Identity Politics = Divide & Conquer

Who Doesn’t Love Identity Politics? by satirist and political pundit C J Hopkins is a must read:


Excerpt

…Why do we love identity politics? We love them for many different reasons.

The ruling classes love identity politics because they keep the working classes focused on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and so on, and not on the fact that they (i.e., the working classes) are, essentially, glorified indentured servants, who will spend the majority of their sentient existences laboring to benefit a ruling elite that would gladly butcher their entire families and sell their livers to hepatitic Saudi princes if they could get away with it. Dividing the working classes up into sub-groups according to race, ethnicity, and so on, and then pitting these sub-groups against each other, is extremely important to the ruling classes, who are, let’s remember, a tiny minority of intelligent but physically vulnerable parasites controlling the lives of the vast majority of human beings on the planet Earth, primarily by keeping them ignorant and confused.

The political parties love identity politics because they allow them to conceal the fact that they are bought and paid for by these ruling classes, which, in our day and age, means corporations and a handful of obscenely wealthy oligarchs who would gut you and your kids like trout and sell your organs to the highest bidder if they thought they could possibly get away with it. The political parties employ identity politics to maintain the simulation of democracy that prevents Americans (many of whom are armed) from coming together, forming a mob, dismantling this simulation of democracy, and then attempting to establish an actual democracy, of, by, and for the people, which is, basically, the ruling classes’ worst nightmare. The best way to avoid this scenario is to keep the working classes ignorant and confused, and at each other’s throats over things like pronouns, white privilege, gender appropriate bathrooms, and the complexion and genitalia of the virtually interchangeable puppets the ruling classes allow them to vote for.

The corporate media, academia, Hollywood, and the other components of the culture industry are similarly invested in keeping the vast majority of people ignorant and confused. The folks who populate this culture industry, in addition to predicating their sense of self-worth on their superiority to the unwashed masses, enjoy spending time with the ruling classes, and reaping the many benefits of serving them … and, while most of them wouldn’t personally disembowel your kids and sell their organs to some dope-addled Saudi trillionaire scion, they would look the other way while the ruling classes did, and then invent some sort of convoluted rationalization of why it was necessary, in order to preserve democracy and freedom (or was some sort of innocent but unfortunate “blunder,” which will never, ever, happen again).

The fake Left loves identity politics because they allow them to pretend to be “revolutionary” and spout all manner of “militant” gibberish while posing absolutely zero threat to the ruling classes they claim to be fighting. Publishing fake Left “samizdats” (your donations to which are tax-deductible), sanctimoniously denouncing racism on Twitter, milking whatever identity politics scandal is making headlines that day, and otherwise sounding like a slightly edgier version of National Public Radio, are all popular elements of the fake Left repertoire.

Marching along permitted parade routes, assembling in designated “free speech areas,” and listening to speeches by fake Left celebrities and assorted Democratic Party luminaries, are also well-loved fake Left activities. For those who feel the need to be even more militant, pressuring universities to cancel events where potentially “violent” and “oppressive” speech acts (or physical gestures) might occur, toppling offensive historical monuments, ratting out people to social media censors, or masking up and beating the crap out of “street Nazis” are among the available options. All of these activities, by herding potential troublemakers into fake Left ghettos and wasting their time, both on- and off-line, help to ensure that the ruling classes, their political puppets, the corporate media, Hollywood, and the rest of the culture industry can keep most people ignorant and confused.

Oh, and racists, hardcore white supremacists, anti-Semites, and other far-Right wing nuts … my God, do they love identity politics! Identity politics are their entire worldview (or Weltanschauung, for you Nazi fetishists)…..

My favourite comment beneath the piece is by Tom Welsh:

"The Romans were crisp and down to earth. They needed only three words":

“Divide et impera”.

[Divide and rule (or divide and conquer), from Latin dīvide et imperā, in politics and sociology is gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into pieces that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy.]

With bells on...

I'm at a loss how to comment, with any good sense, about US politics (or even about British politics, especially Brexit) these days. "Sometimes the only thing you can do is stare blankly."* For now, I'll rely on anyone remaining more clear-headed than I'm feeling:
(*A line from "The Long Earth" by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter - my current read.)

Jim Haygood, a regular in the comments section at naked capitalism, on 17 October wrote, in the afternoon "Water Cooler" segment:

Truthdig has posted an awesome interview of Chris Hedges by WSWS.

Excerpt:

Cris Hedges: Politicians like the Clintons, Pelosi and Schumer are creations of Wall Street. That is why they are so virulent about pushing back against the Sanders wing of the Democratic Party. Without Wall Street money, they would not hold political power.

The Democratic Party doesn’t actually function as a political party. It’s about perpetual mass mobilization and a hyperventilating public relations arm, all paid for by corporate donors. The base of the party has no real say in the leadership or the policies of the party, as Bernie Sanders and his followers found out. They are props in the sterile political theater.

These party elites, consumed by greed, myopia and a deep cynicism, have a death grip on the political process. They’re not going to let it go, even if it all implodes.

Bring it, Lord!

INDEEDY! (With bells on!)

I'll add a little more from the Chris Hedges interview, this on identity politics:

Chris Hedges: Well, identity politics defines the immaturity of the left. The corporate state embraced identity politics. We saw where identity politics got us with Barack Obama, which is worse than nowhere. He was, as Cornel West said, a black mascot for Wall Street, and now he is going around to collect his fees for selling us out.

