Social Justice As Religion

I watched Britt Hartley's video "The 7 New Religions Reshaping America" on her Youtube channel, No Nonsense Spirituality. As an agnostic, I was very interested in seeing which de facto religion I might fall into. While I have possibly dabbled in a few others, the one that stood out to me was social justice as faith. 

I have long ago noticed how social justice, and generally being on the left, has taken on aspects of the Catholic Church in a way that is somewhat disturbing to me. I wish someone could map out all the sins that have fallen prey to cancel culture over the years and put them on some kind of spectrum; much that was cancelled was atrocious behavior, but I have memories of hearing about some 'minor sins' that got the same treatment. While I have no interest in defending celebrities (they have enough privilege swirling around them), I was bothered by the implications of people criticizing and nitpicking celebrity behavior as they were. What does this mean for how we judge others in day-to-day life?

Like I said, many cancellations seem warranted even to me, but when I hear about certain instances that don't appear to pass the criteria for cancellation, my next thought is often, "but don't most of us know at least one person who's done this, whom we are not actively hating?" Things like a male celebrity simply dating a woman ten years younger than him, or someone having a messy breakup or overlap in relationships. There are immature or dumb things that we all do, but when a culture creates a rule that those with fame cannot misstep even a little bit, it cascades into rules we make for ourselves.

I wonder if cancel culture has contributed to the rise of anxiety among Gen Z. I've already heard that Gen Z doesn't go to parties, have sex, or do drugs much. From one angle, this can be a good thing, but at the root of these habits could be a complete and total fear of being cancelled in one's own social circle for a single misstep while under the influence. And I'm not talking about major offenses like violating someone's consent. But when fear of making a mistake is so strong that we each are terrified of essentially being a casual human in public, it can spell bad things for a society.

Does cancel culture make us less social? Perhaps. Many people feel compelled to drink in order to even be at a party in the first place; it's one of the most socially intense environments there is. If fear of cancellation makes everyone sober, and 100% sobriety makes everyone stay home, how will anyone meet friends? How will anyone date? There are knock-on effects of cancel culture existing.

Getting back to the video itself, I know that cancel culture does not encompass all of social justice; for years I've been passionate about the latter while attempting to not engage with the former. But there are other purity tests besides cancel culture.

Even if you do feel that you aren't doing anything wrong, then there can be pressure from friends to participate in social justice work in ways that aren't aligned with us. For example, I'm an extrovert who likes going to protests; being surrounded by humans at these events is one of the biggest perks for me. But I have made sure to never pressure others to come with me, because protests may not be the way that they want to show up. 

If someone's easily overstimulated, or doesn't like crowds, or isn't white and could therefore be a target of violence at a protest, I don't want to make them uncomfortable with pressure. But pressure can even happen among friends comparing how aware of or up-to-date with the news they are. If one friend hasn't heard about certain things, they can be judged just based on that.

Where does the judgment end? I think it's crucial to admit that the judgment of each other is in a far greater proportion than the selflessness that is often necessary for social justice work. Here we are, all judging each other, but people are aiming to continue living as individualistically as they always have. Why is judgment okay, but selflessness doesn't even register as a virtue? (As I type this, I wonder if I, too, am judging without cause).

I believe that I have fallen into the religion of social justice. It's something I think about all the time. I have put hours into protests, volunteering, reading literature, and discussing issues with friends. But if we view it as a "faith" and then take it to its logical conclusion, by what mechanism do we earn salvation? If we do enough work? If the work is never done, will we ever be able to experience peace? Will we be putting our hope onto something that cannot come to fruition? Could this misplaced hope give us negative mental health outcomes?

Many faiths have some concept that a certain event is inevitable. What event is "inevitable" for social justice believers? That eventually, things will be fair? This yearning for fairness in the world has not served me. Obviously, it would be nice to move towards fairness. But if justice exists as a faith concept in the individual, and they are waiting for the prophecy to come to pass, and then it never does, this can push a person into nihilism when they realize their hope is unfounded. It has already happened to me.

I may just be describing burnout, but for someone like me who clings to justice as the last bastion of good in the world, burnout to this degree can have severe repercussions. When you see leaders claim to pursue justice, but when push comes to shove, they back down, it is destabilizing. Sometimes it makes me feel that "I must be caring about these causes more than anyone in government who claims to care about these causes". It doesn't get much more disheartening than that. It makes me feel extremely alone, and it makes the world appear as one big 'emperor's new clothes' scenario - everyone and their mother is claiming to support something, but when you get down to it, no one actually does. 

It causes me to not trust others. To have zero faith that anyone in government is sincere about wanting to change any law or policy. This kind of apathy can kill democracy. It has already started to. 

The video has made me rethink my commitment to social justice. I have already had so many negative mental health consequences that arose from waiting for salvation in the form of justice; I cannot really handle any more. While it is certainly good to an extent, I have realized that I have internalized it more than is healthy. I'm not sure that I should let it be a core value anymore.