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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThere's no excuse for calling anyone an "SJW" on this site.
The term "SJW"
short for "Social Justice Warrior"
is a slur against people who post progressive, anti-oppression(anti-bigotry)comments online. It was invented by right-wing "Men's Rights" types (the MRA is not interested in defending any rights needed by men, but rather in silencing women, LGBTQ people and PoC posters who speak out against online and offline racism, sexism, homophobia, trans phobia and other forms of straight white male cis bigotry and dominance) to silence everybody online who is NOT a straight white cis man and everyone online and offline who refuses to defer to and obey straight white cis men online or offline.
(fyi, straight white cis guys who stand up to the MRA's and defend those they attack and oppress are derided by the MRA's as "white knights", but that's less of a biggie and a separate discussion, if a discussion is needed at all).
"SJW" is a hate term, a term of oppression, a term intended to silence dissent and end discussion. It has no place on DU, a site which is supposed to be progressive, democratic, inclusive, and anti-oppression in character.
Please, for the love of whatever cosmic forces are out there, do not call people "SJW"s on DU. The term has no legitimate or justifiable use in any context here.
We're supposed to be better than that.
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Response to Ken Burch (Original post)
Skittles This message was self-deleted by its author.
Journeyman
(15,043 posts)Perhaps, not knowing its history, or simply wanting to appropriate it for a legitimate cause, people use it because it sounds fairly righteous.
Personally, I'd not heard it until this post, but given your strong objections and my respect for your opinions, Ken, I'll not add it to my vocabulary and will discourage its use when and if I ever do encounter it.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)The sting in the phrase is the implication that the person it is applied to is a pompous, humorless busybody who is "making a big deal over nothing". When said about a female poster, it's the same thing as saying "shut the fuck up, BITCH!". You can imagine the corresponding slurs it implies about a PoC or LGBTQ person.
It's a bullying, demeaning, delegitimizing phrase.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)And if you think of these guys as ones who like winning the game - usually not by playing by the given rules, but by figuring out the rules of the system and beating the system or exploiting various cheats - then their tactics make sense. Wherever (gamer) MRAs are, they find the rules of the system, and exploit/cheat them to their advantage. Is the rule that "social justice warrior" is a compliment? Make it a code for insult that they can't get dinged for. It's similar to men wearing petticoats during historical riots because the rules say women can't get arrested.
Another rule set they exploit around here is the jury system by trying to set people up to look like people are doing the very things they are complaining about. (They got me juried for rape trivialization when I tried to complain about their rape trivialization after I caught into their various troll words, including SJW). I've seen this particular type of "rule-wrangling" on sites that have lots of obscure rules that can be manipulated and are male-dominated like Wikipedia and Reddit. Also there is a lot of team-tagging, gang-bullying, and of-course, the ever-popular sock-puppeting (often using some technology that the user thinks is crafty).
IMHO the best way to handle these guys is to allow them to be outed, through educational OPs like this one, so the maximum amount of people know what kind of mentality they are dealing with when they see the signs and forum juries/hosts/mods can also act appropriately.
Journeyman
(15,043 posts)quite informative and very timely. And I agree with your conclusion: Outing through education will do more to put an end to abuses than will simply trading insults (which, as you pointed out, can often result in the better party getting blamed).
pnwmom
(109,021 posts)upon seeing it on a relative's Twitter page. Apparently she hates SJW's.
I'd lost touch with her when she disappeared from Facebook. Guess I'll stay out of touch.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)We all have relatives, don't we?
pnwmom
(109,021 posts)Fell on their heads as babies, maybe?
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)Does she participate in a lot of male-dominated gaming communities? That's where it comes from. I've tried to mentor a couple of younger people in the disabled community out of it, but once they've been exposed to a certain line of thinking in an immersive environment it's hard to weed out. IMHO, this why misogyny in general is on the rise in youth culture.
Violet_Crumble
(35,980 posts)It's pretty easy because I've never used it, but I did do a quick Google and couldn't find anything on the origins of it. Where did you find that stuff out? I always thought it was related to another internet term, 'keyboard warrior', and while it's a pejorative, it was used to describe really OTT folk who try to gain cred whichever corner of the internet they're in by using social issues as a weapon to beat others over the head with. I'm probably wrong, though, because I never paid any attention to it. If it is a RW term I won't be using it for sure...