My favorite kind of anecdotal story about identity politics:
Cornel West and I, along with others, led a march of homeless people on the Democratic National Convention session in Philadelphia. There was an event that night. It was packed with hundreds of people, mostly angry Bernie Sanders supporters. I had been asked to come speak. And in the back room, there was a group of younger activists, one who said, “We’re not letting the white guy go first.” Then he got up and gave a speech about how everybody now had to vote for Hillary Clinton. That’s kind of where identity politics gets you. There is a big difference between shills for corporate capitalism and imperialism, like Corey Booker and Van Jones, and true radicals like Glen Ford and Ajamu Baraka. The corporate state carefully selects and promotes women, or people of color, to be masks for its cruelty and exploitation.....The new form of feminism is an example of the poison of neoliberalism. It is about having a woman CEO or woman president, who will, like Hillary Clinton, serve the systems of oppression....

Saturday & Sundry Thoughts on Social Justice Warriors

I've recently been wandering around Quora, it can be a strange place at times, absorbing and interesting at other times - in common with the rest of cyber-land. One question which kept coming up in my "feed" thingie, day after day was: Why are there so many people now openly hostile toward “Social Justice Warriors”?

The term Social Justice Warriors (SJW) hadn't, until Quora, joined my personal vocabulary. I'd have referred to the kinds of people involved as being mainly interested in, and advocating on behalf of, identity politics. SJW is an easier mouthful. Anyway, I trundled through well over 100 answers to the question. Many were long, detailed and fell into the tl;dr category (too long didn't read). From others I've picked out a few which made some good points, earning an "upvote" from yours truly.


From Desmond Ng

Because of the negative connotations to the word.

Borrowing from Ryan J Farrick’s answer, an SJW is an individual who promotes socially progressive views, such as “feminism, civil rights, multiculturalism, political correctness, and identity politics.”. This is a good thing, hoping to make every human being equal, and in fact the term used to be used positively.

Sadly, the word has negative connotations due to the so “extremists” of the bunch. There are three types of SJWs. The first are the ones who fight to make a difference, the ones who hold rallies, get beaten up by police, who confront presidents with petitions demanding change. The ones who brave firehoses, tanks, chemical weapons and more to ensure that group A is treated like group B. These are people like Martin Luther King Jr, who stake a lot to change the world. The second are the passive types, the ones who sit at home and click on online petitions, who share Facebook posts and whatnot. These are the people who, while not making much of a difference, are not doing the world any harm. (other than spamming up Facebook pages)

But the third are the extremists. These are the ones who call critics ‘misogynists’ for not liking Ghostbusters 2016, the ones who complain about movie posters not displaying at least three different races, the ones who look at the X-Men Apocalypse poster and say it is oppression. These are the ones who harass those with even slightly different views, the people who insult everyone and accuse anyone who insults them back as hating all of their cause.

From Caelan Casa with a response from Richard Warner:

Social justice activist: Wow, the city forgot to place a ramp next to this staircase. Those poor handicapped people will have to go around. Let's build a ramp or start a fundraiser for one!

Social justice warrior: Wow, this xenophobic city didn't even try to put a ramp on this staircase! Those poor handicapped people will have to go around! Let's shame everyone who has legs and assault them if they don't boycott the stairs.

I try so hard not to roll my eyes. They'll beat me if I do.

Response

Don’t forget that after the Social Justice Activist builds the ramp, the Social Justice Warrior who works in the government fines the Activist for building a ramp without the proper permits or union labor, then tears down the perfectly good $550 ramp and replaces it with one that will cost about $65,000 to $150,000 and will take about a year or two to complete. (This actually happened in Toronto, Canada: City says steps will cost $65,000-$150,000; man builds them for $550). (Richard Warner)

Peter Hand said:

I have only one thing against Social Justice Warriors.

They lose elections.

The issues that concern them most are of no interest to the majority of voters. In fact, a good percentage of the electorate is opposed to much of what they stand for. The SJWs are aware of this, but instead of holding their peace at election time and keeping their contentious issues out of the public face, they become louder and more strident, incidentally (and perhaps deliberately) getting more air time on television and more in the faces of people who just don’t fecking care about their issues and don’t want to hear about them. It doesn’t change anyone’s mind - the result is that independents, conservatives and (I suspect) many liberals are motivated to vote against the party associated with SJWs.

The SJWs, in which group I include the “Hillary’s Turn” feminists in the DNC, gave us Donald Trump.

Last of this nap selection, Zbigniew Łobocki said (counting the ways):

Let’s see:

Arrogant, “holier than thou” attitude
Cherrypicking facts, using false information as basis
Blowing things out of proportion
No sense of humor, sterile political correctness
Inquistorial zeal, witch hunts
Seeing only one side of the coin (amazingly, ALL people are discriminated against in some places and in some ways. For example - in many countries guy in divorce proceedings + child custody battle is a lost cause. Wife cheats on you -> court awards her custody of your children -> you have to pay her money (on top of child support). I know stories of people who loved their children dearly, and lost custody pretty much ended their lives, either literally or just by derailing them)
Totalitarian mentality, want to control words, thoughts, gestures, etc.
Failing to notice reality if it does not support their views
Doing actual damage to the progressive cause with their obnoxious, caricatural stances and behaviors

My own thoughts are in line with what James A. Baker III and Andrew Young wrote in the Wall St. Journal on 30 August in a piece headed:
Identity Politics Are Tearing America Apart

A brief snip:

The divisions in society are real. So are national legacies of injustice. All can and must be addressed. Those who preach hatred should be called out for their odious beliefs. But even as extremism is condemned, Americans of good will need to keep up lines of civil, constructive conversation.

The country faces a stark choice. Its citizens can continue screaming at each other, sometimes over largely symbolic issues. Or they can again do what the citizens of this country have done best in the past—work together on the real problems that confront everyone.

Another, more direct way of saying it as commenter "Suzie Bee" did, in one of the threads I've been perusing:

Good God, y'all, get over yourselves!