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by ygjb 499 days ago
Shopify has never been a woke company - Shopify and their leaders have a history of defending hosting hateful content under the guise of freedom of speech.
2 comments

Slightly off topic but this comment really underscores the complete loss of meaning of the word "woke" for me.

I'm not trying to say that was intentional/hostile or not, just that it just sticks out really significantly from the earlier days where it was more in line with "willing to see the reality of the country and not just a smoothed over view" (which is a sentiment shared across most polarization I can think of) and now is more about a label/badge about certain values.

Language is fascinating.

That's true. "Woke" has become a catch-all for logical, moral reasoning and behavior that in any way contradicts pure profit motive. I misused the term. And SHOP definitely was never a haven of actual woke corporate policy. But even slightly leaning towards woke = big trouble in the current political environment, even if it means condoning sale of hate speech or related goods.
I truly didn't mean to imply you were misusing it - I think it is super broad now and your usage, as you described, was relatively new for me (re: unbridled greed vs oppression).
I agree. That has always been a matter of corporate principal for SHOP. Now, they are leaning even more into their "free speech" farse, allowing almost anyone and anything that may generate sales. Partly because they know that political and public opinion recently leans towards less oversight, less moral scrutiny, and less enforcement.