I was actually wondering because I wouldn't be surprised if some of them wore the SJW label with pride. As far as I'm concerned it's a pejorative used against extremists. The kind that don't see the irony in fighting a war in the name of peace.

The thing for me is I don't fully grasp the US left. It seems very different to that where I'm from (Switzerland). But I can't believe that these media pundits are wholly representative of the American left, if they were I'd understand your frustration (assuming you're American here, sorry if not). I think the problem is that most actual leftist action gets little press, while the outrage mongers drown out everyone else else and end up representing the entire left in the eyes of non-lefties. Leftist ideas for me are primarily economic. I know that there are things like credit unions and food and housing cooperatives being organized in America. But I guess that is much more boring. You can't make clickbait out of housing regulations and wage negotiations.

My two cents is that there is no viable leftist political party in the US. So activists focus on social issues almost exclusively. Our Socialist party is the 2nd biggest at the national level. Three out of seven parties in my regional parliament are from the left. Imagine if these parties were all SJW, Geneva would fall apart!

I forced myself to read Wheaton's ramblings. He says he identifies as a 'liberal', I know liberal in US political talk can mean anything from a centrist to a far-leftist, so I'll look at his examples of his political position:

• Pro gun-control
• Pro women's reproductive rights
• Against nationalism
• Against reading Atlas Shrugged

I don't really see anything leftist here except for the women's rights. The gun control issue has nothing to do with leftism per se. Some leftists are very nationalist, protecting workers salaries can mean limiting immigration. Disliking Ayn Rand just means you're not a complete fuck-wit

For me, as a democratic Socialist (we're totally different from Social-Democrats), here are the points I feel are the concerns of the left:

• Public ownership of infrastructure and utilities
• Right to healthcare
• Workers rights / right to unionize
• Right to housing / tenant's rights
• Right to education (incl. higher)
• Right to political participation and protest
• Arguing with other leftists over the meaning of communism/anarchism/socialism etc

How often do you see these addressed by SJWs? Maybe that's the code, actually talking and doing something about issues outside the cultural sphere.