I have a friend who is not a social justice warrior, but is quite left-leaning especially when it comes to certain subjects (that appear a lot in regressive leftist narrative), but he does agree on less left-leaning opinions sometimes as well. When we have a discussion about sociopolitical subjects, he sometimes presents really strong and good counter-arguments to my opinions. Sometimes they are so strong that I struggle to find a good answer on the spot, and really have to think about it. He's quite good at challenging my opinions and positions sometimes.
I wouldn't have it any other way!
It's good to have one's opinions strongly challenged from time to time. It's good to have one's echo chamber being punctured with strong counter-arguments sometimes. It's good to get alternative views, and to really have to review one's own opinions, stances and beliefs. It may sometimes even cause a slight change in opinions, when one gets a new perspective on something, which is a good thing.
But there are things where I consider that he is quite inconsistent, even a bit of a hypocrite.
One time, among a group of friends, I joked about perhaps getting a Soldiers of Odin jacket. Not seriously, and not because I would want to join that group, but just to be a rebel. This friend of mine said that if I ever appeared with such a jacket I would not enter his house with it, because they are "nazis". (I don't think they really are. They are "nazis" in SJW vocabulary because they strongly oppose destructive immigration, multiculturalism and the European Union, but I have not seen any actual nazi ideology from them. But because the mainstream media depicts them as "nazis", then that they are, because the mainstream media never lies.)
I challenged him on this attitude because due to past conversations I knew that he was good friends with members of a rather infamous international motorcycle club (one of the biggest and most infamous ones). He isn't a member himself, but he is good friends with the local branch of the club. This is, after all, one of those motorcycle clubs that engages in drug trafficking and dealing, illegal weapons dealing, violence and even murders sometimes (there have even been a few cases in my country). When it comes to violence they mostly keep it confined to quarrels with rival motor gangs and mostly leave outsiders alone, which is why they are semi-tolerated, but they nevertheless quite often engage in heavy criminal activity.
He fully acknowledged that yes, sometimes they do engage in severe crimes, such as drug trafficking. And no, he couldn't name a single crime that the Soldiers of Odin had ever committed (other than, perhaps, some misdemeanors in the form of disturbance of peace and insubordination against the police). But none of that mattered. Yes, the motorcycle club members sometimes engaged in criminal activity, but at least they are not racists! Heck, they have black members in their ranks. (I did not bring up a "I have black friends" retort, even though I could have.)
That was the only line drawn. Drug trafficking? Illegal weapon trafficking? Violence? Even murder sometimes? Various other crimes? Who cares? After all, they aren't racists. That's the only important thing. That made them ok in his book, while the Soldiers of Odin were absolute despicable, because they are "racists" and "nazis", apparently.
Or, on a completely different tangent, consider what I wrote a while back about the one subject that South Park will not touch. The show is absolutely irreverent, and (almost) no subject is too holy to be parodied. The authors do not draw the line anywhere: Social justice, Islam, Christianity, Scientology, transsexuals, liberals, conservatives... Everybody is fair game. No subject is too holy...
... except for one, apparently. The show has never, ever parodied the Black Lives Matter movement, or any related movement, no matter how excessive, criminal and disruptive it is. On the contrary, in some episodes the authors show subtle hints that they support this part of the social justice narrative. I get the strong impression that they absolutely do not want to parody, criticize or in any way touch that subject with anything but respect.
In other words, it seems to me that the authors don't care if they are called islamophobes, transphobes, homophobes and so on and so forth... but they draw a hard line on the dreaded R-word. They will not do anything that would make them look like racists. They will not do anything that even resembles criticism or parody of any social movement by black people, no matter how regressive, violent and inhumane it might be. They will never show any black character as being in any way reproachable or in the wrong. That's the one thing where they draw a hard line.
Or consider what the police is doing in many countries, like the UK, Sweden, and most other European countries (and a few other places). The most egregious and infamous case is the child grooming and sex trafficking scandals in the UK, where the police deliberately ignored and hid the widespread organized criminal activity that was happening at many places, and sometimes even blamed and even prosecuted the victims instead of the perpetrators... because they were too afraid of being called racists.
Or the other rather egregious case in Sweden which I wrote a lengthy blog post about, where a family of Romani people were allowed to harass and even physically assault their neighbors for literally years before anything was done, because of the same reason: The police was too afraid of being called racists.
And it's not just with these major things. Minor incidents are everyday occurrences. Consider, for example, the restrictions on free movement in the UK at this moment: Police officers are going to insane extremes to enforce these restrictions, including up to going to people being at their own front lawn, or at parks isolated from everybody else, and ordering them to go inside, lest they be penalized. Except of course Muslims. Muslims in Britain are completely free to roam the streets and congregate at public spaces in any numbers they like, and the police will say absolutely nothing to them.
Consider all the things that the police in most countries are constantly being named and accused of. All the insults in the book, and all the accusations in the book, most police officers probably hear them daily. They are pigs, tyrants, nazis, fascists... you name it. And they don't care. They are used to it.
But the one word that they fear the most is being called "racists". That's where they draw a hard line, and will sometimes go to absolutely insane lengths to try to avoid it, even if it means absolute and deliberate failure of duty and protecting civilians from harm.
