Quarantining with Netflix: 1,690 Minutes to Stream Yourself into Wokeness

First and foremost, I want to clarify my use of the term WOKE in this post.

As billions of people all over the world “shelter in place” to curb the spread of a worldwide pandemic, a large population of us are home, streaming something online. Based on talking with co-workers, family and friends, looking through social media and the rankings on Netflix I would know that Tiger King and Ozark are the hottest shows in the country.<fast forward to a few hour later, I am shamelessly eating pizza and watching Tiger King as I edit this blog>

But lets rewind to last weekend, where I found myself reading comments and content shared on social medial around current events, economy and politics I found myself fuming in anger. My feed was full of people who were clearly not paying attention to what was actually going on, spewing hate, spreading propaganda like wildfire AND not even trying to take the steps to educate themselves. I struggle with the amount of garbage that gets posted on social media even though we have an infinite amount of factual and scientific information that is our fingertips and is even available on the same platforms *like Netflix* everyone is spending their days with! AAHHHHHH

I decided to take a step back from social media, I felt lost. I could not understand the things I saw people posting. People who I thought I knew were posting such uneducated garbage, spewing hate and bigotry in a time of crisis, like WTF guys!?!

Especially since I had just done a “cleanse” where I unfollowed and unfriended a lot of people and accounts who were inciting my disappointment and anger in humankind. To see this many, rear their ugly heads so quickly was blowing my mind.

I had to stop and check in. I said to myself “Friend, Check YO SELF”

I needed to stop and check in with my perspective and check in with my privilege. I’ll be the first to admit I have a significant amount of privilege. Recognizing your privilege is step numero uno!

I am a CIS gendered heterosexual white woman who has a full-time job with great benefits, a home, an education and besides invisible disease (autoimmune, hormone and mental health issues) I am able bodied. I have also had my share of trauma, abuse and absolute rock bottom shit times. Everything in life is a spectrum and we all have some degree of privilege. Don’t just take my word for it, check out this awesome video on YouTube that does a great job in demonstrating how privilege works in less than 5 mins WATCH ME, CLICK HERE

Just because something does not happen to you, does not mean it does not happen to others, and the fact that it is not happening to you, doesn’t make it any less of a problem.

Knowledge is power, and knowledge is a privilege. I have 3 degrees; a handful of certifications and I have worked in corporate healthcare for 11+ years. I know how the economy and government operate; I know the sick and broken cycle that is healthcare and capitalism. I have personally witnessed and in some cases directly experienced the impacts of the epic failures of our institutions. From working for the Department of Social and Health Services, to witnessing fraud in drug rehab programs, the scams of our criminal justice system, the upholding of institutional racism, unavoidable homelessness and much more. My education, job experience, and life experience have given me opportunities to experience many different perspectives and that is also a privilege. With that privilege comes a responsibility to help others see, so we can make a collective change. We have complex institutions in this country, and they are working as designed- don’t believe the hype that these institutions are broken. They are in perfect working order, and that is the heart, the core of the issue. The root cause IS the system. We need to break these systems and institutions in order to redefine them and we can only do that when we come together, open our collective eyes and demand the change.

Just like saying around trauma not being your fault, but it IS your responsibility to heal, so is how you manage your privilege. You are not the institutions that created your privilege, but it is your responsibility to be aware of your privilege and aware of the institutions that provide your privilege so we can work to close the equality gaps.

Below is a list of Netflix documentaries that I highly recommend watching during your down time. These exposés represent a diverse collection of documentaries that start to uncover some of the deep dark issues of the world that the mainstream media does not discuss, nor did you learn in your classic institutional education curriculum. I do not expect everyone to agree with all the concepts presented in these documentaries, but I do hope it tickles your curiosity and challenges your understanding of the way of the world. Take what you learn and apply that to how you see yourself, how you see others, how you shop, how you eat and how you vote. Let’s come out of this thing enlightened and armed with facts to help make change in this world. Nothing will ever be the same, we are creating the new normal, let’s keep pushing the envelope and redesign our society and culture to make the world a better place for all.

Once you have finished binge watching Tiger King, I challenge you to the binge the list I have curated. This is a collection of some eye-opening Netflix documentaries that I think everyone should watch.

These are not in any specific order and I would highly suggest watching them all if you can.

1. Oliver Stone’s: The Untold History of the United States
2. 13^th
3. What the Health
4. Crip Camp
5. Feminists- What Were They Thinking
6. Period End of Sentence
7. Inside Bill’s Brain
8. The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson
9. There’s Something in The Water
10. The Great Hack

EDIT – November 2021 – Not on the list above or in the minute count— but – if you watch any of these mentioned in this blog please watch Amend- Fight For America on Netflix– Tell your friends tell your family also Gather on Netflix (perfect to show at your thanksgiving gathering this year!)

According to an article in Business of Apps Netflix has 167 million users worldwide. In other countries there are restrictions on what is available but users in the US we have a huge catalog of important documentary films that could really help distribute knowledge and curiosity to people who may not normally have access to that type of content. As a society, we must stop blindly trusting the systems, our government and big business, we need to start holding them accountable for their bad behavior.

You can read the full article from Business of Apps here.

Title	Platform	Time
Oliver Stone’s the Untold History of the United States	Netflix	691 Min
13th	Netflix	200 Mins
What the Health	Netflix	92 Mins
Crip Camp	Netflix	108 Mins
Feminist, What Were They Thinking	Netflix	86 Mins
Period End of Sentence	Netflix	26 Mins
Inside Bill’s Brain	Netflix	157 Mins
The Death and Life of Martha P. Johnson	Netflix	105 Mins
There’s Something in the Water	Netflix	71 Mins
The Great Hack	Netflix	154 Mins
	Netflix Time total	1,690 Mins (28 hours)

P.P.S. Always do your own research, and check facts. Documentaries are coming from one angle. The important part is gaining a different perspective.

P.P.P.S it might feel uncomfortable, but its gonna be ok. Watch this too

As humans, through our faults and our mistakes, we learn and evolve. We are beautiful in our diversity and if we put empathy and compassion first, we will win. Let’s flip the script.