I am writing this article for anyone willing to listen. Being receptive to different points of view is a quality I respect in my friends. Whether you agree or disagree with me, I hope you’ll lend an ear and read all the way to the end. I’m not going to limit the definition of Social Justice Warrior (SJW), because I don’t believe in lumping whole groups of people into boxes. In this article, I’m describing Social Justice Warriors based on the actions I’ve observed. The term SJW may mean something entirely different to you and if you aren’t doing the things described in this article, then you might want to consider helping your “allies” in social activism to understand that there are constructive and destructive ways to do things. I suggest doing so soon before they undo any progress that has been made over the past century.

I will focus on three qualities that I simply cannot respect in SJWs or anyone else for that matter. This doesn’t mean that I don’t see you as a human being or your right to exist like everybody else. It just means that you can’t force me to respect you. Respect is earned.

1. Lack of Self-Awareness

Self-awareness defined as the ability to reflect on one’s thought process, its implications as it pertains to one’s actions and the impact of these actions on others.

“White noise for white noise, that’s how it works.” — scruffy activist armed with a white noise generator.1 On October 11th, a free speech rally was held at the University of Toronto at which students were encouraged to speak during an open mic. Protestors, like the one who produced the quote above, decided to blast white noise and chant the generic slogans of current-year to drown out the voices of students and faculty who wanted to voice their opinions on freedom of speech. The fact that someone who is holding a white noise generator in one hand would refer to students voices as “white noise” demonstrates an incredible lack of self-awareness. Without speech, the scruffy activist wouldn’t even be able to make this point. Speech is not white noise. Far from it. Speech is the medium through which we express our thoughts to the world. If speech is drowned out, we lose our most reliable medium of expression.

That free speech rally was just a gold mine for examples of zero self-awareness in action. For example, after witnessing a physical assault of then-Rebel reporter Lauren Southern, a young trans woman reported to a police officer that, “I didn’t see anything. I didn’t see anything that happened,” despite standing right behind the assaulter and staring straight into the camera when the assault took place. She then proceeded to flip the bird at the camera while donning a meme-worthy shit-eating smile. Her moral victory was short lived as she was subsequently arrested after assaulting two more bystanders and fined for stealing a bystander’s phone.2 The case of “Smugglypuff,” as she would later be known on the internet, hit home because she reminded me of any student I would have bumped into on my way to class. It’s scary to think that this wasn’t the Pussy Riot or something–this was a textbook example of student activism on campus in 2017. What I find disheartening about this whole situation is not the fact that she acted belligerently in the heat of the moment because I’ve witnessed the power of the mob mentality during the 1993 and 2011 Stanley Cup riots, but the doubling down that ensued from her supporters afterward was pathetic. Trying to slander two physical assault victims as Neo-Nazis after you’ve been caught on camera is probably the furthest thing from self-awareness on both an individual and group level.3

For the purposes of this article, I’ve only included two examples of SJWs demonstrating a lack of self-awareness. If you think I’m cherry picking, call me out on it, and I will provide you with 50+ examples of SJWs on camera with full captions and let you be the judge. Another notable example is the Black Lives Matter activist who took the opportunity to ridicule white attendees of the vigil for the Orlando nightclub shooting victims.4 Does she know that the gunman who claimed 49 lives was an American-Muslim or does she simply not care about anything but her own narrative? Do attendees not have the right to mourn their family and friends because of their skin color? Talk about being oblivious to just about everything that is going on around her.

Observable consequences of absent self-awareness often include: doubling down on faulty arguments and blatant lies, lacking empathy for other people outside of protected circles, and justifying the use of violence as a means to an end. I think this is a dangerous path many student activists are heading down. I can no longer stay silent as I see people close to me and people I see as leaders of the future flirting with a sure-fire way of losing the respect of those outside of activist circles.

2. Lack of Self-Responsibility

Self-responsibility defined as being accountable for something within one’s own control.

My doctor once told me that if you don’t eat less, even exercise won’t help you lose weight. Well, she was dead wrong! The only solution is to smash your scale so you won’t have to worry about it judging your weight every day! The fat-acceptance movement is probably best known for claiming that scales are a symbol of oppression and that people can be “healthy at every size.”5 Let’s just forget about all of the scientific research about body size, child birth, and heart diseases etc. for a second. I understand that the justification for pushing these claims is to end fat-shaming but in doing so, many fat-acceptance activists have willfully tried to deny the physiological consequences of unchecked body weights.6 Even the simple explanation that every person has a finite number of heartbeats in their lifetime and that increased body weight taxes the heart more, should rid your mind of any doubt that you’re not going to live long if you’re the size of a whale with a human heart. It takes some serious will power to ignore the ice-cream on the counter but to take a hammer to your scale is indicative of a person’s character regardless of how long they’ve struggled. Outside of people who suffer from side effects of medication or genetic disorders that inhibit their ability to control their own weight, your weight is within your control. Your body, your choice. You can be happy at your weight, but you can’t force me to respect a quitter. This isn’t about beauty standards, this is about having basic respect and taking responsibility for the life you’ve been given.

