# Justicialism: The Court Of The Internet
in: [Essays](essays)
If you follow me on social media, you will notice me using [an unusual term](/about/glossary.html) you don't hear anywhere else.
It is the word ***justicialist***.
This is a word I made up, because no one else was naming the concept I intended. You'll learn why at the end of this essay.
A justicialist is first and foremost a person who *clings to the past*. In particular, to theirs (usually trauma) and to the one of people they hate (especially abusers or bigots). They pursue an ideal of justice, hence the name.
Justicialists don't (usually) believe in rehabilitaton at all. Once you have fucked up, you have fucked up for good, and to them you are no more than a piece of flesh.
## Homonyms
The word *justicialism* is not new though. There exists a socialist current with this name, also called [peronism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peronism), that proposes an ideal of social justice and economic protectionism, described as a "third way" between capitalism and communism.
*Justicialism* is also a journalistic term to describe the opposite of *guaranteeism*, i.e. keeping considering the defendant as not guilty until a conviction sentence is issued — justicialists treat defendants as they were already convicted, and push for their prosecution and conviction, other than loss of social benefits deriving from conviction.
The term existing already was not inevitable — just like my own username clashing with the name of a [notorious idol group](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakurazaka46) with a name similar to mine, despite me using it since 2015 and them since 2020.
None of the meanings I described above are how I intend the word when I use it, though.
## Justicialist behavior, in detail
Justicialists, as the name says, follow their own ideal of justice.
They don't care about getting morally in the wrong or making enemies in the process, they care about justice being served.
They selectively choose who to empathize with — they do not with people they deem guilty, and want them to suffer.
Justicialists don't bother resorting to extreme and/or immoral measures when necessary, such as murder and false accusations. However, they abhor any method that would both be unnecessarily despairful and backfire (such as rape).
Unlike bigots, who discriminate people on characteristics they have *in the present*, be it physical (racists, misogynists), mental (homophobes), of status (classists) or political (fascists), justicialists base their hate on things people have done *in the past*.
It means, criminal record, having harassed known people, *body count* (an inherently misogynist term, but who cares), having met or defended hostile people before. Anything that happened on the past and one can't act upon any more.
Justicialists never forget and never forgive. Having said a slur once 15 years ago has the same weight of being an asshole in the present time.
To them, once you fuck up, you have no option to recovery.
Begging, apologizing, deciding to be a better person, learning to respect boundaries, pursuing a self-improvement journey, even committing to a cause to help repair the damage you inflicted won't help.
Your present has no effect on their judgement. You fucked up in the past, and for you it's over.
Justicialists are mostly emotional when arguing online, valuing their own feelings over anything else, and rarely or never resort to logic reasoning; it is common for them, when they are logically in the wrong, to switch to the emotional plan or even ad-hominem you.
That is because justicialists happen often to be traumatized or very concerned people, and even the slightest hint reactivates their trauma, leading their thoughts towards extremistic and unforgiving views.
## A discourse of responsibility
*You are responsible for the consequences of your actions*.
A well-known statement you hear parroted whenever someone did a wrong (e.g. a crime). But what does it mean in fact?
**Responsibility**, as a noun, means first and foremost committing to something you are supposed to do (i.e. a duty or moral obligation), usually in the long term. For example, paying your bills is a responsibility, as well as showing love to people you care about.
Since the burden of guilt is also a long term commitment, the word *responsibility* took on a second meaning, meaning guilt or involvement in any wrongdoing you did in the past.
Guilt, however, is quite of a passive burden. A responsibility you have little to act upon, if not none.
It is common, for people hit with this kind of responsibility, to give up on other types of responsibilities.
Notable examples in the tech world are Richard Stallman, guru of the GNU Project, who resigned from MIT over some controversial declarations about age of consent, and Brendan Eich, creator of JavaScript and head of Mozilla for a few days, from which he resigned over being cancelled for signing a homophobic bill back in 2008.
## Everyone is justicialist?
Yes, including myself to some extent. I would not have a DNI if I forgave everyone, after all.
The reason why a word for this concept does not exist yet, is rooted in society and people. This is a behavior that is so internalized that no one notices or cares about having it.
