Understanding the Community Culture via the Lens of Woke Individualism
Communities are what built around woke individuals with a same set of beliefs, or in an extreme case, cultism.
To effectively decode the title of this article, one shall first be familiar with individualism and collectivism. The crypto space is IMO the less darker Dark Web where woke individuals seek difference than the majorities. Extreme individualism is practiced not just for personal financial gains, but for pursuits of depraved cultures, or simply any practices that are not welcome by the mass.
Interestingly, these woke individuals might appreciate the same set of beliefs and share enough in common to form small joint forces, or what’s commonly known as “communities”. Collectivism is hence practiced through these networks of woke individuals. Under this logic, collectivism comes after individualism.
East vs. West
In the contrary, in most Asian hierarchies where collectivism is commonly practiced, individualism comes after collectivism. Individuals are less encouraged to be "woke" before the common benefits of their own respective collectivities (i.e. families, classes, teams, companies)
However, due to the human nature of individuals being conscious about personal gains, in a space like the Internet or Crypto, the collectivism practicers are more likely to turn into woke individuals, for the sake of personal gains.
In this sense, the Crypto space, has an advantage in encouraging individualism.
Building communities
The East (or I shall say Chinese/Chinese Diaspora) owns a significant portion of power in the Crypto space, whether being Deves, investors, or users. Few has done well in building project-centric communities, not to mention building great communities around memes. The respect for centered power or the ambition of being THE center is too deeply rooted in their mindsets that, even in a highly individualistic space like Crypto, a top-down governance model is often practiced. The contrast between what’s wanted (individualism) and what’s practiced (collectivism) among the Crypto communities has led to a less cohesive structure where woke individuals no longer build trust with each other, hence strangling the newly born collectivism to death.
What could be the solution? Woke individualism denies what’s commonly appreciated. Great communities evolves through the fights against centralized/overpowered entities ($PEPE, harrypotterobamasonic10inu, or even Bitcoin itself), the embrace of depraved cultures (ill poop it nft, Miladys, Hentai), myths & cosmic entities ($CULT, the Cthulhu Mythos, SCP Foundation, etc), and IRL vibes (BAYC, Azuki, most PFP projects to be named)
A functional and cohesive community is built around CULTURES, with a strong sense of anti-collectivism, evilness, the against-the-mass spirit, and/or the appreciation of high risk/volatility, and/or the I-Don’t-Give-A-Shit vibe. Highly recognizable arts and visual symbols are KEY. Spam those memes and emojis, spit your slogans to let people know you belong to the same culture.
Hope my words help!
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None of my views shall be considered as financial advice. Stay safe and enjoy your Crypto journeys!