# Stupid Social Justice Warrior Bullshit O' the Day. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 17, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443 "2017-03-17T22:14:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Firebreather1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47c2d/32.png) [@Firebreather1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Firebreather1)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/161 "2017-03-20T02:47:59Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > If you think this is a left wing thing, you would be a retard, yes. I don’t, I know that people of both political persuasions do it. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/162 "2017-03-20T02:48:34Z")
> [@Firebreather1](#): > > Okay, now [_this_](http://www.thesocialmemo.org/2017/03/teen-vogue-contributor-white-people-are.html) definitely takes the cake for stupid SJW bullshit of the day. Nothing to do with Social Justice. Just your average angry asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/163 "2017-03-20T02:50:00Z")
> [@Firebreather1](#): > > I don’t, I know that people of both political persuasions do it. Well there you go. He was insisting it was smug\*\* left-wing people\*\*, and that is what I highlighted. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/164 "2017-03-20T03:06:01Z")
It’s not merely “causes one disagrees with”. It’s seeing everything in terms of black and white, good or evil, with no shades of gray. In the minds of a SJW, white people who wear dread locks are no better than the KKK. Or that fighting for a living wage is equivalent to just as important as fighting to make sure that Barbie isn’t too skinny. I’m not talking about their causes, per se. (Although many of these kids latch onto things that have no meaning) I’m talking about the way they approach things. Seeing EVERYTHING as bigoted. And claiming that only certain groups of people can be bigoted, because of priveledges, etc. Remember those college students who freaked the fuck out when their classmates were writing “[TRUMP](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/03/24/someone-wrote-trump-2016-on-emorys-campus-in-chalk-some-students-said-they-no-longer-feel-safe/?utm_term=.78059f23fa07)” on the sidewalk with chalk? THOSE are the kinds of people who are usually described as SJWs. > [@Chimera](#): > > Nothing to do with Social Justice. Just your average angry asshole. You know that, and I know that. But often these people claim they ARE fighting for social justice, and that is where the term SJW comes in. It’s like calling religious nuts “fundies”. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/165 "2017-03-20T03:08:09Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Listen, you git, we can distinguish between them. That’s not the fucking question at hand. The question is twofold: > > 1. Why do you need a special term to describe liberals who advocate for causes you disagree with; and > 2. Why do you, discovering you need that term, choose the one popularized by the misogynistic tweakers behind Gamergate? > > I ignored Guin when she brought up this idiotic straw man multiple times above because, well, I’ve been ignoring Guin’s stupid points for nearly two decades now, and I saw no reason to change course in this thread. It beggars belief that you’re taking this stupid point seriously. Name calling, **LHoD**? Is it really that hard to keep a civil tone to someone who’s extended you the same courtesy? As to your questions - 1) Because “Fuckwit” or “Dickhead” is far too broad a category, which segues nicely in point number 2) Because I think it excellently describes the sort of people who do the things that would cause me to label them SJWs. Happy now? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/166 "2017-03-20T04:03:02Z")
Two questions: question\* el firsto\*: Aren’t we discussing a personality type rather than an ideological persuasion, or a religious conviction? Uptight, scolding, self-righteous. Assholes. If progressivism were the one persuasion that was free of assholes, it wouldn’t be human, it wouldn’t be comprised of people but temporarily misplaced angels. And what the heck does hooped earrings have to do with anything? As Eugene V. Debs is my witness, I have no clue. By the way, caves on Mars smell like damp rust. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/167 "2017-03-20T04:13:07Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Two questions: question\* el firsto\*: Aren’t we discussing a personality type rather than an ideological persuasion, or a religious conviction? Uptight, scolding, self-righteous. Assholes. If progressivism were the one persuasion that was free of assholes, it wouldn’t be human, it wouldn’t be comprised of people but temporarily misplaced angels. > > And what the heck does hooped earrings have to do with anything? As Eugene V. Debs is my witness, I have no clue. By the way, caves on Mars smell like damp rust. [White Girl, Take Off Your Hoops!!!](http://claremontindependent.com/pitzer-college-ra-white-people-cant-wear-hoop-earrings/) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/168 "2017-03-20T10:37:28Z")
The problem is that the term SJW is used to describe: 1. Powerless racist idiots who say that white people can’t wear hoops 2. Peaceful protesters at my daughter’s school where Milo was allowed to speak 3. Violent protesters and outsiders at Berkeley where he wasn’t allowed to speak 4. Very violent protesters where the Bell Curve guy and his host were assaulted 5. People looking for more balanced treatment of women in video games 6. People pushing to allow trans-kids to use the bathroom that matches their identity If it was just used to refer to (1), sure, have at it. But (1) is used to make 2, 5, and 6 seem equally trivial and 3 is used to make 2, 5, and 6 seem equally dangerous. Do you know what I do when some powerless racist idiot says that my kids can’t wear hoops? I ignore her. What is the name for the kind of term that can be used to put all of those people above into the same bucket? Over-broad? Useless? Sure, I’m sure when you, and you, and you use it, you only mean (1), but that’s not how it’s generally used. Anyway, it’s back to work for me, and I’m not supposed to post from there, so I’m out. