woke as it gets, took her two oldest to see that movie and LOVED it! That it passed her "the Left are ruining everything, and my children will not be exposed to it if I can help it" inspection in this day in age is impressive. Sadly, those films are becoming rarer and rarer.

[@SalAveNU]

About the LGBT characters section. The "Willow/Tara" relationship on "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" is often hailed as one of the first homosexual relationships on TV (American TV Anyway). And things went quite well for them for a couple of seasons. They were both witches and they used their power to help Buffy. But, eventually Willow became very powerful, more powerful than Tara. And this made her arrogant, she also began to abuse her powers, casting spells on Tara to make her forget fights they'd had. Tara figured that out and left her. The end of that relationship was just as real as them walking through Sunnydale smiling and holding hands.

[@VolrinSeth]

Eh, they got back together and Tara got shot.

[@Autobotmatt428]

But is not the first Ross's first wife was a lesbian from friends and you had a few others. as well.

[@jamescarr1265]

that was a well written relationship

[@sheridantony]

Have shared this as it's one of the best explanations of what is and isn't 'Woke', and how it's affecting the entertainment industry, I've heard to date.

[@digiscream]

The problem with that last assertion is...now, and for the last few years, it's been possible to pre-judge every single film that comes out based on its wokeism, _and be right every single time_ - for the utopian world you want to live in to come to exist, the studios can't just stop proving everyone right, they need to actively start proving them wrong. I think we're still quite a long way from there, sadly.

[@Saltedroastedcaramel]

That is so true. The amount of diversity and inclusion that isn't woke like Arcane is very low and gets accused as woke. Whereas something looks like it isn't like the Proud Family sequel let audience guards down before going full woke. And in between, good works get dropped or changed to fit the progressive woke narrative. It's no wonder the pendulum is going to swing hard if it does.

[@tjroelsma]

Even now, when some movies are actually starting to be somewhat less woke, the studios still go out of their way to promote the woke content of that movie out of proportion, so to someone who's fed up with the woke, it looks like it's just another woke movie and therefore not worth watching. They are trying to do two opposite things at the same time: 1. dial back the woke so more people might want to see their movies again. 2. but promote the woke out of proportion in an attempt not to "offend" the wokists. The first thing is easy to do, the second thing I'd say is impossible to do, as wokists are always actively searching for things to get offended by.

[@Saltedroastedcaramel]

@@tjroelsma And if not the studios, the damn actors, directors and even writers can't keep their dumb mouth shut.

[@hayleylongster4698]

Nearly. I nearly missed out on House of The Dragon though because of the 'woke' casting. As soon as I saw the black Targaryens I was like, Nope, I'm out, because I anticipated a disaster - just how you've described. But actually, that show was great. The 'woke' casting actually had a purpose (different ancestral branch of Old Valyria, inclusion of different skin colour actually added to the plot concerning the legitimacy of the main character's children etc.) So...... There are exceptions even with purposefully 'woke' production decisions.

[@hayleylongster4698]

@@tjroelsma Yes exactly. This is why a lot of people didn't start watching HoTD until later when trusted reviews came out. Dodgy 'woke' emphasising trailers.

[@s3studios597]

Ahhh nuance. That magical little word that's almost non-existent on the internet.

[@benjaminperez7328]

Almost???

[@hih2023]

Is that like a new kind of animal or sonething?

[@jeremyusreevu237]

Exactly. People just call people like Critical Drinker and Mauler grifters without actually looking at what they have to say.

[@jameydunne3920]

@@hih2023 Exactly. It hangs out with Bigfoot and Nessie and Bob the unicorn. I think they're all on the same bowling team. They play on Thursdays.

[@flameshana9]

White bad black good isn't very nuanced though. It's literally black and white.

[@MrErik052005]

“Woke” is literal to me. During the Black Lives Matter movement, I was like, “if you get pulled over by a cop, just do what they say. Don’t fight back. Duh.” BUT, what the movement was about is that Black people were targeted more. I then began to understand systemic racism. At the time, I thought Black people were more inclined to fight back for whatever reason. After self reflection, I realized I was more racist then I realized. I literally “Woke” up to how black people were more targeted. It was hard to unsee it. From that, it helped me to see other peoples treatment.

[@historyrepeated4239]

It’s cringey to hear you describe “black people” as they are a monolith…..more inclined to fight back, more inclined to be targeted, etc. In order to believe in systemic racism, you have to believe that the “system” holding one race of people down is taught, encouraged, and most importantly codified. Here’s the kicker….any race that finds themselves on perennial gov’t assistance is going to commit more crimes and be targeted more…..it doesn’t have anything to do with skin color or white supremacy conspiracy theories. Perpetual gov’t assistance (that pays for more children) discourages individuals and families to be responsible and climb out of poverty. So, why work, and resist crime if you can be taken care of….the liberal utopia? What Marxist democrats never understand is that this “nanny state” approach robs good men and women of their personal and family pride. Doesn’t matter the color of your skin. You might be on a journey to seeing things in a different way, which is never bad. Challenging your beliefs is critical to self improvement. However, if your analysis is simply limited to bad things happening because of skin color, I’d encourage to look into why LBJ deliberately targeted blacks with his horrible Great Society Programs….might give you some insight into why blacks vote 90% democratic to this day. And, unsurprisingly, they disproportionately are on gov’t assistance. Connect the dots.

[@kilgortrout3432]

One of the best descriptions of why I can find such little joy in TV and movies these days.

[@atreidesN]

Is it possible you’re the pendulum swinging too far the other way?

[@ethanwright752]

@@atreidesN No. Woke propagandists are the instigators and are 100% at fault. The pendulum needs to swing so far back that leftist delusion is broken into unrecognizable shards.

[@Jay-ru3hx]

I've never been racist or sexist. I have always been interested in other cultures. It's one reason why I traveled and immersed myself in languages other than English. Now, after decades of apparent dark ages in higher education, skulls full of mush with blue hair on top presume to lecture me in every venue. They go so far as to imply that, really I've been a racist, sexist bigot all along and I've just never realized it. On the news, I see groups of POC taking to the streets and demanding that white people prostrate before them and atone for sins they did not commit. I've spent my life traveling, meeting many different people, reading and studying deeply only to be surrounded now with superficial shallow thinking that serves as some cheap, Sam's Choice brand laminate over the truth of the world we all face as just yet another means of pitting groups of people against each other. At it's worst, it's despicable. At it's best, it's simply incredibly boring. This has happened all throughout history. Religions pitted against one another. Tribes, racial groups, economic divisions, and innumerable other characteristics and beliefs. As long enough people willing or capable of being manipulated exist on earth, there will be others to take advantage, identifying you as part of some group that is victimized by another. Don't worry though, as long as you keep giving them power, they'll fix it again -- as far as you know or care -- like they have throughout history. The shame is that I used to talk to certain people with characteristics ranging from different ethnic backgrounds to sexual orientation, and all people have something interesting about them that is ALMOST NEVER that characteristic. But now, people are convinced that those are the things that define who they are. You IDENTIFY as something. Your skin color, gender, or sexual orientation are what DEFINE you. Those things don't define you any more than a birthmark or an allergy define you. I'd go further to say that when I meet you, those are the LEAST INTERESTING things about you. Honestly, I'd find the food allergy more interesting than sexual orientation. I dream of a day where people can stop being so easily manipulated...... Perhaps just like I myself listened to this and was compelled to write this overly long wall of words that literally no one will read except maybe a platform moderator trying to determine if my words are harmful to some indeterminate person...... Enough.

[@701Builder]

I read the whooooole thing!

[@mattsanderson5258]

"Those things don't define you any more than a birthmark or an allergy define you." Yep, its a shame more of the 'tolerant' people don't have this mindset.

[@thetechnocrat4979]

I read the whole thing and I agree with what you have written. We are not simply shades of colour nor are we defined by whom we want to bang. I am not White myself but I am feeling scared of this current atmosphere of hatred against them, especially in so called ' centres of learning '. Eerily reminiscent of how some other groups were talked about previously in such centres. I am pretty much like you. I have always been interested in other cultures, languages and their historical evolution, alongside my own. My instigator for learning so much of the world has been my love of world railways.

[@MW-dd8vk]

Well Said!!! 💪🧠

[@kartoffelman111]

Agree wholeheartedly. I have studied humanities for seven years and, oh my god, these woke topics absolutely dominate the curriculum. In my English literature MA, 7 out of 10 classes were in some way tied to gender, race and/or sexuality. Of course not all classes were bad, since some lecturers are more than intelligent enough to tackle the interesting parts of those topics without delving into wokeism, and I know it was good for me to discuss things like feminism with academics in a serious and honest context. While I always considered myself in favour of treating others with respect, regardless of - as you rightly put it - their boring characteristics - I learned a lot by reading feminist literature from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. However, some classes, some lecturers, and countless fellow students were completely lost in a woke ideology, and they came across as very paranoid. It was scary how they made no effort to hide that they held any cis white heterosexual men (such as myself) in contempt unless they repeatedly professed how woke they are. I sometimes felt like it was expected that I apologise for my body, sexuality and race, which was really weird. It was even weirder when we talked about the topics for our MA theses. I remember one student claiming she "wants to empower women of colour" by writing an MA thesis about heavy-set black women's role in film and tv. Maybe an original topic and all, but how in the world does a random white student's bloody MA thesis, which they have to write to get THEIR OWN degree, "empower" any other person, let alone a vast group like ALL black women on this planet? The confusion that wokeism on universities has implanted into many young adults' heads is as baffling as it is deplorable, and I worry about these people. Lest they should become the aggressive extremists they despise.

