In my latest podcast I did a segment on Hallie Turner, an unsupervised 13 year old who at the age of 12 filed a lawsuit against the State of North Carolina over global warming. The over arching point was not
that a 12 year old shouldn't be filing lawsuits, or
how it was proof the schools brainwash children in socialism, or
another lesson in crusaderism
It was how a 13 year old egomaniac does not form in a vacuum and how society (namely, her teachers, media, and parents) failed her, effectively ruining her childhood and bringing up a future megalomaniac who is practically guaranteed to be miserable her entire life.
However, while tirading in a stream of consciousness sort of manner, I remembered that a very similar situation occurred several year ago when I put together my speech on Crusaderism. Specifically, one Jessica Assaf.
At the time she was a mere 15 year old girl, but like Hallie lacked the parental oversight to check her ego. Naturally, she found a "crusade" just like Hallie, and decided she was going to lobby the California legislature about "safe cosmetics." Articles were written about her. How she was so brave and "smart" for fighting what "she thought was right." Look at what a "courageous" girl she was fighting "big cosmetics." etc. But this was now approaching 10 years ago, and so I was curious:
What ever happened to Jessica Assaf?
So while podcasting I looked into her and her fate was exactly what I feared.
Despite hailing from Marin County (the richest county in all of San Francisco) and despite pursuing her MBA from Harvard, in all honesty, Jessica is a failure.
Yes her bio is chock full of "achievements" and "accomplishments," and yes her resume has her heading up all these "beauty activist" organizations, but behind all these (largely) self-created "organizations" and "movements" she has done nothing of genuine significance these past ten years. She has a worthless undergrad degree in "Public Health, Documentary Film and Activism Studies," has no real world working experience, and unless she has a full scholarship or rich parents, she is GREATLY indebting herself (or her parents) for a very pricey MBA from Harvard which, sadly, won't pay dividends because her protesting and litigious background makes her a risk to hire for employers.
But the real reason Jessica is a failure (not necessarily by any fault of her own) is because of what she has lost in heading down the "Social Justice Warrior" path at such a young age. A lost life. A wasted childhood. And an impaired future.
First, imagine what you were doing when you were 12, 13, 14 or 15. I sure as hell wasn't going on political crusades. I was living and enjoying my childhood. Wasting lazy summer days away going fishing, playing video games. Sleeping in class, chasing after girls that wouldn't let me catch them. Everything that every young boy and girl does that makes their precious and all-too-short childhood the magical time in their lives that it is. And to have that ruined and tarnished with the unwelcomed and vile adult disease known as "politics" is a tragedy.
I'll say it again. I will never have children, but if I did, they would NOT ever hear a word of politics or economics out of me until they were 16. That's the LEAST parents owe their children.
Second, in pursuing crusaderism or Social Justice Warrioring as a career, Jessica, Hallie, and any other aspiring SJW fundamentally undermine and destroy their lifetime earnings potential. Naturally, and predictably, they will retort "IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY!" until it is about the money because they incurred $150,000 in student loan debt for worthless, unemployable degrees. Hopefully, they have rich parents to bail them out, but if my generation is any kind of proxy, you can expect to be in your 40's, even 50's, still saddled with student loans, a worthless degree, and a torturous debate about whether you let your ego take the hit, admit you goofed up, and make decisions to salvage what's left of your life, or double down and insist it's the "evil republicans" and "white males" that are oppressing you and your "Masters in Social Activism" degree.
Finally, in going down the Social Justice Warrior path, Jessica and Hallie severely limit their ability to have a family. Not just because they are financial liabilities (as young women are now saddled with student loans and worthless degrees), but because they're not marriage material. Their careers and egos obviously come first, which is antithetical to love, marriage, and children. And they also won't be ready for marriage until they fulfill their career goals and aspirations. This not only means they need masters degrees and years working at some low-paying non-profit or government job, but that they'll be 33, 34, 35, 40, by the time they're ready to settle down. And the sad truth is any man with any quality and any options is just not going to marry a woman that old. Alas, going down the SJW path severely increases the risk you'll trade in the most important thing in life (other humans, typically your family) for a career that in all honesty is pointless, useless, meaningless and unfulfilling.