But why? Why is the dreaded R-word the one thing where everybody draws the line? From all possible things, why this one? What's so special about this one thing in particular? Why are people so obsessed about this that they will even allow really serious crimes to happen as long as they are saved from being accused of racism?
I wouldn't have it any other way!
It's good to have one's opinions strongly challenged from time to time. It's good to have one's echo chamber being punctured with strong counter-arguments sometimes. It's good to get alternative views, and to really have to review one's own opinions, stances and beliefs. It may sometimes even cause a slight change in opinions, when one gets a new perspective on something, which is a good thing.
But there are things where I consider that he is quite inconsistent, even a bit of a hypocrite.
One time, among a group of friends, I joked about perhaps getting a Soldiers of Odin jacket. Not seriously, and not because I would want to join that group, but just to be a rebel. This friend of mine said that if I ever appeared with such a jacket I would not enter his house with it, because they are "nazis". (I don't think they really are. They are "nazis" in SJW vocabulary because they strongly oppose destructive immigration, multiculturalism and the European Union, but I have not seen any actual nazi ideology from them. But because the mainstream media depicts them as "nazis", then that they are, because the mainstream media never lies.)
I challenged him on this attitude because due to past conversations I knew that he was good friends with members of a rather infamous international motorcycle club (one of the biggest and most infamous ones). He isn't a member himself, but he is good friends with the local branch of the club. This is, after all, one of those motorcycle clubs that engages in drug trafficking and dealing, illegal weapons dealing, violence and even murders sometimes (there have even been a few cases in my country). When it comes to violence they mostly keep it confined to quarrels with rival motor gangs and mostly leave outsiders alone, which is why they are semi-tolerated, but they nevertheless quite often engage in heavy criminal activity.
He fully acknowledged that yes, sometimes they do engage in severe crimes, such as drug trafficking. And no, he couldn't name a single crime that the Soldiers of Odin had ever committed (other than, perhaps, some misdemeanors in the form of disturbance of peace and insubordination against the police). But none of that mattered. Yes, the motorcycle club members sometimes engaged in criminal activity, but at least they are not racists! Heck, they have black members in their ranks. (I did not bring up a "I have black friends" retort, even though I could have.)
That was the only line drawn. Drug trafficking? Illegal weapon trafficking? Violence? Even murder sometimes? Various other crimes? Who cares? After all, they aren't racists. That's the only important thing. That made them ok in his book, while the Soldiers of Odin were absolute despicable, because they are "racists" and "nazis", apparently.
Or, on a completely different tangent, consider what I wrote a while back about the one subject that South Park will not touch. The show is absolutely irreverent, and (almost) no subject is too holy to be parodied. The authors do not draw the line anywhere: Social justice, Islam, Christianity, Scientology, transsexuals, liberals, conservatives... Everybody is fair game. No subject is too holy...
... except for one, apparently. The show has never, ever parodied the Black Lives Matter movement, or any related movement, no matter how excessive, criminal and disruptive it is. On the contrary, in some episodes the authors show subtle hints that they support this part of the social justice narrative. I get the strong impression that they absolutely do not want to parody, criticize or in any way touch that subject with anything but respect.
In other words, it seems to me that the authors don't care if they are called islamophobes, transphobes, homophobes and so on and so forth... but they draw a hard line on the dreaded R-word. They will not do anything that would make them look like racists. They will not do anything that even resembles criticism or parody of any social movement by black people, no matter how regressive, violent and inhumane it might be. They will never show any black character as being in any way reproachable or in the wrong. That's the one thing where they draw a hard line.
Or consider what the police is doing in many countries, like the UK, Sweden, and most other European countries (and a few other places). The most egregious and infamous case is the child grooming and sex trafficking scandals in the UK, where the police deliberately ignored and hid the widespread organized criminal activity that was happening at many places, and sometimes even blamed and even prosecuted the victims instead of the perpetrators... because they were too afraid of being called racists.
Or the other rather egregious case in Sweden which I wrote a lengthy blog post about, where a family of Romani people were allowed to harass and even physically assault their neighbors for literally years before anything was done, because of the same reason: The police was too afraid of being called racists.
And it's not just with these major things. Minor incidents are everyday occurrences. Consider, for example, the restrictions on free movement in the UK at this moment: Police officers are going to insane extremes to enforce these restrictions, including up to going to people being at their own front lawn, or at parks isolated from everybody else, and ordering them to go inside, lest they be penalized. Except of course Muslims. Muslims in Britain are completely free to roam the streets and congregate at public spaces in any numbers they like, and the police will say absolutely nothing to them.
Consider all the things that the police in most countries are constantly being named and accused of. All the insults in the book, and all the accusations in the book, most police officers probably hear them daily. They are pigs, tyrants, nazis, fascists... you name it. And they don't care. They are used to it.
But the one word that they fear the most is being called "racists". That's where they draw a hard line, and will sometimes go to absolutely insane lengths to try to avoid it, even if it means absolute and deliberate failure of duty and protecting civilians from harm.
But why? Why is the dreaded R-word the one thing where everybody draws the line? From all possible things, why this one? What's so special about this one thing in particular? Why are people so obsessed about this that they will even allow really serious crimes to happen as long as they are saved from being accused of racism?
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