Social Justice Warrior, sounds great on paper, doesn't it? It's a lovely thought, right up until you meet one. Right up until you put some real thought into what justice actually is. I thought I knew, I thought it was pretty simple, and as a concept, it is. Try defining it to fit your own agenda however, and it becomes more complicated than ever. From believing that justice is brought by God alone to believing that it's all about consensus, people have been arguing about what justice is for centuries, people just like to argue I guess.
When someone takes up a cause in the name of justice, it's more often than not a cause that stirs passion. Where there is passion, strong emotions tend to follow. These emotions open the door to people getting caught up in their cause. When they let their emotions dictate their intent, justice can become convoluted beyond recognition and the cause itself can get lost. R.I.P. usually, it's drown in ego.
"Social Justice" is a pretty broad term and can cover a number of causes political, environmental or personal and with all those variables in place it's hard enough to approach and share ideas about a cause. That being said, why would anyone make it more difficult by confusing the issue further and engaging in a pissing contest to dictate what justice is? In the simplest of terms, justice is about fairness, so why would a social justice warrior be fighting to dictate anything, let alone what's fair?
You can't fight for justice only to wield the sword, especially when your intent on cutting others down with it. Creating rules in the implementation of your approach that are meant to dictate the behaviors of others is the opposite of justice. That being said, there is an abundance of evidence, from the anecdotal to the objective to the subjective, that playing at dictator doesn't help move your movement. If anything, the current manifestation of social justice "warriors" are largely more of a disappointment to the memory of what it was to be a true social justice warrior, all they have done is hurt their causes more than help them.
The main thing a SJW wants is for people to agree with them so they turn to the internet, it's like a microcosm of support, fickle support, but support. You want folks to "like" your cause, you want your cause to be "trending" or "viral." The tactics that work online however, don't always work in the real world, sometimes in the real world there is real accountability.
Plenty of people have been caught on camera behaving badly and giving their cause a bad name and an ugly face, and that is the point. People, you are the face of your movement, whatever it is. There are more folks out there that want to see positive change in the world than there are that want everything to stay the same, the latter just have the advantage because they don't have to do a thing.
It seems the people who claim to want change, the ones who yell the loudest for it, are the most unwilling to change. Here's the thing, lasting change is going to affect more than just your group, more than just your cause deserves validation and representation. To get that validation and representation, it helps to be presentable. It helps to play nice. Consider stepping off the playground, think about your cause in terms other than how many followers you'll get and really listen rather than just waiting for your turn to yell.
If I want to chat with you about your movement and the first thing I am told is that I have used the wrong pronoun to address you, I'll be a little put off. Especially if you're a biological female in a baby-doll dress with Mary-Jane's on your feet and flowers tucked into your curls then tell me to call you a man. If next I am told I should gently apologize and modify my behavior, I'm out.
We have the numbers to change the world if only we would look at what unites us rather than putting such huge emphasis on what separates us. Didn't think I needed to write that down for you, yet here we are. People are so focused on what separates them that the separation has become the cause and rather than fighting for an actual cause, people seem more interested in creating new ones, like the "Karen Movement" which is really just an excuse for people to act petty.
How people who find joy or make a living cornering Karens don't realize that following people around waiting for them to have a "moment" you can record doesn't make you look good either. Even sitting on a lofty YouTube perch gaslighting them doesn't excuse you from being demonstrably more petty than the people you're naming Karen.
Gay people treat bi-sexual people with disdain for not being properly gay, Blacks treat browner blacks with disdain for not being properly black and loads of white folks are trying to speak for brown folks and it's not their business. Everyone gets to pretend that it's all for the greater good but none of them are looking at themselves. Why?
Justice wears a blindfold and according to the myth, when she doesn't have the blindfold it's because she is being depicted as blind. How can a person call themselves a social justice warrior and pretend to fight for justice when they simultaneously separate themselves and the people involved in their movement in accordance with the very things that blindfold is meant to hide?