[@alexandrasimon7191]

Émile Durkheim, founder of sociology had the theory that crime can and will never be eliminated from human societies, since the moment we become sensitive and considerate enough to avoid committing crimes out of fear of hurting others, we will be also sensitive and considerate enough to perceive formerly harmless acts as so offensive that they will qualify as crimes. I feel like this is what's been happening for a while now.

[@_XR40_]

"Progress" has no endgame....Progressives must always push farther or cease to be _progressive..._

[@alexandrasimon7191]

@@_XR40_ wow I haven't thought about it before. But it's very true. Though it seems every single generation before us felt the resentment and fear towards younger people changing the "order of things" and it seems to be part of human nature to forever long for an idealized version of the past. Seems like we can't escape this either

[@mgshock]

@@alexandrasimon7191 Human nature never changes. The ride never stops. Just mind the sharp turns.

[@theprogram863]

This kind of behavior isn't new. A moral cause gets latched onto purist True Believers. Eventually, the cause takes over enough that you get a career advantage for espousing it, so the careerists learn how to ride it into power. Meanwhile, whatever policies they enact doesn't deliver on their big promises. The solution to both problems is that the movement lacks sufficient purity, that there are fakers sabotaging it from within. People have to talk like radical absolutists or they'll be declared a traitor to the movement. Eventually, the movement is trying to police people's hearts to figure out who might, deep down, be an Enemy. At that point, the whole thing falls apart from its own internecine backstabbing and hypocrisy. That's the story of the French Revolution, Victorian moralism, and communist revolutions in Russia, China, and elsewhere. During WW2, there was a fascism scare, a hunt for Secret Nazis Infiltrators that destroyed many lives and careers over allegations that eventually proved to be false. Part of that was the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was then used ten years later by people like Joseph McCarthy to blacklist and cancel alleged secret _communist_ infiltrators instead. This is a natural human tendency. What you're describing is how ordinary people self-justify their participation in cancel culture, and it certainly wouldn't work without their support. But we can't forget that, under the surface, a lot of what drives these purges are people who see an opportunity to use it for personal gain and the thrill of wielding power. First, they get a promotion by making a big display of their piety. Then, they use it to get a promotion by eliminating their boss, or maybe a rival. Sooner or later, it occurs to them that _they_ might be targeted the same way. So they double down, making sure nothing they do could ever be criticized by anyone, no matter how radical. Eventually the whole thing is powered by a combination of greed and ambition on one hand, and fear on the other. Sometimes there's an uprising and the whole movement collapses, and sometimes the movement wins but is completely taken over by corruption and cynicism. It all goes back to attempts put loyalty to a side of some kind, above basic individuality and humanity. At that point, it devolves into attempts to police the human heart for moral purity and the hunt for secret enemies.

[@Nikua13]

it is perfectly correct. If we got rid of all evil and only had good left, then we humans would say that the less good is the new evil, even if it is not, because you have to have something to judge. With out evil how you know what good is. The current issue we face is that written in the Bible, but please dont take it as a religious only statement: "When black is white and white is black, when good is bad and bad is good." The current culture of changing the meaning of words to keep the brain confused. The Stunning and Brave that is nothing more than an afront to all that is normal, sane, and biologically correct. Thank you for posting this thought.

[@leafysoup501]

Nuance. What the world is truly lacking today.

[@parkerleigh333]

In Gaslight the main character was strong but not indestructible. She suffered, and took a lot of mental and emotional damage. By the end of the film, she's broken and wounded but ready for whatever a new day may bring. It's almost like she was written to reflect a real human being in such a situation.

[@preparetoholdyourcolour7080]

I never realised how depressing the decline and negative portrayals of heterosexual relationships in stuff today really is 🙁 as usual everything you've said is spot on

[@lynco3296]

Its honestly sad how easy it is to criticize the state of modern pop culture. its not that the Drinker isn't smart and insightful, he obviously is, its just that the fruit is so low hanging these days.

[@nenmaster5218]

@@lynco3296 ...WELL; this video was a bit short, wasnt it? I invite everyone to also realize how many Politicans and Looneys use the Word Woke. Lets lit all Sides of this and also consider 'Who is Ron DeSantis anyway?' by Renegade Cut + 'Is the Republican Party Okay?' by Some More News.

[@daryltor7608]

There isn’t really a decline, given it’s been the norm for decades. That’s doesn’t excuse the writing of the relationships. There’s just slightly more ‘diverse’ relationships now.

[@tyr3759]

You just have to find entertainment elsewhere, like Israeli shows, or Asian. Just not American: they live in another world all together than me.

[@RabbitShirak]

Wanna see a good heterosexual relationship in fiction? Babylon 5.

[@Anxomaxo]

Honestly, this video should be uploaded to your main channel. The more people watch it, the better. I think you hit the nail in the head.

[@jacobmatthews7524]

it also functions as a rebuttal to people who think Drinker is racist/sexist/homophobic. should definitely be on the main channel, even though it would piss off half of his viewers and subscribers

[@Harpoenter]

Watch his "The Myth of the Modern Audience". Absolute killer.

[@randysavage1]

First time I heard woke was in the song Redbone by childish Gambino who is also a comedian and actor...who woulda guessed....btw the show he stars in ATL. Is actually pretty good

[@jacobmatthews7524]

@@Agisek i remember that time Gary went off for a few minutes about gay people in kids movies, calling the people who make them groomers and pedos and things like that. it's something Az often does as well. If you have ever seen their show Real BBC with Mauler, you'll see that sometimes they'll launch into that, and whenever they do, mauler will go dead silent the whole time. I'm taking a social psychology class about group dynamics and intergroup relations, and it explains all of this behaviour. for most people, you're basically on one side or the other. it takes awareness and resistance to avoid falling into the polarized groups. people exalt their in-group and denigrate their out-group. if you hate what the side that controls the media is doing, you are likely to fall into the opposite side, instead of remaining nuanced

[@rockstar450]

I've seen the toxic wokedom who call us biggots all label Drinker as a phobe. PLEASE upload to main channel!

[@jefffeatherstone7785]

A great example of how to present different arguments and positions on an issue in a balanced way. So many people on social media would benefit from learning on how to do this.

[@tomfuller5585]

I confess, I used to be woke. I was constantly getting triggered. I protested everything that offended me, and demanded it all be cancelled. Finally I grew out of it, and went to preschool.

[@Lufarious]

Right to Education=woke Racial Discrimination=woke Gender Discrimination=woke LGBTQ+ Rights=woke Disability Rights=woke Age Discrimination=woke Religious Discrimination=woke Language and Cultural Rights=woke Indigenous Rights=woke Migrant Worker Rights=woke Nigga said I give up I don't want human rights, LMAO 🤣

[@swiftersunite]

The arrogance is what really gets under my skin. Imagine thinking you’re so much smarter, so much more enlightened that it’s your moral obligation to correct the legacy of an artist who worked harder, studied longer, and smelted their heart and soul into their art. Not even because you care about the causes you fight for - god forbid - but because you get off on feeling superior.

[@EyesWillRule]

That's the Californian mentality. "We're better than you so you should do things our way."

[@silverchairsg]

It's not really about social justice, but control. Woke is a disguise used to push one's own agenda to control and gain power over others, much like the Communists in the last century.

[@imperatorsael7192]

@@EyesWillRule more reasons to delete California off of the earth

[@kevinfitzgerald1010]

Bicoastal liberal elites.

[@grayfox6518]

@@EyesWillRule And how ironic it must be for those still claiming to be "Californians" when said persons are no longer a resident of the state because the policies voted in destroyed the state from within, causing Californians to flee out of desperation.

[@TheLegendaryBillCipher]

That's always been my definition: when the messaging becomes more important than the story. I've compared it to baking a cake: the story, characters, plot, setting, that's all the cake itself. The diversity and inclusion they want is the frosting and decorations. These people want to design the cake before they bake it, or make a cake out of frosting. Not everyone is going to like something, and that's ok. That's how it's always been, and there's no changing it. But if the cake tastes good, more often than not, it doesn't matter what it looks like.

[@xxreyoxx]

It was first meant to be synonymous with being aware of your surroundings and to arm yourself with knowledge. Somehow somewhere its been twisted and lost all its meaning and context.

[@bendu8282]

Great storytelling is what’s important. The Stories that aren’t political at all and are based on good writing, good characters , deeper lessons, morals and entertainment as well as the stories that do have political elements but are more focused on an engaging story,a well thought out lesson or idea behind it and interesting characters are the stories that make great entertainment. As my film teacher taught me Art before politics, always. The story & characters comes first whether the politics are subtle, secondary or completely non existent.

[@bendu8282]

There are two types of great stories when it comes to this method: stories that are apolitical with great characters, writing & moral lessons or none, and then there are stories that have political elements but put the quality of the writing and characters, & moral lessons first. Whether either type of story is apolitical or has political elements deep philosophy, morality, & mythology can often play a role in sharpening the story, once you form your morals for a story into ideas over just using them for government or social policy statements you can grab anyone within an audience no matter who they are or what they believe that is the gift of good storytelling Modern SJW’s unfortunately don’t have that gift because for them there is nothing deeper then the physical realm they see and often hate so instead of forming deep intelligent universal themes or ideas through the magic of storytelling they try to bend those themes or ideas to their will ,thoughts and beliefs. They can’t form their morals into ideas so often they come off as just government or policy statements without the feeling of anything deeper to an audience turning most people off whether they do or don’t agree with them or are indifferent to begin with.