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)The purpose of using it is to shut up anybody who questions what a large, outspoken bloc of my fellow straight white cis "bros" think is the natural order of the universe(In Australia, they're the types who think Tony Abbott is a wimp).
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)It is a particular favorite term in the MRA world but it's also used across the conservative blogosphere.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social%20justice%20warrior
1.
Disparaging. a person who posts on mainstream websites and advocates left-wing orthodoxy, especially involving the treatment of ethnic, racial, gender, or gender-identity minorities.
Abbreviation: SJW.
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/social-justice-warrior
The earliest known use of the term “social justice warrior” as a pejorative comes from the Blogspot blog Social Justice Warriors: Do Not Engage,[2] launched on November 6th, 2009, which identifies SJWs as people who “rage, mob and dox in the belief that promoting identitarianism will make a better world.”
And there are dozens of cites like this one on conservative pages:
http://www.conservapedia.com/Social_justice_warrior
Daniel Greenfield wrote about the phenomenon at Frontpage Magazine:
“ Social justice warriors use the language of civil rights to assert their private victimhood identity. This can range from the simple, race and gender, to a list of dozens of sexual identities, psychological disorders and survivor of assorted traumas. And let’s not forget disabilities (real or imagined) and morbid obesity.[1] ”
In Asia, South America, Central America and the Middle East, there are no social justice warriors decrying "white privilege", "Asian privilege", "Hispanic/Latino privilege" or "Arab privilege".[/div
Violet_Crumble
(35,980 posts)I learnt something from this thread. I definitely wouldn't be using that term now I know its origins...
Prism
(5,815 posts)It isn't a right-wing term. It's common language used among millennials.
kcr
(15,321 posts)Some millennials may love it, but that doesn't change the facts.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)some of us on FB have turned it on it's ear... and tell those same folks, yeah and? SOCIAL JUSTICE is a worthy pursuit.
That is what people should be doing instead of running away from terms they do not like. It is a way to recapture and repurpose language.
Obamacare was a slur, right until Obama embraced it.
Language only has as much power as we are willing to surrender to it. IN the meantime, we had ALEC in town. I am betting ALEC and the protest will need a few kicks.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)It is fitting
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)I proudly embrace it. It pisses them off to no end.
It's gotten to the point they no longer use it on my feed.
A few others that i know in person have done the same.
Cheese Sandwich
(9,086 posts)I am a Social Justice Warrior.
We can put that on a shirt.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)It'd be a cool band name, too.
Cheese Sandwich
(9,086 posts)
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)several of us have taken on the "claim it" role. When someone calls us an "SJW." we reply something like "ya godammed right I'm a Social Justice Warrior! Social justice is worth fighting for!"
Shuts 'em right up.
roody
(10,849 posts)daredtowork
(3,732 posts)
TacoD
(581 posts)
F4lconF16
(3,747 posts)There is a Native American band I like a lot that uses that term. I am proud to call myself a fighter in the struggle for truth, compassion, and understanding, though I have a long way to go before I feel I would deserve the term warrior.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)
niyad
(113,776 posts)
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)be it the one you stated or any other. Discussions can develop, points can be presented without name calling.
GoneFishin
(5,217 posts)
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I also think people need to be careful with the terms racist and homophobic. Anyone who jumps to conclusions and throws labels to generalize people is degrading. I would encourage those who do to go to the Discussionist or better yet Free Republic.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)btw, I have an off-topic question for you...will pm you with it in a moment.
John Poet
(2,510 posts)Why don't we just co-opt the term?
There are more of us than there are of them.
SwissTony
(2,560 posts)When the MRA uses the term to refer to others, "Warrior" does sound arrogant. It's meant as demeaning. But as someone on this thread said (and I paraphrase) "Social justice is worth fighting for."
The word "Obamacare" used to be demeaning. Not so much now.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)daredtowork
(3,732 posts)this code word is used to identify people who are engaging in much deeper forms of misogyny - often rape trivialization, objectifying women to the point of regarding them as chattel, participating in mass bullying/stalking/and "forcing to suicide" of targeted "feminazis", etc.
This isn't the same as outrage over use of the word "whore" which would go more in the category of cultural transformation and attempting to discourage people from saddling women with the historical indignities of being sexually trafficked.
The term SJW can be used to identify a specific species of trolls - Mens Right Activists - who actively engage in misogyny on forums like this one. They not only make misogynistic comments and provoke arguments with women, they like to game the rules of the jury system to cause trouble. Therefore, it's important to educate on SJW and other keywords associated with MRAs: not to "gasp in outrage", but so people know who they are dealing with when they see it.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)DU does have a history of people picking on a word or term and demonizing it for only the sketchiest of reasons. And then the word wars start.