But the real tragedy of going down the SJW path is that it doesn't deliver what it promises or aspiring-SJW's hope for:
Attention, fame, and glory with little-to-no real work.
Let's be very clear and honest about what motivates young 13, 14, and 15 year olds to go on political crusades and 17,18, and 19 year olds to major in the liberal arts.
Fame, attention, and a shot at riches without having to do math and real work,
Their goal, even though they will vehemently deny it, is to get through life working a cake job,
BUT
secretly pining for fame and attention
BECAUSE
why the hell else would you file lawsuits and protest at the age of 12 unless you are an attention whore (male or female)?
And it is here 10 years down the SJW path that Jessica Assaf serves as a horrendous warning to all others thinking of doing the same.
Despite hailing from the elite Marin County and getting into Harvard and having all the media attention in the world, Jessica's fame just isn't materializing.
First, her YouTube channel has 11 whole subscribers. 1/2000th the amount your lowly non-SJW Captain has. Naturally, she may not be actively pursuing a YouTube channel, but for a "Beauty Activist" ESPECIALLY IT BEING HER CAREER, you'd think she could beat this lower-middle income boy from Milwaukee County.
Second, her flagship website, "Beauty Lies Truth," boasts having "rock star" Alexis Krauss on board, who (though I'm sure a fine musician) is not a "star." More literally, however, since we are aiming for ego, attention, and fame, the Alexa rating of Beauty Lies Truth is 850,000th, while you're humble Captain's blog ranks much higher at 95,000th (and that's without a Harvard MBA).
Third, she was mentioned in a book! She didn't write the book. She wasn't necessarily even the subject of the book. She merely got mentioned in the book. And sadly that book has a paltry 4 reviews putting it on par with my SPOOF book "Boris the Shitting Buffalo. (which makes a great Christmas book BTW)"
Fourth, if you read through her bio you'll note her most notable achievements are HELPING getting some legislation passed and being A participant in a study about cosmetics. Not to be an asshole, but...
Whipdy freaking ding.
So what? THAT'S your life's accomplishments in your SPECIALTY??? 10 years, with an early start to boot and that's your life's work? That's what you're going to point to? That is what you take pride in? It is neither influential nor memorable nor notable to society.
And finally, yet sadly, me merely writing this piece is going to get her more fame, traffic, and attention than she's had since the original article was written about her nearly 10 years ago. It wasn't her protesting, lobbying legislatures, or setting up a ton of fabricated "organizations" or "non-profits." It was some guy still in his boxer shorts, banging away at his laptop who has yet to shower today that saw the risk (and the lesson) Ms. Assaf epitomizes in the SJW crowd.
The sad truth I'm trying to point out is the ironic tragedy that the attention, fame, ego, etc., you seek when going down the SJW path never materializes. The reason is because ever since Gen X millions upon millions of like-minded youngsters came up with the same "diabolical plan" to attention whore on the backs of political crusades they did not fully understand, nor cared to understand, because it was an easier route than becoming an engineer, an accountant, a doctor, a tradesmen or any other productive member of society. And with this many people all trying to be Social Justice Warriors, only a few will stand out, while the vast majority will relegated to unmentionable roles like Ms. Assaf. So while this path may be tempting at the naive and clueless age of 16, 17, or 18, it is one that is JUST NOT WORTH IT, will simply ruin your life, and waste what precious time you have on this planet.
It is not too late for Ms. Assaf to be honest with herself, take inventory of her life, ask herself what she really wants out of it, and GET IT. She can become a wife, a mother, a doctor, an engineer, anything, and I mean ANYTHING would be more productive, meaningful and rewarding than what she is doing now.
And it is certainly not too late for 13 year old Ms. Turner to stop right now, abandon her little SJW-ing, crusader ego trip and got back to being a child.
But once you hit 30, and heaven help you if you hit 40, and you never abandon the SJW path, you at MINIMUM have severely crippled and wasted a significant portion of your life. No cause is worth that. Please find value and meaning in your own life, not the political aims and goals of others.
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