This situation may be considered as similar to what the Autistic community sees in neurotypicals — internalized behaviors, things not told, rules not written or enforced in an inconsistent way, mixed signals, etc.
The most notorious effect of this internalization is the **fuck around, find out** rule. It tells you not to break some rules society deems obvious (such as rules based on common sense and mutual respect).
They don't tell you explicitly *what happens* if you break those rules, though. And consequences may be catastrophic on your own toll.
### You touch one, they all go
Most friend groups, especially among young people and cis women, have a quite gregarious philosophy: the friends group has a tight-knit group identity, and the feelings of one are shared among the whole group. Joys, sorrows, pains; last but not least, threats.
It takes a single one to feel attacked or uncomfortable with a person: everyone else in the group will react accordingly, and act hostile against the attacker.
### Background checks
Nowadays, it is more and more widespread among people with a position of power, such as bankers, employers and work agencies, to do a *background check*, usually via third-party agencies, on your person before taking further action, such as providing a loan or hiring.
You may be tempted to *lie* on your resume to get advantages on the process, by stating something you are not. After all, it is in the human nature to present oneself as their best version to the public — leaving the burdens and to the intimate or private sphere.
The existence of background checks discourages you from doing exactly that, and being held accountable for false witness.
Also, it is morally compulsory to do that in jobs that have to do with people, especially vulnerable ones such as children, such as teaching — you don't want your child being touched in inappropriate parts by a pedophile teacher…
## Are people getting more justicialist?
> Who stays neutral in a situation of injustice, sides with the oppressor
(A quote went viral during [BLM protests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_George_Floyd))
The more and more frequent exposure to media, and the overall rising awareness about situations of injustice, is without doubt causing a noticeable change in the beliefs of world population, especially in democratic, developed countries where freedom of speech is guaranteed.
Most notably, the feminist movement, and more recently the LGBTQ+ community as well, contributed to this societal change.
It's like people are "waking up" from a millennium-long sleep during which they were suffering the doings of the oppressors in silence. Some opinionists, mostly conservatives, call these people "**woke**".
The effect is more evident on the so-called *digital native* generations, in particular Generation Z (born 1997-2011) and Generation Alpha (born since 2012). The amount of justicialism, along with the amount of people having doubts about their identity among them, is larger than in any other demographic.
It's mainly in them that justicialism takes the extreme forms that can be seen in social media, leading to [Block Party](https://www.threads.net/search?q=BlockParty&serp_type=tags&tag_id=18367821028075004)'s and straight up doxxing criminals or people deemed as such.
On the other hand, more and more people are embracing extreme forms of bigoted hate speech as well, guided by the fear of losing own identity in a changing world.
This sense of identity leads people to attend social media communities where people share only opinions similar or compatible to theirs. This phenomenon is called *[echo chamber](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_chamber)* and is an easy and subtle gateway to extremism.
## Cancel culture
> Next time don't groom children
(Justicialist dog whistle, used while cancelling pedophiles)
One of the phenomena justicialists (mostly the so-called "wokes") are most known from is [cancel culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancel_culture).
It happens when someone finds out evidence (e.g. a witness or a screenshot) against a known person, they share it on social media, other people share it in turn, eventually going viral.
A person who suffers from cancel culture is called *cancelled*, and it has a disruptive effect on the cancelled person's reputation and social circles.
A notable example is the actor **Johnny Depp**, who was accused by the ex-wife and colleague Amber Heard of having raped her.
However, after a long and exhausting trial, the accusation turned out to be false. Amber Heard will turn out to also be a transphobe, other than a compulsive liar.
Someone on Threads, in fact, pointed out a more appropriate term being ***consequence culture***. Because, as justicialists love to parrot, “*every action has a consequence*”.
### Guilt by association
> The issue is that you don't dehumanize him, people like him deserve only guillottine
(A former online acquaintance (rape victim, born 2010) of mine, explaining to me (untraumatized, born 2000) why I was in the wrong "defending" someone (born 2005) who catcalled him repeatedly)
One of the most disruptive effects of cancel culture is creating a category of *untouchable* people.
Cancelled people will get ostracized or boycotted, and their opinion will always either pass ignored or get backlashed or mocked. They can't defend themselves, and can't be defended by others.