[@bendu8282]

"So social issues I try to get in in the background, or underlying a plot, but never to the point of letting interfere with a story or hitting the reader over the head.” - Stan Lee As the indefatigable 92-year-old superhero conjurer and Marvel Comics chairman emeritus sees it, fan backlash up until this point hasn't so much been spurred on by racism as much as unyielding fealty to the source material. "They're outraged not because of any personal prejudice, Lee says. "They're outraged because they hate to see any change made on a series and characters they had gotten familiar with. In Spider- Man, when they got a new actor, that bothered them, even though it was a white actor. I don't think it had to do with racial prejudice as much as they don't like things changed." “I wouldn't mind. if Peter Parker had originally been black. a Latino, an lndian or anything else that he stay that way. But we originally made him white. I dont see any reason to change that. It has nothing to do with being anti-gay, or anti- black, or anti-Latino, or anything like that. Latino characters should stay Latino. The Black Panther should certainly not be Swiss. I just see no reason to change that which has already been established when it's so easy to add new characters. I say create new characters the way you want to.” -Stan Lee GROTH: How did you feel about communism then? KIRBY: Oh, communism! That was a burning issue. It was an outrageous issue. To be termed a communist would damage your whole family, damage your whole world- your friends wouldn't talk to you. I'm talking about other people -because I wouldn't go near the stuff. Sure, I was against the reds. I became a witch hunter. My enemies were the commies -I called them commies. In fact, Granny Goodness was a commie, Doubleheader was a commie. STAN'S SOAPBOX “This month we're gonna yak about something that has nothing to do with our mags! Over the years we've re ceived a zillion letters asking for the Builpen's opinion about such diverse subjects as Viet Nam, civil rights, the war on poverty, and the upcoming elec tion. We're fantasmagorically fiattered that our opinion wouid matter to you, but here's the hang-up: there ISN'T any unanimous Bullpen opinion about any thing. except possibly mother Iove and apple pie! Take the election, for exam ple. Soine of us are staunch Demo- crats. and others dyed-in-the-wool publicans. As for Yours Truly and a few others, we prefer to judge the person, rather than the party line. That's why we seek to avoid editorializing about controversial issues not because we haven't our opinions, but rather be cause we share the same diversity of opinion as Americans everywhere. But. we'd like to go on record about one vital issue we believe that Man has a divine destiny, and an awesome re sponsibility the responsibility of treating all who share this wondrous world of ours with tolerance and re spect judging each fellow human on his own merit, regardless of race, creed, or color. That we agree on and we'll never rest until it, becomes a fact, rather than just a cherished dream. Excelsior, Smiley.” GROTH: How did you feel about the Senate Subcommittee Hearings? Did you think that was a witch-hunt, or did you think there was any validity to the public's concern? KIRBY: I didn't feel one way or another about it. I was only hoping that it would come out well enough to continue comics, that it wouldn't damage comics in anyway, so I could continue Working. I was a young man. I was still growing out of the East Side. The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I'd beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it. GROTH: Were you very political? KIRBY:I wasn't then. I was very concerned with comics. I'm political now. I knew this much - that everybody voted Democrat down my way. If you were poor, you voted Democrat and if you were rich you voted Republican. STARLOG: We all noticed the lack of women in the Star Wars trilogy. Are you go- ing to bring more women in for future Star Wars films? LUCAS: Well, what of Princess Leia? When you're making a war film, how are you going to put women in it? Think of other war films, think of The Longest Day, those films. Well, it's your galaxy; I have to go with the rest of the world. And still make it believable. I'm not sure how many women will be in the rest of the films; that's the kind of thing that plots dictate. What would Star Wars have been like if Han Solo had been a woman? “Still others picked up on Lucas's Vietnam allegory, though Lucas, wary of politics, publicly disavowed any and all sociopolitical theories and quashed any speculation on the deeper meaning of his film. For Lucas, it was enough that Star Wars could be merely entertaining-and entirely the point.” “FOOLS WILL TELL YOU THAT IT'S INHU- MAN TO LIVE BY BLACK AND WHITE PRINCIPLES BUT HUMAN TO ACCEPT AND PRACTISE GREY PRINCIPLES. TO BE CORRUPI. TO COMPROMISE WITH EVIL! THERE 1S NO MIDDLE OF THE ROAD BETWEEN GOOD A ND EVIL!THE Y ARE NOT TWO ROADS GOING IN THE SAME DIRECTI ON BUT OPPOSI TE ROADS TO DIFFERENT GOALS! YOUR CHOICE OF ACTIONS WILL DE - TERM INE IN WHICH DIRECTION YOU WILL LEAD YOURSELF ! CHO OSE YOUR ROAD- NO ONE CAN DO IT FOR YOU!” Copyright Steve Ditko 1963 "Star Wars deals with the essential problem: Is the machine going to control humanity, or is the machine going to serve humanity? Darth Vader is a man taken over by a machine, he becomes a machine, and the state itself is a machine. There is no humanity in the state. What runs the world is economics and politics, and they have nothing to do with the spiritual life." - Joseph Campbel From "PW Interviews Joseph Campbell, by Chris Goodrich" Publisher's Weekly (August 23, 1985, p.74-75) Great storytelling is what’s important. The Stories that aren’t political at all and are based on good writing, good characters , deeper lessons, morals and entertainment as well as the stories that do have political elements but are more focused on an engaging story,a well thought out lesson or idea behind it and interesting characters are the stories that make great entertainment. As my film teacher taught me Art before politics, always. The story & characters comes first whether the politics are subtle, secondary or completely non existent. Great now let’s clear up any false narrative about the great storytellers of old. They were not the kind of political activist mostly failing to write comics today the modern ones anyway. It doesn’t matter what politics they believed conservative, liberal, traditional, progressive if they even believed in any because a lot of them were also apolitical when making comics, movies etc. You had a lot of apolitical comics back in the day when comics were first being made especially early DC & early marvel. When social or political topics would come up in a story they would either be subtle, secondary to the great plots, and well made characterization and/or intelligent written to the point that it actually felt like the storyteller has something to say that was worth while like Steve Ditko, Alan Moore & Frank Miller which trust me when I tell you all three have wildly different political views. Steve Ditko was one of those Ayn Rand conservative or libertarian types. Stan Lee had a 60’s Liberal thing going on but he helped make Iron Man specifically to trick the hippy crowd in his day into liking a rich weapons arms dealer. Jack Kirby was apolitical for most of his comic book making career the only time he got political was when nut like Hitler would turn up. These guys showed that whether the comics were apolitical or political free as like to mockingly call them Or subtle when it came to political intent that they would make good stories. Good stories weren’t sacrificed just to get a political point across. That’s what Stan Lee means by hitting people over the head.

[@bendu8282]

The first layer is the basic premise to a heroes journey or three point perspective and the deeper layers are the logical writing and emotions that fuel that basic premise, for me stories with political elements whether subtle or secondary have those political elements at a lower layer then all of that add extra flavor or show an interesting parallel for example in Star Wars Many people in the modern era who cite George being afraid of America becoming like Authoritarian Empires believed he strictly blamed The Rightwing side of politics for a possibility of this happening and that he promoted socialism or something modern. They of course didn’t pay attention. George didn’t blame one group or side when it came to politics for the risk of authoritarianism he blamed all sides of politics for that risk.

[@g3ar75]

THANK YOU! I'm gonna be honest I never expected you to make a video on this. But you just earned my respect. I fear that a lot of us who have been pushing back against woke (rightfully so) have pushed too far and are now on the complete opposite side, becoming the enemy they once swore to destroy. I love nuanced takes Edit: Holy shit I didn’t realise this video was over a year old

[@nicholasvinen]

I really have to question the need to "raise awareness" of issues that have been constantly shoved down our throats for the past 20 years.

[@thebarbaryghostsf]

When those issues continue to be massive social problems, it's important to continue raising awareness of them.

[@KneGros-nc1ss]

Complete horseshit. Raise awareness when everyone knows? What are you on meth or something? The less people talk about gay shit and push it around, making people feel sexually uncomfortable, the more theres going to be a pushback, the more you blow this shit in others face the more they're going to dropkick you down to stop that shit. I myself am bisexual, its not who I am, only a part of me. Can we stop this obsession with tokenising your friends to be different colourful/queer pokemon?

[@fgjsdfgjkl]

There being no need for you to raise awareness does not mean raising awareness of issues isn't important. You have the luxury of feeling issues are being shoved down your throat because none of the issues spoken about affect you. This does not mean they're not worth discussing. The internet is a multifaceted and varied place, and there is really no reason for you to act like you're being force fed content when we can all curate our feeds. Especially when said content attempts to improve the world and the lived experiences of minorities and those that face significant struggles. Just click the three dots, go "I don't like this video" and move on, but don't act like there is no need for awareness because you personally don't see it.

[@ethanwright752]

@@fgjsdfgjkl It affects us because you want to achieve your imaginary delusional social and economic parity at the expense of other people (me) you falsely believe are the source of your invented misfortune.

[@ethanwright752]

@@thebarbaryghostsf Pro tip: they aren't problems, you are just an arrogant, ignorant malcontent.

[@Komix777]

Not only the word hasn't even lost it's relevancy, it's more relevant than ever - because it's more invasive than ever. You can hear in congressional hearings, politicians use it, legislators talk about it - and yes, ordinary people too. This is not a "both sides" issue, neither - it's undeniably there, it's undeniably in your face, and it's undeniably wrong.

[@kaj7135]

Woketarded is how I describe everyone stupid enough to take the term seriously.

[@MrTrexMcgee]

Maybe watch the video again?

[@creed22solar123]

and that's basically it - the beginnings of China system of scoring everything, the ESG system that holds companies hostage to wokeness, and that's why everything's woke and that's only the beginning.

[@EnsignRedshirtRicky]

@@MrTrexMcgee The bafflegab of the OP's comment has most people confused, clearly. It can be read in a number of ways, and the start is just painful to my logic center.