If people were less interested in separation and more interested in the real work, taking action to change, there would be progress rather than stagnation. What's the deal? Am I missing something? Is there less money in progress? Is there more money to be made in stagnation? I honestly don't know, I'm not terribly interested in money but I am interested in change and to get there, the alleged warriors of these movements might consider shifting focus from what's trending to what might actually be effective and that begins with unity, not separation.
When did people start believing that they had to agree with every aspect of a cause to agree with a cause? I can find things I agree with in almost any cause if I look beyond the immediate tag-line, but that's me. Instead, "creative" disagreement is the rule of the day, I suppose it gets more "hits" or "likes" or "subscribes."
There is also all the idiocy people engage in to appear to be more clever than their opponent. Meanwhile, they are still participating in generating a world where that behavior exists to rise above in the first place. You can't bitch about it while you perpetuate it, again, didn't think I needed to write that one down for ya.
It all boils down to, fear. Too many people involved in these movements aren't willing to change because that takes a hell of a lot more wit and strength and cleverness than anything they're doing now. It also takes honesty, integrity, truth, acceptance, understanding, acceptance of accountability and patience, all things any one person might be ready for, but people, not so much. The real work hasn't even started yet. The real work isn't even clear to far too many people who just aren't ready, I'll be here, still waiting, when they are.
One thing I feel compelled to mention here in closing are the scales. I mentioned the sword and the blindfold, I may as well mention the scales, it's simple, balance. More often than not it helps to think before taking action, even before speaking if one can help it. It saves a lot of time when people think first. It seems elementary and I almost feel silly having to mention it, yet based on experience, I can honestly say this needs to be said; Think. It's actually amazing to think about the fact that loads of the problems people have with one another these days wouldn't even exist if people, ALL people, were just a little bit more thoughtful.
Think about whether or not what you're doing makes sense and will promote your cause in a positive way. If not, time to go back to the drawing board. Think about your approach, think about the cause itself, re-visit the information you've taken for granted and maybe even listen to what the other side is saying and how they're saying it for a more balanced perspective.
You see, you aren't doing it right unless you can learn from others, maybe you'll learn what TO do, maybe you'll learn what NOT to do but you'll learn only as much as you are open minded enough to learn, limits are self-imposed. Knowledge is empowering, wisdom, which is knowledge coupled with experience, is power, and balance is the key to that power for anyone ready to wield it. Which brings me back to the sword analogy and reminds me that a balanced sword can be more effectively wielded.
When someone takes up a cause in the name of justice, it's more often than not a cause that stirs passion. Where there is passion, strong emotions tend to follow. These emotions open the door to people getting caught up in their cause. When they let their emotions dictate their intent, justice can become convoluted beyond recognition and the cause itself can get lost. R.I.P. usually, it's drown in ego.
"Social Justice" is a pretty broad term and can cover a number of causes political, environmental or personal and with all those variables in place it's hard enough to approach and share ideas about a cause. That being said, why would anyone make it more difficult by confusing the issue further and engaging in a pissing contest to dictate what justice is? In the simplest of terms, justice is about fairness, so why would a social justice warrior be fighting to dictate anything, let alone what's fair?
You can't fight for justice only to wield the sword, especially when your intent on cutting others down with it. Creating rules in the implementation of your approach that are meant to dictate the behaviors of others is the opposite of justice. That being said, there is an abundance of evidence, from the anecdotal to the objective to the subjective, that playing at dictator doesn't help move your movement. If anything, the current manifestation of social justice "warriors" are largely more of a disappointment to the memory of what it was to be a true social justice warrior, all they have done is hurt their causes more than help them.
The main thing a SJW wants is for people to agree with them so they turn to the internet, it's like a microcosm of support, fickle support, but support. You want folks to "like" your cause, you want your cause to be "trending" or "viral." The tactics that work online however, don't always work in the real world, sometimes in the real world there is real accountability.
Plenty of people have been caught on camera behaving badly and giving their cause a bad name and an ugly face, and that is the point. People, you are the face of your movement, whatever it is. There are more folks out there that want to see positive change in the world than there are that want everything to stay the same, the latter just have the advantage because they don't have to do a thing.
