the whole thing of using the term social justice warrior as a pejorative when talking about super heroes is just plain stupid …of course they are social justice warriors …that is the whole damn point of them !
Well like the term Mary Sue, the term SJW has a different connotation now. I’ll quote wiki:
The accusation that somebody is an SJW carries implications that they are pursuing personal validation rather than any deep-seated conviction, and engaging in disingenuous arguments.
A large part of the criticism of SJW’s is not in the goals that are pursued, but how these goals are pursued.
Yeah, I’m sure if you asked the average person who uses SJW pejoratively they would say “I agree with their goals, but not their methods” and not something like “They’re undermining masculinity and western civilization with their cultural marxist agenda”. Ever since people like Sargon started talking about them in 2014-2015, SJWs have been this nebulous boogieman that can encompass anyone and anything on the left.
Yes, and alt-right has been this nebulous boogieman that can encompass anyone and anything on the right. What’s your point? Left or right it generally involves those with a lack of respect for those with different perspectives.
Show me a video of some purple haired tumblrina killing 50 people in cold blood. Then we can talk about how both sides are just as bad. One side has done a very tangible harm to society, and the other has, what, made some overzealous blog posts. Throw all the complaints about Antifa you want, it doesn’t change the fact that their opponents stated goals are the discrimination, deportation, or deaths of millions of people.
Never heard of the Rote Armee Fraction, I see. For every Hitler, there is a Stalin, and for every Pinochet, a Kim Il Un, or a Castro. Extremism does not discriminate. Genocide has occured in the name of many socalled ideals, whether they be considered left or right.
You can point out any number of cold war atrocities on either side. That’s not the point, the point is that today, in the here and now, one side is committing a disproportionate amount of harm, and is a far greater threat than the other. If some Naxalite wannabes start killing people and gain a sizable amount of online clout and sympathy. I’ll be concerned. But so far, all I’ve seen is hostile action on the right and defensive measures on the left. Remember, this entire culture war thing started with some game journalists started getting death threats. And now, for the past couple of years, that online bullshit has started seeping into the real world.
The point is not to focus on sides, but on compassion, and understanding. History tells us, that it is not about sides, and the threat is not in persuing ideals, but how we choose to persue those ideals. It’s always too easy to conflate the ideals with the methods used to persue them.
Isn’t that exactly the issue with using SJW as a pejorative though? Some “SJWs” use methods that annoy (or worse), but now people throw around the term to describe anyone championing those ideals. Rian Johnson is an SJW because his film features more women in it than any other Star Wars film (amongst other things). But that’s an incredibly low bar, so it’s not like he cut all the men out to make it work. The ideal is something any decent person should agree with (better gender parity) and his method is highly innocuous (putting more women in a fantasy movie). But he’s an “SJW.” The term is dogshit.
The criticisms against TLJ go beyond putting more women in a fantasy movie. It’s directed against what some percieve as the dumbing down of male characters to make the female characters shine by comparison. It’s about what some consider a rather contrived conflict involving the witholding of crucial information to make a point about gender relations. It’s about a protagonist who obtains powers faster than any protagonist before her, and displays a distinct lack of character flaws, as if the creators are afraid to make her too vulnurable, thus making her a boring character to some. The term SJW follows from the assumption, that percieved flaws in the story, and characters follow from a conscious effort to push a political agenda. The pursuit of this agenda in the view of some critics allegedly took precedent over good story and characters. Now, we can debate, whether such flaws exist, or whether the creators were pursuing an agenda, but for the vast majority of TLJ’s critics it is a massive oversimplification to state it’s just a matter of more women in a fantasy movie.