FWIW, I didn't search terribly hard, but managed to find nothing that makes your point, and quite a bit that says SJW's deserve any scorn aimed at them. The term apparently is properly used against what we might otherwise term simply trolls.
If you have any concrete sources for your definition, they would appreciated. (But something perhaps a bit more authoritative than, say, an old Alternet article.)
Some of my admittedly somewhat lame sources are:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=social%20justice%20warrior
The SJW's favorite activity of all is to dogpile. Their favorite websites to frequent are Livejournal and Tumblr. They do not have relevant favorite real-world places, because SJWs are primarily civil rights activists only online.
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/social-justice-warrior
Origin
The earliest known use of the term “social justice warrior” as a pejorative comes from the Blogspot blog Social Justice Warriors: Do Not Engage,[2] launched on November 6th, 2009, which identifies SJWs as people who “rage, mob and dox in the belief that promoting identitarianism will make a better world.”
Precursor
On September 27th, 2006, Urban Dictionary[13] user Chi Z submitted an entry for the term “Keyboard Warrior,” defining it as an Internet user who expresses their anger by writing aggressive messages online.
http://sjwar.blogspot.com/
TM99
(8,352 posts)it sounds like a Social Justice Warrior is a type of troll.
They are not really engaged in matters of activism around social justice both on and offline but rather use the language and internet tools of one in order to get a narcissistic ego-stroke.
Just another type of 'keyboard warrior'.
I have not seen any examples here, but I certainly have seen some on other sites like Twitter and Tumblr.
Makes sense, and I don't think this is something I would get behind as a progressive in supporting. It sounds like they do much more harm than any imagined good could come from their rantings.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)TM99
(8,352 posts)
Violet_Crumble
(35,980 posts)TM99
(8,352 posts)to a type of troll like what a 'social justice warrior' is but ok.
Color me old and confused I guess! 
Violet_Crumble
(35,980 posts)Sometimes there's way too many acronyms floating round for me to keep up with...
btw, love yr panda avatar 
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)"Men's Right's" morons use the term to as a pejorative against those who actually want social justice. They use it derisively against ANYONE who speaks out against misogyny.
There are certainly "social justice" trolls, but the "SJW" label has been co-opted by the right.
TM99
(8,352 posts)I have no issues with that.
SJW's and 'Men's right' is just childish internet meme shit to me. Nothing online is as 'real' as that which done in the flesh offline.
I don't frequent any of those sites, and I certainly don't need you to 'unconfuse me'.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)And of course they would belittle and demean those who disagree with them...those guys are all about bullying and silencing people.
NWHarkness
(3,290 posts)Anyone who posts there regularly knows that it is a hostile,dismissive term for liberals/progressives.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)See hello to the chaps in the Men's Rights group for us.
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)It seems that the biggest weapon in the men's rights arsenal is hate speech. And we will watch an epic battle of offensiveness over the possibility of disarming them.
Because... arglebarbleblergggg ... or some other nonsense.
seaglass
(8,173 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)1.
Disparaging. a person who posts on mainstream websites and advocates left-wing orthodoxy, especially involving the treatment of ethnic, racial, gender, or gender-identity minorities.
Abbreviation: SJW.
http://www.conservapedia.com/Social_justice_warrior
Daniel Greenfield wrote about the phenomenon at Frontpage Magazine:
“ Social justice warriors use the language of civil rights to assert their private victimhood identity. This can range from the simple, race and gender, to a list of dozens of sexual identities, psychological disorders and survivor of assorted traumas. And let’s not forget disabilities (real or imagined) and morbid obesity.[1]
betsuni
(25,764 posts)How dare anyone use it here. I've only alerted once as far as I can remember (that person banned as a troll), but I will next time I see SJW used to mock people for caring about the lives of others. Take that hate elsewhere.
Number23
(24,544 posts)or pretending it means something other than it does, but then I'd be telling a big old fib.
Even for those purporting to have NOOOOO idea of its origins or NOOOOO idea how it's a slur, the fact that AverageJoe90 -- one of (emphasis on ONE of because there are others) the biggest race baiting, sexist trolls in the history of DU -- made it his calling card should disabuse anyone of the notion that it's anything other than the bigoted pejorative that it is.
