>Everyone gets to get called by the label they pick for themselves and it seems everything is good. Except it is good only on the surface. Ultimately this is ju

>Everyone gets to get called by the label they pick for themselves and it seems everything is good. Except it is good only on the surface. Ultimately this is just impotent outrage. Those who have power still do, those that don't still don't, even if they get called however they wanted in the public sphere. I don't think this is an accurate reflection of identity politics. Names are only the beginning. They indicate that the group being identified is a legitimate one; once this is established, particular concerns the group has are raised. If you think this is meaningless, consider that transpeople continue to face an uphill battle in being recognized as a substratum of society. >It is interesting that this also gets shuffled over to the "left". That is liberals call themselves "leftists". Except, Marx would have probably laughed at that, and would have said "Why don't you destroy those who have power, instead of just forcing them to call you by a different label". Identity politics has been practiced by the Left for a long time. The originators of the term were black feminists[1]. As to Marx, his thoughts may be important but they are not the be-all and end-all of leftism. There has been 150 years of evolution under the umbrella, and lots of disagreement, just as there has been on the right. [1] - http://circuitous.org/scraps/combahee.html http://circuitous.org/scraps/combahee.html