[@emiami458]

The video is saying just because there's a gay or person of color character in a movie, show or game doesn't make it woke, it's the context that matters.

[@ryancarr808]

I've had these same thoughts and ideologies, and literally came to reddit and youtube to find common minds. And for you to so poetically and concisely lay it all out, makes me so happy. I'll share this and I hope everyone else does too.

[@ry8100]

You went to Reddit to discuss nuance with this topic? God speed sir. I wish you the best…

[@ItsaKindOfMagic86]

@@ry8100 hehe yeah my thoughts exactly

[@imoutocompalex]

Good luck finding a subreddit that agrees with this take. Please let me know if you ever find one because Reddit has become so hive-minded lately that they will defend The Rings of Power to the Death as a great show.

[@Mr6Sinner]

@@imoutocompalex Although it’s a meme sub, I’ve had some rather nuanced and respectable conversations with people I disagree with on r/PCM

[@ironpulcinella3586]

Reddit IS a Woke hivemind WTF are you doing there get out I ditched reddit for 9gag Much better now

[@Kernwadi]

"Nostalgia is stored in the testicles." -Bilbo Baggins

[@jamesmeeks4852]

The 1st definition you quoted is on point. The second is a perversion or ignorance if the true meaning. It started here in the United States during the civil rights movement. Woke and "conscious" in that time of american history are synonymous.

[@eljay5009]

Words acquire new meaning all the time. The second definition is no less valid.

[@GoodTimeBikes]

After what Hollywood has done to me I feel like a severely abused child who’s been whipped too hard too many times. I have zero tolerance for my abusers.

[@wambokodavid7109]

What has Hollywood done to "you"?

[@elcidS15]

@@wambokodavid7109 Hollywood massively effects culture. It’s done a lot of things to all of us.

[@yasharthpandey6317]

@@wambokodavid7109 Ruined modern entertainment. It isn't really personal or anything; but I don't think we should be worried about going too hard against wokeness until it is drastically reduced. Hollywood lectures us about issues, calls us racist, sexist etc. on a dime whenever their new pet project gets backlash. After enough of this, I think a little melodrama is justified.

[@christophertaylor9100]

Yeah, even stuff I would have shrugged at twenty years ago I find annoying now because they keep pushing it and keep beating us over the head with it

[@bearistotle2820]

@Yasharth Pandey The stories we tell each other are incredibly important. They shape the framework by which we view the world. So, I don't think this is melodrama, I think the OP is underselling how damaging Hollywood has been for decades at this point.

[@tomzablee]

I've always just understood 'woke' as a synonym for identity politics.

[@EnsignRedshirtRicky]

Not just that but also the attack on societal norms, and the emasculation of males in their own shows/movies.

[@Kyle-sr6jm]

Identity politics is part of the Woke ideology.

[@GoldsteinShekelbergSwartz]

So Hitler was woke? America was woke since only free white men could gain citizenship? Is Russia woke? Is Iran woke? Is China woke? All those countries practice Identity politics. Your gay liberalism is woke!

[@archstanton9073]

It's just another word for Cultural Marxism.

[@CharlieD.706]

I think they’ve probed the drinker. 😂

[@dahelmang]

A wise man avoids all extremes.

[@chrisidema]

A wise man knows when to avoid extremes and when to embrace them.

[@09spidy]

This video needs to be shared far and wide across the internet, people need to hear this.

[@Komix777]

8:22 It does, honestly. The crazy overrepresentation of a tiny fraction of society that was considered to be mentally ill for most of human history by most cultures isn't exactly neutral.

[@Benji-jj2bg]

So their mere existence is an insult to you huh? 🤦

[@Komix777]

@@Benji-jj2bg No, but it's curious as to why it has suddenly become so pervasive in media.

[@Benji-jj2bg]

@@Komix777 I don't think it really matters if they are in a movie or not. It can still be a good movie and have good writing. As long as they aren't making everything about their politics and how evil society is and "white man bad". I dont care if your trans, I don't care about your skin color. I just want good entertainment that focuses on good stories.

[@Komix777]

@@Benji-jj2bg I don't think that artificially focusing on a tiny fringe element of society and then pretending it's basically the same as a traditional family makes for very good storytelling.

[@Benji-jj2bg]

@@Komix777 "artificially focusing on a tiny fringe elementy of society"? how do you artifically focus on something? Are you saying that gay people shouldnt be allowed in stories or tv? Because thats what it sounds like.... And noone is saying its the same as a traditional family? Your not better then them and they arent better then you. Were all just people and we are born the we are born. You should stop judging them because they are gay because that is completely irrelevant to what type of person they are.

[@auroraSLAP]

You can really tell who doesn’t watch Critical Drinker because so many just say he’s a shallow nobody who cries “woke” at everything when that couldn’t be further from the truth. He just likes good stories. Honestly I wonder why this isn’t on the main channel.

[@ItsaKindOfMagic86]

good stories are in short supply so short that people lower their standards in doing that is why the push back will fizzle out because people will take subpar trash because it is easier than pushing back

[@captbuckyohare5585]

Agree, he's got as much patience as anyone and was among the first defenders of Andor and Last of Us when the reactionary first past the post opinions of his contemporaries were "These are both shit." He actually had to stand his ground pretty firmly on Andor, could acknowledge the show's weaknesses, but didn't throw it under the bus when the easy thing to do would have been to jump on the hate wagon. Now, amongst those same contemporaries, the group opinion is "Ok. It WAS good. But too little too late." Yeah, when he does a short form video that's taking a shot at something, he ramps it up in the DRINKER PERSONA, but normally he's quite a thoughtful and fair critic. Also: it's not on the main channel because he fucked up and uploaded here by accident. He said so earlier this week.

[@SabotAndHeat75]

The problem isn’t that I’ll see wokeness in every movie I see. It’s that I can’t get my money back when it really is.

[@blackallday]

What is woke

[@blackallday]

Stop copying everything black people say you look foolish 😂😂😂

[@pinkinkling1905]

​@@blackalldayA word in African American Vernacular English (AAVE, Ebonics) that was bastardized as soon as mainstream America got their hands on it :/

[@kojofarrow9430]

@@blackallday awareness

[@jeremygonzal8603]

Could not have said it better. That "Boy who cried woke" bit got me.

[@romarudarkeyes]

This should 100% be on your main channel, and it needs to be pushed far and wide for all to see - absolutely bang on with this Drinker. Give us actual characters we can get invested in, rather than lazy box ticking exercises.

[@voxpopuli8132]

There is a reason why it is not on his main channel. He does not dare to run with it. Not yet, anyways.

[@fauxshowyo]

it's not simply box ticking anymore - if it were, 'go woke go broke' would've kicked in long ago and companies large and small wouldn't push this agenda anymore. Every institution, especially the likes of entertainment and academia (the primary cultural centers) are no staffed from top to bottom with the rabid ideologues you saw fired from Twitter shortly after Elon's takeover. They're not interested in money or profit or good business sense or what customers want; they're interested in a scorched earth policy of destroying everything they don't approve of and accessing your children to recruit them into their ranks. That's it. But they continue to get funded by conservatards and libertarians alike who can't let go of their beloved childhood IPs.

[@captbuckyohare5585]

@@voxpopuli8132 He said yesterday he uploaded it to the second channel by accident.

[@voxpopuli8132]

@@captbuckyohare5585 LOL. I guess he can either copy it to his main one, or delete this one and reupload it to his main one.

[@SyndicateOperative]

Spread the propaganda as far and wide as possible, great advance. Gods, I hate plebs.

[@jamestkirkcameron9189]

Great monologue about the state of wokeness and what it really is. Whenever I use the term, I feel like it’s because I can’t think of any other word to describe what I’m seeing without going into a long tirade. I’m really glad the drinker has blown up like he has. I remember him first coming on the scene about 4-5 years ago with his epic GOT final season reviews and the Star Wars new trilogy criticisms. A great movie reviewer indeed. I miss the days of old movie critics who were honest and weren’t afraid of sharing their opinions on popular movies, no matter what the backlash was waiting for them. Cheers to you Drinker!

[@jacobmatthews7524]

ironically these critics have The Last Jedi to thank for their success. their criticism of that film is what made the first of them blow up, and others followed to the new space that they created

[@jamestkirkcameron9189]

@@jacobmatthews7524 so true! That movie really changed entertainment culture. It was a prophetic movie in showing us what mainstream entertainment would be like from now on. And they did it with such a grandiose IP that everyone knew and loved. All by a company most people also knew and loved. It was a real eye opener to there true motives and agendas!

[@T1tusCr0w]

He should be on the damn BBC on their film program instead of Lamar. who is quite good but way to safe with an eye always to being right ( and by this I mean right on! ) rather than truthful and nuanced and speaking with his own authentic voice. I wish some producers were brave enough to do it.

[@denkerbosu3551]

"Woke" is what these started calling tehmselves, and it wasn't until others started using their term, and criticise what it carries with it, that they started going "STOP CALLING EVERYTHING WOKE, YOU TRIGGERED?!" I think the very etrm "Social Justice Warriors" started like that, with them calling themselves that. In the end is all just their deranged idology where reality isn't a thing, it's whatever makes them feel good and morally righteous at the moment.

[@bukhariapdelahi7072]

the terms "woke" and "redpilled" originally had the exact same meaning (being aware of the inconvenient truth about society), but depending on who adopted the terms their meanings changed into mocking insults

[@MarvinHartmann452]

These ideologies were both pushed to their extreme (with the help of social media) and became caricatures.

