The War on Patriarchy/Racism/Homophobia/Neo- or Post-colonialism (the last is problematic, but let's leave it at that for simplicity) etc is like the War on Terror.

[Addendum: More keywords: The War Against Terror, The War Against Patriarchy/Racism/Homophobia/Transphobia/Bigotry, The War Against Bigotry]

Although it may be necessary in some places and at some times, it is a war:

- against a vague and undefinable enemy only those waging the war can identify
- where the definition of the enemy is loose: one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter
- against an ideology (Terror) rather than actors (Terrorists)
- that can never be won and thus will never end (perhaps because it is defined in a way that makes it unwinnable; slimming ads can be considered to be coercive and oppressive)
- which creates fear and loathing among the population
- we are constantly urged to report suspicious activity
- where ideology and emotion prevail over reason and facts
- where faux equivalence is asserted between grossly unequal actions (lynching gays vs banning them from donating blood)
- used to justify otherwise unacceptable actions (discriminating against people due to their race viz. Affirmative Action)
- fought to satisfy interest groups
- that polarises everyone ("If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem")
- which you question (even legitimiately) at your peril, for fear of being labelled unpatriotic; even those sympathetic to the cause can be vilified for insufficient dedication and zealotry and thus be discursively labelled as the enemy
- fought for the purpose of assuaging collective guilt at past atrocities
- where the ghosts of defeated enemies can be invoked to justify its continuance
- which plants the seeds of its continuance (eg the Invasion of Iraq), not least by discursively reinforcing the enemy
- where false parallels are drawn between it and earlier wars (e.g. the fight against Nazism and then Stalinism)
- no matter how long the war has been fought, or how close we are to victory, we are told that we are in as much peril as when the Twin Towers were first brought down

[Addendum:

- fighting the problem with a war forecloses strategic options]