How America's identity politics went from inclusion to division

[Boiler 46,059]

Fascinating read, summaries so much we see on here.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/mar/01/how-americas-identity-politics-went-from-inclusion-to-division

 

Once identity politics gains momentum, it inevitably subdivides, giving rise to ever-proliferating group identities demanding recognition.

Today, there is an ever-expanding vocabulary of identity on the left. Facebook now lists more than fifty gender designations from which users can choose, from genderqueer to intersex to pangender.

Or take the acronym LGBTQ. Originally LGB, variants over the years have ranged from GLBT to LGBTI to LGBTQQIAAP as preferred terminology shifted and identity groups quarreled about who should be included and who come first.

Because the Left is always trying to outleft the last Left, the result can be a zero-sum competition over which group is the least privileged, an “Oppression Olympics” often fragmenting progressives and setting them against each other.

 

Although inclusivity is presumably still the ultimate goal, the contemporary Left is pointedly exclusionary.

During a Black Lives Matter protest at the DNC held in Philadelphia in July 2016, a protest leader announced that “this is a black and brown resistance march”, asking white allies to “appropriately take [their] place in the back of this march”.

The war on “cultural appropriation” is rooted in the belief that groups have exclusive rights to their own histories, symbols, and traditions. Thus, many on the left today would consider it an offensive act of privilege for, say, a straight white man to write a novel featuring a gay Latina as the main character.

Transgressions are called out daily on social media; no one is immune. Beyoncé was criticized for wearing what looked like a traditional Indian bridal outfit; Amy Schumer, in turn, was criticized for making a parody of Beyoncé’s Formation, a song about the black female experience. Students at Oberlin complained of a vendor’s “history of blurring the line between culinary diversity and cultural appropriation by modifying the recipes without respect for certain Asian countries’ cuisines”. And a student op-ed at Louisiana State University claimed that white women styling their eyebrows to look thicker – like “a lot of ethnic women” –was “a prime example of the cultural appropriation in this country”.

Not everyone on the Left is happy with the direction that identity politics has taken. Many are dismayed by the focus on cultural appropriation. As a progressive Mexican American law student put it, “If we allowed ourselves to be hurt by a costume, how could we manage the trauma of an eviction notice?”

He added: “Liberals have cried wolf too many times. If everything is racist and sexist, nothing is. 

 

 

[smilesammich 10,727]

Quote

Tellingly, a 2012 study showed that more than half of white Americans believe that “whites have replaced blacks as the ‘primary victims of discrimination’.”

 what half of white americans believe and what is reality is far from the truth.

 

Quote

Or consider this blog post in the American Conservative, worth quoting at length because of the light it sheds:

I’m a white guy. I’m a well-educated intellectual who enjoys small arthouse movies, coffeehouses and classic blues. If you didn’t know any better, you’d probably mistake me for a lefty urban hipster.

And yet. I find some of the alt-right stuff exerts a pull even on me. Even though I’m smart and informed enough to see through it. It’s seductive because I am not a person with any power or privilege, and yet I am constantly bombarded with messages telling me that I’m a cancer, I’m a problem, everything is my fault.

I am very lower middle class. I’ve never owned a new car, and do my own home repairs as much as I can to save money. I cut my own grass, wash my own dishes, buy my clothes from Walmart. I have no clue how I will ever be able to retire. But oh, brother, to hear the media tell it, I am just drowning in unearned power and privilege, and America will be a much brighter, more loving, more peaceful nation when I finally just keel over and die.

Trust me: After all that, some of the alt-right stuff feels like a warm, soothing bath. A “safe space,” if you will. I recoil from the uglier stuff, but some of it— the “hey, white guys are actually okay, you know! Be proud of yourself, white man!” stuff is really VERY seductive, and it is only with some intellectual effort that I can resist the pull … If it’s a struggle for someone like me to resist the pull, I imagine it’s probably impossible for someone with less education or cultural exposure.

just because this guy is a 'well educated intellectual' doesn't mean he understands his white male privilege. clearly he doesn't. but hey, at least the alt right can offer him a safe space. 

i've never owned a new car either. i rent. i'll never retire. doesn't change the fact that in america my white skin affords me privileges minorities do not have.  cry me a river, american conservative blogger. 

Edited March 1, 2018 by smilesammich

[Dashinka 24,771]

12 minutes ago, smilesammich said:

 what half of white americans believe and what is reality is far from the truth.

 

just because this guy is a 'well educated intellectual' doesn't mean he understands his white male privilege. clearly he doesn't. but hey, at least the alt right can offer him a safe space. 

i've never owned a new car either. i rent. i'll never retire. doesn't change the fact that in america my white skin affords me privileges minorities do not have.  cry me a river, american conservative blogger. 

Don't get caught culturally appropriating anything now days, the MDL eats their own.

[smilesammich 10,727]

Just now, Bill & Katya said:

Don't get caught culturally appropriating anything now days, the MDL eats their own.

if you say so. 

