Earlier quoted context omitted.
Insightful, but I am confused by the final paragraph: > I'm tired of this anti-Web and anti-accessibility SJW nonsense “SJW” must have a meaning I’m not familiar with, because Social Justice Warriors would be pro-accessibility, not anti.
"SJW" is a pejorative at this point because the key part isn't about the ideas being expressed but the motivations behind advocating those views. It implies that despite outward appearances it's all rather self-serving, a form of getting validation and superficial virtue signaling. So when you see major rewrites, major redesigns and controversial changes in popular products you'll often find an agenda behind it. Some…
Social justice work definitely includes accessibility. If hiding the URL was about making the web more accessible to the visibly impaired or whatever, you’d have a point worth discussion. A tradeoff between making the web available to everyone and reducing friction for those who don’t need accessibility is a worthy topic to debate.
But this isn’t the case. Nobody is demanding that URLs be hidden for the benefit of inclusion.
Likewise, social justice work involves removing exclusionary and stereotyped language. But hiding the URL bar isn’t about that, either. Nobody is arguing that “http” has racist, classist, or sexist implications.
And if you’re trying to argue that “SJWs” is a blanket term for anyone you dislike, then you are falling into a terrible hole when it comes to both reasoning and constructive debate. Hanging baggage on other people for actions and objectives they do not pursue is deeply broken thinking.
Now to the good point in your comment:
What you speak to about “thought leadership” and “making a name for themselves” is something you find in every organization, and if I had to conjecture, I’d say that progressive people in tech are no more likely to be ambitious than conservatives, libertarians, or just plain people-trying-to-make-a-living.
Your argument, at its core, is about people who do things for their own personal gain at the expense of the product, the company, and the customers/users.
It’s a worthy point to explore, and I suggest that disentangling it from your feelings about progressive voices would improve your argument immensely.