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A saying I've had for quite a while: the left pioneers really bad ideas, and the right implements them at scale. Identity politics is a great example. Late 20t
by api 6y ago
A saying I've had for quite a while: the left pioneers really bad ideas, and the right implements them at scale.
Identity politics is a great example. Late 20th century leftists brought identity politics into fashion, but it was the right that really took it and ran with it with Bush's politics of the "base" and then Trump's identity politics.
A deeper example would be "culture jamming" and the maybe-ironic prankster/trickster political style. That came out of the 60s/70s left with stuff like the Church of the Subgenius, and stuff like alternate reality gaming (ARGs) pioneered in the 90s. The intellectual basis for it ultimately comes from postmodernism. The right is now weaponizing this style and implementing it at scale with Qanon.
Edit since it won't let me reply:
I'd define identity politics as the idea that your biology or cultural background places you in a group that should define your ideas and political affinities.
- pjc50 6y ago.. would you like to define "identity politics", in a way that can be distinguished from 1930s "scientific racism" or 1800s ethnonationalism?
- truckerbill 6y agoMaybe they are all stemming from the same thing?
- sudosysgen 6y agoSure. The idea of identity politics isn't actually necessarily linked to ethnic identity. It's relevant to anything that is part of your identity. It's the idea that parts of your identity should inform the kinds of political coalitions you should build. it can be the "race" socially assigned to you, your sexuality, your religion, etc... It makes some sense if you take an intersectional approach to your social analysis, but as soon as you decouple it from intersectionalism it leads to disaster.
- dalbasal 6y agoIf this is the working definition, then it can either be a manifested occurrence or a political theory. Class politics, for example. It can either be ideological in the sense that you think people should group together politically based on class interest. Or, it can just be what happens. IE, the society has a politically prominent class structure and people group politically around that. Same for tribal politics, etc.
- yters 6y agohow is identity politics any different than right left, liberal conservative, religious atheist, vanilla chocolate, vim emacs etc.?
- sammalloy 6y ago> A deeper example would be "culture jamming" and the maybe-ironic prankster/trickster political style. [...] > The right is now weaponizing this style and implementing it at scale with Qanon. That's an interesting observation at the surface level, as there are small tactical and strategic elements of culture jamming involved in the production and dissemination of disinformation like the right is creating, but this style shares more in common with "ratfucking" (dirty tricks) than culture jamming. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ratfucking https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ratfucking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratfucking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratfucking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Segretti#Overview_of_"dirty_tricks"_against_Democrats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Segretti#Overview_of_"d...
- penguintester 6y agoTrumps identity politics is reactionary in nature, itself being developed as a right wing response to the dominance of left identity politics that have been slowly creeping into mainstream culture since Obama (although you can probably trace the roots to Clinton).
- amanaplanacanal 6y agoWhite identity was certainly a thing long before Obama or Clinton or even Kennedy. This was not an invention of the left.
- dalbasal 6y agoIsn't everything in "cultural" politics reactionary? Civil rights to segregation. Neoliberalism to libertarianism, etc. What does something being reactionary actually tell us about the thing. In a sense, most campaigns are reactionary. They focus on FUDing the opposition more than positively promoting themselves. IMO, reactionary is more descriptive of political climates than movements. When antagonism is a primary/defining motivator, all reactionary cliches show up. There are, obviously, movements than lean in.