This is the piece on identity politics I’ve wanted to see for so long and thought about writing but you’ve done such a better job than I could. Thank you!
100%. Brilliantly stated. Extremely complex and well thought out piece, Scarlet. Takes my breath. Finally. Let's get on with it. It is about labor. Period. Everyone would be fine if we could just pay our way with dignity. And be left alone to lead our private lives. It is the living wage we don't get paid. And the full time hours necessary to meet our basic obligations on time that we need and don’t get. This is perpetrated upon us by the employers who make these bad decisions, with every excuse under the sun, since I was out of high school in 1972. Pay us. Treat us as valued and indispensable partners in your endeavors, employers. No more excuses or fancy talk. It is easy to be community when everyone has the peace of mind of enough money.
This is going to be a bit of a long comment because I have a lot to say on this topic. There seems to be more responsibility on the class conscious than there is on anyone who supports an element of identity politics. If you’re a communist fighting to overthrow capitalism, and that’s your main focus, you’re often seen as a class reductionist if you don’t tie yourself in knots trying to appease everyone else.
I understand the arguments behind intersectionality and the necessity of building a large coalition, but it seems to me often times this becomes little more than oppression Olympics. I’ve seen posts on here about how white allies aren’t true allies. That they need to shut up, take a step back, and completely defer to individuals who have suffered the most forms of oppression.
It’s fair to criticize white college educated elite allies for their shortcomings. They definitely exist. But demanding that they have little to no voice because they can’t (not don’t) understand the finer details of your exact form of oppression, or at best minimize their involvement to defer only to you, is absurd. It isn’t empowerment. It’s merely trading places with them in your bid for a slice of the power pie.
Generally I see this as a crisis of empathy. As you rightly point out we individualize everything. Everyone is individually responsible for their own failures and successes. If you’re a racist and a misogynist, then you’re irredeemable garbage who is a waste of the air they breathe. You made these choices, and now you have to suffer the consequences.
What this ignores is how social norms and propaganda largely form who we become and what we believe. I see this most clearly in the lefts relationship with men. Patriarchy is not something that most men are actively choosing to embrace nor did anyone alive today create it.
The very fabric of our society is patriarchal. Our culture, institutions, relationships, all reinforce these norms. The idea that most men end up having some degree of patriarchy internalized isn’t a mystery, it’s a guarantee. Hell most women have internalized patriarchal norms as well.
Trump supporters are not irredeemable monsters who we can laugh at and belittle. As you say none of us are immune to propaganda. It’s a fucking wonder to me when people say this person has been highly propagandized their whole life, but they have free will, so they chose everything they believe. I feel like many people would benefit from a determinism 101 course just to get this shit through their thick skulls.
This doesn’t mean that we should simply accept these people and coddle them. Quite the opposite. What they believe cannot be allowed to exist, but we need to stop seeing everyone’s belief system as a personal failing or success, and instead as a product of the systemic issues that plague our world.
It is the responsibility of those who have the knowledge and awareness to fight against the onslaught of oppression in our world to spread that knowledge and awareness. You will not accomplish anything by deriding those who disagree with you as monsters, besides alienating them from your ideology forever.
I understand this is a difficult thing to do. It certainly isn’t fair. But we need to get off our moral high horses and do the god damn work.
This comment ended up being longer than I intended…thanks for reading if anyone gets this far.
I'll add that there is oftentimes a hypocritical racism in liberal/progressive identiy politics itself. Caitlin Deen Fair's “An Open Letter To White ‘Allies’ From a White Friend” is a perfect example of this sort of patronizing and paternalistic White Savior racism. Many white people on the left infantalize minorities and black people in particular, as though they don't themselves have any agency and need white people to come in and solve their problems for them.
A couple of moments from 2016 that I still think of, and exemplified the vapidity of IDpol, are Samantha Bee calling Bernie Sanders a "mansplaining prick" and the release of Le Tigre's "I'm with Her" pro-Hillary song. In the years since then there have been plenty of embarrassing developments by BLM founders etc, but 2016 really opened my eyes on a lot of this.
It’s striking how clearly you trace the shift from external suppression to internal policing — almost as if the most effective containment now happens before dissent even has a chance to surface.
It feels connected, too, to how many people quietly live by principles of solidarity without ever naming them, because the frames they’ve been offered make such naming feel dangerous or absurd.
I wonder if part of the task ahead is finding ways to speak to what people already know in their bones, without demanding that they first pass through the old, battered gates of identity or ideology.
You’re holding up a mirror to a pattern that’s deeper than it first appears — and it’s a mirror a lot of us have been half-afraid to look into for a long time.
You hit the nail on the head with this piece once again Scarlet. I loved the point you made about how whenever we hear liberal Democrats talk about "progress" or "representation", it "curiously never includes representation of the ideological kind." Everything is one big surface level act to create the impression that steps are being taken in a truly transformative direction, when in reality the worsening status quo is continuously perpetuated -- forcing people to retreat into their individual shells for survival and the tiniest crumb of hope for a better tomorrow. Hearing people fawn about that Blue Origin flight as being some "glass-shattering moment for women", just as a recent example, shows how this is all one big game where it's not actually about taking steps forward, but simply demonstrating who is capable of playing the game if they amass enough wealth and social capital. So many people have forgotten about, or have never even truly embraced, the fact that the real fight right now is not left vs. right, but rather top vs. bottom.
