"How Identity Became a Weapon Against the Left"

[Theodarzna]

You're right. Do you think they may have overestimated the amount of "whites" who bought up into the whole privileged narrative? The polls, the public platforms all seemed to agree that a lot of people agreed with the privileged narrative.

For a while, America was racist and everyone agreed it was! (with an obvious drop of irony)

The reason why the political ecosystem turned toward identity politics is simple. It's the easiest way to grab an instant presidency, house, and congress without relying on actual content. It's populism at its worse because as soon as you secure a group based on ethnicity, you'll always have a majority with that group.

So this leads to another part of the problem. Why are we accepting this? Is it because it's buying into the very same nazism ideal that some people are better than other (whether because you're a white, golden-haired blue-eyed boy or because you're an afro-American from Detroit and whites should check their privileges)? The need to put a part of society under your boot just for the sport of it?

Why do people group by ethnicity? Because of a sense of belonging? But why do people feel like they only belong with people who looks like them? Afro-Americans shouldn't fear being laughed at as niggers and whites shouldn't fear being laughed at as privileged brats. Color shouldn't even be a problem. They're physical traits, not the sum of what a person can achieve. Culture is not set in stone at birth, there's no reason to not share and receive it.

It seems to me that identity politics insulate groups and prevent mixing them up as much as possible, just because it secures a spot to the same people in congress/house/white house. So identity politics has decided to turn toward groups and treat individuals as to what group they belong to, rather than what the individual is actually worth. It seems like meritocracy and identity politics are fundamentally opposed.

Because Humans are tribal by nature IMHO. We buy into it because Identity and loyalty to the group is powerful. There is also the tricky issue of negotiating a melting pot among unequal groups.

One thing I usually say about the Alt-Right and Ethno-States that they talk about is that it is mislabeled. The Alt-Right wants an explicitly RACIAL state. I.E. For them you must "be white," in both manners, customs, culture, and blood. The Alt-Lite, and the Civic Nationalists and likely even Conservatives like most of the GOP all the way to the Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer and some small sliver of Democrats and Liberals is IMHO not much different. Most Civic Nationalists types still insist on a national culture and language that is specific to one ethnicity of European, English people specifically. The problem of the "Lets come together and melting pot and become one people" is that in the end that usually means many people becoming like one especially powerful constituent part. There is still a latent racism within it, even if it can't be helped. Thus I'd say the Alt-Right are Racial Nationalists where nearly every Conservative and even many Liberals are Ethnic Nationalists. For them you can be whatever skin color of Human, but you still have to "Act White."

Identity politics will remain powerful because ....

A) Humans tend to schism into separate groups no matter what.

B) In a multicultural/ethnic/racial(?) differences and group allegiance will likely overcome other allegiances such as to class, gender, ect.

C) Even forming a "Melting Pot" comes with obvious undertones of racism, as is the case in America where assimilationist policies are more aptly cultural annihilation for some, into the culture and language of another.

Meritocracy IMHO will never fully function or work. It is a biological fact at this point that people will do whatever it takes to help give their kids an edge. Nepotism, and favoring your immediate kin over others, even if more qualified is just simple instinct.

- - - Updated - - -

You just said republican won because they stopped... Republicans aren't the majority there are more democratic voters than republican voters. They just show up regardless of circumstance and honestly have no spines. When the left saw Hillary corruption they said no but republicans won't return the fair and as usual we'll all learn a lesson at the end. Identity politics aren't going away because all demographics weren't treated equal and never we'll be until genetic engineering is a thing anyone who thinks otherwise is a fucking moron.

Democrats make the mistake of being clustered in two states.

[Tiwack]

Fixed that for you. This is why Jill Stein gets a seat at the big table with Flynn and Putin.

Lovely defeatist attitude! Exactly why you have the government you deserve.

[Video Games]

I think people care too much where they are on the political spectrum, or more accurately, where their opponents are. I refuse to take part in it and yet I'm still labeled as a right winger because I don't like today's pc culture. I can't wait for this shit to end.

[Varvara Spiros Gelashvili]

I did not say that. They've lost because of it. Then the Dems started using it. Then the Dems lost. Republicans win at being the worse and they'll get away with it. Not the Dems. Also, polls are shit. Look at google search, look at the real numbers that happen when people are honest. Trump won and it's easy to witness it if you pull your head out of the Democrat's echo chamber - take a look at the amazing book from NYT writer Seth Stephens-Davidowitz "Everybody Lies" and you'll understand a lot more about what happens in people's collective heads.

If you want to play identity politics from both sides, the Republicans will win, at the very least until the amount of white % goes lower than 50%. The be frank, I'm persuaded that the Democrats lost because they relied too much on conventional data and were too cocky to realize it was a bad idea. The fact that they keep pushing it now just seems like one last wail of desperation, mixed with hurt ego and the fact that, just like the Republicans, they've tasted the identity politics kool-aid.

Republicans have never been punished for using identity politics... Trump won because democrats didn't show up not because of republican turn out. The electoral college also doesn't help the United States election isn't about number of votes but where the votes are located.

[pionock]

There seems to be this prevailing idea that any and all criticism of identity politics is a right wing phenomenon. Whilst public criticism from the left is rare (there are consequences for anyone on the left who do criticise it), there is nothing inherently right wing about criticising it. There are those on the left (I include myself in this) who agree with many of the points made by proponents of identity politics, but view it as a poor tool to get us to where we want to go, and it ends up bring a force for division as opposed for unity. The cult like attitudes by some who are deep into identity politics prevent them from having any kind of reasonable discussion about their ideas, and just leap straight to "BIGOT!". I fear that it is becoming an alienating force on the left.

