Getting Woke in Lubbock, Texas

If there's one thing that I don't think I'll ever get use to, it's people who celebrate stupidity.

Let's start with the word "woke" as it's being used these days:

Aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice) - Merriam Webster

I don't understand why anybody wouldn't want to know about things like this. I want to be aware of facts. I want to make sure that everyone around me gets a fair shake. It sounds like being "woke" is a pretty good thing.

Some people blame Netflix's first-ever decline in subscribers to being "woke." The idea is nonsense, as the streaming service has a ton of new competition, folks getting back out after the pandemic and probably most importantly, new content wasn't being made because of the pandemic. How people are trying to weaponize this against the concept of "wokeness" is beyond me, because there are thousands of shows on there and you can watch or not watch whatever ones you want.

This leads us to Lubbock, Texas. Are we a "woke" community? Well, when compared with smaller towns around the area, I think we're a few steps ahead of the average West Texan. We're fortunate enough to experience all kinds of people and lifestyles due to the Texas Tech population. We also tend to leave each other alone so that most people get to live a life in peace. At the same time, we're small enough that you can run into the ladies from a drag show at a restaurant or be exposed to a different culture at a city event.

As you can tell, there are various levels of being "woke," which really kind of means "just knowing what's going on." We still have a long way to go when it comes to walking in other people's shoes, and attempts to demonize the word "woke" aren't going to stop us from eventually getting there.

Be proud of your education and empathy, and don't buy into those people who want you to celebrate stupid.