[Dashinka 24,771]

Just now, smilesammich said:

if you say so. 

I do.

[smilesammich 10,727]

3 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

I do.

i'll move possible cultural appropriation up on my worry scale. thanks for the heads up.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

16 minutes ago, smilesammich said:

 what half of white americans believe and what is reality is far from the truth.

 

just because this guy is a 'well educated intellectual' doesn't mean he understands his white male privilege. clearly he doesn't. but hey, at least the alt right can offer him a safe space. 

i've never owned a new car either. i rent. i'll never retire. doesn't change the fact that in america my white skin affords me privileges minorities do not have.  cry me a river, american conservative blogger. 

No desire for self-betterment?  

 

For what it’s worth, I know blacks who own new cars, they own homes, and they plan to retire early.  Those are not things that only whites get.  Silly to suggest so.

[Boiler 46,059]

1 minute ago, smilesammich said:

i'll move possible cultural appropriation up on my worry scale. thanks for the heads up.

Many of us on here are Immigrants, you can not know what it is like to walk in our shoes.

[smilesammich 10,727]

12 minutes ago, IDWAF said:

No desire for self-betterment?  

 

For what it’s worth, I know blacks who own new cars, they own homes, and they plan to retire early.  Those are not things that only whites get.  Silly to suggest so.

desire for self betterment? where do you get this stuff. i'm working class, i'm just being a realist.

 

i didn't make such a silly suggestion. by far. i know plenty of black people that are far better off than me. not sure where you get these crazy assumptions.

14 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Many of us on here are Immigrants, you can not know what it is like to walk in our shoes.

my husband is an immigrant. his shoes are filled with poutine.

[Boiler 46,059]

Just now, smilesammich said:

desire for self betterment? where do you get this stuff. i'm working class, i'm just being a realist.

 

i didn't make such a silly suggestion. by far. i know plenty of black people that are far better off than me. not sure where you get these crazy assumptions.

You mentioned your American WP.

[smilesammich 10,727]

Just now, Boiler said:

You mentioned your American WP.

yep. i know you guys take offense to the premise of white privilege, especially male white privilege - but i have no control over that.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

22 minutes ago, smilesammich said:

yep. i know you guys take offense to the premise of white privilege, especially male white privilege - but i have no control over that.

White Privilege, what's that? If I ever had any privilege it's by growing up in a household with 2 parents that loved me and taught me the ability of self-worth and hard work. I have had to work my ### off for literally everything that I have in my life.

 

Oh I am privileged for being able to use the GI Bill to help pay my Bachelors and Voc Rehab to help further getting my Masters right now....  I am sorry I was actually taught to serve my country and give back for the greater good of the USA. I would gladly give up my Bachelors so that I would not have to deal with the aftereffects of being hit by not 1 but 2 IED's while deployed and having TBI/PTSD from that.

 

Oh I am privileged for growing up white and having less to deal with the criminal justice system. Yep, I am thankful for growing up right and not being in jail or prison. I have been arrested years ago on trumped up DV charges by my x, that were later thrown out. But I do have a brother who has since 2011 been in prison/jail longer than he has been out of it. He is currently in jail as we speak for charges related to drugs, larceny, and whatever else his dumb ### felt like doing.

 

 

[smilesammich 10,727]

5 minutes ago, cyberfx1024 said:

White Privilege, what's that? If I ever had any privilege it's by growing up in a household with 2 parents that loved me and taught me the ability of self-worth and hard work. I have had to work my ### off for literally everything that I have in my life.

 

Oh I am privileged for being able to use the GI Bill to help pay my Bachelors and Voc Rehab to help further getting my Masters right now....  I am sorry I was actually taught to serve my country and give back for the greater good of the USA. I would gladly give up my Bachelors so that I would not have to deal with the aftereffects of being hit by not 1 but 2 IED's while deployed and having TBI/PTSD from that.

 

Oh I am privileged for growing up white and having less to deal with the criminal justice system. Yep, I am thankful for growing up right and not being in jail or prison. I have been arrested years ago on trumped up DV charges by my x, that were later thrown out. But I do have a brother who has since 2011 been in prison/jail longer than he has been out of it. He is currently in jail as we speak for charges related to drugs, larceny, and whatever else his dumb ### felt like doing.

 

 

http://time.com/4948371/white-privilege-metaphor/

https://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/explaining-white-privilege-to-a-broke-white-person-shesaid/

https://upliftconnect.com/white-privilege-explained-comic/

[TBoneTX 46,071]

I want to identify as a Zoroastrian Eskimo...

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

8 minutes ago, smilesammich said:

http://time.com/4948371/white-privilege-metaphor/

https://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/explaining-white-privilege-to-a-broke-white-person-shesaid/

https://upliftconnect.com/white-privilege-explained-comic/

Do you think I care what some POS journalist or comic has to say about white privilege? No, I could care not one single iota.