SJW as an insult

[edhopper]

As if there is something wrong about fighting injustice, prejudice and cruelty.

[Shermann]

1. Just a cynical pseudo-intellectual label from the right nt

[whathehell]

2. Yeah..Someone needs to ask the Right Wingers

why fighting for social justice is a bad thing..I don't get it.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Because it means fighting for groups they detest.

[LakeArenal]

4. Authoritarian justice is their aim.

[Nevilledog]

9. Just like any being against fascism is.....

Hey 80% don't even know what Antifa stands for.

[NutmegYankee]

12. It goes against the very concept of right-wing politics:

Right-wing politics is generally defined by support of the view that certain social orders and hierarchies are inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, or tradition. Hierarchy and inequality may be seen as natural results of traditional social differences or competition in market economies. WIKI

Social justice tears down social hierarchies. When the right talks about freedom, they mean freedom for them to dominate over others whom they feel deserve to be so subjugated.

[whathehell]

16. If true, there would be no mystery as to why

white males would be its primary advocates.

[NutmegYankee]

20. It ain't no mystery.

They know what they desire. America of the 1950s.

[whathehell]

24. Right.Their problem is, they can never defend it,

intellectually. There are no stats to back up their claims of "superiority".

[NutmegYankee]

26. That's the joy of "might is right".

It doesn’t need to be argued or defended by rhetoric. I feel we need to up our game because these people mean to harm us if they take power.

[betsuni]

5. Was a positive description used by those on the Left until the Right began using it as an insult.

Like a lot of things.

[whathehell]

14. It still is a positive, as far as I'm concerned -- Why

should we cave to THEIR perception of the term?

[DBoon]

6. Because the weak should be crushed by the strong

and cruelty should be worshiped

They have the values of a boot stomping on a human face - forever

[hunter]

7. I'm a shameless Social Justice Warrior, some kind of Catholic leftist, and a bit Queer as well.

And oh, by the way, I'm an amateur evolutionary biologist with some formal training in that field and a respectable university degree.

I don't usually get much push back from the anti-intellectual fascist crowd when I assert myself.

Don't need a gun to stand my ground.

This is one of those terms we have to own. It makes those who use it as an insult look mean and stupid. And God knows they are.

[Busterscruggs]

8. I have always

Been proud of being a SJW. I make sure to wear my favorite shirt with it emblazoned across my chest whenever I go to a protest.

[niyad]

10. I respond the way I have to all the names thrown at me with the intent to insult me

over the decades- a puzzled "you say that like it's a bad thing." Confuses the hell out of them.

[boston bean]

11. Been used in a derogatory manner towards me so many times I

cannot count. Right here on DU.

[Jedi Guy]

13. Like most things, "Social Justice Warrior" can be good or bad.

An SJW who acts from a place of compassion for the oppressed and pushes back against the people/systems doing the oppressing is a good SJW. So these SJWs are out there protesting, volunteering, being active in their communities to help real people in the real world. That's an example of a good SJW.

On the other hand, you have the SJWs who seem to go around looking for things to be offended by, who jump on people for the tiniest things (particularly the things done/said with no malicious intent). Think of the people on Twitter who basically hunt down the most absurdly unimportant things and then do everything possible to gin up the outrage machine. They're not in it to help anyone. They're doing what they're doing because it allows them to attack people and feel righteous while doing so. But they're not really making the world a better place. That's how we ended up with SJW becoming an insult.

That's how I see it, at least.

[whathehell]

15. I disagree. Seeking justice can never be wrong, imo.

Being over-sensitive or "jumping on people for the tiniest things" is a different issue, actually.

[Jedi Guy]

18. "Seeking justice can never be wrong, imo."

Like just about any goal, it can be pursued in the right way or the wrong way. In my opinion, the latter definition is fairly commonly accepted, and people actually pursuing justice in a meaningful way get tarred with that brush.

[whathehell]

30. Again ..I am not talking about "the way" its pursued,

and neither, in a LITERAL sense, does the term, social justice warrior. I am talking about the Pursuit of Justice, period.

[Caliman73]

17. Your second definition is not of a Social Justice Warrior.

Your second definition is the right wing's description of a "SJW".

