I hope this doesn’t violate the rules, but I want to stipulate that ideologically I would consider myself to hold broadly left-wing values, and my intent here is not to dispute the correctness of those values (insofar as values can be “correct”).

However, as I get older and have more experience dealing with people, the clearer it seems to me that the vast majority of people simply don’t care about equality or justice in any consistent sense, but rather are simply happy to abuse the language of justice or fairness as a tool to increase their own power and privilege.

I distinguish here between the Feminist who opposes workplace discrimination because she believes that all gender-based discrimination is wrong, vs. the Feminist who opposes workplace discrimination because it gets in the way of her (or perhaps specifically women’s in general) career advancement. Following the general advice of paying attention to what people do rather than what they say, it’s hard for me to conclude otherwise than that the majority of feminists (in the U.S., anyway) are of the latter sort, not the former.

This isn’t a problem I only observe with Feminism, and perhaps my question is too broad in scope for this subreddit, but it is one of the more obvious examples to me personally. I won't give specific examples because I assume everyone on this subreddit already has a good idea of what hypocrisy within the Feminist (and likely other social justice) movement looks like. I decided to post here because it seems like this community has done a good job about keeping the discourse about the left's failures level-headed without resorting to reactionary conservatism, which I also find unconvincing.

In light of this context I honestly find it harder to care about or advocate for social progress or betterment. I say this fully aware that I can afford to hold this position due to personal privilege; because I'm pretty well-off financially, and although I'm a minority, I'm Asian, so the Republican platform materially benefits me both financially (taxes) and even with regards to social policies (in the form of dismantling affirmative action). Even in the absolute hyperbolic worst case that Trump does threaten to institute some kind of fascistic erosion of democracy, I'm not in one of the groups he's going to target first, and I can pretty freely move if things get bad enough. I don't have kids, and presumably I'll be insulated from the worst effects of climate change for my lifetime. Furthermore I suppose most other conservative social policies are also broadly neutral in how they'll affect me, given that I'm a cisgendered heterosexual male.

Again I have to clarify that I think I should pay higher taxes so as to fund a better social safety net, and while I don't agree with how AA is implemented, I also don't agree with the spirt of wholesale gutting it as the conservative SCOTUS did last year. I also don't have any interest in improving my social position by means of taking away women's rights and making them more economically dependent on men. But, "allying" with the left in my case isn't just a question of helping distasteful people, it's a question of whether I want to work against my own interests to help distasteful people who want nothing but to further advance their own position at my expense.

I can gladly ally with victims of injustice who desire justice, even when it requires a sacrifice on my part, just because I like the idea of living in a fair society - but do I really care about helping people whose desire instead is just their own self-interest? How are they meaningfully different from reactionaries who want to maintain their current privilege for the exact same reason? Except, to use somewhat crass terms, for the fact that in the current arrangement the reactionaries are the winners and these groups are the losers?

I find myself slowly drifting towards an attitude of quietism. I suppose I'm not fundamentally bothered by this, if that's where my honest judgment leads me, but it is a bit disconcerting that I have to keep my views extremely private; most people in my liberal NYC social circle would not react particularly kindly to me telling them that I care less and less about anyone except myself and my family, and that I probably won't vote in any elections going forward.

I'm not really looking for an answer here, or even a singular "reason" to care about social justice or altruism again; even if there is one, I suspect it will take a good deal of reflection on my part to internalize. Mostly just wondering if there are others here who are thinking/have thought along the same lines, and what they might have to say about this.

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