Android3.14
(5,402 posts)I have never used the term, and only in this post have I heard of it. The lack of any supporting evidence to show it is a slur is unfortunate. I am dismayed that the OP feels it necessary to tell the community what language they should and should not use.
If someone's words are offensive, tell that person rather than making a general statement to strangers.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)opinion about it. There are some segments of the population that are highly familiar with the term because they are targeted by it. Would it surprise you to learn that you might know fewer insulting words used about minority groups than the groups themselves? That's a fortunate status, but it also means you are not the expert here.
You don't get that it is not that 'words are offensive' it is the intention of the words that is aggressive. Not the words, the persons, and not offensive but aggressive. Aggression will be met in kind. That's life on Earth, get used to it.
Android3.14
(5,402 posts)I did look into this, and it is a term directed at trolls. "A pejorative term for an individual who repeatedly and vehemently engages in arguments on social justice on the Internet, often in a shallow or not well-thought-out way, for the purpose of raising their own personal reputation. A social justice warrior, or SJW, does not necessarily strongly believe all that they say, or even care about the groups they are fighting on behalf of. They typically repeat points from whoever is the most popular blogger or commenter of the moment, hoping that they will "get SJ points" and become popular in return. They are very sure to adopt stances that are "correct" in their social circle."
If someone on this website, where we generally accept the promotion of social justice issues, receives that label, then he or she should examine their behavior.
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)It's a term that has been used as an attack against those who stand up for women, minorities and the oppressed. And it has been used frequently here. Mostly by men's rights folks who can't stand the thought of losing their precious hate speech.
Android3.14
(5,402 posts)The accepted meaning is that it is used on those who pretend to stand up for women, minorities and the oppressed.
Find some reasonable source that defines it the way you wish to define it before telling people what something is or isn't.
If people are using the term here "frequently" (what is frequently?), then alert on them.
Or, perhaps, the recipient of the label should examine why they appear insincere.
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)You are hilarious.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)You obviously have no first hand experience with this. It is used ALL THE TIME by RWers and MR morons to belittle anyone advocating for actual social justice. FFS, just visit Reddit for a day or two and check it out.
Igel
(35,383 posts)And, no, not using it does not mean I have no idea about what it could mean, regardless of what others say. (They denounce the term even though they don't use it, right?)
It was a term of disparagement. And the people labelled with it fully merited being disparaged. They were aggressive, abusive, offensive, and often really had no clue how to put together a reasonable, much less sound, argument. Oddly, the people they disagreed with didn't disagree on goals, for the most part, but on the kinds of action that was appropriate and how to react to those who didn't agree with taking that kind of extreme action.
I'd also say that their "activism" was highly uneven. Now it's worth risking all and everything, sacrificing every other goal, for their favorite. And if you didn't agree, you weren't a True Progressive but an Agent of the Running Sharks of Imperial Capitalism paid personally by the neo-crypto-Zionist-corporatist fascist conspiracy.
I've seen it rarely, btw. Didn't recognize the acronym "SJW" and didn't even know it was a set phrase. Instead it struck me as a completely appropriate and fitting coinage.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)they want to ban.
dembotoz
(16,864 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)...they have already weakened the point they wanted to make, IMO. It happens far too frequently on DU.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]
Vinca
(50,323 posts)It's hard to know what is currently acceptable. I'd never even heard the term "Social Justice Warrior" until a couple of days ago. I can't quite understand how it's a bigoted term since it refers to people fighting for social justice. But . . . whatever.
Lyric
(12,675 posts)It shocks me that anyone here could ever think that slur is acceptable.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)But that's DU. Against misogyny.... unless it's inconvenient.
davidn3600
(6,342 posts)You know...to keep everyone up to date on the latest lingo that is banned.
It seems to change every other day.
Our politicians can't even keep up.
sendero
(28,552 posts).... people should be able to use the words they want to. It is up to the reader to determine if they are correct in context or appropriate or fair.
If we can't say SJW now, maybe we can't say "right wing whacko" or somesuch either.
I believe in FREE speech, even for people I disagree with because that is the only way it can work.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)Free speech is about if the GOVERNMENT can limit your speech. I believe in free speech too, but if you're going use certain language in my house, for example, I'll ask you to leave. I don;t want you arrested, I just don;t want you near me.
