“The correct strategy is to fight dialectic with dialectic, expose pseudo-dialectic with dialectic, and fight rhetoric with rhetoric. And the most important thing about implementing that strategy is to understand that with rhetoric, the actual information content is largely irrelevant.”

“SJWs Always Lie — Taking Down the Though Police” by Vox Day

I’ve seen a couple of recommendations of Vox Day’s “SJWs Always Lie — Taking Down the Though Police” (incl. from @ProfessorF, whose highlights are here, but also on Reddit and in other places). So I had a look at it and — yep, I like it as well.

Vox Day defines SJWs with these characteristics:

a philosophy of activism for activism’s sake

a dedication to rooting out behavior they deem problematic, offensive, or unacceptable in others

a custom of primarily identifying individuals by their sex, race, and sexual orientation

a hierarchy of intrinsic morality based on the identity politics of sex, race, and sexual orientation

a quasi-religious belief in equality, diversity, and the inevitability of progress

an assumption of bad faith on the part of all non-social justice warriors

an opinion that motivation matters more than consequences

a certainty that they are the only true and valid defenders of the oppressed

a habit of demanding that their opinions be enshrined as social customs and law

a tendency to possess a left-wing political identity

a willingness to deny science, history, logic, their past words, or any other aspect of reality that contradicts their current Narrative.

“SJWs Always Lie — Taking Down the Though Police” by Vox Day

and oh boy, they are very salient on social media, but unfortunately also in other places. And their attempts to control and censor … really bad for artistic expression, creativity, and human progress.

He gives three laws about them (they always lie, always double down, and always project), looks at the 8 stages of their standard mode of attack, provides tips on how to defend against them and counter-attack — both on a personal level and on an organizational/societal scale — and how to argue with them (see quote above). He uses examples from #GamerGate, Sad/Rabid Puppies, the treatment of Dr. James Watson, Sir Tim Hunt, and Brendan Eich (ex-CEO of Mozilla) and a couple of other striking examples.

The description of the mode of attack fits what I have seen of SJWs. And, yup, given from what I have seen of people reacting to these attacks, his tactics should prove effective (just look at what happened when SJWs attacked the ProteinWorld’s ads). I totally agree, for example, that appeasement and apologies do not work and are actually detrimental. It’s an admission of guilt that’s the equivalent of biting into a hook. (I’m not going to detail Vox Day’s strategies here because I really think the book is interesting and useful enough to read. Especially if you encounter the type of people defined above.)

One personally interesting aspect of the book was … well, it’s up-to-date. I normally hate ebooks and prefer digitized paperbacks as PDF, but here an ebook makes sense. Some of the events described in the book happened less than two weeks ago. Try doing that with normal print-paper publishing. I follow #GamerGate (and a couple of other events) and it’s good to read his take on it. Especially regarding the effectiveness of #GamerGate and what can be learned from it.

(Of course, he is directly involved in #GamerGate and Rabid Puppies and hardly neutral, but hey, a neutral person would not have written this book. And the “Praise for Vox Day” section in the book — actually worth a read.)

So, while I am still on the fence whether SJWs are just over-caring (care as sole moral foundation, and totally helicopter-caring in overdrive), have mental problems (Borderline? Narcissistic? Psychopath?), or are Machiavellian players in today’s society, this book is likely going to be helpful in fighting back.

And it might prove useful esp. if you are an artist whose work suddenly becomes “problematic”, or a scientist whose self-deprecating joke is suddenly blown out of proportion by someone who gains by misrepresenting it.

Highly recommended.