Okay, finally a topic where I don’t have to qualify my opinions by mentioning that I am indeed a white straight cis man. Indeed, again, this is perhaps a topic I’m very much the right person to discuss. Except that I’m not American. Or Conservative. Or Christian. Sigh. Maybe one day.

Any way, woke-ism…

So, if you are reading this and don’t know what that means… well, lucky you. I’m not sure you should continue reading as ignorance is indeed bliss, but in case you still want to learn, woke-ism is a theoretical (meaning in this case made-up) philosophy projected upon certain powerful people in media by certain assholes. The main point of woke-ism is that these millionaires and billionaires are putting women and other minorities into movies and other media because of some liberal or leftist agenda.

So, let’s dissect that a bit.

These people believe that Hollywood is destroying itself, because it wants to push feminist, queer or other minority agendas. The problem with this “theory” is twofold:

1) Yes, Hollywood has been pushing female and people of color leads in the recent past, but that has not been bad for business (see the new Star Wars movies, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, etc)

2) No, they haven’t just started to push all minorities. Quuer people are still hardly represented in big budget movies, because certain markets are not keen on those movies (see all the scenes in Disney franchises, which have easily removable scenes with queer characters)

So, there. Woke-ism doesn’t exist. There’s only changes in culture and how we approach these things, which is reflected in the media. Women are no longer just extensions of their husbands, people of color are no longer just side characters and queer people are now allowed to exist. Wow. How woke of us. We no longer want to just shit on people based on their gender, skin color or sexuality.

The weird thing to me is that these people who believe in the existence of woke-ism apparently just want to see the same movie over and over again. Any time someone diverts from the formula, it is seen as wrong or even dangerous. Actually, the weirder thing is that they actually seem to believe that everyone else also wants to see the same movie over and over again or at least should. I guess they haven’t really figured out that women do actually exist (among other groups).

I actually enjoy a variety of movies, by which I don’t mean that I like both DC and Marvel movies and maybe even the occasional Star Wars, but instead I often find myself liking movies about a wide variety of subjects, often with minority leads. Isn’t that the point? Art, in general, should teach us about the world and the people in it. Sure, certain people would argue that these movies are entertainment, not art, but they would be wrong, as these two are not exclusive of each other.

However, the weirdest thing to me is how symbiotic this relationship between the content creators who like to make noise about these woke movies and the producers of these woke movies. The content creators make money out of it by getting attentions and monetizing it, while they are giving publicity to those movies. Not only the movies, but those producers, or soulless corporations, if you will, gain positive attention in this way. They can then sell their movie on exactly those points and mainstream media will talk more about those movies, but since they won’t talk about the “woke” elements in a negative light (for a goood reason), taking part in this anti-woke discussion actually plays right into the pockets of those huge companies. I mean Disney does really need your help to pay off that $71.300.000.000 they paid for Fox, so they are definitely thankful.

There is one more thing: According to an estimate put forth by Sitra (Finnish Independence Fund), the cost of inequality is annually about three trillion dollars. What does this mean for the men? In general, white men are not the people who are making less money because of inequality. Quite the opposite. However, this does mean that women and minorities are less capable of contributing to society, which doesn’t only mean more comfort for the white men, but instead means that most white men have to take burdens others don’t necessarily have to. And I’m not trying to advocate for men here or claim that we are the victims. Instead, what I’m saying is that if could get rid of these inequalities, that wouldn’t mean that we, as white men, would lose any of that comfort. It would mean that others can also get that comfort. There’s no actual reason to deny anyone of that.

And this would benefit the men as well. In many ways. Like, if everyone is doing fine, we don’t need to put as much money into policing or mental healthcare, which would mean less taxes or insurance payments. This is just one example. Rising tide does raise all boats, as they used to say back in the day when defending tax cuts for the rich. They were just wrong about how this happens. It happens by actually helping people at the bottom rise and they will help us all forwards.

Coming to terms with our media being more inclusive is just a small step in this, but it is step that is worth taking. You don’t have to go out and see Twilight, but you can accept its existence.