Greg Salmela
2 min readApr 19, 2024

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Let's cut through the noise here and focus on what's truly at stake with these ideological shifts shaping our society, not just the personalities or the party politics.

You're asking for definitions of "wokeness" and "cancel culture," right? Originally, wokeness was about being alert to social injustices. But now? It's turned into this blanket term for a type of activism that puts identity over individuality and can't tolerate differing opinions. And cancel culture? It's about boycotting or shaming anyone who steps out of line from leftist values, leading to outcomes that often far outweigh the supposed offenses.

Look, we're seeing the Left drift from classic liberal values—like championing free speech to pushing this idea of "safe speech." This isn't just semantics. The goal of creating a respectful space may be noble, but not at the cost of stifling debate and shutting down dialogue—how are we supposed to solve real issues without challenging discussions?

And on meritocracy versus identity politics, there's a serious problem when we start prioritizing group identity over individual achievements.

Then there's this embrace of post-modern and neo-Marxist ideas about gender and identity, which really undermines our understanding of truth and knowledge. Questioning societal structures is necessary, sure, but claiming all structures are about power and oppression is too simplistic and frankly dangerous.

These aren't just right-wing talking points or MAGA slogans. These are serious, complex issues that need to be discussed openly and without these ridiculous labels. Let's get real here and engage these topics critically—no more caricatures, no more dismissing serious concerns as propaganda. We need honest dialogue, grounded in reason, not ideological echo chambers.

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Greg Salmela

Hanging with human-centred thinkers, researchers and designers.