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/169 "2017-03-20T10:53:09Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Name calling, **LHoD**? Is it really that hard to keep a civil tone to someone who’s extended you the same courtesy? :dubious: This whole thread is about namecalling, and your entire participation in the thread is to support and defend a particular name that you like to call others. Pardon me if I deny you the high ground here. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/170 "2017-03-20T11:46:36Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > The problem is that the term SJW is used to describe: This is an excellent post, and it’s why I’ve been trying–and failing–to get people to give a clear definition. If folks point to leftists causes they disagree with, but don’t trigger them into namecalling, that’d be one thing–but nobody has done that, as far as I’ve seen. Instead, they use the epithet for any leftist cause they disagree with, and then it ties into bullshit like F-P’s thread awhile ago in which he applied his patented psychoanalysis technique to all SJWs, and it ties into all the nonsense in this thread. Sure. Disagree with folks on leftist causes, that’s cool. Call people out for being assholes when they’re being assholes, that’s ducky. But using a term popularized by misogynists to namecall those who disagree with you politically? THat does more to label you than to label anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/171 "2017-03-20T12:36:32Z")
> [@](#): > > What is the name for the kind of term that can be used to put all of those people above into the same bucket? Over-broad? Useless? exactly ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/172 "2017-03-20T12:49:30Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > The problem is that the term SJW is used to describe: > > 1. Powerless racist idiots who say that white people can’t wear hoops > 2. Peaceful protesters at my daughter’s school where Milo was allowed to speak > 3. Violent protesters and outsiders at Berkeley where he wasn’t allowed to speak > 4. Very violent protesters where the Bell Curve guy and his host were assaulted > 5. People looking for more balanced treatment of women in video games > 6. People pushing to allow trans-kids to use the bathroom that matches their identity > > If it was just used to refer to (1), sure, have at it. But (1) is used to make 2, 5, and 6 seem equally trivial and 3 is used to make 2, 5, and 6 seem equally dangerous. Do you know what I do when some powerless racist idiot says that my kids can’t wear hoops? I ignore her. > > What is the name for the kind of term that can be used to put all of those people above into the same bucket? Over-broad? Useless? > > Sure, I’m sure when you, and you, and you use it, you only mean (1), but that’s not how it’s generally used. > > Anyway, it’s back to work for me, and I’m not supposed to post from there, so I’m out. +1. This is what I mean when I call it a snarl word. “A word used to induce a negative response or association in the person hearing or reading it. Commonly used to appeal to people’s emotions rather than their reasoning, and thereby get them on your side,” as [UrbanDictionary](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=snarl%20word) explains it. It’s a term woven intentionally broadly, to tar as many people with the same brush as possible, and pretend they’re all equally bad. It’s quite typically extended far beyond the definition that the OP set out, to include anyone with a feminist, civil rights, or LGBT rights bend. It’s a stupid, useless term. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/173 "2017-03-20T12:49:47Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I don’t know what OP’s politics are. The fuck the problem is you oh-so-smug leftists insisting on uniformity of thought, and sacrificing mountains to save a molehill. Leftists insisting on uniformity of thought? It’s always nice when visitors drop in from other timelines. Please sign the guestbook! In _this_ timeline, at no time during the past 50 years have leftists been able to come close to uniformity of thought amongst themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/174 "2017-03-20T12:59:46Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > :dubious: This whole thread is about namecalling, and your entire participation in the thread is to support and defend a particular name that you like to call others. Pardon me if I deny you the high ground here. The difference is I haven’t actually identified a single, specific individual and declared them an SJW (or any other unpleasant name). So if it’s all the same you, I believe I’ll retain the high ground on that front. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/175 "2017-03-20T13:27:17Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > It’s not merely “causes one disagrees with”. It’s seeing everything in terms of black and white, good or evil, with no shades of gray. Sounds like how people tend to be in high school and college, before the real world forces most of us to deal with all the grays. Since the main examples of SJW behavior seem to have been drawn from college students, and a publication aimed at teens, this still seems to fall under “college students do stupid shit, film at 11.” > [@](#): > > In the minds of a SJW, white people who wear dread locks are no better than the KKK. Or that fighting for a living wage is equivalent to just as important as fighting to make sure that Barbie isn’t too skinny. Can you provide quotes of alleged SJWs _saying_ these things, or is it just something you’re reading into their behavior? Because you know, we all have a tendency to chase the shiny object of the moment, whether it’s fighting female circumcision or objecting to Barbie dolls with unrealistic bodies, and young people haven’t had a chance to build up their resistance to chasing shiny objects. (And again, who’s to say the latter issue is trivial? First-world problem though it may be, negative body image affects one hell of a lot of American women, and that quite frankly sucks. I’m glad that doesn’t affect you, but why do you get to decide that’s trivial?) > [@](#): > > Remember those college students