I'm for free speech. But free speech doesn't mean to you get to say anything without private consequences.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)the people who get to decide which speech is allowed and which isn't are the people who own the site. It's 'their house', you and I are both just visitors.
The 'consequences' for using any speech that isn't explicitly banned by the owners is the same as any speech anywhere - having said it, it becomes part of your 'reputation', and adjusts how people look at you.
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)Don't be a wingnut (right-wing or extreme-fringe).
sendero
(28,552 posts)... that my mere words are more than you can handle, I don't want to be in your house anyway so no harm no foul.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)You perversely blame the victims of bigotry for being affected by hate speech
That's fucked up.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)It's not a racist or sexist term, it's a political term. Derogatory, sure. But there's all kinds of derogatory all over this place around here.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)and those using it take their chances with juries, not to mention inviting people to assume they're part of the "STFU about your civil rights" crowd.
I'd put it in the category of "nanny state socialist" or "tax and spend liberal" or "dirty hippie."
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)
I think this policing of language needs to stop personally. Becuase language will not stop.
Some of these terms have to be adopted and turned on their ear. Do not run from the term, EMBRACE IT. See Obamacare for an extremely good example of this. One would think, given how recent that is, people would understand that.
I am personally damned tired of letting others control these things.
And at this point we need a list... a shifting list, since it changes by the hour, of what terms we should never, ever, in our lives, or at least not here, use.
Triana
(22,666 posts)by MRAs. They're hateful, abusive trolls. This does NOT BELONG on DU.
Android3.14
(5,402 posts)If you are going to an MRA site to criticize MRA yucksters, then you are engaging in trollish behavior on that site. Why would anyone go to an MRA place like that any way?
We would treat the MRA folks who came here and behaved similarly with the same disdain.
Trolls are trolls, not because of their beliefs, but because they muck around in someone else's sandbox.
Triana
(22,666 posts)THEY came to an unrelated music star's site (nothing to do with MRA stuff) to attack ME.
They register at said star's site, and their FIRST/only postings are directed at females on the site who have expressed political opinions they disagree with.
THEY are the trolls.
Your assumption that I (or any female) has to go to an MRA site to be trolled and abused by one of them is INCORRECT. They are the ones typically doing the trolling.
Android3.14
(5,402 posts)From your previous post, I made an incorrect inference. My apologies.
HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)The problem with this term is the usual problem with all snarl words: it is used to discredit/smear ANYONE who dares to criticize the social status quo in terms of gender and race relations. Recent incidents of internet drama have revealed that many people on the internet believe in a vast "SJW" conspiracy to "ban hurt feelings." This snarl word has no meaning because to the average anti-equality reactionary, absolutely anyone with any kind of open opinion that minorities are human beings is apparently enough to saddle people with the "SJW" moniker.
Whenever someone complains that you're "one of them SJWs", the correct rebuttal is: "Why yes, I am a proud defender of social justice. Aren't you?"
RiverLover
(7,830 posts)We let them continue to do this, we really are the weak party.
I'd rather us be warriors!
Romulox
(25,960 posts) geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)fact that they support Bernie.
Romulox
(25,960 posts)for supporting Bernie. Several times.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)and I have not been called racist.
You are being rather careless with your factually false claims.
Romulox
(25,960 posts)I don't know if you're amongst that group or not.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)criticize Republicans but always bash Democrats.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)because i really don't believe that's true.
i personally called someone racist for distorting the truth about black on black crime. that person may or may not have been a sanders supporter, but i certainly didn't call them racist for supporting bernie.
Romulox
(25,960 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)attempt to smear others? This happens way too often, it is alerted and let stand, why. When someone starts calling names either they have lost the argument or they are really degrading themselves.
earthside
(6,960 posts)I see this all as a bad sign ... between the mau-mauing going on with Sanders-O'Malley and #BMW and now this about such an innocuous term as 'social justice warrior' -- it looks like the left in descending into Tea Party self-destruction.
Maybe it is just an unexpected emergence of an early silly season in politics brought on by a presidential nomination process that starts too early ... and an unease over the candidates that are running.
Prism
(5,815 posts)And this is where DU's age gets a little in the way. SJW is not a right-wing, MRA term (unless half the Internet is MRA, which apparently some people seem to think it is). It's a commonly used term among the Millennial Generation, both liberal and conservative, to describe a type of online troll who uses swarming attacks, doxxing, and harassment to fight largely online battles surrounding identity politics. They're characterized by their dogmatism, authoritarian impulses, and under-education on the topics they're supposedly advocating.
