The Lost Sheep Syndrome

I don’t know if I ever explicitly stated it before, but part of the reason the whole internet social justice warrior fad bothers me so much is that it has corrupted people that I previously considered to be friends. About ten years ago, I was pretty active on the internet with a lot of these people – in fandoms, in art/writing communities, whatever – but in 2007, a lot of serious life changes happened to me that kept me out of the loop for about five years until my divorce left me with some bitter resentment and free time. I probably would have gotten sucked into the same mindset as my former comrades had I not posted an opinion that a bunch of said assholes disagreed with and realized that they weren’t as smart as they’d like to believe. While I don’t fully disagree with everything these keyboard crusaders rant about, I do think that most of them are just parroting rhetoric without taking the time to research their “cause,” and many of them – being my age and younger – have not actually experienced life enough to make an informed opinion on such.

Which brings me to my next point: most of these SJW followers are middle class, white or half-white, and have some sort of debilitating issue that makes it difficult for them to function socially – a disability, a series of neuroses, autism/Asperger’s, a history of abuse – which leaves them home-bound (living with parents, no less), with the most prominent connection to the outside world being the internet. And that’s how the SocJus get them.

There is one person in particular that comes to mind when I think of this “lost sheep syndrome,” as I’ve come to think of it as…this person was someone I was acquainted with on DeviantART about a decade ago, through a mutual friend. They started off as a relatively normal teenage girl, albeit with an autoimmune illness that kept her indoors and off her feet most of the time, but she had a loving family, a boyfriend who had been with her longer than any of my relationships (including marriages) have lasted, and a penchant for many of the same fandoms that I was active in. Fast forward to the Tumblr Age, and suddenly she’s a nonbinary, rhetoric-spewing feminist/social justice slactivist. What the fuck happened? Well, I don’t presume to know this individual on a personal level, but seeing as she is a very public person, there is a lot to go on as far as speculation is concerned:

(Note: This image is only a representation, not the actual person I’m talking about.)

First, let me clarify that unlike previous SJW analyses I’ve written, this is not meant to judge the person in question, but rather a critical analysis of what makes someone open to this level of conditioning. Therefore, I’m not going to include screenshots in this one. Also, I’m using feminine pronouns in this segment as not to make this more of a grammatical clusterfuck than it already is.)

A 2012 post on her alternate DeviantART account documents that she had broken up with her boyfriend of about half a decade – whom she previously revealed had become her first (and at that point, only) lover – and that she had just gotten a Tumblr account. While I believe that this was the catalyst for her corruption, it’s worth noting that her biological father walked out on her as an infant and never returned and she was raised as the daughter of her rather liberal mother’s common-law husband, which may or may not have played a part in her susceptibility toward a Tumblr mindset. Granted, she had gone through the “bi with an internet girlfriend” phase that most of the teenage girls I knew on DeviantART were part of way back when, although she still identifies as bisexual to this day (and has a nonbinary “girlfriend” to show for it).

While she had previously been very open about sex and social justice, she had taken more of a humanist approach to both, even criticizing the male virginity stigma (on a journal that her bitch of a friend harassed me on, but that’s another story). She was a part of many fandoms that are very anti-SJW in nature, such as South Park, Dan Vs., MLP: FiM (two of which have openly voiced against the politically-correct “safe space” mindset in-universe). I remember about a year ago, she made a Tumblr post crying that she hated the fandoms she had voluntarily inserted herself into and made a plea for a safe space against them. Slowly, she spent less time focusing on art and more time focusing on making her now-generic opinion known on posts about feminism, cultural appropriation, and gender identity. Then out of the blue, she suddenly began to identify as “genderqueer” and use “they/them” pronouns, despite having not even the slightest previous hint of dysphoria in all of the time I had known her – and once again, this is a person who has less shame than I do when talking about themselves, so it stands to reason that if she had any confusion or uncertainty about her status as a female, it would have come out. Furthermore, she continues to present as feminine, and even had the audacity to call out a nonbinary female who dressed androgynously as being a poseur simply because she didn’t like their opinions on unrelated matters.