[@truthisfree7297]

I think you tackled this subject with great thought. The best media (book, movie or music) is an opportunity to expand your mind/consciousness, not something that should force concepts on the viewer/reader. When you look at the roots of "woke" which should have stayed being "awake" this was a concept by great thinkers/spiritual masters of the past meaning to expand one's awareness of their being. I'm not sure the corrupt mainstream entertainment industry has a place in attempting to guide social progress.

[@tennesseeponderer3146]

I think the reason so many people call things out as woke is because pattern recognition is a central mechanism of the human mind.

[@c3bhm]

Especially the form of pattern recognition that is THREAT DETECTION (which is exactly what all of this is: a deadly neo-marxist threat to our societal/cultural strength and values and cohesion).

[@4891MR]

Not just humans. We have the ability, at a deep level, to look into the forest at night and hone in on the bush that is shaped like a face. Species that ignored the face that was shaped like a bush went extinct. A higher function is self-awareness. Woke literally is a synonym for alert. Prejudice can see prejudice where it doesn't really exist. But if you make a habit of calling out oversensitivity, then you need to take care that you in turn pre-judge none of your judgements of judgements of pre-judgement.

[@Greeblyweebly]

The problem is that this could also be applied to people calling things “racist” and “sexist” though. Recognizing and calling out patterns is good, but we should be doing more than simply slap a label on a piece of media, otherwise all nuance is lost again.

[@rogermoreno1152]

You are correct, but in this case, 95% of modern American cinema/tv contains all of this, so absolutely there is a pattern to see in the first place. It’s become so prevalent that it’s impossible now to *not* see it

[@4891MR]

@@rogermoreno1152 I wonder why nobody blames the girl for the death of Wolverine. Everybody seems to love that film

[@toybarons]

I feel this is one of the best explanation of what WOKE is. CD thank you.

[@vanessalore9942]

I just discovered this. Drinker, this is absolutely the best analysis of this issue I’ve ever heard. You are an effin genius

[@bingobongo9521]

You have the talent to put complex facts into words. That's pretty much how I see it, but I couldn't express it very well. I love my job, although i’m working in a pretty „woke“ environment. Main criticism I have is, that woke people tend to not put things in perspective. I call it „Twitter-Thinking“: Just jumping on buzz-words, not considering the broader picture, beating on people who criticize them for that. It‘s a higher-morale-ground kind of thinking.

[@Klee99zeno]

The problem is how creators prioritize the issues like diversity and representation. They tend to think that the MOST IMPORTANT feature of your creative project is that it is diverse and representative of all groups. This means that in their minds, a film or series cannot possibly be good unless it contains the woke messages. This is why the Oscars have made the new rules about requiring all potential nominees to meet certain quotas.

[@EyesWillRule]

The Oscars made those new rtsules to pass the onus from them onto the studios. For years the Academy Awards was decried as being racist for not nominating so-and-so or some movie not winning anything, so this is their way of stopping all those accusations. From now on, everything entered will pass the diversity test and thus bypass the complain. It's actually not going to stop the accusations when the movies that are voted the winners are the least diverse. It will never be enough.

[@westtownshend5661]

The Oscars had a serious issue in that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences membership was almost entirely old white males a few years ago. Fair enough. But applying diversity rules to movies simply reduces the value of the award.

[@OvalRock]

If it has not happened yet, there is a real danger the best motion picture of the year will not win the Best Motion Picture award if its director is a straight white man.

[@JohnSmith-yd5wq]

No

[@nikkiXx19]

​@@OvalRock LMAOO literally look at all past best director awards and see how it is basically all white males... you white people wanna feel oppressed so bad.

[@harleymitchelly5542]

As I've seen it explained in a KZbin comment that has always stuck with me... "Giving your character a set of politics gives them depth. Giving your politics a character robs them of it."

[@boogieboo5085]

Admittedly, I'm guilty of seeing wokeness in so many things ever since Hollywood and the gaming industry started wedging it into every facet of our entertainment. I was ready to throw in the towel on Carnival Row after the first 15 minutes of the 1st season showcased an unarmed female Pixie(Vignette) killing several armed men in hand-to-hand combat. Thankfully, I pushed past that and kept watching to discover that Vignette was on the verge of mental and physical breakdown, which eventually happened, and placed her in a highly vulnerable state that took a little time to recover from. She wasn't a Mary Sue. Vignette was flawed and continued to make mistakes throughout the show. She was often overpowered by larger more aggressive male characters and didn't emasculate the male lead, which was also a flawed and complex character who had a shared past with her. The characters on the show are well-written and the sexes play to their strengths in a world where racism and classism between humans and the Fae folk are at the forefront of the social and geopolitical climates. Season 2 isn't as strong as Season 1 (IMO), but it's a decent show that isn't woke for the sake of pushing 'The Message'. It all fits within the world that the showrunners created and its something I've seen in movies and video games in the decades that superseded the modern woke entertainment industry.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

Boogie Boo? Good Video BUT he should have mentioned or veen outright-adresses the fact how much the Vagueness of 'Woke'; if not even the emotions of people using it positively/helpfully; is HIJACKED-and-Used by Evil-Doers like Ted-Cruz

[@stejer211]

You sound exactly like someone trying to sell the woke message under false pretenses.

[@brendaspence1824]

@@stejer211 lol show actually well written and not typically woke,and it’s still not good enough I’m done with this back and forth 😂 it’s gotten stupid and silly now with all y’all 😂

[@stejer211]

@@brendaspence1824 Where and when did we have this back and forth? Also: Your irony detector seems to be broken.

[@krisewings]

I completely agree with everything you said!! I’m glad someone finally speaks up about this. And everyone gets so defensive, and offended when a post or comment speaks using the word/term “woke”.

[@watchparty1]

Drinker is worried we may "Swing back too far in the other direction." Except there is no swing back. Nothing has changed. All that has happened is some KZbinrs (Drinker most of all) have risen to prominence criticizing the "Woke" product. I think it's only going to get worse.

[@patbastardandthespurious5822]

I'm still waiting on the famous pendulum to swing back to the days of feudal monarchy, but it hasn't happened yet. Almost as if there is no pendulum and Cthulhu always swims left.

[@raskolnikov6443]

Agreed. Really weird to worry about something that is not on the horizon at all. It also shows that it’s not the socially leftist values that bother him but the writing and it being too blatant with its propaganda instead of subtle.

[@brendofire2084]

I mean there have been some examples of people going so far to criticize wokeness that they start seeing it where it isn't, such as Synthetic Man with GoW: Ragnorok, but yeah, it will be some time before people really start going too far

[@scottyb3391]

Honestly, I agree with everyone else. This video deserves to be on your main channel where more people will see it. This is an incredibly well put together, intelligent, and nuanced take on the issue. I think it gives people on both sides of the argument a lot to think about. Thank you for making this.

[@brendaspence1824]

Some people said it before,but it would get torn apart by his fanbase that ONLY wanna hear him rip into the current woke media,and sadly that’s a huuuge chunk of his subscribers

[@syscruncher]

One of the best ways I have heard it put is “diversity is an outcome, not a destination.” …and outcome of a job done well. A destination for those that are too lazy to do a job well.

[@TheAsylumCat]

I feel that the ending point is very important. It's good that there's a correction happening, I'm just worried they'll be an over correction. Be careful not to fall for the same traps your enemies did.

[@Octovisuals]

I fear we got past that already.

[@SaltpeterTaffy]

The craziest part of this story is that George Takei was right about something.

[@JustTooDamnHonest]

Even a moron can get something right at times.

[@spinlok3943]

Oh myyyyy....

[@TheWarmachine375]

@@spinlok3943 King Kai: "Seriously? How do people keep getting on this line?!"

[@bensmith1689]

I am sure after he realised he had acted like a decent, sane human being for once, he immediately tweeted an absolutely garbage, hate-filled and ill informed take on something or other.

[@och70]

@@bensmith1689 He probably more than made up for it with oRaNgE MaN BaD TDS rants on Twitter.

[@snekks7497]

Finding injustice in everyone's actions except your own.

[@steelyman08]

This is the best explanation I've heard. Well done. Both sides are "woke". As he says, the true meaning has been eclipsed by arrogant narrowmindedness. Just avoid the word altogether and keep explaining yourself via critical thinking. "Woke" is just an insult at this point.

[@RobbWolfVideos]

This is outstanding. It’s fascinating that folks who manly focus on pop culture: movies, comics, TV…produce some of the best, most balanced, insightful and compelling social commentary anywhere.

[@nenmaster5218]

Woke is used all the time by Looneys, soooooo

[@silashurd3597]

It’s nice seeing CD talk about something we all think

[@chasehedges6775]

The Critical Drinker is the best ❤❤💯👍

[@liamphibia]

He's an expert when it comes to talking about these types of topics!🍺

[@theBlackFox15]

Not only what we think, but what we need to hear. Helps keep us all sane at the end of the day

[@bacht4799]

Even people who doesn’t like him or his channel here.. gonna admit this is one of his best videos because as said he said what we all think .. there isn’t any problems with progress ideas on different races, gender or sexuality in storytelling it’s how it’s told..

[@whenpigsfly8178]

@@bacht4799 Yeah. Just like representation can be _over_ representation when every second person is ''diverse''.

[@adamnoseworthy6524]

I agree with everything said here, but as an average viewer, I've been burned too many times. Going into a movie in good faith and getting slapped with " the message " leaves me nihilistic to even try movies if it has a touch of woke potential.

[@talynstarburst2l2l2l]

Bravo! This is so well said in details that I will share a link to this video with everyone who asks to define woke.. of course I doubt a majority of those who asks will be interested in the truth, but at least this is here. 👏

[@2Ten1Ryu]

I completely agree with you. To me it was always about how they do it, not that they do it at all. I hope there will be some improvement in the future.

