Thinking Critically About Social Justice
<i>There’s something missing from the social justice narrative though, demonstrated by the situation in Silicon Valley and those other fields I mentioned: it doesn’t take into account the power and oppression it exerts itself. In a society where social justice advocates are outside the dominant power structure—as was the case when these ideas were originally articulated—this doesn’t matter much, since their power is negligible. That’s increasingly no longer the case, as social justice advocates have come to exert major influence over central areas of society, and consequently have also gained substantial power over society as a whole. Clearly, an accurate model of societal power must include social justice ideology and its advocates.</i><p>I grew up in a part of the country that voted Trump in 2016. When I was a child, we had to drive almost 50 miles to visit friends who were also &quot;brown people&quot; of vaguely the same ethnic group.<p>In what I&#x27;ve seen of Social Justice advocates both online, and in my various run-ins with them in person, I&#x27;ve noted the eerie similarity between them and the bigoted people who used to racially bash me and my sister when we were children. There&#x27;s a sort of &quot;seeking&quot; going on. There&#x27;s far too much &quot;witch-hunting&quot; and threatening conformity in it. There&#x27;s a hatred, and a glee in being superior. There&#x27;s a similar clinging to image and a similar rejection of logic.<p>I was once an ally of Social Justice, and would be still, but I&#x27;ve seen the underlying morality of it play out both online and in my face and in person. Unless Social Justice starts loudly calling out the injustice done in its name, then my &quot;lived experience&quot; of it speaks loudly that today&#x27;s Social Justice is malevolent.<p>Please Listen and Believe.<p>(Another data point: This thoughtful and well considered Quillette link was flagged and had to be unflagged. Ask yourself who is behaving in a censorious fashion and trying to suppress real discourse. That side is generally not the &quot;good guys&quot; as much as they might try to convince themselves otherwise.)