Skip to main content

Why do some people stop being "anti-SJW"/"anti-woke"?

Not often, but sometimes some people are highly critical of the modern far left for years, in other words, they are what's commonly called "anti-SJW" or, more recently, "anti-woke" (for some reason I don't really understand it seems that the term "SJW" has fallen out of fashion and most have stopped using it), and then stopped being so, and either just stopped presenting any political opinions at all or, much more commonly, swung to the other side, sometimes even to the extreme other side.

I have seen some videos made by these people, and there appears to be one thing in common with most if not all of them: And that's the sheer lack of rational arguments about why they decided to switch sides (or, even in the best case scenarios, just stop being "anti-woke" political and move to something else entirely.)

In one such case an ex-Jehova's Witness, who makes tons of videos criticizing that religion, made a video about how when he abandoned that religion and became an atheist, he became a staunch "anti-SJW" for a few years, but then decided that it's "all BS" (his exact words, including the "bee es"). And that's it. He said that the "anti-SJW" side is "all BS"... and that's it. Nothing else. He gave literally zero arguments, zero reasons, zero examples, nothing.

I have also seen several videos of other such "converts" where they do give more arguments and more reasons, but pretty much invariably they just concentrate on attacking the most extreme examples of "right-wingers" that are almost carbon copies of Alex Jones (if not outright Alex Jones himself). I don't remember ever seeing them addressing nor giving any counter-arguments to what I consider the most legitimate criticism presented by the "anti-woke" side (such as their crusade to curtail free speech and punish those who present the "wrong" opinions, or their crusade to castrate children, or their utter racist hatred of white people, and so on and so forth.) These people tend to just take the most ridiculous examples out there and apparently have based their "I'm leaving the anti-woke side" decision solely on those, without ever addressing the legitimate points.

A few of them switched sides because of contracting Trump Derangement Syndrome. I have a hard time understanding the logic behind it, but I have seen examples: People who were quite conservative, quite "right-leaning" (in the American sense, not the European one), very critical of the excesses of the modern far left, presenting very rational and reasonable arguments against the far-leftist ideas and policies and for more conservative policies... only to become completely insane when Trump was elected PotUS in 2016. All reason and rational arguments went out of the window and they became vocal anti-conservatives and either sympathetic to or completely full-on far-leftists.

What baffles me is the complete lack of skepticism, critical thinking and reason.

One of the fundamental parts of skepticism, of critical thinking, is that of presenting and accepting criticism. Not just criticism of a side you don't "belong" to, but also perfectly well the side that you do. It is, in fact, perfectly possible, valid and reasonable to be a staunch anti-leftist, anti-SJW, anti-woke and at the same time be critical of Donald Trump and his policies. There is no contradiction there. You may agree or disagree with him, and the latter is not some kind of contradiction or hypocrisy or anything of the sort.

I myself watch regularly people on YouTube who I mostly agree with, but who sometimes present opinions and ideas I disagree with. And that's ok. That doesn't make me want to unsubscribe and switch sides. In fact, I would be more worried if I 100% agreed with everything someone has to say. If I watched hundreds of videos by someone and I never, ever encountered something I disagreed with even a bit, I would actually start honestly worrying if there's something wrong with me. I would start worrying if I have lost my ability to think rationally and skeptically, to be skeptical and critical of claims presented to me by people who I mostly agree with.

As an example, I have watched hundreds of videos by Matt Walsh. Many of the things he says I fully agree with. However, there are also times when he says something absolutely stupid and braindead in all seriousness, which I can't help but to strongly disagree with. But that's completely ok! That's the essence of being a rationally thinking skeptic: You evaluate every claim and assess its validity one by one. You don't just accept everything someone you like tells you. Just because he sometimes says utterly stupid things that are arguably completely false hasn't made me want to switch sides and abandon the "anti-woke" side. And that's how it should be.

But I have noticed that this principle is not embraced by many of the people who had been "anti-woke" and then switched sides: Watching their videos of why, they reek of "there are people on the anti-woke side that are unhinged and I strongly disagree with, therefore I'm leaving!" As if there were no such people on the other side, sheesh.

"There are some things / some people on this side I disagree with" should not be the reason to run away and embrace the opposition. If that's your principle, you will never find your perfect place. Or, alternatively, you might find a complete echo chamber, which I would find a lot more worrisome than some disagreeable people being on "your side".

You should be glad that you find some people on "your side" disagreeable! That means you aren't in an echo chamber, which is a good thing! Ideas become stronger when they are challenged, not when everybody agrees with them.

Comments