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The year 2020 can arguably be remembered as a surreal reality television show that keeps giving, with multiple running themes and plot twists that put Netflix shows to shame.
Anchored by Covid-19, the list keeps growing with the Trade War, Trump, MeToo and Black Lives Matter among its repertoire. Such is the level of surrealism that the creator of the dystopian Netflix series, ‘Black Mirror’ was quoted as saying “At the moment, I don’t know what stomach there would be for stories about societies falling apart, so I’m not working away on one of those.”
‘The Woke Year’ focuses on one of the children of social media which reached its adulthood in 2020, which is the generational-defining wave of social righteousness on the internet. Or to put it plainly, ‘Cancel Culture’. According to dictionary.com, Cancel culture is defined as “the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive.”
Using celebrity culture as an analogy, social media acts as Hollywood, a land of fame, influence, and riches. With varying levels of influence, visibility, and relevance, social media users play the roles of celebrities, media, gossip columns, and paparazzi that keep the wheel spinning.
Just like Tinseltown, it has its good and dark side. Like how light attracts moths, a perceived social transgression or scandal attracts an eveready overwhelming mob. Spurred by their own beliefs, intentions, and motivations, they demand heads with digital pitchforks. Before you can type “#JudgeJuryExecutioner”, social media accounts, Linkedin profiles, and personal information are doxed online and flooded with hundreds, if not thousands of comments of different nature.
The year 2020 can arguably be remembered as a surreal reality television show that keeps giving, with multiple running themes and plot twists that put Netflix shows to shame.
Anchored by Covid-19, the list keeps growing with the Trade War, Trump, MeToo and Black Lives Matter among its repertoire. Such is the level of surrealism that the creator of the dystopian Netflix series, ‘Black Mirror’ was quoted as saying “At the moment, I don’t know what stomach there would be for stories about societies falling apart, so I’m not working away on one of those.”
‘The Woke Year’ focuses on one of the children of social media which reached its adulthood in 2020, which is the generational-defining wave of social righteousness on the internet. Or to put it plainly, ‘Cancel Culture’. According to dictionary.com, Cancel culture is defined as “the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive.”
Using celebrity culture as an analogy, social media acts as Hollywood, a land of fame, influence, and riches. With varying levels of influence, visibility, and relevance, social media users play the roles of celebrities, media, gossip columns, and paparazzi that keep the wheel spinning.
Just like Tinseltown, it has its good and dark side. Like how light attracts moths, a perceived social transgression or scandal attracts an eveready overwhelming mob. Spurred by their own beliefs, intentions, and motivations, they demand heads with digital pitchforks. Before you can type “#JudgeJuryExecutioner”, social media accounts, Linkedin profiles, and personal information are doxed online and flooded with hundreds, if not thousands of comments of different nature.
From eloquent words of advice to crude profanities, from boycott calls to petitions to get them fired from their job. Considering the act of posting comments is as casual as posting a selfie, the floodgate keeps pouring as long as it trends both in the gameable social media as well as people’s complex mind. Comment sections become a digital battleground of different ideologies, believes, trolls, and more. Bots autonomously appear to do its master’s bidding pushing things from bitcoins to day trading, from e-commerce to social media followers. All these ‘engagement’ and ‘traffic’ work the internet algorithm, making it a self-powered runaway train.
Just like how a real-life story ‘inspires’ Hollywood’s natural flow of movies, documentaries, books, and commentaries, a 2020 scandal spawns social media shares, commentaries, memes, novelty products, podcasts, reaction videos and more. No stones are left unturned as dirt is dug from the past and present and put under the microscope to ‘right’ the ‘wrong’. Everyone is put on an alternate pedestal where they are judge on extremes standards.
As the ‘sharing’ grows and evolves over different mediums by different parties across the globe – messages are lost, shed on different lights, selectively reported, manipulated for agendas, distorted by trolls, and amplified by someone who is just plain bored. In the same vein, the irony is that many times, those accused of the act of bullying are bullied online with the ‘deed’ justified in the name of justice.
Just like how Covid-19 normalizes social-distancing, will 2020 normalize the Cancel Culture?
From eloquent words of advice to crude profanities, from boycott calls to petitions to get them fired from their job. Considering the act of posting comments is as casual as posting a selfie, the floodgate keeps pouring as long as it trends both in the gameable social media as well as people’s complex mind. Comment sections become a digital battleground of different ideologies, believes, trolls, and more. Bots autonomously appear to do its master’s bidding pushing things from bitcoins to day trading, from e-commerce to social media followers. All these ‘engagement’ and ‘traffic’ work the internet algorithm, making it a self-powered runaway train.
Just like how a real-life story ‘inspires’ Hollywood’s natural flow of movies, documentaries, books, and commentaries, a 2020 scandal spawns social media shares, commentaries, memes, novelty products, podcasts, reaction videos and more. No stones are left unturned as dirt is dug from the past and present and put under the microscope to ‘right’ the ‘wrong’. Everyone is put on an alternate pedestal where they are judge on extremes standards.
As the ‘sharing’ grows and evolves over different mediums by different parties across the globe – messages are lost, shed on different lights, selectively reported, manipulated for agendas, distorted by trolls, and amplified by someone who is just plain bored. In the same vein, the irony is that many times, those accused of the act of bullying are bullied online with the ‘deed’ justified in the name of justice.
Just like how Covid-19 normalised social-distancing, will 2020 normalise Cancel Culture?