It seems the people who claim to want change, the ones who yell the loudest for it, are the most unwilling to change. Here's the thing, lasting change is going to affect more than just your group, more than just your cause deserves validation and representation. To get that validation and representation, it helps to be presentable. It helps to play nice. Consider stepping off the playground, think about your cause in terms other than how many followers you'll get and really listen rather than just waiting for your turn to yell.
If I want to chat with you about your movement and the first thing I am told is that I have used the wrong pronoun to address you, I'll be a little put off. Especially if you're a biological female in a baby-doll dress with Mary-Jane's on your feet and flowers tucked into your curls then tell me to call you a man. If next I am told I should gently apologize and modify my behavior, I'm out.
We have the numbers to change the world if only we would look at what unites us rather than putting such huge emphasis on what separates us. Didn't think I needed to write that down for you, yet here we are. People are so focused on what separates them that the separation has become the cause and rather than fighting for an actual cause, people seem more interested in creating new ones, like the "Karen Movement" which is really just an excuse for people to act petty.
How people who find joy or make a living cornering Karens don't realize that following people around waiting for them to have a "moment" you can record doesn't make you look good either. Even sitting on a lofty YouTube perch gaslighting them doesn't excuse you from being demonstrably more petty than the people you're naming Karen.
Gay people treat bi-sexual people with disdain for not being properly gay, Blacks treat browner blacks with disdain for not being properly black and loads of white folks are trying to speak for brown folks and it's not their business. Everyone gets to pretend that it's all for the greater good but none of them are looking at themselves. Why?
Justice wears a blindfold and according to the myth, when she doesn't have the blindfold it's because she is being depicted as blind. How can a person call themselves a social justice warrior and pretend to fight for justice when they simultaneously separate themselves and the people involved in their movement in accordance with the very things that blindfold is meant to hide?
If people were less interested in separation and more interested in the real work, taking action to change, there would be progress rather than stagnation. What's the deal? Am I missing something? Is there less money in progress? Is there more money to be made in stagnation? I honestly don't know, I'm not terribly interested in money but I am interested in change and to get there, the alleged warriors of these movements might consider shifting focus from what's trending to what might actually be effective and that begins with unity, not separation.
When did people start believing that they had to agree with every aspect of a cause to agree with a cause? I can find things I agree with in almost any cause if I look beyond the immediate tag-line, but that's me. Instead, "creative" disagreement is the rule of the day, I suppose it gets more "hits" or "likes" or "subscribes."
There is also all the idiocy people engage in to appear to be more clever than their opponent. Meanwhile, they are still participating in generating a world where that behavior exists to rise above in the first place. You can't bitch about it while you perpetuate it, again, didn't think I needed to write that one down for ya.
It all boils down to, fear. Too many people involved in these movements aren't willing to change because that takes a hell of a lot more wit and strength and cleverness than anything they're doing now. It also takes honesty, integrity, truth, acceptance, understanding, acceptance of accountability and patience, all things any one person might be ready for, but people, not so much. The real work hasn't even started yet. The real work isn't even clear to far too many people who just aren't ready, I'll be here, still waiting, when they are.
One thing I feel compelled to mention here in closing are the scales. I mentioned the sword and the blindfold, I may as well mention the scales, it's simple, balance. More often than not it helps to think before taking action, even before speaking if one can help it. It saves a lot of time when people think first. It seems elementary and I almost feel silly having to mention it, yet based on experience, I can honestly say this needs to be said; Think. It's actually amazing to think about the fact that loads of the problems people have with one another these days wouldn't even exist if people, ALL people, were just a little bit more thoughtful.
Think about whether or not what you're doing makes sense and will promote your cause in a positive way. If not, time to go back to the drawing board. Think about your approach, think about the cause itself, re-visit the information you've taken for granted and maybe even listen to what the other side is saying and how they're saying it for a more balanced perspective.
You see, you aren't doing it right unless you can learn from others, maybe you'll learn what TO do, maybe you'll learn what NOT to do but you'll learn only as much as you are open minded enough to learn, limits are self-imposed. Knowledge is empowering, wisdom, which is knowledge coupled with experience, is power, and balance is the key to that power for anyone ready to wield it. Which brings me back to the sword analogy and reminds me that a balanced sword can be more effectively wielded.