People who are perpetually seeking outrage and fighting with everyone, are not engaging social justice.

The whole point of social justice is to work towards actual justice. When we allow the right wing to frame our concepts and introduce non-relevant definitions into the lexicon, then we lose the messaging.

It is the same thing that they are doing with "Critical Race Theory" which is a frame work used in Law Schools or some graduate schools for sociology that takes into account how racial bias has informed the legal and social structures within society. The right has framed CRT as "anything that White people might take offense to" including the actual, accurate teaching of history in the United States. They talk about "Identity Politics" even saw a thread about an opinion piece about how the "Left" is blowing its chance to challenge "Neoliberalism" by focusing it on "identity politics". All politics is "Identity Politics" it is just a matter of which Identities are acceptable. Colorblindness allows the status quo to remain, to promote true equitability, you HAVE to acknowledge the problems of the past with regards to race/color/ethnicity and gender/sex/sexual orientation/etc inequality and actually address those things.

You have to ask yourself, as the previous poster did, "What is wrong with fighting for social justice?" If the person is not actually fighting for Social Justice, they are not a social justice warrior. They are something else, and should not be used to damage that terminology.

[Jedi Guy]

19. You can make that point if you wish, but the horse has left the barn.

There's a reason that second definition of "social justice warrior" exists and has become a pejorative, and I don't think it's going away anytime soon. You're engaging in the "no true Scotsman" fallacy here, for all intents and purposes.

The sad bit is that the people engaging in the behavior that resulted in the second definition think they are working towards actual justice. If you asked them, "Do you consider yourself a social justice warrior?" I'd be willing to guarantee you the majority would answer in the affirmative. They're muddling the message just as much, if not more than, the right wingers are.

[whathehell]

22. It's a perjorative to the Right Wing ONLY

Since when do THEY call all the shots?

They LOST the election, remember?.

[Jedi Guy]

25. I'm not making the argument that they call all the shots, so I'm not sure where you got that.

But the usage of "social justice warrior" as an insult is out there for those who behave the way I described in the second definition. I've seen it used to describe those people, and not just by those on the right. Whether it's a compliment or an insult is entirely down to the behavior and motivations of the social justice warrior in question. Some genuinely are fighting for justice. Others use it as an excuse to act like assholes to other people. By their fruits shall ye know them.

[whathehell]

27. Sounds like you yourself have issues with "social justice warriots"

and, again, no, the term ITSELF doesn't designate one who is "oversensituve". One CAN be oversensitive on that score, but it's not what the term itself means, not to adults, anyway.

Only right wingers or those too immature to think it through would throw it around that way. .Serious people don't do that.

[Jedi Guy]

28. You can be offended, and we can agree to disagree. That's a thing, you know? :) N/T

[whathehell]

32. Lol..I'm not "offended"

I'm trying to teach you something..That's a thing, too, you know?

[Kid Berwyn]

21. Violence is all they know.

And it’s all they’ll ever have.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. I got the impression that at first the "warrior" part was a piss-take, like "keyboard warrior"

ie someone who thinks they're really "fighting" by making online comments, but who'd do nothing in the real world. But it did become a diss of the idea of "social justice" in general.

[Sympthsical]

29. That's kind of my take on it

I almost wish there were a separation. Like, SMJW - Social media justice warrior.

There are a lot of people in the world who pour their time, money, and effort into expanding social justice.

And then there are people who sit online all day, scanning the digital horizon for some hint of a slip up somewhere they can leap on and feel righteous and important. The self-appointed social media inquisitors (who have never, ever ever ever done anything wrong themselves in their lives ever - promise!)

SJW as a pejorative is typically used to describe the latter rather than the former.

I stand with the people out there putting in the work. Less so with the pejorative. If your crusade doesn't involve putting pants on that day, it probably isn't useful or helpful. Slacktivism or clicktivism is a toxic thing we've acquired with technology. I think it's ruining us a bit.

[ZonkerHarris]

31. They have also taken to deriding the term "politically correct" which just mkeans respecting other

races, cultures, religions, and ethnicity.
Just simple respect.
the kind they demand but refuse to give others