Leftists Freak Out over William Shatner Criticizing Social Justice Warriors on Twitter

Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images for Florida Supercon
Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images for Florida Supercon

William Shatner, the actor best known for his role as Captain Kirk on Star Trek, expressed his distaste for social justice warriors and was promptly attacked by SJWs on Twitter and in the media.

Shatner took to Twitter recently to express his distaste over modern day social justice warriors comparing themselves to the social reform movements of the 1960s, which focused on causes such as racial equality and equal pay. Shatner, who took part in one of the earliest interracial kisses ever broadcast on American TV in Star Trek, tweeted, “Why is it that SJW’s think they can align themselves with those that demanded social reform in the 60’s?”

When one user claimed that those that use the term SJW and “snowflake” in a derogatory manner would have protested Star Trek’s interracial kiss, Shatner replied:

A flood of responses rolled in to ironically tell Shatner how wrong his opinion was that social justice warriors attempt to exert their superiority over others:

Shatner’s use of the term “SJW” has angered a number of writers as well, such as Gizmodo writer Matt Novak who wrote an article – which displayed a shot of Shatner in a Nazi uniform from an episode Star Trek as it’s feature image – attacking Shatner and interviewed Manu Saadia, author of Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek, who accused Shatner of using “alt-right language.” Novak himself accused Shatner of being a “fascist” in a tweet from his personal Twitter account:

Meanwhile, Matthew Rozsa wrote at Salon, “Does William Shatner’s attack on ‘SJWs’ erase his ‘Star Trek’ legacy?” Rozsa claimed there was “debate over whether Shatner is betraying his own ’60s-era belief in social justice issues.” Citing Shatner’s issues with the Reddit community, which Rozsa referred to as a space for “racists and other hate mongers to group,” the author claimed, “Shatner’s parroting of the anti-SJW rhetoric regularly seen on those sites — complete with the alt right nomenclature about ‘snowflakes’ and ‘misandrists’ — is a dead giveaway that he has fallen victim to the very trend he prophesied.”

Rozsa goes on to claim, “It seems pretty clear that there has been a decline in Shatner’s character, at least when it comes to his past support for equal rights. It’s unfortunate and his critics are right to call him out on it. That doesn’t mean that we should struggle with cognitive dissonance over how the man who courageously opposed racism in 1968 can now argue for right-wing establishment views in 2017.” Rozsa then claims that Shatner has “lost his way” for not conforming to the modern leftist groupthink, saying, “These things happen. Shatner is not the first former progressive to lose his way — nor will he be the last.”

Similarly, Ryan Britt of Inverse wrote that Shatner daring to criticize the progressive movement at all means he is “skirting the boundaries” of sexism and racism. “Is William Shatner being openly racist and/or sexist? Maybe not. But, like his GamerGate sympathies, he is skirting the boundaries of sexism and racism by attacking social justice warriors, seemingly for no reason. And for some, that means he’s already crossed the line.”

Shatner, however, seems entirely unphased by the criticism:

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com

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