Social Justice Warriors Need an Occasional Break

In the Star Trek episode Shore Leave, Spock makes a case to Captain Kirk that a particular, anonymous crew member needed to take the opportunity of shore leave, not for the sake of his own enjoyment, but for the sake of his ability to optimally perform his duties as a Starfleet Officer. It is only after the Captain had commitedly given orders that that crew member must take shore leave on a mandatory basis, that Spock revealed the identity of the crew member in question. It was none other than the Captain himself. Is this an act of subterfuge on Spock’s part? Maybe, but if Spock had taken a more direct approach, Kirk would have refused shore leave despite how essential him taking it was not only to himself, but to the ship to which he was so dedicated.

This is by no means the only time that this issue has been addressed in popular entertainment. For example, a YouTuber known as the Film Theorist made a video arguing that the 2004 movie, Spider-Man 2, is also about this important theme. But what is most important is that this is not true only in fiction, but also in real life. And one group of people that might be especially challenged in this area is Social Justice Warriors.

Now – the term “Social Justice Warrior” has been thrown around a lot in the last few years in a pejorative manner. It is often used on someone whom the speaker believes is reacting in a knee-jerk manner to something that some political dogma that they subscribe to brands as unacceptable, with little or no critical examination of said political dogma. Often it even carries the insinuation that the person labeled as a “Social Justice Warrior” is only championing their cause because they are doing so from behind a kind of Internet shield that protects them from having to work hard or put themselves out there in any other way.

There are however some people, myself included, who believe that this usage of the term “Social Justice Warrior” is a complete perversion of what the term rightly means. We use it to refer to people who pursue social justice with the same vigor that any warrior pursues anything. In many cases (even if not in all cases) these people study more conventional warrior codes for this purpose, and adapt them for the pursuit of social justice.

As for the Internet shield that protects Social Justice Warriors from having to work hard or put themselves out there – this shield is really myth, not reality. Social Justice Warriors have endured beatings from police, hooligans, and others in order to pursue justice – many (even if not all of them) pursuing it by strictly pacifist measures. Some of them even have died in the pursuit of social justice – including one whose memorial day was celebrated this week, who originated a quote that is favored by Social Justice Warriors and Military Warriors alike: “[I]f a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”

Even with regard to those who really do most, or even all of their activism on the Internet – generally speaking, Internet activism also isn’t nearly as easy as it looks. Crafting well-worded blog articles, well-crafted memes, poignant responses, and so forth – all that takes skills. Furthermore, it takes time – and it takes effort. Often, the payment that one receives for this effort is extremely disparaging remarks from the other side – often even vicious and personal attacks. Even death threats and worse are far from unheard-of occurrences. To suggest that even Internet activists are protected by some kind of Internet shield is down-right ludicrous, and profoundly divorced from reality.

As for the stereotype of Social Justice Warriors being reactionaries who bash everything that runs afoul of a political dogma that we never examine critically. Well – some people who use the label on themselves might indeed fit that stereotype. However, people like that don’t really deserve to be called Social Justice Warriors. This isn’t just some No True Scotsman assertion. Their knee-jerk behavior lacks the discipline that is vital to every warrior of every kind – and without critical examination of whatever positions they defend, they can never be truly sure that they are truly on the right side of social justice. True Social Justice Warriors consider self-restraint even in unnerving situations to be essential, and take the honing of this virtue very seriously.

Critical thinking is also something that the finest Social Justice Warriors were always very strong on. Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail is a masterpiece of not just social justice, but of philosophy – an edifying read for philosophers of all generations. And none of the positions that he advances are positions that people should accept “just because”. Yes, he makes many assertions that would be considered radical in his day – and some of which would be regarded as excessively radical even today by most people if they weren’t aware that he was the one making those assertions. However, he provides solid reasoning for every one of his assertions.

Yet all this discipline which is absolutely essential for being a true Social Justice Warrior can be exhausting. And it happens that the most serious of Social Justice Warriors can burn out without even realizing that they have done so. This burnout can sometimes take the form of an overt decline in one’s involvement in the campaign for social justice. However, often the vigor of dedication that drives someone to be a Social Justice Warrior in the first place prevents the burnout from taking this classical form. Very often, it takes a far more subtle form – that fiorn being that the Social Justice Warrior in question remains involved in the campaign, but starts slacking in the practice of the Social Justice Warrior Code, which is the set of rigorous disciplines that separates a true Social Justice Warrior from the disparaging stereotypes that one seeks to avoid.

The media storm that followed this Monday’s event in front of Washington DC’s Lincoln Memorial served as a wakeup call to me that I myself have come to the point of suffering this kind of burnout. I saw memes on Facebook, and threw myself into the online fight without having the sense to look before I leapt. Why did I do this? Not because I don’t value fact-checking – I most definitely do. I did this because I am exhausted and my nerves are worn thin.

In this situation, I have a moral obligation to do something about this exhaustion. This is not just for my own sake – even though even on that front, the stress-related medical conditions that I suffer from are no laughing matter. But even if my own well-being were of no importance, the good of the cause would be reason enough for me to take better care of myself. Several old Warrior Codes emphasize the obligation of every warrior to maintain their own personal armory in top operational condition – and one of the key tools that I have to work with is myself. Undoubtedly taking care of that tool is not just my self-interest, but my obligation.

I don’t want to give up participating in the fight for social justice – and I won’t. But I will be sequestering myself from it for a bit – and even restricting my online time, all for the sake of my renewal. I will not be withdrawing from the Internet altogether – and I still plan to honor last week’s commitment to update this blog twice a week. However, Facebook, and the Internet in general, will be getting a lot less of my time in the next few weeks than it has been getting lately.

I will not just be reducing my Internet involvement, but will also be doing other things to affect my self-renewal. I may discuss in later blog articles what some of these measures are – but for now all I will say is that even if the number of posts and Facebook comments I make for social

justice may decrease, I expect that their net effectiveness will increase.