I wrote a rougher version of this shortly before The Announcement and current situation blew up. The TL;DR is that some of our SJW friends will admit they're engaged in "warfare" and that they feel any tactic is justified, from spreading lies to spreading fear and hatred... but they don't, and can't, become aware that they have -- in many respects -- won; that they control the social discourse, that they control the rhetorical weapons (privilege, oppression, racism, safe space, ...), and that they have become the bullies they want to believe they're fighting against.

Some have suggested that in "the real world", SJ-think is a lot less prevalent than it is on Tumblr. Which is true; but, of course, it would be hard to equal Tumblr. It is still the truth that in Rolling Stone, in the media, in government regulations, in schools, in academia, in the President's speeches -- this ideology is either the standard, or fast becoming so. What gets me is just what can't be said... including that.

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I. WWRD?

"everyone knows that admins and mods of majors subs are majoritarily feminists and SJWs"

‎ ‎ ‎ That's fairly undeniable, by now. Feminist and SJ posts get put in /r/BestOf a lot, but as of the last time I checked, "men's rights" posts are banned. Mods in a variety of subs would only permit posts supporting that girl in the "Ga­merG­ate" debacle. No posts critical of feminism or social justice are permitted in quite a few subs. Reddit's former CEO was the virulently feminist P­ao. This is all without including the mods of non-default subs like /r/OKCupid or /r/TwoXChromosomes (2,000,000 subscribers!) or SRS... even some feminists have complained about the moderation in these subs, although I'd wager they're a tiny, tiny minority... but that any break the party line might say something interesting.

‎ ‎ ‎ I almost never see anyone from a Men's Rights sub or /r/TheRedPill, though I see tons of criticism and mockery. CoonTown and company are tiny and almost universally reviled. You won't normally encounter their supporters on Reddit. But if someone really hated those people, they'd probably seek out subs like SRS or even just browse TRP itself as "outrage porn", and get a skewed idea of Reddit demographics. Thus, all of the mockery and stereotypes about "fat Reddit fedora neckbeards who hate women", etc, while people enjoying the circlejerk about how racist/sexist Reddit is very much outnumber actual sexist or racist users. We will see this pattern again.

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II. Pseudo-Rebel Weaponry

‎ ‎ ‎ Behind all of this, I think there's also a bit of a kind of attempted contrarianism -- people associate racism and sexism and Men and especially White Men with the default, dominant paradigm. That's what the Ignorant Masses and Society are all about, right? Look at all the white, male CEOs ruling everything. Think of all the racist, ignorant hillbillies you hear about. Everyone knows racism and sexism are everywhere. Thus, people criticize this perceived powerful-but-ignorant enemy as a way to signal sophistication -- they see through this stuff; they're not like the racist hicks or oblivious Other Whites or sexist men/Other Men! -- and as a way to show allegiance to the tribe that is based on caring about this stuff.

‎ ‎ ‎ So this creates a problem, in that a) a large part of this narrative has been built around Supporting the Underdog, and b) Defeating Oppression is the rallying cry. The idea of the brave, sophisticated and independent thinker standing up against the dominant forces of society is part and parcel of this group identity, and so people who self-identify as part of the social justice movement can't let themselves become aware that the enemy is a straw whiteman: that the racist hillbilly is a dinosaur, a minority, and a figure of derision for everyone; that social justice groups and ideas completely control modern social discourse; and that only a tiny, embattled minority cares about Men's Rights. Realizing this would mean that maybe one is not a rebellious freethinker, but just kind of going along with the dominant paradigm. That doesn't mean the paradigm is even wrong... but it does threaten self-image and ego.

‎ ‎ ‎ Meanwhile, over at b), being oppressed has become a badge of honor, like a battle-scar... but, more importantly, being an oppressor has become poison. Anathema. The word (along with "privilege", among others) is a weapon: tar someone with the Brush of Oppression, and they're doomed. Someone with Privilege must not venture any thought or comment upon these issues, cannot even understand them, and can, in fact, only apologize, grovel, and comply. (No exaggeration to say "grovel", by the way... I've seen so many people tear into apparently sincere apologies as Not Good Enough, repeatedly, until the victim oppressor either becomes enraged and takes them back, or leaves in tears and defeated.)

