Mark Lilla writes in the New Statesman (September 2017) that the "Left", i.e. the US Democratic Party, social justice and anti-facism movements, lost the US election due to being side-tracked by gender and race issues. Enough of the electorate weren't buying it and Trump won.
In hindsight attacking a large proportion of the electorate based on their gender and race is never a good idea, no matter which race or gender you are talking about. No, it's not acceptable to denigrate men or white people either. Trump of course did the same, by attacking foreigners, Mexicans, Muslims and women, but he got away with it due to media bias and partisan politics.
At home, Peter North, a prominent pro-Brexit blogger, tweeted about "self determination". This immediately raised the issue of what is "self", and lo and behold we are back to identity again. If we all feel European, then being governed by the EU is indeed self-determination, and let's not kid ourselves that the current horrendous state of British politics is in any way superior to the European model.
Mark Lilla is wrong to characterise just the Left as being obsessed with identity. It seems that politics these days is only about identity. Brexit and Trump were all about nationalistic ethnic identity. America first - British jobs for British people.
The Left seem particularly confused. On the one hand, they say that gender is a social construction and wouldn't life be easier if gender wasn't an issue. On the other hand, identity is something to be revered and respected, especially the underprivileged. The Left want to iron out the inequalities associated with identity, but the Right seem to regard inequality as inherently good as a mechanism to shape human behaviour.
Identity is a human construction, but it is all too often used to create division. It is a natural human instinct to want your own genes to thrive, and for your enemies, the "other", those whose genes are different to your own, to wither and die. Seen like that, identity is basic tribalism. It's a primitive human instinct that causes far more harm than good.
As witnessed by the EU referendum, people find economics difficult but identity easy. Many people voting in the EU referendum simply asked themselves whether they identified as British or European, even though we can be both. The EU is an institution that respects and upholds rights to identity, be it based on gender, race, religion or nationality, and has brought peace to Europe as a result. Vote Leave exploited people's confusion about identity very effectively, causing British people to effectively vote against their own interests.
It seems a shame that fundamental decisions on politics seem to boil down to such a primitive and unnecessary human instinct. The lesson is to recognise the importance of identity in shaping politics, and that political campaigns need to leverage identity in order to win over voters. The Right do this very effectively, and the Left need to catch up. Dazzling people with facts and figures doesn't work, as not everyone is wired that way. They need to tap into emotion, and even more fundamentally, identity.
In hindsight attacking a large proportion of the electorate based on their gender and race is never a good idea, no matter which race or gender you are talking about. No, it's not acceptable to denigrate men or white people either. Trump of course did the same, by attacking foreigners, Mexicans, Muslims and women, but he got away with it due to media bias and partisan politics.
At home, Peter North, a prominent pro-Brexit blogger, tweeted about "self determination". This immediately raised the issue of what is "self", and lo and behold we are back to identity again. If we all feel European, then being governed by the EU is indeed self-determination, and let's not kid ourselves that the current horrendous state of British politics is in any way superior to the European model.
Mark Lilla is wrong to characterise just the Left as being obsessed with identity. It seems that politics these days is only about identity. Brexit and Trump were all about nationalistic ethnic identity. America first - British jobs for British people.
The Left seem particularly confused. On the one hand, they say that gender is a social construction and wouldn't life be easier if gender wasn't an issue. On the other hand, identity is something to be revered and respected, especially the underprivileged. The Left want to iron out the inequalities associated with identity, but the Right seem to regard inequality as inherently good as a mechanism to shape human behaviour.
Identity is a human construction, but it is all too often used to create division. It is a natural human instinct to want your own genes to thrive, and for your enemies, the "other", those whose genes are different to your own, to wither and die. Seen like that, identity is basic tribalism. It's a primitive human instinct that causes far more harm than good.
As witnessed by the EU referendum, people find economics difficult but identity easy. Many people voting in the EU referendum simply asked themselves whether they identified as British or European, even though we can be both. The EU is an institution that respects and upholds rights to identity, be it based on gender, race, religion or nationality, and has brought peace to Europe as a result. Vote Leave exploited people's confusion about identity very effectively, causing British people to effectively vote against their own interests.
It seems a shame that fundamental decisions on politics seem to boil down to such a primitive and unnecessary human instinct. The lesson is to recognise the importance of identity in shaping politics, and that political campaigns need to leverage identity in order to win over voters. The Right do this very effectively, and the Left need to catch up. Dazzling people with facts and figures doesn't work, as not everyone is wired that way. They need to tap into emotion, and even more fundamentally, identity.
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