This sucks, did you notice? No one can defend you. Unlike in court, where there is a single judge, one or more plaintiffs and you have the right (and the obligation) to have a lawyer defend you, in the digital court everyone is a judge, everyone is a plaintiff, and you have no right to defend.
If someone tries, they are accused in turn of defending the cancelled. Justicialists prosecute those people too.
People who defend the cancelled are accused of being criminal as well. And they suffer a similar fate.
And yes, it applies retroactively likewise.
Avoiding guilt by association is also one of the main reasons banks and companies do background checks on their employees or applications. Reputation is important to them a lot, and losing reputation means losing customers, that leads to losing money.
Companies don't hesitate to fire employees when they find out they are doing morally wrong things, therefore posing a reputation risk to them.
This applies to off-work behavior too. In fact, cases of people losing their job because of their opinions (i.e. hate speech) on social media happened.
## Dog whistles
Justicialist often lament about **dog whistles**, cryptic word plays and phrases used by bigot groups (usually Nazis). They go around raising awareness on people about those phrases (e.g. “well well well”, “yuo” lit., etc.), whom they recognize as the “antigen” of a Nazi.
In fact, justicialists have *their own* dog whistles. Here are some:
* **boohoo**
* **every action has a consequence**
* **fuck around, find out**
* **how about no** — as with any form of trolling, targets are never listened or granted any benefits.
* **i never agreed/consented**
* **invalid as human** — justicialist practise dehumanization.
* **justice served** — well, it's the name of a well-known subreddit.
* **keep crying**
* **next time don't *<insert name of a felony>*** (mostly used with sex charges)
* **no shit Sherlock**
* **nuh uh** — plain refutation or disbelief
* **prison is just a place**
* **sorry** — in a sarcastic way, of course
* **there is no place anywhere for you**
* **womp womp** — fake sadness for someone else, sound of a trumpet. Usually used when there are no counterarguments
* **you *<verb concerning attraction or harassment>* children** — allegations are often used in a debate to put oneself in the right
* **you when you discover jokes** — just like other forms of edgelords, justicialists deny any responsibility
## How to behave in front of a justicialist?
Short answer: **don't behave**.
Long answer: it depends.
If you happen to have the same line of thought, you can try interacting with them, but don't 100% trust them anyway.
If they hate *you*, or a category you belong to, don't waste time and energy arguing with them. Block them, and never look at them again. Just like they do with regular bigots.
If they used to be your friend, but suddenly become your enemy for some reason, cut off with them without regrets. Don't get gripped to the past. After all, it's what they do all the time…
Don't do anything you know it will trigger the justicialist's punishment instincts. In particular, use common sense and avoid bringing up controversial topics or opinions.
Avoid triggering their traumas, *all the time*. Learn about their boundaries and respect them. If they let you know, by verbal or non-verbal means, to stop, you *must* stop. You don't want to get in bigger trouble.
Make your accounts private or delete offending content. Beware, they could still have stored evidence somewhere else.
The block button is your friend too.
If a justicialist takes you to court, *remain silent* and get a good lawyer — any adult human being knows how court works.
If you are forced to talk, i.e. you can't remain silent, block or ignore:
* Always remain composed. Your misbehavior is further evidence.
* Do not justify yourself.
* Do not assert you are in the right.
* Do not give or hint further evidence.
* Do not apologize or use passive style, it's like admitting you are in the wrong.
* Do not insult or ad-hominem back.
* Do not gaslight or deny evidence.
* Show off you are fine with yourself and what happened.
* Last but not least, smile 🙂
## Notable Justicialists
### Real Life
* [Anonymous](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_%28hacker_group%29) - a hacktivist group pursuing ideals of social justice
* [Metallica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallica) - lyrics of their songs often treat justicialist topics. One of their most well-known albums is called *…and Justice for All*, after all.
### Fictional
* [Light Yagami](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_Yagami) - the protagonist of *Death Note*, who claims he is the *god of a new world* and murders to create a more just and peaceful world
* The trolls in the [Black Mirror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mirror) episode *[Shut Up and Dance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shut_Up_and_Dance_%28Black_Mirror%29)*
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