[@nabrzhunter]

Possibly the best video of the year so far. Well said, bravo! Show recommend - “For All Mankind” is perhaps the best demonstrations of objective storytelling I have ever seen. My ‘woke alarm’ has been triggered several times, only to find I was being overly sensitive - burned too many times, I guess. It’s such a relief.

[@bentolinmaddox9806]

I thought the same thing when I got into the gay episode of Last of Us. I started by thinking “oh shit here we go!” But then it turned out to be a very well done episode, with likable characters, good arcs, and a story that made you feel invested, anxious, happy, and sad.

[@seamonlark9282]

@@bentolinmaddox9806 Well.. that episode kinda is in the realm of perfect gay relationship tho. It's really the classic trope of a woman changing a rough weirdo into a caring and loving man. Just with gays. :D Don't get me wrong the episode is quite good a bit too sweet, not very original, but fine. I just felt, it kinda wasted momentum and didn't bring much to the story in the big picture. They could have included some more info about the world - like some news heard on radio, etc. For example they could have heard about the Kansas city revolt in radio and give some remarks about it..

[@Benji-jj2bg]

@@seamonlark9282 they showed them fighting to as well so it wasnt all perfect. Obviously the episode wasnt long enough to show much more so they just stuck to a few different scenes from their entire 2 decade lives. The Bill and Frank story did the same thing for the plot in the show as it did the game. Except in the game it was shown in a different light, where Bill is what joel could turn into if he doesnt change. While in the show he shows what joel what he needs to be. If anything, it built the show up and brought a huge more people to watching it the next week.

[@johnnyskinwalker4095]

Yea we're all like this, it's like we have become extra paranoid. Then again Hollywood has lost the benefit of the doubt a long time ago. Look at Velma.

[@johnnyskinwalker4095]

@@seamonlark9282 Not to mention, if it was a man and a woman, would we have had an entire episode decicated to these two random people?

[@devlinallistair5147]

People don't like to be told what to do. A simple concept that has somehow, mysteriously, eluded us throughout history.

[@Jagent]

I think fewer people feel that way than you think.

[@elijahtiemens5532]

No, they do, so long as they actually trust the people doing it.

[@LyaksandraB]

People don't really care. It just has to be done a certain way. Just look around you, look at the billionaires who rule us, look at the divide between us, the poor, and them, and then revisit that idea. People may dislike being pushed around and shouted at while being ordered what to do, but that's entirely different from a generic "dislike of being told what to do" as you put it.

[@Aquagirl-in6wr]

As a black woman, it doesn't make sense to see black, Asians, etc in period movies or shows. These producers are taking the audience and masses for fools. There's nothing worse than watching a show that lacks authenticity and feel like you're being pandered to. I hope they're listening and will make changes because it's certainly put me off from watching Netflix and any new shows.

[@stellasvartur4547]

Just last night i watched 'Knife in the Water', Polanski's first feature film from 1962 and I was intrigued by how competent and self assured the female lead comes across. We had it all, it was all there and yet they tried to tell us, things have to change to represent the world we live in today.

[@jantonisito]

That movie was made in Communist Poland where in general theee was quite a lot of realism in depicting female characters in movies, TV in theaters. And yes the times were different - think eg about how amazing Katherine Hepburn was in Lion in the Winter.

[@AtticusKarpenter]

@@jantonisito Also in the USSR, full voting rights for women were the first in the world to be adopted. And in Soviet culture with gender equality everything was fine. I wonder why modern sjw sometimes call themselves socialists and marxists, but are ready to borrow only the worst from real socialists lol

[@grandmufftwerkin9037]

What is woke? Brought to you by Woke-a Cola.

[@kyvian251]

Be-less-white-cola I still haven’t forgotten

[@MegamanXfan21xx]

Woke-a Cola contains real woke-caine.

[@utrock5067]

Not to mention Old-Spice commercials.

[@NewCanada]

@@utrock5067 I miss the older ones with Terry and the guy who rode the horse backwards.

[@JIreland1992]

This is why I like you Drinker. Your one of the few media critics that actually understands nuance and won’t just get mad because “hurt sure wokeness”

[@RoberinoSERE]

Outstanding analysis Braveheart! 👍🏼 History is a record of a pendulum swinging back and forth around the good and mostly evil machinations of the human condition.

[@Vortexgunner3282]

I'm about to say something transphobic

[@rcnelson]

Well said, plus the montage of movie clips makes me realize how widespread and influential movies are with so many terrific examples. What a rich heritage. That's why the current wok, er, PC, um, CRT bias in the movies is so disheartening. I watch practically no new releases anymore.

[@_Imperium_7]

There is a very informative political channel, which has made good critiques of ‘Wokeism’, called MentisWave on KZbin. He points out that the problem with this form of progressive politics is it often relies heavily on the equity fallacy, which is a type of fallacy that believes that just because there are unequal outcomes, it must always be the result of some form of systemic discrimination in society. This is without taking into consideration other factors like geography and culture that can also create these unequal outcomes.

[@Monty2289]

Congrats thats 'progressive' marxism

[@46sn29]

I always use the 1998 film Blade as an example when explaining to people what makes something woke. The movie has a black lead with a black female co-lead and a white villain. Despite this, absolutely nothing about the movie is woke. It's just an awesome film with a black superhero. Now take the exact same movie and make the white villain a "vampire supremacist" who wants to make vampires great again. Make Blade constantly have to fight the cops just as much as vampires because they are always trying to shoot him for simply being black. Have Blade go on random tangents about systemic racism and have the female blood doctor magically be a secret martial arts master who can hold her own even better than Blade. Now the film is woke.

[@kalash_nikov]

Not all reasonable progressives blame *only* systemic discrimination. Sure, some loud and angry twitter dwellers do believe that, but if you listen to someone progressive with a bit if brain and emotional maturity, they will tell point also to culture, geography, genetics, etc. as other factors that make things unequal for humans.

[@dallin4992]

I'm gonna blow all your minds. Ready? *Life isn't fair* Get over it.

[@toms7114]

@@kalash_nikov What does that smart and emotionally mature progressive suggest as a way to solve those non-systemic issues? And are those solutions viable, or even wanted by those who "suffer" from a poor culture, geography, or genetics?

[@kaw8473]

My husband didn't understand what the word meant and I described it to him as "shoehorned inclusivity where it doesn't need to be." He watched Strange World and he told me he then understood what my definition meant.

[@ThatNorwegianGuy-]

Just tell him it's neo-Marxism w/ destructive obsession of race, gender, sexuality. If he wants a deep dive understanding then he should listen to James Lindsay's lectures

[@clogs4956]

My husband has never quite grasped the point of, to put it in one word, Woke. Unfortunately, if I asked him to watch 'Strange World', he'd tell me it's a children's film. This is a man who, when I rejected Amazon's Rings of Power, couldn't understand why a fan of Tolkien's work wouldn't love the series.

[@yewtewbstew547]

@@ThatNorwegianGuy- That's getting more into the underlying schools of thought that result in wokeness, rather than what wokeness is in action. But I agree that understanding that stuff is important, at least on a basic enough level to where you're able to identify its influence in people's motivations. "Intersectionality" is basically what you're describing there, I think.

[@ThatNorwegianGuy-]

@@yewtewbstew547 Both the terms "woke" and "intersectionality" are derived from the same schools of thought, leading back to Marxist doctrine. And in today's age they can in many instances mean one and the same thing tbh.. But "wokeness" specifically came out of the black american Marxists interpretation of Marx. It was never an idea of "standing up for real injustice ect" as Drinker and many others in the comment section have suggested. That "it started out good.." Uhm no.. It was always based on a complete historical fallacy. People need to watch Lindsay's lectures on this to get a broader understanding, I can't do his research any justice..

[@gershman23]

@The Last King Of Norway I agree with a lot of yours(and Lindsay's) words, but I would say that the neo-marxism that originated with the black panthers and such, has yielded a phenomenon called cultural Marxism, which perverted many if not most of the western institutions of the last 2 decades...perhaps more. Not my original idea, but I completely agree with it.

[@crom29a]

Thanks Drinker. I really didn't know what to make of it until this video. Many Thanks.

[@cheekzt2l]

Man. If you were trying to have nuance you nailed it. Fair balanced. You represented the other side of the argument THE BEST a man could while explaining your point of view. This level of understanding of both sides makes the world a better place.

[@yourstateofsoul]

This is an amazingly nuanced dissertation from you, Drinker. Well done!

[@nenmaster5218]

Nuanced but a bit short, wasnt it? I invite everyone to also realize how many Politicans and Hatemongerers and Looneys use the Word Woke. Lets lit all Sides of this and also consider 'Who is Ron DeSantis anyway?' by Renegade Cut + 'Is the Republican Party Okay?' by Some More News.

[@broco1163]

Nuance? On KZbin? It's too early in the morning for this

[@TibiConstantine]

doctor drinker I presume

[@TheHardys01]

TF it is.

[@nenmaster5218]

@@broco1163 As my comment poins out: Nah, never too early in the morning.

[@BEARDEDAXEMODELS]

Jesus Christ I've been saying all of this for years now and yet again the drinker puts it better than I ever could. THANK YOU

[@mp-kq3vc]

I'm in my 40's. For as long as I can remember there has always been subtly gay characters, or characters that played up flamboyance, or cross-dressing, or whatever. It was all fine. No one cared. It was just part of a story. But now I see every darn show or movie have something like this... Character one, "I'm actually gay." Character two, "I'm SO PROUD of you! " What is the reason for writers and producers pushing this so hard? Live and let live. "Raising awareness" seems to be the new thing. As if prior generations just wandered around stupidly.

