2:28am September 4, 2012

Sorry, neither one.

As I said in my post To Be Clear:

I am not part of the Internet “social justice” community.

I am not part of the Internet “anti-SJ” community.

Both communities have, at different times, tried to claim me. At different times, I have joined in with both, knowingly and unknowingly.

But I can’t be in either. Because they are both part of a larger pattern that does great harm.

I am saying this again because I’ve said a lot of things lately that are criticisms of trends that commonly take place within, among other things, the online SJ community.  My post on ideology was one of them. 

But I’m not “anti SJ” either. And there’s a reason why. 

The three biggest groups of people in anti SJ communities are:

1. People who don’t like SJ because it exposes oppression that they are part of. 

2. People who really have much the same ideology as people in SJ communities, but have turned their ideologies against SJ.  

3.  Bullies, sociopaths, and trolls, who take no ethical stance at all but thrive on stirring up shit. 

Those last two groups especially are really a mirror image of SJ.  Same outlook, opposite stance. And I have no real time for either amoral bullying or the exact same ideology I was trying to escape in the first place. 

I’m sure there are people just like me in both communities, but in smaller numbers.  I have been pulled into such communities before, with and without my consent. 

But I left. 

I left because ideologies tear me apart. 

I left because I saw great harm being done on both sides. 

I left because I’m a perpetual outsider, as one friend called me, whether I want to be or not.  There are probably communities I could remain in. But they look nothing like most of these pseudo-communities I keep seeing. 

Anyway. Despite a passing resemblance from time to time, I’m really not a part of either one of these groups. And criticizing what happens in one doesn’t make me the other. I have plenty of problems with both. 

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