A lot of us recognize that something is wrong with Social Justice Ideology - whether you call it Woke, Critical Theories, or Successor Ideology, it's not the same as the Civil Rights Movement but it's own thing.

And tracing where it came from, you'll find it's ideas from Marx, adopted by Post Modernism and later into branches of feminism, queer theory, anti-racism, gender ideology, and trans-humanism.

... And you can support Civil Rights without relying on Marx. You can support women's rights without relying on Marx. And you can be a feminist and reject Marx - who ultimately saw "Western Civilization" as something worth destroying, as he saw himself as outside Western Civilization who were the "Enemy".

A huge part of the problem with Social Justice Ideology is Standpoint Theory (or epistemology - meaning knowledge gained from one's situation in life).

Marx argued that the ruling class were ignorant, and that the working class were better situated in their access to knowledge, and that this knowledge made them more fit to lead then the ruling class. It was propaganda to justify the working class overthrowing the government, and it's super convincing because it's based on a bit of truth: that people learn not just from studying things, but from experience.

Under Social Justice, this is rebranded "lived experience". This leads to arguments that seem reasonable at first like "someone in a wheelchair, is better able to design wheelchair accessible ramps then someone who has never used a wheelchair".

It sounds perfectly reasonable at first - but then you realize someone needs to have specialized knowledge to build a ramp, and being a wheelchair doesn't provide that. Someone with construction engineering skills can learn what a wheel chair user needs - and they have the knowledge to design a ramp that won't collapse. But they also need to know a lot about a lot of different kinds of wheelchairs and the different kinds of people in a wheelchair - it's a diverse group of people that have to be served.

If you want to see what happens when someone with lived experience takes the lead instead of someone with knowledge, look up "Lysenkoism" - millions of Russians starved to death because they rejected the Scientific Method as "Western Propaganda".

The truth is people do learn through experience. The problem is when you say "and therefore, those without that experience can't understand it as they've never experienced it".

This is reflected in our society constantly with this idea that "All people of X identity" should think the same way. That when issues matter to a marginalized group, that only people in that group have the ability to come up with solutions (and their solutions will automatically be better).

The truth isn't that straightforward. Not all people experience the same event the same way. Certainly, not all people from the same identity group experience the same event the same way.

In Social Justice circles, these ideas tend to come through with "we should defer to marginazlized voices and let them lead" which turns into the need to constantly mention "transwomen of color" as the most oppressed, and therefore, the most worthy of leadership.

If it's always rubbed you wrong - I hope this gives you a little insight into where those ideas come from, because it's turned into "if you don't agree, it's because you are evil (nazi/facist/bigot/terf/transphobe/etc)."

I was watching the news after the USA elections, and blown away by how they responded to "X group voted this way" when it wasn't what they thought the group should vote... and not a single reporter thought "maybe we should ASK PEOPLE why they voted the way they did".

And that's the rub with standpoint theory, if people have knowledge based on their "identity" - and you can't know what they know, it doesn't occur to you that you could gain knowledge by talking to people and listening to them.

I still care about Women's Rights, and equality and standing up for oppressed people... but Social Justice standpoint theory and other post modern approaches don't work in the real world. I want a movement based in reality, where we test ideas and move forward with the ones that really work.