Selina Zheng, Period 2, 03/23/2023

Socio-Political Consciousness

On The Internet’s Vocabulary: How Words Shape Ideas

The internet has its own vocabulary. At times, I wonder if I am truly a member of the famed, almost notorious, generation of “Gen-Z” or the less accepted title: “Zoomers”. Constant, ever changing trends of the Internet’s newest hot word has gotten me wondering if I am falling behind the times; but of course, like any Gen-Z, I have the inbuilt skills of deduction which I use to barely keep up with the Internet’s lingo.

We are the generation that is almost chronically online—in my opinion the Gen-Alpha is worse, I mean at least my childhood escaped from the grasp of the internet—the legendary keyboard warriors who fight intense, if not bloody, matches on no-man's land: Twitter. So where am I going with my proclamation that I am out of touch with the Gen-Z? What do I intend by introducing the scary void that is Twitter? My point starts with these key terms that you, my reader, may or may not be familiar with: “woke”, “feminist”, and “Andrew Tate” (the idea not the person).

Ironically, I am writing this blog about Twitter despite never actually downloading the app or even making an account. You see, the infamous Twitter has scared me enough that even my curiosity could not have forced me to face the internet trolls in their natural habitat. This gap in my knowledge is an unfortunate one, therefore, reader beware that my perspective of the internet tends to be 3 months late due to the fact that I hunt and gather information from Instagram’s reels which is known to be the final destination of the Internet’s trends (after the trend has made its way to Twitter, Tik Tok, Reddit, and perhaps Facebook). Warnings aside, back to the terms I have mentioned earlier (rebriefing because I was made aware that Gen-Z has an attention span of about 1.3 seconds), “woke”, “feminist”, and “Andrew Tate” have stumbled upon me.

These three words are among the many that decorate the Internet, and more specifically Twitter, but they are important because I have noted from reading threads of arguments, that they represent a terrible, in my opinion, sign that misogyny has once again been made “trendy”. First, from my deduction and later confirmed by the urban dictionary, I’ll define the three words. “Woke” means to be awake/sensitive to topics such as racism, gender equality, and LGBTQ+ issues; “feminist” means to spread misandry; “Andrew Tate'' means to be an “alpha male” who is not “sexist” but believes in traditional women’s role in society. All three words have negative connotations—being too “woke” was extremist; being a “feminist” was derogatory; referring to “Andrew Tate” was a “W” or “Top G”? One of the three fits into the Internet’s rapid decline into misogyny, namely “Andrew Tate”. Despite his (Andrew Tate, the person) controversial takes that women belongs in the kitchen, rape victims should hold accountability, and his multiple affiliations with female abuse, Andrew Tate somehow made his way to becoming a widely searched figure amassing 11.6 billions of views in his videoson TikTok. Now, despite Tate’s clear misogyny, his name (as a term) is still connected to positive words like “W” and “Top G” that I mentioned before, while those who fight for gender equality are being called “woke” or “feminist”, terms that the internet has dubbed deprecatory.

To add to your internet dictionary, “W” means win and “Top G” stands for top gangster that is used by young misogynistic boys towards someone or something they admire (definitions from Cyber Dictionary).

Now, what is my opinion on this trend of the Internet after refreshing my knowledge of the Internet’s lingo? As a young woman, I dislike this trend because I find even those who are not the so-called extremists or misandrist, those who are passionate about gender equality, being ridiculed and unable to fight back after an internet warrior silenced them with “woke” or “feminist”. And sadly, the argument would die down because anything the “woke” or “feminist” say, would carry a negative connotation from them being labeled as such. And on the opposite pendulum, when clear misogyny is shown, whether through action or word, comments would flow in as “common W” or “Top G”, causing young, easily influenced internet users to fall into misogyny as a belief or way of life.

The internet has its own vocabulary, but not every lesson it teaches is the right one, in fact, there is no lesson the Internet enforces that has ever escaped from being flawed. I do not want myself, my peers, or friends, to perceive the world as extremely as the Internet has been drilling into us. Luckily, I have yet to make acquaintance with anyone who agrees with the Internet’s misogyny, but I know from my friend’s experience that the effect of the Internet has clear implications on reality. There will always be people who absorb all of the Internet, imperfections and all, and that is a side effect of being Gen-Z. Perhaps, it is not a bad thing for me to fall behind, but it is also important for me to understand the Internet’s malice and protect myself and my loved ones from it. The Internet has its own vocabulary, learned about, but never used as the ultimate truth.