Nietzche on Social Justice Warriors

daodesam (45)in #philosophy • 7 years ago (edited)

A few months back while rereading Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil I encountered a passage in the book that seemed especially relevant to the current situation of the world today. I do not recall it catching my eye my first time through it over five years ago, but what makes Nietzche the greatest modern philosopher to me is his ability to diagnose the problems of Western European culture and the challenges and issues it would face in his day and ours.

In the first part of the quote, Nietzche describes the "philosophers of the future"that are destined to be the true free spirits that clear away the facets of civilization that are destructive to humanity:

"Need I still say expressly after all this that they too, will be free, very free spirits, these philosophers of the future—though just as certainly they will not be merely free spirits but something more, higher, greater, and thoroughly different that does not want to be misunderstood and mistaken for something else. But saying this I feel an obligation—almost as much to them as to ourselves who are their heralds and precursors, we free spirits—to sweep away a stupid old prejudice and misunderstanding about the lot of us: all too long it has clouded the concept of ‘free spirit’ like a fog."

The second part of the quote deals with the levelers: a group who carries the pretense of being more enlightened than any other because of their 'progressive' views and see any dissenting voices as enemies. These levelers are contrasted to the true free spirits:

“In all the countries of Europe, and in America, too, there now is something that abuses this name: a very narrow, imprisoned, chained type of spirits who want just about the opposite of what accords with our intentions and instincts—not to speak the fact that regarding the new philosophers who are coming up they must assuredly be closed windows and bolted doors. They belong, briefly and sadly, among the levelers—these falsely so-called ‘free spirits’ – being eloquent and prolifically scribbling slaves of the democratic taste and its ‘modern ideas’; they are all human beings without solitude, clumsy good fellows whom one should not deny either courage or respectable decency—only they are unfree and ridiculously superficial, above all in their basic inclination to find in the forms of the old society as it has existed so far just about the cause of all human misery and failure—which is a way of standing truth unhappily upon her head! What they would like to strive for with all their powers is the universal green-pasture happiness of the herd, with security, lack of danger, comfort, and an easier life for everyone; the two songs and doctrines which they repeat most often are ‘equality of rights’ and ‘sympathy for all sufferers’—and suffering itself they take for something that must be abolished.”

As soon as I absorbed these words I thought, "He's talking about the social justice warriors of his day!" The SJW's of our times are narrow-minded (any that disagree with them are enemies and must be silenced), chained to their ideology (cannot vary from their group's views in any way), thus cannot be individuals or free-spirits, they want closed doors and windows (anti free speech and assembly), they wish to drop or raise everyone artificially to the same level, they claim to represent democratic ideals and equal rights, they blame all individuals and institutions of the past and present for the suffering and inequality that exists in the world (implicit bias), and they believe that all our problems can and must be solved through governmental action (like communists).

Nietzche was able to recognize this threat to free society back in the 1880's, but in the century plus since, these kinds of people have only grown in number and influence. They are obstacles to real change and improvement in the world. Those of us that do believe in freedom and liberty must take up Nietzche's mantle and stand up to these types, exposing the absurdity of their beliefs and arguments. Unless the lifestyle of domesticated animal appeals to you of course. I prefer to be a wild animal and true free-spirit.

Thanks for reading! Light and Love y'all~

#nietzche #sjw #reason #freedom

7 years ago in #philosophy by daodesam (45)

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pandorasbox (59) 7 years ago

I came upon this post rather late, but really interesting. I'm a fan of Nietzsche and studied some of his works and it has very much helped me to channel my own thoughts and beliefs.

The way I have interpreted Nietzsche, his Ubermensch and Will to Power, is that in essence if you believe what Nietzsche believes, then you are basically the herd and not the better man. The ubermensch ideal is in essence a form of 'Being the best you that you can be' and letting nothing and nobody get in the way of that. This framework is immensely wide however. Whereas Nietzsche, from his personal beliefs, may have looked down upon certain ideas and 'the ways of men', I feel like a true Ubermensch would not at all care for what Nietzsche thinks of him or her. As such, perhaps it is up to the individual to determine and 'own' it's own will to power. Following that logic, aren't Social Justice warriors merely exerting their Will to Power? Changing narratives and worldviews, this is a rather large way of exerting Will to Power I would say. I am not so sure if every Ubermensch would be the anarchistic Conan the Barbarian that Nietzsche admires - because there are many people whose intrinsic disposition in the world is entirely different. Some people are inherently charitable, and even though Nietzsche views charity as despicable, I would argue that if one truly feels like being charitable, the best way of adhering to the ubermensch ideal would be to be charitable. Similarly, Social Justice warriors could be (personal opinion: likely not) acting out of their own true Will to Power. It's hard to tell. An Ubermensch is not morally constrained by outside morals, but this does not mean that an Ubermensch has no Will to Power to change the world. In fact, one could perhaps argue that SJW exert a great deal of Will to Power, as they are actively 'fighting' instead of pacifying.

I think Nietzsche, in the piece that you referenced, was aiming more towards the general tendency of society to soften it's members. I've felt that a lot of Nietzsche's personal opinion shines through in his texts. I also always thought that the way to Nietzsche is to not read what he writes but to try and understand what he means. He's often talking in metaphors, because the paradigm shift required for his way of thinking doesn't allow an explanation in the traditional paradigm and way of thinking.

My personal view is that a true Ubermensch can be anybody. Both Ghandi and Hitler could possibly qualify. It's impossible to tell without analyzing their deepest thoughts and motivations.

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