Thank you for saying what I couldn't quite articulate until now. I consider myself pretty damn liberal on most issues, but I don't buy into this identity politics nonsense. I don't see what your identity is supposed to tell me. I'd rather know the individual instead of the label. Yet I get called right wing or having bought into right wing whining, while simultaneously downplaying the left's ridiculousness to severe degree.

[Hiricine]

Identity politics have been used since the beginning of politics for every purpose politically related, to say that whats going on now is new would be silly. The big reason most people don't play the identity politics game is because its a useful weapon and once your enemy has it you can't put it away. The US spent the last 150 years teaching white people not to vote along racial lines, then after watching everyone else do it for long enough it came back.

It really doesn't lend a lot of good philosophical arguments to vote basically to support your race. From a pragmatic standpoint though, if everyone else is going to use a tactic you refuse to that makes you an idiot.

[provaporous]

Right holds giant rally with the KKK, alt-right, and nazis carrying signs and chanting anti-jewish or anti-other minority slogans.
Left calls them racists.
Right bitches about identity politics.

That's seems to be the usual gist of things.

As someone who reads The_Donald daily, nobody there knew about this rally happening, or at least it never made the front page, and that says something (Anytime a rally is happening there are several streams and links to sign up) This screams false flag to me IMO.


This is not a "right" rally - if was a legit rally to begin with. The State decided not to honor their permit to hold their rally and then ordered the police to stand down after pushing them into Antifa. What did they expect to happen?

[Chinese Bootlickers]

I think people care too much where they are on the political spectrum, or more accurately, where their opponents are. I refuse to take part in it and yet I'm still labeled as a right winger because I don't like today's pc culture. I can't wait for this shit to end.

And this is why I've given up on society and gone full hikki since the election. Getting absolutely tired of being labeled a alt-righter/white nationalist/various other buzzwords because I'm not in ideological lockstep with the left.

[Gestopft]

Lovely defeatist attitude! Exactly why you have the government you deserve.

It has nothing to do with attitude; it's more to do with the single-vote FPTP system. If we could even just rank choices, lots of people would feel more comfortable voting third party.

Democrats make the mistake of being clustered in two states.

We do it just so we can whine about the Electoral College. We're kind of stupid and self-defeating in that way.

Thank you for saying what I couldn't quite articulate until now. I consider myself pretty damn liberal on most issues, but I don't buy into this identity politics nonsense. I don't see what your identity is supposed to tell me. I'd rather know the individual instead of the label. Yet I get called right wing or having bought into right wing whining, while simultaneously downplaying the left's ridiculousness to severe degree.

And as we can see in this story, it's the center/center-left calling the progressive left racists and sexists. This "identity politics" game doesn't have much to do with how "far" left you are.

[arandomuser]

Right winger" Man the left always gives everyone labels and cares too much about race i OBVIOUSLY DONT"
Same right winger: " IF YOU wanna know the cause of our problems, read my favorite book THE BELL CURVE!!!"

Thats called hypocrisy

[Ryme]

I'm of the opinion that identity politics is nine times out of ten just racism and I'll be thrilled when we can all call it out for what it is.

[Louisa Bannon]

Most "red meat" stuff is just to make the plebs crazy. The only real issues are economic and neither side talks about that with any seriousness as they are basically on the same side.

Sometimes I think we just need to wait out a group of bigoted idiots that will eventually die off through old age.

The more likely reality is that many, many people are genuinely too stupid to do the right things in their own interest and will be fooled by these sorts of antics forever. The right in particular banks on this policy. Hatred for pretended enemies can always be made to divide people.

[zenkai]

Article:
HOW IDENTITY BECAME A WEAPON AGAINST THE LEFT


===============
Gonna put the TL;DR up top since this article was long as fudge:
Basically the author, Briahna Joy Gray, a 'progressive leftist' herself, is criticizing the left's focus on identity politics. She argues making everything about identity politics has come full circle and is harming the progressive cause. She uses the examples of Kamala Harris and Corey Booker, and how many progressives dismiss all criticism of them (including, but especially criticism from the left itself) as racist and sexist, despite the policies they support (as far as she is concerned) being harmful to progressive causes (their corporate/banking connections/funding, their centrist platforms, etc.). She examines how this played out in the Clinton versus Sanders fight and how many progressives offhandedly dismissed all criticism of Hillary as sexism/misogyny, despite Clinton having very questionable positions/corporate support with regard to the goals of the progressive cause, while those same progressives who blindly defended Hillary because she was a woman offhandedly dismissed Bernie Sanders as a white male who couldn't possibly speak for blacks/women, despite his extremely progressive platform and history of supporting progressive causes. An example of this being how the left itself created the pejorative "Bernie Bro" to describe white males supporting Sanders as sexists and only doing so because Bernie was a man. (When both I and the author say progressives, mind you, we aren't speaking of all progressives in general, just the ones doing what is described in the example.)

Oh you done it now, you spoke the truth and the extreme left doesn't like the truth.

Identity politics is a cancer, I find a lot of people who call others sexist or racist are usually the ones being sexist and racist.