Thoughts of a Doubting Christian ✓

Why SJW Should Not Be Used as an Insult

When my conservative younger brother first called me a "SJW" and explained that it stood for "social justice warrior," I was confused as to why he was using it as an insult. After all, social justice is a great thing. For those unfamiliar with the term social justice, here's the definition:

Social justice — the idea that all members of society deserve an equal footing in terms of opportunities, political rights, and distribution of wealth and privilege so that they can lead fulfilling lives and realize their potential in the community.

I mean, that sounds pretty great to me. No human being is inherently better than any other, so giving everybody the same tools to start with is great. If all we start out on equal footing, then people can choose what to do with it. Are they going to work hard and become super successful? Great! Are they going to squander their opportunities, instead? That's their choice.

However, for the billions of people around the globe who are not white, rich, straight, or male, this is not a reality. For example, as a white person, I have privileges that people of other races and ethnicities do not. I don't have to worry about being pulled over or shot by the police, being passed over in job interviews or shown into lower class neighborhoods when I'm buying a house due to the color of my skin, or having bigots attack me with racial slurs weighed down by hundreds of years worth of oppression.

It is important for white people to acknowledge their white privilege, instead of getting overly defensive and saying unhelpful stuff like, "But I didn't choose my skin color!" Honey, nobody chose their skin color, and yet here we are, being treated differently based on it. As a white person, you don't have to like it, but there's no use living in denial about the real struggles other social groups go through in their daily lives. If we want things to change, white people need to wake up and be a part of that change.

While I have white privilege, there are other categories where I do not have privilege. For example, as a woman, I make 80 cents to every man's dollar, even if we are in the same line of work. I am passed up, ignored, and treated as inferior in my field (where almost 90% of my department is male). Old men feel entitled to tell me how I can use my body, how I should dress and act, and what women can and can't do. And then on top of it all, I have to listen to ignorant men tell me how they suffer from "reverse sexism" and how women are becoming "more privileged than men." (That's a whole 'nother ball game that I might tackle in another chapter, but I don't want to open that infuriating can of worms right now.)

For one more example, I don't have privilege when it comes to my sexuality. As someone who identifies as bisexual/pansexual/queer, people have either not heard of my labels or they invalidate them, telling me that I'm confused, misinformed, or want to be a special snowflake. I never see myself portrayed in media, whether in TV shows, films, or books. I'm not welcome in the majority of Christian churches in the US, and it's almost impossible to find religious people who will accept me. I'm a target for bullying, violence, and discrimination . . . the list goes on.

So if all of these different layers of inequality and privilege exist, why would "social justice warrior" be an insult? The brave people who fight for those who are oppressed, disenfranchised, underprivileged, and downtrodden are doing great work for humanity! Just think of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, or Ruth Bader Ginsburg — they are who I would call warriors of social justice, which is, of course, a compliment.

After all this, I was still incredibly confused as to why white conservatives would use SJW as an insult, so I turned to Google.

It turns out that it first originated as a pejorative term on the Internet by white men who were unhappy with underprivileged groups pointing out their privilege. Instead of dealing with it, they decided to make up insulting terms for all those damned "triggered liberals" because they felt attacked. To be fair, are some people too rude or aggressive about social justice causes? Sure, all movements have their extremists. I'm not saying that there aren't feminists who hate men, or Black Lives Matter supporters who are anti-white, or whatever other example you want to give. But to see extremists or trolls online and equate that with an entire movement? That's just plain ridiculous.

Let's use the examples I gave before. If you asked the people who use SJW as an insult, they'll tell you that feminists are fat, ugly, man-hating lesbians who believe women are superior to men. They'll tell you that Black Lives Matter is a violent, anti-white, anti-law enforcement movement that should be banned. That's what they believe, but it just isn't true.

Feminism is simply the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. Yes, that's it. No man-hating, queerness, or superiority complexes involved. Anyone of any gender, sexuality, race, or religion can be a feminist. It simply means that you believe that everyone is created equal, so you choose to advocate for women's rights.

The same can be said for Black Lives Matter. Sure, the Black Lives Matter movement has shown several instances of being "exclusive" to Black people, most notably meetings where only Black people are invited, or a Memorial Day parade where whites were actively told not to come. I remember I was a little upset about that, and my parents were, too. Like many other people, we scratched our heads and wondered, why would black people get mad about being excluded, and then actively exclude other people?

But once again, those incidents don't reflect the movement as a whole. Yes, Black Lives Matter focuses on Black lives and Black power, but it isn't inherently "anti-white" or "anti-police." It may be centered around Blackness and protecting Black people from police brutality, but that doesn't make it "exclusivist." Here are just two examples of why Black Lives Matter is not anti-white, directly from its official mission statement of beliefs:

"We work vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension, all people."

"In affirming that Black Lives Matter, we need not qualify our position. To love and desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a prerequisite for wanting the same for others."

I think that makes it pretty clear that they see value in everybody, Black or not.

So what are white male conservatives thinking when they use SJW as an insult? I turned to the cesspool that is Urban Dictionary to find out. Here were some of the definitions that made me the angriest:

❝Someone who is vehemently self-righteous over the pettiest things. They claim to fight against social injustices but are abusive and quick to vilify or bully anyone deemed a "bigot".❞

❝They use violence in the name of peace and equality, they do not consider other opinions as equal Free Speech as those who are saying them, are worse than child killing terrorists! They try not to offend the people who are highly sensitive and can offended by the slightest of things!❞

❝The overly offended blindly ignorant scum of the internet whom'st report anything and everything that offends them.❞

❝The SJW is a hypocritical, fundamentalist demagogue. Their morals only exist to further their own agenda, which is always right. An SJW holding a reasonable discussion or fair debate is almost unheard of.❞

I notice a couple of recurring themes. Apparently, all social justice warriors are offended easily, self-righteous, hypocritical, and don't care about anything else other than their opinion or "agenda." But this is all wrong. Social justice is about advocating for the equality of all, and who doesn't want to be a warrior for a good cause? That's badass! What's wrong with standing up for underprivileged groups? Absolutely nothing!

Using SJW as an insult is a cop-out, a way for conservatives (mostly white males) to shut the conversation down. Don't like what somebody is saying to you? Just call them a SJW! Do you feel attacked because people called you out on your sexism/racism/homophobia? Just call them a SJW! Is someone offended because you said something horrifyingly rude and disgusting? Just call them a SJW! That'll show 'em, those stupid triggered liberals!

Conservatives who use insults like SJW have a plethora of other things that they call liberals and people who fight for social justice, including but not limited to "blowhard," "commie," "feminazi," "fool," "hack," "idiot," "libtard," "man-hater," "moron," "racist," "retarded," "scum," "socialist," "special snowflake," and "triggered." But believe it or not, there are better ways to get your ideas across than to throw insults at people you disagree with as if we're back in elementary school. If they gave actual logical arguments backed up by evidence and reason for their beliefs instead of calls to the Bible, God, or pseudoscience, there would be no need for insults like SJW. Let people fight for social justice, and if you have a problem with that, insults are not the way to go. Stop using SJW as an insult and come up with something more productive to say.