Mariella Gattini

If you use the expression “cancel culture” or the word “woke” in a political context in the U.S., you are an extreme-right crusader who use them to diminish and even override awareness of wrongdoing.

That’s what republicans in this country have done forever: they take a little word like “woke” and use it over and over again to inflict shame into the ones criticizing them. Or they use “cancel culture” to ridicule those who, once they discover a particular wrongdoing, ask the pertinent authority to do something about it. Case in point, the allegations against Matt Gaetz and his sexual escapades with underaged prostitutes that have prompted an investigation into the congressman.

Republicans used “Stop the count” in the states they were winning at one point to make the authorities announce them as the winners in the 2020 Presidential Election, and “Stop the steal” in the states they were losing the election. And “Stop the steal” is still perpetuated by those supporting Trump to the extent of hiring a conspiracy theorist to seize the ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona. This is a fact that even members of the same Republican Party in Arizona are fighting against because they say that the next time republicans win an election, nobody will believe they are the true winners. What they’ve realized is that democrats could use the same tactics to invalidate republicans’ gains.

Republicans hire “yes men” and “yes women”, sycophants who would do anything for a buck, to override dissent, and to be able to pick and choose who gets to vote and how, because they don’t win elections by being democratic, they do so by gerrymandering their way to an autocratic government.

On the other hand, “cancel culture” and “woke” are fantasy expressions that are not in the vernacular of the everyday American. Even in politics, they are only used by republicans in government as kind of mocking slogans to attack the ones not on their side.

Critical thinking and the awareness of social issues are only feared by those who are hiding something they are doing that they know is unethical, wrong, or even criminal. And the way they move forward with their unethical and/or criminal enterprise is first by deflection: Look the other way; there is nothing to see here. Meanwhile they continue their business as usual without scrutiny. If deflection is not longer effective, they attack the ones looking in by using an array of empty expressions which only purpose is to cause confusion and doubt in the population at large, so they appear to be the victims of the situation. If that doesn’t work, the next step is to countersuit, because in that way their plea gains legitimacy in the eye of public opinion. None of these tricks have any real validity in judicial courts, because it’s only noise designed to confound and exhaust their opponents. But it can be highly effective in everyday individuals who don’t have a particular appetite for critical thinking, especially in politics. These are people of radical ideas who are looking for others only to confirm their unhinged opinions and feel supported and represented by unscrupulous political scammers. In other words, they are two of a kind: republicans in power and their small group of fanatics.

Democracy is harder to manage because there is a fundamental awareness and respect for every individual in it. It relies on diplomacy, negotiations, and continued exchange of ideas and plans to move forward. It’s a formidable endeavor very difficult to implement and to put into practice, but it is the best way to represent societies in their entirety. Paraphrasing Jack Kennedy, we pursue democracy in this country not because it’s easy but because it’s hard. Only people prepared for challenges of this magnitude are the ones with the calling in their hearts. Only people who have seen what autocratic governments are capable to do to the soul of humans under their oppression can appreciate the validity of any democratic effort.

In other words, democracy is there for real adults in government, for authentic men and women who are prepared to be determined in the use of the entire democratic apparatus at their disposition only in the interest of the advancement of the whole population.

The other ones, the autocratic governments, are easy to implement because there is no such a thing as dissent. If there is any, it is silenced, period. Only a few get prosperous, and the rest has to keep going dragging their feet through life until their last day on this world. Nobody cares about them; not even themselves: what’s the point, they have no value in the great scheme of things anyway, according to their governments.

Democracy is participatory and hard because we listen to so many different points of view that can confirm or challenge ours, and it’s scary, and it’s thrilling at the same time, because we are part of it, we get to say what is in our hearts, and we better have a point, otherwise we lose the attention of the ones listening. It’s alive. And you are alive, and we are alive, and we mean something in this world.

I know it’s hard, but I prefer to live in a world of different ideas that could perhaps challenge mine, than live in one where the only purpose is to keep going forward with no aim and being dead inside.

I’m alive where it matters the most: inside. That’s the value of democracy. Not what people might think of me or how important I am in this society—I couldn’t care less. What matters to me is that I get to be alive, say what I have to say, go to the polls, and vote. That’s the life. And what a life I’m living right now.

Today is the best day to keep going forward contributing with whatever we have at hand to be part of that world: a world full of color and opportunities to grow, and feel alive deep inside.