Not too long ago, I finally gathered some courage and asked her anonymously (for fear of other “friends” coming after me) on Tumblr about all the changes. She was fairly tactful about it, which I respect, but her reasoning behind the transition (as it were) was that her views have become “more nuanced and complex since [she] has learned more and matured.” This tells me exactly what I speculated before – that she has too much time on her hands and, in her desire to do good for the world, she has been sucked in to the social justice cult that is poisoning the minds of socially awkward but otherwise well-meaning twentysomethings that want to feel useful or have some sort of recognition.

Once again, I want to make it clear that I have no ill will toward this person, but rather concern – had I not been busy dealing with life kicking my ass from 2007-2010, I probably myself would be sitting in a dark corner of my mom’s trailer with a rainbow-colored mowhawk and a box of Twinkies as I blamed men and Republicans for not paying me enough welfare cheese. To further this example, I should note that my best friend – who is a year older than me – lost both of her parents in the span of a few years and was also forced to sink or swim, and she too is over this social justice bullshit that the younger generations are coddled by. Perhaps, then, these poor lost sheep only need to encounter a parental tragedy in order to pull their heads out of their asses – there’s no time to question how much of a woman you really are when it’s fight or flight time. Or maybe nothing so grim – maybe they just need Jesus, or a hobby, or a job weaving baskets for charity that keeps them off of the far left corner of the internet and allows them to fully experience life – and draw their own conclusions from it.

How Not to be an Artist

Do you ever notice that when someone on the internet asks someone else how to become a good/successful/[other positive adjective] artist, the other person often replies, “Oh, all you have to do is keep drawing, and you’re an artist already!” or something to that effect? While it’s not exactly a secret that constant practice makes you better at the task at hand, I find this type advice to not only be condescending, but misleading. If believing that you’re a famous artist automatically made you into one, I would be signing autographs at ComiCon instead of writing this disgruntled rant.

Case in point: as I’ve mentioned briefly before, only five people have actually bought a copy of my graphic novel (most of whom I know), which kind of disappoints me because not only was it my dream to become a successful comic artist, but I spent almost $500 of grant money I got for going to college securing copyright, ISBN numbers, and an EAN barcode in order to self-publish it with the intent of spreading it far and wide. But I guess the truth of the matter is that I’m just not good with marketing skills, and I need help in that department. So there’s your first tip for becoming a successful/famous/whatever artist: you need money and/or business smarts, and I have neither.

But wait a minute…how do other artists on the ‘net get popular without ever having to leave their mom’s basement? Well, the truth is, art is subjective, and in my educated opinion, pretty much everything is art if you think about. Therefore, if the actual style or context of the piece isn’t being critiqued, it’s the artist him/herself who is being judged. Take a look at many of the most talented artists on DeviantART, for example…now take a look at their Tumblr accounts. Tally up how many of them label themselves as feminists, genderspecials, or both. They aren’t popular because their art is cute (even though it’s usually incredible), they’re popular because they post the right opinions about the right social justice issues. With a heavy exception to Plebcomics (who gets a lot of undeserved hate for her material), any artist like me who is anti-SJW pretty much gets ignored, regardless of talent or technique. I think part of the reason I haven’t come out with another comic since Chocolate Ice Cream is because I’ve become disillusioned by other artists on the internet based on this observation, although I do submit weekly challenge-themed comics on Tumblr that some people seem to like.

Of course, as this video by JelloApocalypse points out, “…no matter what you post or how good your artwork is, there will always be a piece of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic crossover artwork, or something about Homestuck with two-hundred times as many favorites as you, and twice that many views.” In other words, Fanart is the name for God in the lips and hearts of all socially awkward internet nerds. In fact, my most viewed deviation on DeviantART (at the time of writing this) is this piece of Homestuck fanart, which has the second most faves of anything in my gallery as well. That’s not to say I’m not proud of my fanart, of course – I work hard on most of my art, I just don’t always get a lot of attention for it.

I’ve wasted enough time venting, though – I should get back to my artwork before my newborn daughter wakes up for her next feeding.

