If you're not as entrenched in internet culture, the concept of a 'social justice warrior' may require some explanation. In truth, I'm not sure if I can do any justice to just how complicated this phrase is.
The core problem comes from context. As near as I can tell, it originated as an epithet from the more conservative side of the internet. 'Look at these people' they would jeer, 'they're so caught up in fighting for issues! What social justice warriors!' It's... not the most cutting of jibes...
And since it's not particularly painful, it was quickly adopted as a self-imposed label as much as an insult. After all, there's the obvious upside of being a SJW – you're a goddamn warrior. Images of axes and wicked hair and battle-scarred, bloodied bodies and all that. And chances are, if you're at all left-leaning, there's a good possibility you are in favor of social justice. So the concept of being so in favor of it that you're a social justice warrior is pretty invigorating.
Close enough, big guy~
So, right off the bat, we have an “insult” that entirely fails as an insult, and a label that sounds a lot more cool than it really is since it mostly consists of receiving death threats from angry people on the internet for saying revolutionary things like “This is bad” and “Please stop raping”.
But I did start to realize one day how utterly powerless I felt in comparison to all the people I look up to on social media. They try their damndest to say important things, and occasionally people listen, but it seems like more often than not, they're met with a lot of hate and vitriol. They have to argue a lot, and when they get tired of that, they have to say “Fuck off” a lot. It's a 24/7 job that often leads to little more than death threats.
I am not a social justice warrior, and though some might call me mad, I wish I were. But it's impossible. Not everyone can be a SJW. Any nerd worth their salt knows you need party balance, and I think that's hopefully where things will continue to go in the future.
Because we need social justice warriors to go out there and do the big job, tearing down walls and yelling at people and making broad changes.
But there are so many other classes that I don't think we consider. I'm not a warrior, I never have been. I don't have the constitution (hahah) necessary to deal with the venom and bile.
No, see, it's funny because in tabletop gaming, constitution is also...
Nevermind...
We need social justice druids to speak for the trees and decry pipelines and tell us how cool endangered animals are.
We need social justice bards to make media we can relate to, stories about queer women and poly nonbinary heroes and villains with depth who are transformed by good and other beautiful things that make us cry happy tears.
We need social justice rogues to work behind the scenes, doing a million and one things no one will ever see or appreciate or thank them for because they have to be done and the rest of us are just too dense to make them happen.
We need social justice rangers out there at the fringes, discovering all the causes we don't even see coming, reporting back to us and telling us that 'gay marriage' and 'bathroom bills' are only the start, to keep us alert and always moving.
We need social justice mages who can produce the most amazing things, blogs and posters and tweets and graphs and statistics and more, seemingly from thin air but actually very very difficult to make, that will provide visible support of our causes when the warriors falter.
And we need people like me, social justice clerics, the healers and buffers, armed with videos of kittens and kind words and soft voices to keep everyone else going. If backed into a corner, I might be able to use a mace, but for the most part, I hold to the back and I keep everyone else going. That's what I do. And not everyone else can do that, which is pretty cool.
In a way, I'm sure, it's true of pretty much everything else in life. You have to discover your class. You have to know your strengths and weaknesses and play to those. I'm still trying to figure a lot of stuff out. I hope you are too.