[@YouSuprised]

Social engineering and the conditioning of the younger audiences in order to normalize what in the Bible is described as: the return of Sodom and Gomorrah near the end of the world. It sometimes really feels like it, doesn't it?

[@MarvinHartmann452]

I imagine someone saying "I'm so proud of you" to Xena, the warrior princess, and being slaughtered immediately..

[@traceymarshall5868]

You could not have said it better. You nailed it in a non-defensive; yet realistic way. Politically correct on both sides and I agree. Thank you for explaining what I have been trying to say for the least several months!

[@sandwichninja]

Actually, he sugarcoated it with qualifiers about "reasonable" ways to give representation in order to avoid being called a "racist". He's a coward, and that's the only reason he's still allowed on KZbin.

[@Doctor.Trolling]

@@sandwichninja That's the nuance he was talking about. You can have diversity without being woke. Being woke happens when said diversity doesn't make sense given the setting of the story.

[@sandwichninja]

@@Doctor.Trolling I understand what you're saying, but I disagree with your general outlook. Diversity just means "less Whites". I don't want diversity. I want White countries for White people, and for others to have their own countries as well.

[@Doctor.Trolling]

@@sandwichninja Some writers may use diversity as an excuse to put less white characters in their works, but diversity itself does not inherently mean less white people. An all black or all Asian cast isn’t any more diverse than an all white cast. There still are countries that are almost exclusively white, and the same goes for other races well. If the writers choose to force diversity into a racially homogeneous location, then it’s just proof that they either don’t know or don’t care about what they’re writing about, but there’s no fault in depicting realistically diverse places as diverse. Due to various factors, it’s inevitable that humans of various different races will all end up in the same place and settle there.

[@sandwichninja]

​@@Doctor.Trolling They only do it in White countries and it always results in less White people. Do you know what _"praxis"_ is? It's the Roman/Latin name for the concept of how accurately something translates from theory to practice. The on-paper definition doesn't mean anything in the face of objective reality. Especially when it's already been going on for a while now. So people can spin it however they want, but it's obvious that it's all anti-White propaganda.

[@centerfield6339]

If I ever think that overly sexualised women is an outdated stereotype, I quickly remember that OnlyFans exists.

[@wambokodavid7109]

But..but..but..

[@jag764]

Who decides what '' overly sexualized '' is? To some people a woman wearing a skirt is '' oversexualized ''... I also think men in movies are way more sexualized than women nowadays but no one complains about that.. I don't think it's an '' outdated stereotype '', I think people who say that are just trying to control others and shame people for liking content that they might not. It's basically just dumb shaming tactics to try and shame people into submission. The movie and game industry are also enormous, there should be content for everyone. It's stupid to think that some games or movies shouldn't be allowed or should be shamed, people can just watch or play something else. If someone wants to make a game that revolves around male models running around in speedos with close-ups on their bulge or butts who the fuck cares? I think that game has a right to exist too, and I don't think there's anything wrong or '' outdated '' with having fun with sexuality. The same goes with a similar game but with female characters, if every game was like that then it'd be a problem but I also think there is a problem when no game is like that. Diversity to me means that everyone is included and that everyone has games to play ( unless it's extremely illegal shit ). The industries are big enough to have things for everyone to enjoy.

[@megkrish7568]

I actually like hyper sexualized female characters, but like when they own their sexuality and use it to their advantage. Not just for fanservice if you know what I mean

[@elcidS15]

@@jag764 Your idea of diversity is not the wokies’ idea of diversity. So it doesn’t matter.

[@dw1419]

They deserve all the pushback and backlash. We're already at the point where a large portion of the population believes (or at least is scared enough to pretend to believe) that not making a medieval English village as racially diverse as current-year NYC (or not having alphabet representation orders of magnitude higher than actual demographics and in places that it doesn't fit) is literal violence and indicative of g3nocid4l hatred. If the crazies get to keep most of the cultural territory they've "conquered" because their opponents are too gentlemanly, we won't have much of a culture left. Let's see if we can actually get anything to move in the other direction before worrying about whether it is going to go too far.

[@HeavyTopspin]

It's not a large portion. It's a tiny portion who are disproportionately loud on social media.

[@jacobmatthews7524]

interesting that people often get the gay thing so wrong. anyone with a knowledge of the history of sexuality will know that ancient and medieval europe was more gay than the west is now, it just wasn't feminized. homosexuality and heterosexuality coexisted in people, and even many of the male nobles were openly having sexual relations with men. people at the time were writing this down.

[@ragingnoob3603]

@@HeavyTopspin sadly it isn't. I meet to many people in my everyday life who believe or preach a lot of these weird ideologies now because it's constantly pushed in media I even heard my therapist talk about toxic masculinity and white fragility.

[@dugonman8360]

The issue is that they do expect you to be gentlemanly and concede the argument. Remember that all their pretty words are just window dressing for malice and hate. Its a bouquet of flowers hiding a bowie knife. Also remember their tricks. Theyre already trying to redefine wokeism as something completely different. People who openly and ferociously advocated for defunding the police yesterday and saying they never said it. Treat them with the same malice that they treated you and mock and ridicule them as much as possible.

[@rickyspanish492]

@Heavy Topspin It was just a minority before the indoctrination and propaganda really started to take off. Now there are 40%-70% of kids in schools "identifying" as an alphabet when before it was less than 10%.

[@johnhill8246]

Okay okay... I actually liked this video. My only compliant is that we still are not shedding light on what "Woke" originally meant in this context. The direction this video going is on course, but still has some more digging to do.

[@onemisterfranko]

I'd say your right on the money, good stories should be able to have various elements, but the delivery is key and being fair to both sides of the coin is important.

[@danielskrivan6921]

There are plenty of women today that are airheads or only concerned with how attractive they are. It is perfectly realistic to have female characters that act as such.

[@tcaudiobooks737]

Exactly! And there were plenty of women 50 years ago that were strong too - in fact probably more so. Every time there's a new Bond movie, they always hammer "the MESSAGE" that this time we're getting "strong female characters" like it's the first time ever, completely ignoring the fact that we had Pussy Galore back in 64, who lets face it saved the day.

[@armondtanz]

Bizzare. Theres a few channels now who target the drinker and his associates. They cant/refuse to see this and call CD A hate figure?

[@danielskrivan6921]

@@armondtanz He's a blasphemer in their eyes.

[@MagcargoMan]

You get mad if not every movies' male characters aren't all gigachads though.

[@angel_of_rust]

the onlyfans ones.

[@lobalee1873]

Thank you Drinker for explaining the real problem with wokeness in a simple and objective way. Hats off to you, sir!

[@sneedmando186]

Agreed, I came in as a cautious watcher, but he hit the nail on the head

[@raskolnikov6443]

Progressive propaganda but in good seems to be his position.

[@Hastur876]

I'm thinking he felt he had to do this video because so many angry right-wing fruits are watching his videos just for the "hurr durr own the libby libs" lulz, and don't have the subtlety to realize he's critiquing poor writing - not critiquing having e.g. a strong female character in a movie when it's realistic and it works. Certainly I've had to deal with the problem where if I watch one of his videos on KZbin, and then a video with someone like Bari Weiss or shoe0nhead, I suddenly get 100 recommends for right-wing garbage like Ben Shapiro, and that's likely because the Shapiro stans are all flooding into the Critical Drinker channel and watching his videos going "hurr durr own the libby libs".

[@nenmaster5218]

@@Hastur876 10:08: I fear the Backlash Drinker mentioned already exists. And in Drinkers friendgroup, nonetheless. Let's face it, Drinker associates with some who uncritically believe and repeat //facebookscience or debunked myths, and will be schooled by any basic tutorial. Lets face it, we all need better Media-Literacy and Darkmatter25 got us covered on this, but this aint Normal.

[@fredmercury1314]

@@Hastur876 You don't even know what right-wing is. You sound like a fool who just repeats every left-wing talking point. Ben Shapiro is a liberal centrist. Just because he's not a foaming-at-the-mouth commie, doesn't make him right-wing.

[@XavierJoseGJose]

AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, YOU'VE DONE IT!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! YOU MADE A DEFINITION OF WOKE!!!! And I will return to this video everytime I read Line Webtoon, manhwas, not so popular modern comics and the whole lot. It's a start!!! You da man! Thanks, CD!!!!

[@JadeRunner]

Sorry, but there is nothing actually wrong with the "damsel in distess" trope. A character that the protagonist cares about being in jeopardy is one of the most basic plot devices. There's nothing wrong with it. It also occurs in real life every day. Funny how we're told "Representation" is important because it reflects real life, but a female character being in danger and needing to be rescued is considered "outdated" even though it's happening somewhere in the world right now as I type this. I could see the Feminatrixes' point if _every_ female character was a damsel in distress, or if it never happened the other way with male characters needing to be rescued. But neither of those scenarios are the case. Sorry, but I'm not going to pretend there's this centuries old conspiracy to undermine women by depicting them as "damsels in distress" in fiction. It's ridiculous and I'm tired of hearing it.