There is this great article by a liberal writer describing the type:
Everything Is Problematic
I have no patience for them. They often attack gay men (because we're men) in homophobic terms.
A recent impulse in that community I have absolutely zero tolerance for is the attacks on drag queens. Drag queens! The people at Stonewall. The people in our earliest parades. The people who were out there from the very beginning in a dangerous world, making it easier for my pissant, white suburban self to eventually come out some day. Drag queens are now problematic!
Because, like, feelings and stuff. And they said so.
No. Absolutely not. No. I will not have these keyboard warriors attacking my community under the guise of "oppression politics" (i.e. whatever they don't like that particular week). I won't sit there and listen to feelings over reason and rationality. I won't have my community attacked by over-radicalized, way overprivileged suburbanites with nothing better to do than log into their tumblr every fifteen minutes.
I get why DU is sensitive to that term (duh). But fortunately, the site seems to resist being completely overrun. It feels like half the flame wars around here have SJW politics at their root.
SJWs are not synonymous with social justice. They are, in my mind, two very separate things. You have the activists actually out in the world getting stuff done, and then you have the internet brigade, trolling social media trying to figure out what random citizen to get fired from their job next for some bit of nothing sentiment. Women's reproductive freedoms are under siege, but hey, let's talk about Black Widow for a month! You know, the important shit.
It's creepy, unhelpful, and eventually eats it's own. A segment of DU is down with those tactics and that version of social justice. They're welcome to it. But what SJW's want is a scrubbed Internet and your obedience to their frankly stupid ideological sensibilities.
Nah.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)And if millennials are adopting it, it's because they are constantly barraged with these ideas in misogynistic male-dominated immersive spaces like gaming. As mentioned above, I've tried to mentor a couple of young folk who are soaked in this already, but it's really too late: real-world discussion does not beat the online immersive space.
If your liberal writer soaked up the idea in this very recent article, it's unfortunate, because he now allows the MRAs to play their favorite game: turn everything upside down by pointing to the liberal writer who uses the term SJW. MRA troll code does not need to be validated no matter what this author's issues are. He should reflect on where and how he and other millennials got that concept from and who he is providing cover for.
Prism
(5,815 posts)MRA is a kind of boogie man, a generalized term (slur, even), that is often applied to anyone who disagrees with something. That isn't to take away from the fact there are actual MRAs out there, but it's become lazy secondhand. Just as SJW is a pejorative and sometimes lazy secondhand. Sometimes people do use it to mean something they merely dislike. But that doesn't mean the actual term isn't useful when discussing a meta situation.
I have a great example just from today on DU. I won't identify the thread because I don't want to go anywhere near it or get involved, but it's a good illustration of the problem.
OP posts an article detailing a current problem we're discussing in this country. The OP has the opportunity to create unity, discussion, further understanding, and underline why that problem is in such dire need of sorting out. It could be used as a very useful springboard to have a good exchange about social justice. However . . .
One poster objects to a bit of language in the OP. That poster's friends come in to pile on. Intimations are flung that the OP is some kind of -ist *shifty eyes*. Other posters start objecting to the objections.
The result? You have a thread that is now 10% relevant replies, 10% productive discussion, and 80% absolute flaming shit show.
That is pure SJWism. The grasping of a bit of language or an errant sentiment, turning it into the centerpiece of debate - distracting from actual useful debate - and making sure everyone who disagrees is labelled as a right-winger in some way. Now the people who started the fight think themselves Mighty Activists Fighting for Righteousness. Because they didn't like a word or phrase. But what is the usefulness there? When an opportunity for fruitful exchange is hijacked and turned into a linguistic slapfight where everything is reduced to "We are the Warriors of Light, and they are but Agents of Darkness."
This shit is stupid, stupid, stupid. You find it productive? I don't. I think it corrodes social justice discussion, poisoning the well before anyone gets even a chance to draw water from it.
The "whore" kerfuffle is another great example. You had one low-count, now banned troll use it. Most people ignored it - hell, most people didn't even know the post existed! It's a word used for male politicians as well, and even though 99.9% of posters weren't using it about a female politician, that one troll was enough to start a bunch of threads, start a flaming fight, and let everyone feel very persecuted/righteous.
Productive? Useful? An example successful activism?
Because it looks like a bunch of over-the-top drama to me, characterized by all the personalities that are nearly always in the middle of drama for some reason. I'm sure that's also just a coincidence.