‎ ‎ ‎ So the prospect of this weapon being questioned -- of someone suggesting that hey, it kinda seems like most people are on board with your ideas, maybe you're not quite the desperate ideological underdog -- is deeply upsetting and disturbing to people who have built a movement armed with it. They might even worry it could be turned against them: witness the furious debates about who is more oppressed (trans-male privilege vs cis-female privilege is a big one), the desperate struggle to find ever more ways to be the victim. That's why you see people piling on the layers: "I'm a trans-Neptunian homophilosexual demi-romantic wolfkin with three headmates and cis-phonological tendencies..." It's armor.

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III. Modern Taboos

‎ ‎ ‎ The thing is, anyone sympathetic to social justice, reading this, would probably peg me as a dirty rotten sexist racist pig. Notice how my other posts in this thread -- neutral observations that couldn't possibly be taken as a criticism of the movement -- are downvoted... almost as if it strikes a nerve to suggest that social justice isn't the underdog.

‎ ‎ ‎ But I'm not saying anything about the issues themselves; I think, in fact, the biggest shame of all is that agendas, signalling, and hysteria have completely taken over and overshadowed real inquest into the problems the social justice movement was (is?) trying to address. Racism is real, and terrible. Sexism is real, and awful. The Ruling Class is screwing stuff up. But you can't attempt to be rational about it, or ask "what is the real data?", or express doubts about severity... because it's not about finding out what's really going on. For some people, it's about the narrative, and the signals they're sending. For others -- with some overlap -- it is a battle, and arguments are soldiers: you've got to support every argument your side's got, or it's like firing upon your own forces. Some will even tell you outright that the facts don't matter as much as making sure awful things like the Patriarchy are dismantled. (Remember that Clymer fellow everyone turned on? He espoused this view. Live by the sword...)

‎ ‎ ‎ I don't mean to suggest that I think The End is Nigh, nor do I think that we're going to end up in some kind of "reverse 1984". I do think that we run the risk of creating an echo chamber, where to speak out is a huge social risk, and public policies of any sort can only be set by ideology rather than fact. (See: public schools, uni "tolerance police.") We already see people being fired for opinions; we see universities ensuring that only one view is tolerated, much less endorsed; we see that mainstream media can only support a certain narrative, else risk a storm of outrage (and the same for businesses); we even sometimes see attempts to subvert the justice system. I don't think it will bring us down... but it could stunt us. Living in a world where ideology controls discourse but cannot be pointed out is a recipe for a twisted society.

‎ ‎ ‎ So we've ended up with a culture where there are once again taboos -- taboos set and controlled by a group that pretends to be besieged and helpless, meaning that criticism automatically paints one as a target. There are many things you can't say (especially if you're a certain type of person... but you can't point that out, because the relevant terms, like racism, have been co-opted). It's a war, and truth is an acceptable casualty, and free expression is the enemy. This isn't even truly hidden, when people state outright that just attempting to reason about an issue is itself a type of oppression. (Don't start "mansplaining!")

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IV. Endgame

‎ ‎ ‎ I question whether, if those who push the social justice narrative succeed with these tactics, it will be possible to sort out the truth later -- or if it will have vanished in dogma. Or if the idea of the "truth of the matter" will even be important, once the concept is so thoroughly trashed. I wonder whether it's not doing more harm than good to throw away careful enquiry. "Tar them all, and let Gaia sort them out"...?

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For the record, I thought FPH was despicable; it was hateful and toxic. It's just that this seems like it could -- not necessarily, but could -- be the start of a classic "slippery slope". I'm wary that SRS, which is possibly the most brigade-y, harass-y sub of all, gets a pass.

If anyone is interested in further (and, if I am honest, much better) thought/analysis of social-justice-related ideology/statistics/data, from an objective source, who isn't me, PM me.