Rape is bad. Despite the penchant for SJWs to use the term rape-apologist to denigrate anyone who questions their theory of rape culture7, very few people would actually say that rape is not a heinous crime. I’ve gotten into countless Facebook fights with feminists on pages such as Feminist Frequency and Women’s Rights News (not even your typical SJW) who seem to have the internalized the expectation that even if you walk down a dark street at 4 a.m no rape will occur. In theory, we should be striving to reduce the occurrences of rape regardless of context! However, doesn’t this expectation seem to be far off from reality? At some point, you’ve got to acknowledge that there is a balance to be had between the expectation of not being raped and protecting yourself from potential harm at the hands of criminals. This is not victim-blaming. This is saying that you should use common sense and take every precaution because criminals don’t give a flying fuck about your rape culture theory. I’m going to leave it at this, but if you want to play the gender card and say that men don’t face the same risks, I’ve got news for you — both men and women commit rape8 and walking down the streets alone at 4 a.m is dangerous regardless of what you’ve got between your legs.

If you haven’t seen the video of an Evergreen college student demanding that professors make allowances for late homework because “we are all here on our own time,” then I suggest you do so.9 The student speaks as if everyone should make concessions for her because she’s decided to spend time yelling at your school’s president rather than completing her class assignments. Guess what? You made the choice of what to do with your own time! I was involved in activism during my last year of university and I still went to class. I still handed my work in on time. I still took my exams. I still went to work. Meeting with university administrators and professors to collect letters of support and attending briefings and negotiations did not stop me from keeping up with my other responsibilities in life. If you think this is an isolated incident, this is not the case. In 2016, a student activist at Brown University echoed a similar sentiment, “There are people breaking down, dropping out of classes, and failing classes because of the activism work they are taking on….My grades dropped dramatically. My health completely changed. I lost weight. I’m on antidepressants and anti-anxiety pills right now. Counsellors called me. I had deans calling me to make sure I was okay.”10 Students at Oberline College apparently took things a step further by suggesting that grades are inherently unfair, get in the way of activism, and low grades below C should be abolished.11

Perhaps these student activists should reconsider their heavy involvement in activism because as far as I can remember, the purpose of college is not activism, but getting an education to prepare students for their future careers. I’m assuming that’s what their parents had in mind anyway when they put them in college. Striking a balance is key, but it’s not achievable without some sense of self-responsibility. Think about it, when you get out in the real world, you’re more than likely to be reprimanded or fired for skipping work or failing to meet deadlines because you were too heavily involved in activism. I’m not against activism, but like everything else, it’s only healthy in moderation.

Taking responsibility for our actions allows us to grow as individuals as we learn to face the challenges of adult life. This includes taking responsibility for things such as bodily health, personal safety, and work. Let’s face it, if we can’t handle these things, how different are we from little children who require the constant care of our parents? At some point, we need to grow up and stop expecting others to make concessions for us because we can’t sort out our own problems.

3. Lack of Respect

Respect defined as having regard for the feelings, rights, and wishes of others.

Privilege. Lack of respect for “privileged” individuals. Are you considered privileged if you spend 12 hours in the damp, dark, lifeless tunnels of a coal mine? How about the sanitation workers who get up at 6 a.m in the morning to make sure the streets are clean before you make it to school? What about the night clerk at the who works the graveyard shift at the convenient store, is he privileged? Perceived white privilege. How do the people I just mentioned stack up against a college student who sips a latte while typing away at a term paper? What if the miner’s daughter has cancer and he has recently fallen into a bout of alcoholism after being laid off? What would an SJW who throws the words “white privilege” around like confetti say? Would they acknowledge that we should respect everyone’s unique life story or would they double down and say that the miner is still full of perceived white privilege just in different areas of life?

Herein lies the problem. I think some student activists who spend most of their time on university campuses learning about social theories have yet to validate these theories outside of the university bubble. By validate, I’m not talking about browsing a couple of Teen Vogue articles, watching Don Lemon on CNN or attending a university rally for By Any Means Necessary (BAMN); I’m talking about immersing oneself in the daily lives of the working class who populate the cities. If one is not open to learning about the lives of not only the “underprivileged” groups they learned about in class but also the groups around them, then their understanding of the populace as a whole will be extremely limited. The bunching of white people into a collective identity is extremely hypocritical, as they are doing the very thing they chastise others for doing when it comes to minorities. Remember, the next time you get offended when someone fails to respect your unique life story, you’re guilty of the same thing when you denigrate someone because of their perceived white privilege.

