The social justice movement goals are a fair and equal treatment of all people, regardless of class, race, gender and sexual orientation.
There are two main problems – social justice is not entirely achievable and some of the Goals of the movement, as well as the methods of achieving them are disconnected from reality. The language used and cancel culture are counterproductive. A classic example are the slavery reparations. The term shows exactly what is wrong. Reparations are synonymous with guilt. Guilt is not a helpful emotion. If you want something to happen, give it the best possible name. Not one that will divide people, but one that would unite them.
If we go to ask about money for a good cause, we phrase the problem and then ask for help. Anything more aggressive and guilt-inducing is counterproductive. This line is not respected by the social justice movement.
The uncompromising nature of the social justice movement comes from its obsession with equality and striving for purity. And purity in a messy world doesn’t exist.
Cancel culture is ineffective. The canceled person will not change their views. They will become more extreme and dangerous. Canceling is not dialogue, but a merciless destruction. Cancelling a scientist is even worse – they will not share culturally unacceptable findings. But canceling companies is great. Unethical companies or ones with very bad products and services should not exist. People don’t develop empathy under hate. But companies develop better practices under scrutiny. Some industries are evil by nature and structure. So you can also target entire industries.
Messaging can be divisive. This radicalizes people and radicalized people are a disastrous loss for society. The only path forward is finding common ground.
Wealth inequality is the most effective part of the movement since being poor makes any other disadvantages much worse. Fighting the super-rich abusing tax loopholes and offshore heavens is not controversial.
Society pressures women in profoundly unfair ways – stricter social and beauty standards, not enough financial support when bearing and raising children, cultural patriarchy remnants from the past, higher risks of sexual assault, domestic violence… it’s a very long list and everything in it decreases Freedom. Women also earn less for the same work and have less self-esteem in a trust-based, Bullshit-tolerant world. Women are also disproportionately affected by the fear of being a bad person.
The root problems are historical distribution of power and wealth and patriarchal culture as well as the way parents raise boys vs girls.
Leaving women aside regarding big decisions for much of human history was wrong and unfair. But blaming modern men is not a path forward. Blame is not constructive, even when deserved. Talk about this privately with our closest people. Then they will understand. Extreme public messaging only makes the problem worse.
Racism exists all over the world. Given its history of slavery and then segregation, we have a race as a historic root of inequality. We call this systemic racism. Racist people exist as well. Humans biologically have higher trust in individuals that look and behave like them. But instead of building understanding and tolerance as we grow, the problem is often largely amplified by culturally absorbing racism from our environment. This results in almost all white people having at least some implicit bias.
We can try to ignore race and focus on helping disadvantaged people or we can take proactive action to prevent any possible racial injustice. Moderate affirmative action in personal decisions is great. But the more official the process becomes, the people not chosen will be very unhappy if they knew race played even a small role.
You cannot solve a millennia-old cultural problem and change biology with a simple rule like a quota and not expect any collateral damage. This is not how the world works. Affirmative action that goes beyond racial discrimination prevention makes white people very angry. And this feeling gives fuel to dangerous movements.
Developed countries have come a long way with most people today being more educated and much more tolerant. This gives many LGBTQ people Freedom to publicly express themselves and the joy that comes with it, so they can be loud. Many conservative people consider this a provocation, targeting values like family and traditional society.
LGBTQ people fall in love in ways just as beautiful. But they have a much higher chance for one-sided love, especially in school, surrounded by almost entirely straight peers. Combine this with the shock to realize that you’re different, then the anxiety of coming out to your parents and friends. Proper education on these topics is important. Learning that gay people exist won’t make a single straight kid gay. Science is in favor of this.
The pronoun saga overcomplicates everyday matters and is not a constructive way to go. And if you force 99% of the population to make any effort so 1% of the population don’t accidentally get hurt, you’re playing with social fire. Let’s have perspective and use our Energy and Resources where they are most needed.
Massive social unrest is one of the most serious threats to humanity. Social division is the first step to this. The social justice movement needs to acknowledge that it’s causing a lot of anger with some of its messaging. Justice will fail everyone if angry people with guns take to the streets. Many white men have the dangerous feeling of being cornered and attacked from all directions. It doesn’t matter if it’s Truth; if it’s true in their heads, it’s their reality and they need dialogue and help. Blame will not help. Society cannot handle more division. If you want to be a trailblazer, be a uniting one.
