Identity politics: pros and cons
I am not a fan of identity politics in its current form, but I do acknowledge the obvious fact that ethnic, gender and sexual identity have a basis in reality.
There are a myriad of ways in which society works to help some and harm others based on these identities, and identity politics can be a useful way of understanding this.
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Despite what conservatives and libertarians would have you believe, America is not a meritocracy, and never has been. To pretend that African Americans, women and LGBTQ people for example, haven’t had a hard time historically is to deny reality. There are obvious prejudices embedded in an ethnically white/European dominated, mostly male run society. Learning about this should not be controversial.
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That being said, identity politics has been taken to such an extreme in America that it is creating new hierarchies, distorting reality, and denying inconvenient complexities. The term “white” is now so overused in identity politics circles that it basically has no meaning. Jews are “white” but are perhaps the most historically oppressed minority on earth. In identity politics circles though, Jews apparently don’t count as a minority because of their skin color.
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Even the Anti Defamation League, itself a Jewish organization, changed the definition of racism so that it couldn’t include anti-semitism. The definition of racism, according to the ADL, was specifically the “marginalization and/or oppression of people of color based on a socially constructed racial hierarchy that privileges white people”.
The ADL then changed it back after Whoopi Goldberg announced that the Holocaust was not about race, but rather “white people doing it to white people”.
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While black people are the disproportionately the victims of hate crimes in America, unsurprisingly, they can be racist too. Identity politics extremists have tied themselves into knots trying to explain why minority on minority violence is actually about White Supremacy (apparently all non-white people exist in a utopian state of non-prejudice until they meet white people and then internalize their racism).
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As a person of Jewish extraction, I can attest to experiencing significantly more anti-semitism (racism) from other minorities than I have from European whites. I’ve also seen terrible racism in Jewish communities against other minorities. I just don’t buy into the idea that white, European people are inherently more racist than anyone else.
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There is of course an asymmetrical power relationship between ethnic groups in America; white people of predominantly European ancestry have historically had far more power and wealth, so their racism is inherently more dangerous. But if history teaches us anything, it is that humans of all ethnic backgrounds can be truly vile to one another given the right circumstances. To say otherwise would be, well, racist.
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Again, identity politics can be a useful tool in helping us understand history and current society. But it is becoming an ideological hammer used by militants to bludgeon debate and hamstring the broader fight against rising fascism in America.
Electoral disaster
If the Left does not engage with criticism of radical identity politics, the Democratic Party faces a very, very serious problem for the foreseeable future.
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Not only do the majority of Americans not subscribe to the tenets of Wokeism, most Democrats don’t either. Just look at how many liberals regard themselves as “Progressive Left”, as defined by the Pew Research Center in 2021:
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You read that right: just 6%.
The majority of Democratic voters actually identify as moderate, conservative on immigration and crime, and “back compromise and [are] more welcoming to those who agree with Republicans on some things”. If the party continues pandering to the Progressive Left — all 6% of them — they are headed for electoral disaster.
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With 47 percent of Americans now identifying with the Republican Party and only 42 percent with the Democrats, it isn’t hard to see where this is going. Donald Trump, it should be noted, gained gained six percentage points among black men in the 2020 election, and five percentage points among Latinas. Blacks and Latinos are actually quite conservative on many social (and economic) issues, so Democrats need to start listening to their concerns if they want to reverse this trend.
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How to talk about this
One of the biggest problems the Left has is how to talk about all of the above. By coming out against the excesses of identity politics, I risk association with the professional Anti-Woke brigade. I do not want this. I want the Left to stop eating itself so it can get on with battling the radical identity politics of the right (otherwise known as full blown fascism).
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I would rather spend my time drawing attention to the growing White Nationalist inspired terrorism problem — a problem that if left unchecked, could make Jan. 6th look like a fancy dress party. The far right in America is organized, violent, and ready to ignite civil war at any given moment.
The problem is that radical identity politics is forcing Democrats (and thus the White House) to focus its attention on issues that will drive the much needed center away.
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The more Democrats have to talk about gender pronouns, defunding the police, and everything ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ related, the worse it is going to get.
The Left has to find a way to discuss these issues without calling everyone a racist. Jon Stewart recently brought Andrew Sullivan onto his new show on Apple TV to do exactly this.
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On an episode titled “The Problem With White People”, Stewart and his radical identity politics guest called Sullivan a racist because he did not agree with their thesis that white people (all of them!) are responsible for every single problem the black community faces. I don’t happen to agree with Sullivan’s take on racism in America, but nothing he said on Stewart’s show could be remotely construed as racist.
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The confrontation was profoundly disappointing and another sign of just how toxic debate has become. For all his tiresome anti-woke sins, Andrew Sullivan is not the enemy.
If the Left can figure out a way to tone the rhetoric down, they can suck the air out of the anti-woke movement and fight battles on territory advantageous to them. When the Left talks about health care, jobs, the economy, sensible policing and smart immigration reform, they win.
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Wanting to improve diversity, equity and inclusion is a noble goal. But Democrats need to get elected in order to achieve it, and right now, the more they talk about it, the worse their prospects become.
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END
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@TheAbbotTrithemius it’s more than noble - it’s American and ethical - but agreed - we need to get elected - diversity and inclusive policy is a given
@TheAbbotTrithemius we are so fucked. I don’t believe there is anything that we can say to Republicans that will make sense to them. They’re too far gone. And, they are racists, that’s just a fact. The only thing we can try to do is inhibit the growth of the delusional right. The Jan 6 Trumpers are lost.
@TheAbbotTrithemius they don't even have to be that organized they just have to show up with guns.
@TheAbbotTrithemius
What are the "tenets of Wokeism"? I know I'm old and not hip to the newest groove, but I have yet to read a coherent and consistent definition of "woke" that everyone can agree with.
@TheAbbotTrithemius “racism” implies social power - Black people can’t “be racist” but we can be bigots - no one is in a Utopian state - Blacks are in a survival state over 600 years in the making - we can be reactionary - no one is ignoring that - we just aren’t starting there as the bigger issue is in the brutal and permissive danger of systemic oppression - the 6pts of Black men is a mix of the self hate racism breeds & sexism - but again if we’d move toward ethics we’d ALL be better off
Good points, thank you. :)
@TheAbbotTrithemius thank you for hearing me out :)
The ADL then changed it back after Whoopi Goldberg announced that the Holocaust was not about race, but rather “white people doing it to white people”.
According to the strictures of Wokeness, only white people can now be racist — an illogical fallacy that is inherently racist and infantilizing. Take for example, the fact that hate crimes against Asians are disproportionately committed by African Americans.
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