I swear I'm not a "Social Warrior"

     Now that you are crying bullshit and calling me Pinocchio allow me to clarify that title: I am not what the wonderful internetz have deemed a "Social Justice Warrior". A "Social Justice Warrior" is, as defined by the Urban Dictionary:

Social Justice Warrior:

A pejorative term for an individual who repeatedly and vehemently engages in arguments on social justice on the Internet, often in a shallow or not well-thought-out way, for the purpose of raising their own personal reputation. A social justice warrior, or SJW, does not necessarily strongly believe all that they say, or even care about the groups they are fighting on behalf of. They typically repeat points from whoever is the most popular blogger or commenter of the moment, hoping that they will "get SJ points" and become popular in return. They are very sure to adopt stances that are "correct" in their social circle.

The SJW's favorite activity of all is to dogpile. Their favorite websites to frequent are Livejournal and Tumblr. They do not have relevant favorite real-world places, because SJWs are primarily civil rights activists only online. 

   
     I'll be the first to admit- I do 99.9% of my activism online. I could list off a million excuses reasons for this but the primary ones are that I am selfish and lazy. However, if I bother to post about something you had better believe it's important to me. And unlike the SJW's, I don't give the pass of gas if people agree with me- on the contrary I prefer that they think for themselves. I despise sheep and think herd mentality to be the ultimate offense to human intelligence there is. Question your world, create your own opinions. Even if they aren't entirely perfect at least you're conscious enough to HAVE an opinion. Unfortunately, the majority of our peers are more content to take the road well-trodden and not risk the status quo. 

     Given the trend my recent posts have been on, and given the one pounding in my head for release seems determined to continue, I felt this was an important point to make. The topics I flare up about are extremely close to home- the state of our school systems for example. My aspirations in high school were cut short when my school was forced to cut courses and teachers- I couldn't use my art classes to earn scholarships because there WERE no art classes. Now, nearly a decade later my own children were put on waiting lists to get into school. My daughter just got the call today that she will start Kindergarten on Tuesday- nearly a month into the school year. My son still awaits placement for Pre-K, and it's likely they won't be able to find a place for him in the same school my daughter will be attending. 

     I could just bottle it up. I could sit by silently and let the world run its course. But it's just not me. While I am not a "Social Justice Warrior", I am an advocate. I advocate progress, I advocate awareness, I advocate social development. I support expression, and strongly encourage involvement in one's natural world. I cannot be satisfied with the status quo. Rather than just allowing issues to slip by I will be as the rock, forcing the stream to change its course or at the very least interrupting it. Complacency is killing our country and our culture and I am done participating in it.

Be less afraid of making a ripple with action than drowning because you chose to sit still.

~Night Rose