Recognizing class is the first major step towards revolutionary understanding and radicalization, and we should be encouraging that organic discovery at every opportunity that presents itself. Bernie and AOC's "Fighting Oligarchy" tour is a prime example of highly malleable and motivated people who could be engaged in insightful, educational, and hopefully, eye-opening conversations about class consciousness and just how interconnected so many of our issues are to the very basic understanding of class. Instead of letting them be funneled back into the machine, we should be helping them see that the true big tent is further to the left than the Democrats are ever willing to go. Dunking on "imperfect" leftists and slumping further into meaningless online discourse can also wait (despite often being guilty of it myself lol) -- organizing against capital, the more time goes on, simply cannot.
Your wonderful ability to find the right ways to address our current moments continues to be one of my favorite reads out there Scarlet so as always, thank you for being you and for all the work that you do!
Fascinating read! I’m Harrison, an ex fine dining industry line cook. My stack "The Secret Ingredient" adapts hit restaurant recipes (mostly NYC and L.A.) for easy home cooking.
I think I understand this. Focusing on BLM, representation, DEI (boring zoom meetings!!) and are we really a man or a woman defects from the fact that none of this will help; it all operates under the patriarchy and is merely shifting roles or 'identities' around instead of bringing down the problem. The problem is the system that rewards dominance (or submission) over women, people who aren't white, animals and the planet.
The 'left' have effectively done this with the climate crisis too- with greenwashing and NetZero procrastination instead of the required structural change; the removal of the wealth and power of the fossil fuel and animal ag/pharma industries. The backlash against even these minimal regulations (and stirring of racism) brought a climate crisis denier into the White House. Now the admin can say drill baby drill and sod their grandchildren's futures.
Standing up for animals and the environment is smeared as woke. Standing up for women's rights or questioning the vaccine schedule makes one a right wing fascist.
We all forget the root of the problem- the patriarchy.
p.s. government is not for the people it is for the donors…AOC had to correct them and said “say voters not donors” back before the worst election of our lifetimes…at least some folks are saying it now loud and proud…we will win this one if we stay together and resist…love, granny
This is the piece on identity politics I’ve wanted to see for so long and thought about writing but you’ve done such a better job than I could. Thank you!
100%. Brilliantly stated. Extremely complex and well thought out piece, Scarlet. Takes my breath. Finally. Let's get on with it. It is about labor. Period. Everyone would be fine if we could just pay our way with dignity. And be left alone to lead our private lives. It is the living wage we don't get paid. And the full time hours necessary to meet our basic obligations on time that we need and don’t get. This is perpetrated upon us by the employers who make these bad decisions, with every excuse under the sun, since I was out of high school in 1972. Pay us. Treat us as valued and indispensable partners in your endeavors, employers. No more excuses or fancy talk. It is easy to be community when everyone has the peace of mind of enough money.
This is going to be a bit of a long comment because I have a lot to say on this topic. There seems to be more responsibility on the class conscious than there is on anyone who supports an element of identity politics. If you’re a communist fighting to overthrow capitalism, and that’s your main focus, you’re often seen as a class reductionist if you don’t tie yourself in knots trying to appease everyone else.
I understand the arguments behind intersectionality and the necessity of building a large coalition, but it seems to me often times this becomes little more than oppression Olympics. I’ve seen posts on here about how white allies aren’t true allies. That they need to shut up, take a step back, and completely defer to individuals who have suffered the most forms of oppression.
It’s fair to criticize white college educated elite allies for their shortcomings. They definitely exist. But demanding that they have little to no voice because they can’t (not don’t) understand the finer details of your exact form of oppression, or at best minimize their involvement to defer only to you, is absurd. It isn’t empowerment. It’s merely trading places with them in your bid for a slice of the power pie.
Generally I see this as a crisis of empathy. As you rightly point out we individualize everything. Everyone is individually responsible for their own failures and successes. If you’re a racist and a misogynist, then you’re irredeemable garbage who is a waste of the air they breathe. You made these choices, and now you have to suffer the consequences.
What this ignores is how social norms and propaganda largely form who we become and what we believe. I see this most clearly in the lefts relationship with men. Patriarchy is not something that most men are actively choosing to embrace nor did anyone alive today create it.
The very fabric of our society is patriarchal. Our culture, institutions, relationships, all reinforce these norms. The idea that most men end up having some degree of patriarchy internalized isn’t a mystery, it’s a guarantee. Hell most women have internalized patriarchal norms as well.
Trump supporters are not irredeemable monsters who we can laugh at and belittle. As you say none of us are immune to propaganda. It’s a fucking wonder to me when people say this person has been highly propagandized their whole life, but they have free will, so they chose everything they believe. I feel like many people would benefit from a determinism 101 course just to get this shit through their thick skulls.