In The Not-So-Distant Future

There has been a trend in Young Adult fiction in recent years, where “dystopian future” storylines seem to be en vogue, particularly in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genres…honestly, I don’t get it. Not only does everybody know by now that these tropes are thinly-veiled references to present-day politics, but there is enough freedom of speech in the first world that people can try going straight for the source: why not a “dystopian present” novel?

 

Science Fiction is not the creative frontier it once was. Notice how there hasn’t been a new Star Trek series since Enterprise, which went off the air almost a decade ago (the J.J. Abram’s reboots notwithstanding, as both were essentially remakes of The Wrath of Khan)? There is nothing left of this genre to explore or expand upon, which is made obvious in the formulaic approach taken to many (if not all) “dystopian future” stories these days:

 

• A “bread and circuses” style government that throws elements of socialist utopia (government-issued property, food, etc.) and magical technology at its citizens to distract them from blatant civil rights violations, usually (if not always) involving some sort of caste system: class warfare, arranged marriages, government-issued career “choices,” and so on.
• A teenage girl, towing the line of womanhood, who is somehow made aware that all is not well in Pleasant Valley (why it’s never a guy, I’m not sure – probably because most guys are oblivious to those sorts of things, hence the stereotype that conservatives are all white, upper-class, Protestant males).
• Some kind of love triangle between the female protagonist and two equally-but-separately undesirable men, though the heroine stays celibate to the bitter end (and eventually chooses one of the two).
• A disproportionate level of death and destruction to put a mere dent in the government’s policies.

 

The three series I draw this formula from the most are Matched, The Hunger Games, and Divergent, all of which are essentially interchangeable with each other. I did enjoy The Hunger Games books, but if you’ve read one of the aforementioned series, you’ve read them all. Instead, I propose that people start writing about their own current, respective dystopian societies, from present-day perspectives. Think about it – the United States alone has plenty of source material:

 

• Advanced technology
• Obamacare, while seen as a Godsend to many who voted in favor of it, actually forces those who fall through the cracks (such as single household members who didn’t qualify for Medicaid but can’t afford Obamacare right after graduating from community college that a grant paid for, i.e., me) onto Medicaid without destigmatizing the latter government assistance
• Haves vs. Have Nots, class warfare, etc.
• Racial/ethnic issues are still a thing, though largely related to social class and SES
• There are still GLBT issues in some of the hick states
• Stuff about the NSA
• Social networking and cyberbullying

 

The list goes on, and yet writers tend to fall into the same patterns and tropes. Though to play devil’s advocate, this could be the publisher’s fault, which is a common problem in high school literature textbooks in the US as well. Still, there seems to be a stigma enforced by society against people who don’t enjoy reading for leisure, and if they want their way, they can at least make it easy for skeptical people to enjoy dystopian fiction.

Take This STEM Job and Shove It

There is a lot of encouragement these days for women to seek out careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Most of this “encouragement” comes in the form of whining on Jezebel, of course, but this is still an important subject to think about…I mean, careers in the STEM field are important, obviously, but what makes them so damn special compared to careers in the arts and humanities? If women are that important to STEM, they’re obviously important to the other fields of study as well – and as a woman with an AA degree herself, I’m going to defend my field of study.

Career fields in the United States are, as far as diplomas and degrees go, divided into two categories: Arts and Sciences. The way I see it, the Science field teaches you skills that are needed to build a productive life, and the Art field teaches you skills that make said life worth living. There is usually overlap, especially in community colleges, and many people are good at both areas of study…but I’m not, so I don’t want the First Church of Gloria Steinem telling me what to do with my education choices.

