Social Justice Blogs Critique

links?

what do you mean by "social justice blogs" and could you provided examples?

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/social-justice-blogging

Actual blogs or tumblrs and memes?

Think iexist was asking for links to the blogs you want critiqued. I echo that request. I don't think anyone who's posted here so far is familiar with them.

is it about Social Justice Warriors on tumblr in general or about specific blogs?

Privilege theory gone wild. The thing is, it's not just on "tumblr". It's sorta a mind frame that's leaked into the left in general, at least here in America. I don't even want to get started on it. I was just temp banned on this site for going on the warpath against anything remotely resembling "tumblr social justice" activism. It makes me dizzy, as when a person is extremely intoxicated.... face green, vomit fills the intellectual toilet. It needs to be flushed.

What complicates it is when people start putting "anarcha" this or "anarcho" that in front of their social justice blogs as if they have a modicum of an idea. It, this mentality, this "tactic", this way of approaching things has indeed bled into the anarchist and broader anti-capitalist "movement", if you will, within the Bay Area. I see it as a purely idealist approach to things lacking proper class and materialist analysis wholly based on privilege theory that's hit the streets fresh from various US university graduates and current students.

I agree with this "dudebro manarchist" to an extent (in the blog below, the original post they're criticizing) and brace yourselves Europe because it's commin your way!

http://youdontlooklikeafeminist.tumblr.com/post/16407070193/my-problems-with-the-tumblr-social-justice-culture

Mike S,

Actually I think you were banned for trying to turn every single fucking thread on libcom into a platform for you to complain about privilege theory as it SOMETIMES manifests in the US. If you'd like to continue on with this absurdity, there is a good Syria thread up in the News section that hasn't had a good lambasting of privilege theory awkwardly tacked on to it yet.

Fuck off,
B

I took it as meaning the former rather than the latter.

I'd be interested in some analysis, critique and discussion of it but not if it's going to be like recent threads. (Basically echoing what bozemananarchy said)

@ The Croydonian Anarchist

Um, you still haven't given us any links to see exactly what we are talking about. At least, I don't know what we're talking about here.

It wasn't every single thread. Just the one on, well, this one and one other thread where my criticisms of intersectionality as related to animal "oppression" were taken as some weird unrelated diatribe. Romana criticized me for not understanding intersectionality and my criticisms of the vegan anarchists were simply a starting point of what was going to be a more complex criticism of intersectionality theory.

I was going to give my (unwanted) opinion concerning how I think intersectionality theory, privilege theory and "identity politics" can and do go off track into a contradictory cluster fuck of oppressions that end up making the most mundane act, word or even body language become the perpetuation of oppression. Acting like I'm full on HATE pushing the "manarchism" is a tad off base but if the consensus on this site is that I shouldn't post here no problem. I wont lose any sleep over it.

The problem that I see though is defining what this "tumblr activism" is, as something separate from what has been a somewhat new form of activism in the US the past few years. I see the source's as basically the New Left and also radical feminist theory from the late 1960's early 70's evolving and being taught at the university level which has birthed a new generation of "activists" fixated on privilege. I think the "tumblr" criticisms are a copout. This thread will be one giant copout where people simply lay fault on some strange isolated tumblr phenomenon when in reality it's the left in general that's taking this turn.

Hate me if you want... I'm not posting here to make friends. Admittedly I started this account on libcom to somewhat criticize the current state of the left in general- not so much Marxist or Anarchist theory but the activist culture which has melded within both. The "absurdity", the spectacle isn't really found in my posts on libcom it's found in the banality and melodramatic patheticism of the left in general. If anything you should embrace having a vocal critic of the left on this site so you can flex your moral indignation muscles- press the down button, tell me to fuck off....whatever makes you feel better. Like I said last month, I'll play the villain role especially since it was so easily handed out to me which was a part of my initial point. These dynamics here, that we find ourselves in now, are just a microcosm of the larger problem in real world "activism". It's not just "tumblr social justice activism"

On a side note now and in the future, if I post here or am allowed to I wont bring any of these topics up unless it's in a thread concerning the topic started by another person. I get, I went too far with my lambasting of everything in general. It's just, at least where I live, everything in general, within leftist culture, is connected to this approach to fighting oppression and capitalism.

Hmm, not that your opinion was unwanted (I mean, like I don't want it, other probably do though), you had just made it once and folks seemed to of agreed. My take on your most basic thrust is, "oppression politics is not some wholesale replacement of class analysis / struggle and in places where that happens, its damaging to the movements, *cough, success. . . " After that, you preceded to jump on anyone critical of your rage at this paper-dragon named Oppression by painting them as the folks at Occupy.

Who exactly is acting like you are full of hate? I've been a nasty little bugger and even I admitted early on that I think you are no manarchist or pushing any sort of hate agenda. I just think you're disappointed in the US anarchist movement and are grasping for something to blame. Dude, it was fucked up long before all that stuff. That said, intersectionality and privilege theory becoming more well-known (through the efforts of comrades) appear to have helped conversations on gender dynamics (among others) at least happen. I speak specifically of a anarchist political organizations. No one in that group really fit the monolith you've erected of the oppression politics focused uber-activist that may or may not of actually been a thing in groups like Occupy. . . People understood that; oppression manifests itself in interpersonal and organizational dynamics, this needs confronted, this is no replacement for our entire political program. We. Get. It. Man.

Great, who the fuck cares if the left in general takes this turn? Seriously, focusing on oppression politics sounds like a much better thing for the reformist left to focus on than the bullshit they are usually up to. Also, I think its pretty fucked up and nasty of you to assume that all working-class people take their political lead from the academy. Anti-intellectualism always looks gross to me I guess.

Oh gawd, this is where the victim-complex shit gets really skin-crawly. You are not some class-struggle warrior carrying the true torch. This whole. fucking. site. criticizes the state of the left in general CONSTANTLY. Fuck, acting like libcom is want for a vocal critic of the left. . . What can I say but fuck off you joker. Just a reminder, your villian-hood has everything to do with your unneeded against privilege theory and nothing to do with the false notion that such criticisms did not exist prior to your presence on libcom.

K, so just to be clear, the "bay area left in general" Is. Not. On. This. Site. Please, go to some meetings there and use them as your sounding board or something.

Mike S, he's the hero libcom deserves, but not the one it needs right now...and so we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not a hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector...a dark knight.

Do you mean a critique of specific perspectives within those type of blogs, or a critique of those type of blogs in terms of the wider left? Either way, I think it's a bit tricky because one of the problems with 'social justice' activism is although there seem to be a number of common threads between those who identify within that label, it's not a specific approach or ideology in the same way that, for example, Trotskyism is. I mean, I have criticisms of that type of stuff, but my criticisms usually boil down to the fact that the person in question is actually a liberal or into parliamentary democracy or something, so the criticism is more of the failings of those approaches rather than of 'social justice' as a specific thing, if that makes sense?

Why not bothered anymore?