Nah. The term is fine. It's accurate in many cases.
cemaphonic
(4,138 posts)That being said, it has definitely been recently co-opted by actual right-wingers as an insult to any social justice cause.
Sort of like the history of "politically correct," which started as an in-joke among leftist academics, but was adopted by conservatives to mock liberals.
Prism
(5,815 posts)It is being co-opted to describe liberal social activism where I don't think the term applies, but for now it seems colloquially meant as over-the-top ridiculous behavior or beliefs.
As long as it seems to be acceptable in my offline social group (mostly very liberal people), I'll use it where applicable. If that worm turns, so be it. Another word will simply pop up to take its place.
I actually don't use it too often on DU - maybe two or three times total - because I know it bothers well meaning people. I still think politically incorrect is a perfectly valid and useful term in places, but again, not here. DU's like that. So much language verboten that is just common informal American English. Funny place.
aikoaiko
(34,185 posts)DU calls lots of people names and labels.
SJW is not so bad.
ismnotwasm
(42,022 posts)I knew that since I occasionally moniter the MRA blogosphere. I was appalled to see it used here as a term of derision.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Be that as it may, I will refrain from using the term out of respect for you, and others here who find the term offensive - and as we see from many of the responses, many here do find it offensive.
Peace.
roody
(10,849 posts)Doesn't have the ring of warrior.
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)Anytime I hear or read someone saying "HURRR! SJW!!!!" I know instantly not to take seriously anything this person has to say anymore, because he just outed himself as an idiot.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)kcr
(15,321 posts)Not as calls to ban, but "If you don't want to be seen as an MRA, don't use terms like Social Justice Warrior". I see people in this thread who didn't realize and will no longer use that term. That's not banning the word.
LittleBlue
(10,362 posts)You've ensured that nearly anything goes on this site. The backlash is being reflected in juries.
You know that word everyone has been arguing about recently? If that goes unhidden, what chance do you think SJW has of ever being hidden?
This thread is Meta and should be treated as such.
craigmatic
(4,510 posts)JTFrog
(14,274 posts)
TheSarcastinator
(854 posts)That's really, really funny. I like the term -- it is perfectly disparaging of keyboard warriors who believe their facebook posts actually do something other than "raise awareness". There are many of them here too who seem to believe that their little arguments on DU or HuffPo or even FreeRep mean anything to anyone other than themselves.
God forbid anyone ever criticized arrogant stupidity. Posting online is NOT activism.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)by the way. The use the OP says is the original use might be true, so that is when you adopt it as your own, and wear it proudly. Hateful people hate that.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Obamacare started as a right-wing slur but was adopted to honor the president for this great achievement.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)daredtowork
(3,732 posts)I once got juried in an argument with an MRA about their rape trivialization because the jury didn't know what SJW meant. When I tried to write a post like this for the broader education of DU it was locked as meta. There are a lot of MRAs lurking around here and one of their favorite games is to exploit rules of a system (such as juries) to turn things upside down. Raising awareness is important.
Hope this OP stands long enough for SJW to become a matter of general knowledge. It would probably be good to create a short vocab list of common terms that flag MRA trollls.
Ps. Post to "Ask the Admins" didn't go anywhere either.
ann---
(1,933 posts)bad name to be called. All those statements are your
opinions and do not reflect any fact that Social Justice
Warrior is somehow bad.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)SJW is a dogwhistle and a smirk. Hopefully you aren't a troll who knows that perfectly well.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)so basically if you are not trans you are cis.
Cisgender or cissexual is used to refer to people who identify with their assigned gender/sex/body. The term 'gender normative' used to be more commonly used but 'cis' doesn't enforce a paradigm which defines one thing as 'normal' and something else in opposition to that normal.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)I once tried to write a similar educational post but ran afoul some meta-obsessed mods. It's important for people to understand this code word for, erm, decisions. If DU is serious about cleaning up misogyny around here, that's a key troll word to look out for.
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)Exactly.
Well said.