[@DrivenNFS]

Yes and the thing about "traditional" tropes like that is that they formed due to reality, like you mention. Women are physically weaker than men, and often do need physical help from, or protection by, strong men. Why is it toxic to encourage men to use their strength for good by protecting and helping those less physically capable? Another thing is that women were usually portrayed as physically delicate, and yet oftentimes morally and/or mentally more resilient than their male counterparts. With the way women are built (hormones etc.), they're naturally more empathetic and caring than men, and hence why they're great nurturers. Sometimes you need aggression and the willingness to dominate at all costs, but that mentality needs to be tempered with a moral fiber/your opponent's perspective, or else you just get monsters whose methods of domination slide into abject evil, which then promotes retaliation in the same vein, and an overall descent into cruelty. So, again, why is it toxic for a society to encourage the female tendency to be caring and consider for others (i.e., "motherlyness") if it's a ward against true toxicity? The fact is, tropes based on "hetero-normative" societies are based on normal, waking reality, and depicting and twisting that reality as some kind of patriarchal conspiracy to hold on to male power, is a great way to collapse a society. Why? Because children should be learning about responsibility and restraint from strong men (fathers), and about compassion and peace from nurturing women (mothers). These are virtuous things that balance each other out, and if *everyone* grew up instilled with these virtues, the world would be more equitable in the first place!

[@captbuckyohare5585]

See here's the thing though, there's a difference between an actual female *character* being in danger who the hero sets out to save, and the more outdated aspects and examples of the "damsel in distress." The problem with the latter is the damsel often existed solely to be rescued and act as a plot device and goal for the hero and villain to tussle over rather than as a character in her own right. A damsel has no personality, other than being hot and having the ability to scream. She doesn't really have a motivation of her own, and usually fell into the cliché of not really being a character at all. I could do without that and I think it's disingenuous to suggest it didn't exist or that there was nothing wrong with it. It was lazy, cliched and presented female characters as shallow and one dimensional. But the thing is, you can have a female character be vulnerable and in danger without reducing them to a bag of screaming skin with sex appeal. I think there's a recognisable difference between Marion Ravenwood and Willie Scott. Between Lois Lane (who is bafflingly used over and over as a "textbook example of a damsel in distress" and is anything but) and Olive Oyl. Between Princess Leia and Snow White. The thing that I agree with you on is we hardly ever see the former examples anymore because the cliché has gone the other way, and now we get invincible, infallible girl bosses who are never vulnerable or need help. And that's just as boring, lazy, and cliched as a damsel. In fact, it might be worse, because its a cliché that's actually celebrated.

[@ninjasr]

@@captbuckyohare5585 Going off of your logic then, is it wrong to present hapless mooks in stories as obstacles for the hero to overcome? They also serve as a plot device, so they should logically also be a bad thing.

[@captbuckyohare5585]

@@ninjasr I mean, having a cavalcade of characters with no discernible personality, memorable traits, or distinct features isn't a good thing either. But I'd say the damsel in distress cliché is worse, because it usually concerns how the female lead is utilized and portrayed, which I think is more of a problem the more often it happens and where you have no other female characters in the story. The same applies to "Himbo" male characters when they act as the only prominent male character in the story. Hapless mooks (or henchmen) wouldn't typically be the only men in the movie, you'd presumptively still have the hero and the villain who you'd hope both burst with personality and interesting motivations. That being said, the mooks can serve a valuable purpose for character development that a damsel doesn't (a damsel, as you say, really only serves as a plot device), you'd assume the male lead would be developed and tested by these mooks, and maybe even develop a rivalry if the mooks receive some development themselves. I'd argue the more time and personality you give to your bad guys, even the henchmen, the better your story will be and the more interesting the hero's struggles will be to overcome them. Take Die Hard as an example. Those hapless mooks aren't hapless or mooky at all. Many of the henchmen John McClane rips through have memorable personalities, skills, their own motivations and his encounters with them mean something and have lasting consequences. But I suppose you've answered your own question. Even a hapless mook has a goal and attempts to have an impact on the story and incidental development on the hero. They have skills and desire. The nameless, hapless mook has more agency and meaning and character depth than a damsel in distress. So yeah, the damsel is far fucking worse.

[@ninjasr]

@@captbuckyohare5585 So you take issue with the damsel in distress trope because of how the woman is portrayed and utilized; it doesn't have to do with your previous argument that turning a character into a plot device is bad? Also, you're assuming that a mook can help develop another character, but that a damsel can't? That's a weird thing to argue. What you're saying about Die Hard is suspect. That film only has 3 mooks who aren't simply an obstacle (Hans, Karl and his brother), who have an actual character beyond 'bad guy'. You do have the hacker as well, but he doesn't fight John directly, so you can't place him in that 'many' group. The point I was making is that the happless mook is also just a plot device, not that they have no impact on the story; because your argument was built on the idea that reducing a person to a plot device is a bad thing.

[@CHIEF__]

I've followed you for a long time but tbh didn't expect such a nuanced, well articulated take, you're one of the best, Drinker

[@rclaws3230]

He's a published author on top of being a drunken critic, so he does have something of the gift of gab.

[@possumaintdead]

Drunk or not, you seem to able to say everything I try to say, and to say it in a very clear way. Excellent analysis. Thanks.

[@pacman4568]

Nuance and more importantly, empathy for another person's opinion, leading to the reality of acceptance that you may be wrong. Anything without what i have just said is wokisam.

[@meckscustoms9980]

This is probably the most important video you've ever made. This is exactly what I try to explain to people and you did it in such an incredibly intelligent manor that I never could. Thank you.

[@Fee_V]

Agreed 👍

[@adrianwiles1]

Manner is the word. A manor is Batmans house

[@thatnobodyguy1535]

@@adrianwiles1 I was just about to say this, but you got it covered.

[@nelisezpasce]

For those who know no explanation is needed For those who don't no explanation is possible

[@a_loyal_kiwi88]

@@adrianwiles1 There are so few manners left these days, that they can't even spell it correctly anymore.

[@acashew4346]

Too many of my liberal friends dont see the issue and too many of my conservative friends act like they are on a witch hunt against wokeness. Very unfortunate what is happening on both sides, for anyone who wants good stories or nuianced discussion of social problems in general.

[@zazasnruntz7505]

Pretty sure you don’t know anyone that actually calls themselves “liberal” and you definitely don’t know any democrat who uses the word woke only conservatives use both those words

[@shaunspadafora7943]

Agreed. It is unfortunate there are so many people who are blinded, because they are possessed by ideology. I see it on both sides, and there's nothing good about it.

[@toplay1764]

yeah its almost like humans will always have diferent views and morals ... all this "pick a side" shit is getting old man. How many wars and desastres we need to stop with that useless shit and can actually conentrate on idk maybe how to control our resources for future or the population. But who gives a fuk. We are already to manipulated to move any finger and those who do will be silenced in an instant.

[@davidcritchley3509]

Both sides have no appreciation of the other. But the mass media only recognises one view. Then it's propaganda.

[@Lyric-up8fv]

And as a black guy, I'm just used as political bait. It's actually disgusting on both sides. I say this as a black Trump supporter. Most Trump supporters are anti black 100%. I can't even talk about Sundown Towns and Rasheem Carter without them losing their shit and saying I think I'm a victim. I am literally a traveling welder JUST like Rasheem Carter. They must feel like I'm gonna ignore racism because it makes them like me more or it makes them feel comfortable 😂 Democrats did the racist shit throughout history. Sundown towns are now ran by conservatives yet they're trying to convince ME that the other side is racist. They're both fucking racist in different ways!

[@SpongePore]

Even if this video is half a year old, I think it might benefit you to reupload this on your main channel. It’s a fantastic breakdown and I think expanding its reach can only be a good thing. It also might help clarify your position to some critics, if they’re willing to watch it, of course. Either way, like I said, great breakdown. I also try to avoid using “woke” whenever possible because of how it can be used it such a meaningless way, and I’m happy to know someone like you feels the same way.

[@eljay5009]

The "overcompensation" thing is a really good point. I think this is what is affecting the BBC. In the past they were highly discriminatory, racist etc in their hiring and in terms of the people they put on our screen. They are trying to atone for those (and other high-profile) sins by overcompensating and going ultra woke. In essence they are making the audience and the licence fee payers pay the price of the past misdeeds of BBC management and BBC stars.

[@StevenMcAllisterUK]

Excellent summary. Would be great to have seen it on your main channel as I think more people could do with hearing your thoughts. But I’m just pleased you put it out there

[@terikronberg8291]

Damn, don't stop drinking. That was the best breakdown of woke in entertainment, and life, yes nuance is everything.

[@Original-Juice]

If CD stops drinking then he'll die. I have that same medical condition.

[@mkultra2456]

@@Original-Juice I'LL DRINK TO THAT! CHEEEERS BOYS AND GIRLS! 🍻🍻🍻🍻

[@crazyralph6386]

@@Original-Juice haha!

[@skaruts]

The pendulum always swings back with nearly as much force as it was first swung. The reason why I really hate wokeness is because it's only creating more homophobia, more transphobia, more racism, etc, etc.

[@radekdickinson5772]

The best take on the topic I've heard or read so far. Well done sir.

[@thundercron77]

I just want to take a moment to appreciate how the Drinker's editing skills have improved over the years. Not only do we see fewer loops of the same scenes over and over again, but he's much better at matching the clips to what he's actually saying at the moment.

[@aranisles8292]

I like his content, but I wish he would continue in that direction, and stop with the loops and clips altogether. Less is definitely more in well crafted communications, in other words, more is less.

[@westtownshend5661]

Remember, he is hamstrung due to copyright limitations. There's only so much that's publicly available.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

@@westtownshend5661 I JUST found a video about Nuance+Wokeness and came instantly back here to tell Drinker-Fans to look-up ' Let's talk about Twain and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' by "Beau of the Fifth Column".

[@Dragonage2ftw]

His editing is schizophrenic.

[@DeepEye1994]

I would've loved it if Drinker suddenly sneaked in a clip from "The Cat in the Hat", "Freddy Got Fingered", "The Room" or baby Schwarzenegger from "Junior" or some other cursed movie to see if people will notice them meaning they watched the video lol