This doesn’t mean that we should simply accept these people and coddle them. Quite the opposite. What they believe cannot be allowed to exist, but we need to stop seeing everyone’s belief system as a personal failing or success, and instead as a product of the systemic issues that plague our world.
It is the responsibility of those who have the knowledge and awareness to fight against the onslaught of oppression in our world to spread that knowledge and awareness. You will not accomplish anything by deriding those who disagree with you as monsters, besides alienating them from your ideology forever.
I understand this is a difficult thing to do. It certainly isn’t fair. But we need to get off our moral high horses and do the god damn work.
This comment ended up being longer than I intended…thanks for reading if anyone gets this far.
I'll add that there is oftentimes a hypocritical racism in liberal/progressive identiy politics itself. Caitlin Deen Fair's “An Open Letter To White ‘Allies’ From a White Friend” is a perfect example of this sort of patronizing and paternalistic White Savior racism. Many white people on the left infantalize minorities and black people in particular, as though they don't themselves have any agency and need white people to come in and solve their problems for them.
A couple of moments from 2016 that I still think of, and exemplified the vapidity of IDpol, are Samantha Bee calling Bernie Sanders a "mansplaining prick" and the release of Le Tigre's "I'm with Her" pro-Hillary song. In the years since then there have been plenty of embarrassing developments by BLM founders etc, but 2016 really opened my eyes on a lot of this.
It’s striking how clearly you trace the shift from external suppression to internal policing — almost as if the most effective containment now happens before dissent even has a chance to surface.
It feels connected, too, to how many people quietly live by principles of solidarity without ever naming them, because the frames they’ve been offered make such naming feel dangerous or absurd.
I wonder if part of the task ahead is finding ways to speak to what people already know in their bones, without demanding that they first pass through the old, battered gates of identity or ideology.
You’re holding up a mirror to a pattern that’s deeper than it first appears — and it’s a mirror a lot of us have been half-afraid to look into for a long time.
You hit the nail on the head with this piece once again Scarlet. I loved the point you made about how whenever we hear liberal Democrats talk about "progress" or "representation", it "curiously never includes representation of the ideological kind." Everything is one big surface level act to create the impression that steps are being taken in a truly transformative direction, when in reality the worsening status quo is continuously perpetuated -- forcing people to retreat into their individual shells for survival and the tiniest crumb of hope for a better tomorrow. Hearing people fawn about that Blue Origin flight as being some "glass-shattering moment for women", just as a recent example, shows how this is all one big game where it's not actually about taking steps forward, but simply demonstrating who is capable of playing the game if they amass enough wealth and social capital. So many people have forgotten about, or have never even truly embraced, the fact that the real fight right now is not left vs. right, but rather top vs. bottom.
Recognizing class is the first major step towards revolutionary understanding and radicalization, and we should be encouraging that organic discovery at every opportunity that presents itself. Bernie and AOC's "Fighting Oligarchy" tour is a prime example of highly malleable and motivated people who could be engaged in insightful, educational, and hopefully, eye-opening conversations about class consciousness and just how interconnected so many of our issues are to the very basic understanding of class. Instead of letting them be funneled back into the machine, we should be helping them see that the true big tent is further to the left than the Democrats are ever willing to go. Dunking on "imperfect" leftists and slumping further into meaningless online discourse can also wait (despite often being guilty of it myself lol) -- organizing against capital, the more time goes on, simply cannot.
Your wonderful ability to find the right ways to address our current moments continues to be one of my favorite reads out there Scarlet so as always, thank you for being you and for all the work that you do!
absolutely brilliant. thank you.
I call bullshit..the zionazis would not have let them enter the country, certainly not enter Gaza or the WB.
Fascinating read! I’m Harrison, an ex fine dining industry line cook. My stack "The Secret Ingredient" adapts hit restaurant recipes (mostly NYC and L.A.) for easy home cooking.
check us out:
https://thesecretingredient.substack.com
I think I understand this. Focusing on BLM, representation, DEI (boring zoom meetings!!) and are we really a man or a woman defects from the fact that none of this will help; it all operates under the patriarchy and is merely shifting roles or 'identities' around instead of bringing down the problem. The problem is the system that rewards dominance (or submission) over women, people who aren't white, animals and the planet.
The 'left' have effectively done this with the climate crisis too- with greenwashing and NetZero procrastination instead of the required structural change; the removal of the wealth and power of the fossil fuel and animal ag/pharma industries. The backlash against even these minimal regulations (and stirring of racism) brought a climate crisis denier into the White House. Now the admin can say drill baby drill and sod their grandchildren's futures.
Standing up for animals and the environment is smeared as woke. Standing up for women's rights or questioning the vaccine schedule makes one a right wing fascist.
We all forget the root of the problem- the patriarchy.
p.s. government is not for the people it is for the donors…AOC had to correct them and said “say voters not donors” back before the worst election of our lifetimes…at least some folks are saying it now loud and proud…we will win this one if we stay together and resist…love, granny