Why should all able-bodied and able-minded women be recruited to STEM? We need our women here in the arts and humanities. Fields such as Psychology, Sociology, and History fall into this category, as well as Fine Arts (the few lucky ones in this field make more money than your average 9-to-5 engineer ever will, so there goes bridging the wage gap). If we’re going to make feminism an issue here, let’s take a look at the problems that already exist in the arts and humanities that will only be made worse by seducing women away from them:

• There aren’t many well-known women in these fields that don’t suck. I’ve already mentioned that women who go for bullshit degrees often don’t amount to more than being internet famous Feminazi bloggers or trophy wives to men with actual income-producing jobs. If women are going to be encouraged to blog or write, there needs to be more variety than the usual first-world women’s problems sites or mommy blogs that seem to be the female comfort zones these days. Does anybody remember when fratire was popular? Maddox, Tucker Max, AngryJerk…they actually write about stuff that’s interesting, offensive, and funny. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I am the only woman on the internet who comes anywhere close to touching the subjects that they do (that I know of, but I’ve looked), and even then I spend a good time bitching about my exes, angsting about how nobody loves me, and talking about my children. That’s not to say that I think women should appropriate fratire for their own use – even men need their own space to vent – but I think more chicks on the internet can stand to blog more like me.
• If more women go into STEM careers, more men will go in the other direction. Hey, fair is fair…as an egalitarian, I can’t really complain. But considering how bad the guys I’ve known do when it comes to domestic basics, I don’t have high hopes for what they have to offer in terms of careers that typically appeal to women. For example, lots of women become nurses of some sort, but many patients are typically more comfortable around female nurses than male nurses, so that can be somewhat disheartening…and then you have writer John Green, who I’m almost certain has his novels ghostwritten by his reclusive wife, because he specializes in a sophomoric writing style and cliché subject matter that is generally exclusive to female authors. So while women may have a lot to offer the world of STEM, men don’t seem to have much to contribute to the field that is being left open as the cows migrate to greener pastures.
• Minimum wage jobs aren’t getting any better. It’s hard enough to be a US citizen getting a job that most baby boomers equate with high school dropouts (though that’s entirely the fault of US citizens, but that’s another rant), but even immigrant-status jobs are hard for women to get because of all the physical labor involved…even if I can lift fifty pounds or whatever the requirement is these days, if I don’t look like I can do it at first glance, they won’t hire me. It’s more to do with liability and less to do with sexism, but everyone has to start somewhere, and in today’s US economy, the starting point is usually where it stops. Long story short: we should focus on making lower level jobs better and more accessible before we start nitpicking over how many female doctors are in a room.
• Quilting is badass. What exactly is so great about STEM jobs, anyway? Sure, at best they save lives and advance cultures, but as I said before, without things like art, philosophy, and trophy housewives with frill degrees, what’s the point of living? Take this quilt block, for example:
  
  I made this, not science. Granted, there is definitely mathematics involved (measurements, geometry, etc.), but those are more applications of everyday life rather than something for Rosie the Riveter clones to cream their coveralls over. It is assumed that most educated people can do basic mathematic functions such as add small numbers together, read a ruler, and push two right triangles together to make a square. I’m proud of the things I make and design, and since I am good at those things, I wish to base my career choices around it. Which brings me to my next point…
• Not everyone was meant to be a scientist. One of the last classes I took in community college was Chemistry 100. I remember doing one experiment where I had to heat a strip of magnesium over a Bunsen burner and then observe its properties. So I did, taking care not to look at it directly (due to ultraviolet rays and whatnot), and nothing happened…but then, with a blinding flash, it disintegrated into nothingness on the counter. I don’t think that was supposed to happen. As for math and technology and other such fields, I do okay with Algebra (which is essentially just basic math with unknown variables), but everything else is over my head. I know jack shit about programming (which is why I don’t like Linux) and what little I know about any script of any technological language I have to find on the internet – I think the extent of my scripting knowledge is limited to some basic HTML. In other words, I’m not good at STEM fields and I would not be an asset to any career that required high levels of STEM-field knowledge.

Women who excel in the sciences should be encouraged to acquire STEM jobs, if that is what drives their passion and they have the motivation for such. I don’t, lots of people don’t, and for all that encouragement to get “girls to like math,” women who push for other women to get into STEM jobs obviously can’t read the numbers that show that women generally don’t pursue those areas of study. It could be a psychological sexual dimorphic quality of some sort, or maybe even some kind of residual gender role grooming, but more than anything, I think it’s just that there are women like me out there who won’t bother being part of a circle-jerk if they’re not getting their due reach-around.