In the least surprising twist of all time, woke people are doing something cringe-worthy on the internet. Again. However, this time, it’s actually making waves, with the latest liberal TikTok trend, the so-called “blue bracelet movement,” even getting coverage on USA Today and in the Wall Street Journal.
“Some Democratic women have found a way to show their support for one another after Kamala Harris lost her bid for president to Donald Trump: blue friendship bracelets,” USA Today reported. “The new trend is emerging on TikTok post-election among white women seeking ways to differentiate themselves from what appears to be a majority of white women who voted for Trump, who they view as a harmful choice for women.”
Or, as the woman whose TikTok appears to have started the trend put it, the blue bracelets let people, particularly racial minorities, know who they “can trust” and who is “safe.” (Another woman added that she is making her bracelets from “crystals” with “protective powers.”) Millions of people have now seen content related to this trend, and thousands upon thousands, almost exclusively liberal white women, have commented that they are planning on participating.
There’s just one problem: The entire thing is absurd, harmful, and unintentionally offensive to minorities.
For one, it’s just peak virtue-signalling. It’s performative, self-congratulatory activism that accomplishes nothing and requires zero sacrifice or work of any kind. As one left-wing, black female TikToker astutely pointed out in her criticism of the blue bracelet movement, this trend isn’t actually about helping black people, it’s about virtue-signaling to other liberal white people.
It’s also a totally laughable and impractical idea that could only make sense to someone whose brain is rotted from too much screen time. Lots of people wear bracelets that happen to be blue, and most people will have no idea what “message” you are trying to send with your crystals. Assuming someone in public also voted for Vice President Kamala Harris because of a bracelet color is unlikely to be correct.
It’s also a terrible way to assess someone’s trustworthiness. There are people of all political persuasions who treat their neighbors with dignity and respect and are honest in their business dealings. There are people in both parties who hurt others, lie, cheat, and steal. Telling people to use politics as a proxy for who to trust, when in reality it tells you nothing about how moral an individual is in their day-to-day behavior, is actually really terrible advice. It sets people up for failure and for trusting the wrong people.
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The entire trend is also deeply condescending and offensive to minorities, the people whom it’s supposed to be helping. Whether these liberal white women realize it or not, they are suggesting that black women, for instance, are so fragile that they cannot handle being around people who might disagree with them politically.
That’s not “woke,” that’s racist and patronizing. However, that’s sadly typical when it comes to the progressive approach toward matters of race and identity. Progressives are going to need to try something different eventually, or they’ll just keep losing minority voters to the Republican Party in even more significant numbers.
Brad Polumbo is an independent journalist and host of the Brad vs Everyone podcast.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
