UK Politics Thread

[Federberg]

I think with Identity politics the seductive part is that it’s simplistic: if we deal with groups, merely, and deny the individuality of everybody within the group, it’s a shortcut to making a bigger plan work: the bigger plan being to treat everybody the same. By disregarding that they’re actually not all the same?

But when we add in the other feature of undying Marxism, that if inequality is caused by oppression, then therefore the actions of successful people are evidence if oppression, and the ones who aren’t successful are obviously oppressed, according to the equation, and…uh..wuh…I’ve got a headache trying to think about it.

Minorities can’t be racist because of power dynamics? Is that it? And women can’t be violent towards men, because women are oppressed? And men are oppressers? Therefore any violence by women on men…is men’s fault?!

well.. not so much fault, but they'll claim they're justified. A minority can be racist, it goes, because they're oppressed, therefore their racism is justified. The supreme irony of course is that the very people who claim to be oppressed, will resist with all their might when you the oppressor make generalisations about their identity group. No! They'll say, you're being misgynist, or racist, or whatever other -ism. You see, you're NOT allowed to generalise about them. Even if their entire philosophy requires them to generalise about you. Make it make sense!