who freaked the fuck out when their classmates were writing “TRUMP” on the sidewalk with chalk? Yep, college students being stupid again. You know, if some sort of less-than-optimal behavior primarily exists among young people, does it need a special name when it’s just young people doing the same sort of stupid shit that young, inexperienced people of every generation do? Did you have it so much more together when _you_ were in college? Because **I** sure as hell didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/176 "2017-03-20T13:30:21Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > The social justice warrior crowd really don’t. I had pretty much exactly this conversation in another thread on the subject and it turned into people saying “You only use the term against people with opinions you don’t like!” despite me clearly saying “No, it applies to people with views I also agree with too, although that rarely happens.” > > I maintain that SJWs are _not_ fighting for worthwhile stuff. Raging because white people have dreadlocks or society says women should shave their armpits or whatever is in no way nearly in the same league as saying “Every adult citizen should be able to vote” or “We shouldn’t discriminate against people for being gay” or “Slavery is appalling and should be stamped out”. Perhaps one definition of a SJW would be someone that wishes to wrap their inane, insane and/or idiotic crusade in a mantle of respectability by associating it with truly worthwhile causes. That’s why [Dr. Sakena Yacoobi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakena_Yacoobi) is not called an SJW, but [the morons that blocked the runway at London City airport](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/06/climate-change-racist-crisis-london-city-airport-black-lives-matter) to fight the racism of Climate Change are. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/177 "2017-03-20T13:52:25Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > So, you have no proof that anyone called themselves a SJW. I’ve just got to have faith. Sorry, the Roman Catholic Church couldn’t persuade me to have faith–and they’ve been in the business lots longer than you. Once again, nobody apart from you is disputing that the word was originally used positively. Believe what you want, you’re the outlier, here. [QUOTE=wikipedia] The phrase originated in the late 20th century as a neutral or positive term for people engaged in social justice activism [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=rationalwiki] “Social Justice Warrior” (abbreviated “SJW”[1]) is a once positive term for “progressive” that turned into a derogatory term circa 2011 [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=infogalactic] Head of U.S. dictionaries for Oxford University Press Katherine Martin said the term was previously used as a compliment.[3] She observed: “All of the examples I’ve seen until quite recently are lionizing the person.”[3] Martin noted the phrase had mostly positive usage in the 1990s through 2000s.[3] The Washington Post gave examples of its earlier positive connotation as well as from pop culture that illustrated the recent debate surrounding its negative connotation.[3] [/QUOTE] [Use in a positive sense in 2011 by the ACLU](https://www.aclu.org/blog/speakeasy/memory-social-justice-warrior-lgbt-rights-champion-carolyn-wagner?redirect=blog/lgbt-rights/memory-social-justice-warrior-lgbt-rights-champion-carolyn-wagner) ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/178 "2017-03-20T14:01:09Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > [Use in a positive sense in 2011 by the ACLU](https://www.aclu.org/blog/speakeasy/memory-social-justice-warrior-lgbt-rights-champion-carolyn-wagner?redirect=blog/lgbt-rights/memory-social-justice-warrior-lgbt-rights-champion-carolyn-wagner) Wow. > [@](#): > > As a result of the Wagners’ involvement in the lawsuit and learning about the abuse of many teens by their parents, the couple took in scores of mistreated kids over the years, some of whom were straight, many of whom were gay or perceived as gay by the parents. > > In 2006, Carolyn Wagner was assaulted on her family’s property by a man posing as a police officer who brutally beat her and told her he didn’t take to “queer-loving ACLU types.” Undaunted, Wagner carried on with her support of LGBT children and their families. > > Carolyn Wagner also cofounded Families United Against Hate to serve as a support for victims and families of victims of hate crime, where she served as a liaison between victims and law enforcement, ensuring that others would not fall victim to official complacency such as she and her son experienced. Just so you know, when you link to a story like this in a thread where you defend your utter contempt for “social justice warriors,” it makes me horrified about your argument, not about social justice warriors. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/179 "2017-03-20T14:56:40Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Leftists insisting on uniformity of thought? It’s always nice when visitors drop in from other timelines. Please sign the guestbook! In _this_ timeline, at no time during the past 50 years have leftists been able to come close to uniformity of thought amongst themselves. I should have said _some_ leftists seek to _impose uniformity_ on other leftists. Why wasn’t Peterson permitted to speak? Fear that some leftists would be “corrupted”? Leftists who support gun rights are shunned. Leftists who oppose gay rights are shunned. Had the left been more gracious in embracing diverse opinions the Tragedy of November Eighth might have been averted. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443/180 "2017-03-20T15:03:05Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Just so you know, when you link to a story like this in a thread where you defend your utter contempt for “social justice warriors,” it makes me horrified about your argument, not about social justice warriors. Er, perhaps you should specify exactly what is wrong about the events of the linked story when addressing someone who clearly does not know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-social-justice-warrior-bullshit-o-the-day/782443.md?page=10)