What is a Social Justice Warrior?

[Twinrehz]

Sorry for asking, but I haven't paid much attention to these threads, as they tend to be very long and filled with too many words and not really getting anywhere. So it's quite a simple question, what exactly IS a SJW? What defines him? (Or her).

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Technically it's someone who fights for social issues but the term is used ironically on people who get offended by anything.

 

[JoJo]

It's a generally derogatory term for someone who is perceived to aggressively fight for equality movements online, I assume the 'warrior' part is sarcasm similar to the term 'keyboard warrior'. I've seen a few people on here try to reclaim the title but it's usually applied to opponents rather than worn by activists.

 

[Zhukov]

Okay, putting this in the most neutral terms I can think of, since it tends to make people get really damn angsty for some reason.

"Someone who writes stuff on the internet about social issues, usually issues related to race, gender and/or sexuality."

It's a vaguely insulting term, similar to "white knight", generally used by people who disapprove of their views.

 

[Flutterguy]

Dissapointed in themselves so they make high standards for everyone else to live by.

 

[Twinrehz]

So if I start a thread that wonders about a possible decline of intelligence in our modern society, I could be labeled an SJW? Depending on my wording, perhaps?

EDIT: Or perhaps intelligence is not the word I'm looking for.

 

[Queen Michael]

It's a term mostly used to refer to people on the Internet who go overboard in their attempts to create, well, social justice. To be more precise, it refers to the kind of people who find anything and everything offensive. The kind of people who seem like they're constantly looking for something to feel offended by, just so they can complain about it and feel morally superior.

 

[Queen Michael]

So if I start a thread that wonders about a possible decline of intelligence in our modern society, I could be labeled an SJW? Depending on my wording, perhaps?

EDIT: Or perhaps intelligence is not the word I'm looking for.

Nope. You won't be. An SJW might complain that you're being bigoted towards the "differently abled," though.

Also, I just came up with the perfect definition of the stereotypical SJW: Somebody who does all of their "activism" through posts on the Internet, and care more about excessive political correctness than actual issues.

 

[carnex]

In reality, original meaning was someone who fights for social justice (equality, rights etc)

But, this is internet
Neither much of SJW crowd have any personal idea about what they are fighting for
Nor the who do get any recognition

So the term actually got to mean "Bonehead who listened to "choose famous youtube persona on social issues, position irrelevant" and now "spreads the word"

And that actually is relevant to almost all of us since almost everyone can point out failings in logic in one another. Only escape clause of SJW title is recognizing your own failings and correcting them.

 

[Rosiv]

Specializing in combat, the Warrior has high attack and defense and can wield any weapon.
-Dawn of Souls Instructions
See also: Warrior (Job)

The Warrior ( Senshi), also known as the Fighter, is the most versatile member of the Warriors of Light in the original Final Fantasy. He has access to the best weapons and armor available, and has impressive Strength and Stamina. The Fighter also has the most HP out of any character class. His main drawback is his dependence on powerful equipment, making him a rather expensive class to maintain.

The Fighter's sprite was originally depicted with red hair in the NES version of Final Fantasy, partially due to the palette limitations of the hardware. He was depicted with dishwater blond hair in the WonderSwan Color version and has remained as such in all subsequent releases. His artwork depicts him of having dark blue armor and horns on his helmet, and the FMV depicts him with white hair.

I assume that is it, that has the skill "Social Justice" of course...

 

[Erttheking]

Dissapointed in themselves so they make high standards for everyone else to live by.

I'm not sure how you draw that kind of conclusion.

 

[Greg White]

Varying accounts of what it means, but one that seems fairly relevant is someone who spouts off(generally) ill-informed cases against something with little to nothing to do with them, generally for the sake of appearing to have a moral high ground of some kind.

Think someone who gets offended at things simply because no one else is around to be offended about it.

I think all the other definitions have been pretty much covered so far.

 

[Genocidicles]

Here you go:

http://www.reddit.com/r/tumblrinaction

Pick your poison: they got rabid feminists, fat activists (who are PERFECTLY HEALTHY, honest!), retards who make up fake genders, militant vegans, otherkin and god knows what else, all wrapped up with self diagnosed mental illnesses and hatred for straight white men.

I swear these people are making me more and more right-wing by the day.

 

[jademunky]

Sorry for asking, but I haven't paid much attention to these threads, as they tend to be very long and filled with too many words and not really getting anywhere. So it's quite a simple question, what exactly IS a SJW? What defines him? (Or her).

It seems to be an all-purpose derogatory term for people who call out racist/bigoted/ignorant people for making racist/bigoted/ignorant comments on the web (see post #13 for great examples). It probably has some legitimate definition as well but fucked if I ever encountered it.

 

[Muspelheim]

It is mainly another bloated internet boogey-man people can cry and whine about.

Based on a true phenomenom (overzelaous people invested in social progress making absolute fools of themselves), and inflated far beyond their actual influence and effect to prop up their opponents making absolute fools of themselves.

 

[gargantual]

So if I start a thread that wonders about a possible decline of intelligence in our modern society, I could be labeled an SJW? Depending on my wording, perhaps?

EDIT: Or perhaps intelligence is not the word I'm looking for.

No you'd actually be a rational person. There are people who are part of low brow cultural movements or psuedo-intellectual movements that don't demonstrate the intelligence and critical thinking skills that have been inculcated into them.

Think of SJWs as 'culture warriors, who use questionable aspects of popular media or specific subcultures as ammunition to demonize them for not being socially acceptable enough to all people.

When for some SJW its really dumping all of their personal and emotional insecurities visibly onto mediums and pasttimes that many use to decompress from and escape personal and emotional insecurities.

 

[BeerTent]

It's merely a fad of a title so that slacktivists can feel better about themselves. They accomplish nothing, and hinder what it is they're actively seeking. It is truly pitiful that we're getting articles from someone who meets this exact definition here on the Escapist.

What are they supposed to be? Someone who brings societal issues and inspires critical thinking. A good example is the video where a man abuses a woman, and then a woman abuses a man in public. This video sends a clear message, because we see people rushing to the aid for the woman when she's on the defense, but mostly people merely chuckle when the man is on the defense.

Like I mentioned though, the term caught wind, and the Internet has to ruin yet another nice thing, drowning the voices of whose who have a chance of actually bringing said critical thought.

 

[Erttheking]

It's a term that basically become shorthand for insulting someone for holding a certain political view. It's kind of how like right wing Americans have turned liberal into a dirty word.

Personally I lose a little bit of faith in humanity every time I see the term used. The implication being that caring about race/gender/sexuality topics is a BAD thing.