SJW: Most Abused Term Ever?

[Mister D]

Well, although like any term it can be misused, I don't consider it to be an insult. I understand Polly's point - a thing isn't necessarily indicative of "social justice" or "feminism" because a woman is involved where someone may have expected to see a man...or, for that matter, because a racial minority is involved where someone might have expected to see a White person.

Context is vital, but generally speaking I think of a legitimate "Social Justice" cause as being one wherein an attempt is being made to convince the general population - the Society - that a particular attitude is either beneficial or destructive - conducive to fairness, or bad for everyone.

It's precisely the vague nature of these concepts that results in their misuse. Would you not agree? For example, I think abortion, divorce and single motherhood are bad for society. Is that "Social Justice" too? I'm guessing, no, it's not and your average progressive would suggest that I mind my own damn business. I thin the American right has this one right: SJ is just a way of describing a progressive bias.

[The Xl]

Sometimes it's abused, sometimes it's completely accurate.

[Mister D]

And, no, the title of most abused term ever would be a contest between racist, communist, socialist and fascist.

[sachem]

What does "social justice" mean to you? Trying to decide if I am a critic or not.

You're a critic of everything.

[Standing Wolf]

It's precisely the vague nature of these concepts that results in their misuse. Would you not agree? For example, I think abortion, divorce and single motherhood are bad for society. Is that "Social Justice" too? I'm guessing, no, it's not and your average progressive would suggest that I mind my own damn business. I thin the American right has this one right: SJ is just a way of describing a progressive bias.

I think whether you'd be considered to be a "SJW" - in the non-pejorative sense - would depend on your proposed solution(s) to those issues. Promoting sex education and the availability of birth control information would certainly impact numbers one and three in a positive way - while just banning the one and demonizing the other, as Conservatives too often seem to advocate, are as ineffective as they are unrelated to justice. As for your number two, while we're agreed that divorce is generally bad for society because of the adverse effect it too often has on the children of those marriages, aside from leading a crusade to make divorce unlawful, I'm not sure how that one fits into the picture.

[sachem]

Well, in one point, it is used as a pejorative to try and marginalize someone. When I first arrived here, I was constantly called a SJW, until it was known that I was black, then the term was never used towards me again. Funny that, huh?

So, in my experience, people have evolved with their use of terms for things they can't outright say in public. I see SJW as the newest form of a term...

You're black????

[IMPress Polly]

AeonPax wrote:
I prefer linear RPG games that allow me to operate in the nude....or close to it.

'
I recommend giving Tales of Berseria a try then.

(It actually is a pretty good game.)

The XL wrote:
Sometimes it's abused, sometimes it's completely accurate.

Superb dodge, as usual.

[Mister D]

I think whether you'd be considered to be a "SJW" - in the non-pejorative sense - would depend on your proposed solution(s) to those issues. Promoting sex education and the availability of birth control information would certainly impact numbers one and three in a positive way - while just banning the one and demonizing the other, as Conservatives too often seem to advocate, are as ineffective as they are unrelated to justice. As for your number two, while we're agreed that divorce is generally bad for society because of the adverse effect it too often has on the children of those marriages, aside from leading a crusade to make divorce unlawful, I'm not sure how that one fits into the picture.

The complete absence of any social stigma attached to abortion, divorce and single motherhood has certainly contributed to an increase in all three. Make no mistake about it. Your disdain for "demonizing" socially destructive behavior is part of the problem. It's perceived as unfair and cruel to those who suffer from such a stigma but it's not about what's good for individual people but what's good for collective living (i.e. society). Incidentally, this hyper-individualism is something shared by both the "right" and the left. You just give it different accents.

Quite frankly, I'm not sure how justice fits into any of this. That's why I asked my question in the first place.

[Standing Wolf]

The complete absence of any social stigma attached to abortion, divorce and single motherhood has certainly contributed to an increase in all three. Make no mistake about it. Your disdain for "demonizing" socially destructive behavior is part of the problem. It's perceived as unfair and cruel to those who suffer from such a stigma but it's not about what's good for individual people but what's good for collective living (i.e. society). Incidentally, this hyper-individualism is something shared by both the "right" and the left. You just give it different accents.

Quite frankly, I'm not sure how justice fits into any of this. That's why I asked my question in the first place.

Failing to demonize single mothers isn't the same as applauding or enabling them - it's recognizing that "single mothers" covers a lot of territory. Maybe when you hear the term, you see a 280-pound ghetto mom churning out a kid a year for the increased welfare check...and I'd be all for putting some dampers on that industry, vis-à-vis going after fathers for support as a condition for receiving increased benefits...but it also describes widowed mothers; well-employed, self-sufficient mothers; and little girls barely into their teens who were taken sexual advantage of by older, manipulative men.

[Chris]

Critics of Social Justice frequently have as little understanding of how societies work as they have any interest in justice for anyone but themselves.

We're talking here about social justice warriors. In general those who are not themselves oppressed but who take up such causes merely to make themselves look good and others bad.

Social justice, what you're describing, is something nobly sought and discussed ever since man could speak.