Many people on tumblr who promote social justice are apolitical. What do I mean by this? It’s not simply that they’re preoccupied with individuals, but also their lack of practice to complement any theory they might hold.

For example, browse any of the tags dealing with social issues. Yes, I understand that cultural appropriation has negative consequences and much of it has to do with a combination of hegemony and commodification and such, but what kind of political program do you propose in order to resolve this contradiction between cultures? Yes, shaming polyamorous people is bad, but how do we deal with this beyond telling people online not to shame?

I can imagine the bulk of “social justice warriors” being assimilated into the dominant system within a short amount of time. Give it a few years and you’ll see it; in fact, you already do. How many young 20-somethings are going to buy Beyoncé’s next album because they think they’re being good, intersectional feminists by doing so? It’s pretty much that same kind of conscious consumerism you see with Starbucks and “fair trade” coffee or American Apparel’s “ethically-made” clothing: being a consumer within capitalism is now the way to absolve yourself of your sins, so as long as you buy from the “right” people.

I’m around college students all the time, and this does seem to be a pretty big trend. They have an understanding - albeit, a highly underdeveloped one - of social structures and whatnot, but their means of dealing with it is not through organizing. It’s through liberal, individualistic approaches that do nothing to change the cultural logic of capitalism, patriarchy, or white supremacy.

Politics isn’t voting for elected officials in a bourgeois political system. Politics is strategy. Politics is being Machiavellian because you want to win and know this is what it takes to win. It’s not Nicki vs. Iggy but who’s got the hegemony.