The disrespect towards the personal stories of individuals permeates across the span of intersectionality from skin color to occupation. Remember when a group of Black Lives Matter activists loudly chanted, “Pigs In a Blanket Fry ’em Like Bacon?” in the streets of Minnesota?12 It was taken out of context! It was a joke!13 This “joke” is not only offensive to the cops who serve this country but to the Muslim faith as well. Where are the hate speech advocates? The mainstream media wants us to forget but we will never ever forget. I grew up having a tremendous respect for police officers and what they put on the line to keep our communities safe. There are racists and officers who use excessive force resulting in needless death. Needless death of any kind is a strike against humanity. Few of us would deny this. What I cannot respect are people who paint targets on the backs of a group of people.14 What about the rest? How about the cop that puts his life on the line to stop a terrorist attack? Or the one who risks everything to rescue hostages? They have families too. They have passions and dreams just like the rest of us. Dreams of family, having kids, going home to a warm bed at night. One needn’t look far to find a growing string of ambushes and assassinations on police officers. Still think the BLM activists in question are innocent? All I’m going to say is, you would know a lot about using “but hateful rhetoric” as an argument so don’t give me that double standard bullshit.

You know what I say to all this? Look what a hands-off approaching to law enforcement has done to Chicago. 63 people shot, 8 eight killed over this past weekend.15 No big deal. I say let Black Lives Matter activists continue their crusade against police officers while ignoring their own. I’m sure mothers like the one of 9-year-old Jamalya Bolden who was killed by a ricochet bullet from a drive-by while doing homework in her room is going to be pleased to hear that there will be no rallies to end gang violence in honor of her fallen daughter.16 I suggest watching the 7-minute clip of a black retired Navy veteran speaking her mind on Jamalya Bolden and Black Lives Matter; she sums up my position on Black Lives Matter activists.17 Perhaps, Black Lives Matter as a movement should consider finding another name because clearly, only a few select black lives are worth fighting for.

In my opinion, one of the greatest tragedies of disrespecting the stories of individuals is the failing of oppressed minorities who come to countries like Canada to escape oppression; only to be met with hostility for wrong-think. During the free speech open mic held at U of T, a Jordanian woman by the name of Diana Mohammad took the mic to lambaste protestors, “Here’s the thing, you haven’t seen real oppression, you haven’t seen what it’s like to literally be in a country and think of who you are and literally be afraid your life. Do you think that if you were in a country such as Saudi Arabia that you would be free to express your, transgender, gay, lesbian, [identity]?” amid a slew of “shame” chants from protesters.18 Her experience is not uncommon. In July, at Pride March Toronto, Muslim activists spreading awareness of the lack of LGBT rights in Islamic were shouted down and blocked from marching by ANTIFA and co. under accusations of “Islamophobia.”19 Among those activists was Salman Sima a former political prisoner from Iran who came to Canada a place where he believed was free of oppression.

The poor treatment of minorities with wrong-think isn’t unique to Muslims. The students and professors who took the mic at the free speech rally to explain to protesters why they value free speech included Africans, Chinese, Caucasians, East Indians, Koreans, and Middle Easterners.20 As an Asian-Canadian I can understand why there are so many ethnic minorities present at this rally. Most of them are most likely descendants of immigrants who came to Canada from countries like China where state censorship and stifling of dissent is the norm. Therefore, they cherish the free speech rights here in Canada that their parents never had back home. Perhaps, the SJWs are forgetting that they’re protesting the same rights that allow them to chant generic slogans at the speakers. If SJWs truly want to help protect minorities, they would be wise to listen to the stories of ALL minorities, not only the select groups they’ve chosen based on ideological compatibility. If the disrespect of minorities with wrong- think continues, more and more voices like mine will continue to call you out on your blatant hypocrisy.

4. A Tragic Lesson and Final Thoughts

The SJW madness I’m observing in my own backyard reminds me of the story of an influential Chinese minister of the state of Qin in the year 362BC. Perhaps best known for being the first to turn legalism into a political ideology, Shang Yang was responsible for instituting a system of collective punishment based on family units of fives and tens. If one member of the family unit was guilty of a crime, the entire family was subjected to capital punishment unless they informed the authorities. Land ownership was granted to units through central government on the basis of merits in battle. While this reform quickly propelled Qin into a dominant military power, the common people were silently opposed to the tyrannical laws which benefited few but oppressed many. At the core of legalism was the rejection of any conceptions of right and wrong that was not determined by the rule of law. As many predicted, Shang Yang’s reign only lasted as long as the current ruler was in power. Quickly following the death of Duke Xiao, Shang Yang became a wanted man, hunted by those whom he had persecuted under his laws. The story ends with a tragic description of Shang Yang who had disguised himself as a commoner wandering the streets as he attempted to flee. It’s the dead of night and an exhausted Shang Yang finds an inn. To no one’s surprise, he was rejected at the door because the inn keeper fearing collective punishment, refused to take Shang in because he failed to produce proper identification, a law that was instilled under his rule. With nowhere to go, a hopeless Shang Yang was soon captured and executed by his captors.

The moral of the story is this; SJWs should be wary of the collective punishment and hate speech censorship laws that they’re pushing for because it will only last as long their sponsors are in power. They are making many enemies along the way and those people will not hesitate to use their own laws against them if they get the chance. The fall of Shang Yang is a perfect example of what the end of SJWs will look like.