I've been on reddit for 8 years, and lurked before that. The top submissions and comments have always, and consistently, been standard-issue PC/liberal in their overall view.
In the years since SJW turned from a meaningful term into a catch-all for anyone who advocates for social justice in any way other than qualifying lip service[1], the general reddit crowd has noticeably moved away from standard-issue PC/liberal to anglo-centric liberal. Systemic issues of injustice are portrayed as primarily matters of self-fulfilling prophecy. The protestant work ethic is heavily espoused for minorities, but it's all systemic issues when it comes to college grads having a hard time finding a job.
The same is true to a lesser degree[2] for many women's issues, though I hesitate to mention it because this community isn't immune either.
[1] Ex) "I hate racism as much as the next guy..."
In social psychology research this often refers to the belief that, in essence, "hard work will bring success." For many, particularly on the right, it also implies the opposite: the poor/unsuccessful are in their situation because they are not working hard enough.
It's a bit of a confusing term, because its use from a more theological perspective (e.g., hard work is a symbol of salvation). I probably should have used a different term.
I've been on Reddit approximately that long, and I disagree. It's always been made up of people who like to think of themselves as liberal, in a group-solidarity, shared-identity sort of sense. But the conservative/reactionary undercurrents have been around for quite a while and have been growing with every passing year.
I don't think this has anything to do with liberal vs conservative. Nor does outright bullying really have anything to do with "political correctness".
The world view of the founders was pretty clearly "tech libertarianism" (incidentally, not a view I share), which, in the context of the site, meant a hands-off moderation policy, which allowed the site to deteriorate in many ways but flourish in many others.
I know that /r/politics seems to lean heavily towards what might be termed "liberal" politics, but outside of that it really depends. Most of the subs I read aren't political at all. The nice thing about reddit is that you have some control over that.
There's a movement of people who call themselves "Social Justice Warriors" (SJWs). They engage in activities that they claim are in support of race, gender and class equality but are in fact often racist or sexist. In general they seem to be hateful people damaging the causes they claim to fight for.
The #KillAllMen, #KillAllWhiteMen hashtags on Twitter are good examples of some of their activities.
Their backwards activism is often self-branded as "feminism", giving birth to things like #WomenAgainstFeminism. The definition of feminism has become sufficiently corrupted thanks to these people that women themselves are fighting against it.
I have a feeling it's their backwards "feminism" your parent commenter was referring to.
Perhaps we should not take hashtags as a serious form of debate.
There are idiots on the internet. They have opinions. It's alright.
Like any other -ism people are always debating what TRUE -ismists believe. eg. Is Rand Paul a libertarian? eg. Is Obama a liberal? In general most people have opinions that don't fit into neat little boxes.
In practice, when someone refers to themselves as an SJW they mean they are the sort of person who's likely to be labeled that way. Similar to "bleeding heart liberal" a generation ago, I guess.
> The definition of feminism has become sufficiently corrupted thanks to these people that women themselves are fighting against it.
The concept of feminism becoming discredited started happening way before the term "SJW" existed. Both from outside the movement (See: the straw feminist trope) and within the movement (from a small minority of crazies).
Every time I see this accusation against 3rd wave feminism, I realize the poster has no idea what 3rd wave feminism is.
2nd wave is the one which frightened insecure men, and had some strong anti porn and anti sex messages from a few proponents. 3rd wave, in short, is why don't we all get along, sex is awesome, and if we help men with some of their problems with toxic masculinity, then everyone is better off.
I'm hoping this was voted down for the snark, because if you disagree with the point, you are really lacking in an understanding of how humans actually work
It baffles me that people still have trouble differentiating Feminism as wanting women to be equal to men in the world AND the usual stupid more vocal minority.
I think a lot of people here on HN are feminist in the sense that we think women should be treated equally to men in a modern society.
The "stupid, more vocal minority" has done for the word "feminist" what stupid, vocal minorities have done for other well-intentioned ideas like "Christian".
I'm "feminist in that sense," but that's not how I equate the feminist movement, nor how it seems to play out in practice.
That said, I think it's true of lots of other situations. Political parties, for instance, are widely characterized as those "stupid" extremists. If you ask a liberal, Bill O'Reilly is the epitome of a conservative, and if you ask a conservative, Michael Moore is the epitome of a liberal.
In reality, most people on other side are just pretty normal.
I would never identify as a feminist, but certainly I believe in equal rights. I think that typically, people who identify as feminists give the "movement" a bad name.