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)trying to get people fired for whatever indiscretion real, imagined or contrived.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)If you have you'll probably have noticed that DU in general has its fair share of people who are conservative on quite a lot of things; "men's rights activist" types who jump into basically any thread on feminist/women's issues to wail "but what about the men" while whining about how unfair it is that they have to register for the draft, for instance; sufferers of "white fragility" who derail pretty much any conversation on racial issues by complaining about how uncomfortable the term "white privilege" makes them and asking if we could talk about economic inequality instead; ignorant transphobes who jump into threads on transgender issues with things like "but what about men raping women in public toilets!" (and who jump into other threads saying amazingly stupid things like "but if Bruce Jenner can be a woman why can't Rachel Dolezal be black?"; this is something with a really long and pretty ugly history around here, too, go back and search the archives, see how many threads calling Ann Coulter a "tranny" or "Ann the Mann" etc there are, for instance, it's a low-level but consistently present thing); strident cheerleaders for capital punishment, solitary confinement, and prison rape, and so on.
My observations of DU over the last 14 years or so have led me to the conclusion that no, we're not better than that. (Or at least a sizeable enough percentage of "us" aren't that they fuck things up for everyone else.)
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)this is what groups are doing now. Hate speech should be turned on its ear and turned into things you wear proudly. There is nothing more that hateful people hate. It is truly, pointing at them and laughing, hard.
melman
(7,681 posts)and make it a sticky. It's getting hard to keep track of all of them at this point
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)
tblue37
(65,524 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)When do I receive my sword? Seriously, when I see the SJW slur being used, I want to reach through the intertubes and slap the user.
tularetom
(23,664 posts)Thank you for clearing that up for me.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)I don't trust any term pronounced as a progressive term that contains the terms of war or weaponry. Those terms are in the realm of the abuser class.
acesrhigh
(1 post)I lurk DU constantly and never joined, but I had to finally suck it up just so I could reply to this post.
SJWs are a cancer on progressive/liberal/democratic views and a cancer on real Social Justice activism.
It's a hijacked radical movement attempting to inject oversensitivity and political correctness into every facet of existence. SJWs ruin what actual social justice activism stands for. They are the people diluting meanings, throwing around terms like "racist" and "misogynist" at the drop of a hat. They are outrage culture at it's finest.
Only after being introduced to the world of SJWs did I ever have to ask if something was "racist" or actually racist. Only then did I have to ask if something was "misogynistic" or actually misogynistic.
They’re keyboard warriors who go out of their way to feel offended by things that have no bearing on their lives. Most of them will never face adversity or hatred. They're white San Fran hipsters with a trust fund and a cushy bank account. They want to speak for people who don’t even know or acknowledge them. The only “misogyny” or “bigotry” they will ever know is when some 12 year old on Call of Duty trolls them.
SJWs are the left's Tea Party. They took something that meant something and put it on a train with no brakes. They're authoritarian and want to control everyone's life. They're the #CancelColbert, can't take a joke, cry babies.
So yea.. I will continue to use SJW as a slur.
I'm an arab/puerto rican who was raised muslim. I don't hate white people. Sanders is the man and I believe he can save this country. And this nonsense: https://archive.is/fblH6 <-- This needs to stop.
Edit: Yes, I despise SJWs. They leave a line of freshly minted conservatives wherever they go.
rwpjr
(1 post)I had to create an account for the explicit purpose of agreeing with your post. Idk if I could have said it any better myself. I am a proud Democrat, but the outrage culture that's perverting the party is sickening. You are right, the sjw phenomenon is the lefts answer to the tea party. And the irony that the OP of this thread wants people to stop using the term sjw is case and point of the level of insanity involved. They're referred to this way precisely because they reckon themselves fighters of some quest for equality, when all they're really doing is trying to police the use of language. Not even necessarily language they are personally offended by, just language that they *imagine* might offend someone else. The irony in telling people not to say "sjw" is palpable.
The problem with their rhetoric is that people get so accustomed to hearing the dog whistles of "that's racist, misogynist, sexist, ableist, homophobic" over every little thing, right on down to something as innocuous as what pronouns people are using when writing or talking, that it becomes a case of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf". People outside of that groups bubble are no longer listening to them, then a real example of all those things comes along in the form of Trump. Now all of those people the sjws have decried as terrible human beings hear those things being said against trump, and they DON'T BELIEVE THEM because they say that about literally EVERYONE.
Tldr; You are 100% spot on. I have no intention of allowing someone to tell me that the real problem we're facing is that these people are being called sjws. The bigger problem is that their out of touch, even if well intentioned, rhetoric is causing DECENT PEOPLE to abandon the Democratic party. And it paves the way for demagogues like Trump to take over. If you want to help the oppressed people of the country, reach out to them! And quit pretending like they need you as a language shield.
