Originally Posted by wittynickname
I was at work all day and a loooot happened in this thread in the meantime, so I'm going to try to hit a few points.
So basically all our discussion about the economic climate, about coal mines closing down and manufacturing plants and panicking about the Regressive Left was pointless because when all's said and done, data shows that by and large Trump voters actually are racist and sexist? That the media blatantly misled American voters? That Comey was largely at fault for Trump's win?
That link just tells me we've all been giving Trump voters more credit than they deserve. Based on the information in that link, they didn't care about TPP/trade deals all that much, they were too busy being told that Hillary was a criminal and believing it because she's a woman and thus unfit to lead.
And yet, based on the link Girlysports posted--a whole lot of Trump voters actually were racist, sexist, ticked off at the concept of white privilege, and would've voted for pro-Trade/pro-TPP Biden despite their economic standing.
People who freak out about Christmas being marginalized annoy me beyond belief, because it's not just immigrants who don't celebrate Christmas. You have a huge number of Jewish people who don't celebrate Christmas--we need to be inclusive of them. There are people who celebrate any number of winter holidays, and people who don't celebrate any at all. We don't need to force people to celebrate Christmas. I grew up as a Jehovah's Witness who didn't celebrate Christmas, and the ability to easily opt out of Christmas events at school saved me a whole lot of stress and angst and bullying as a child. We have to support kids who don't celebrate Christmas as well.
Literally go to any store, any mall, any restaurant, turn on any TV or radio and you'll notice that Christmas has vomited all over everything. Christmas takes over literally 2 full months of the calendar year. Christmas is fine, no one is trying to stop Christmas.
This is a big part of why I tend to comment so much in this thread, because for as much as many people are insulated in their little bubbles of like-minded people, I'm the polar opposite. I'm a liberal feminist who lives in a relatively liberal, mid-sized American city. Yet the county I work in is overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly Christian, overwhelmingly heavily pro-2nd Amendment. The county went 70% for Trump. I am surrounded by Trump voters. So while the people I choose to associate with are generally more liberal like myself, I deal with heavy conservatives on a daily basis.
I cannot possibly give this statement enough thanks. The unending condescension about "identity politics" is infuriating, when coming from people whose identities will never result in any discrimination/loss of rights/fear of safety.
Yes identity politics exist, because my existence as a woman makes me uniquely affected by men like Mike Pence and their anti-choice policies. Myself and many other women I know are making appointments for procedures such as obtaining IUDs and other forms of long term birth control, because we aren't sure how our access to those things will be affected by a GOP run White House/Congress/House/SCOTUS.
Gay people are uniquely affected by Pence's support of conversion therapy. Muslims are uniquely affected by Trump saying he's going to ban anyone of their faith from entering the country.
Yes, these are identity politics. But that is because our identities leave us vulnerable to the policies that the people in power are espousing.
Is there more emotion? Absolutely. Does it make us wrong? Not even a little bit. It's really easy to dismiss "identity politics" when your identity is not under fire.
In general, the leftist parts of the Democratic party aren't anti-capitalist or anti-western. As a liberal myself, capitalism is fine--but not unfettered capitalism. There need to be regulations. There need to be checks and balances, because without them, corporations and the wealthy and the powerful crush the average worker. If you're comparing extreme, fringe leftists with people who are fighting for equal rights for the LGBT community, fighting against police brutality, and protecting a woman's right to choose, you're way off base.
Really? Just now identity issues are brand new? What about suffrage? What about the civil rights era? What about the politics of the AIDS epidemic among the gay community in the 80s?
Identity politics have always been there, and until we actually obtain equality, they will continue to be part of the picture.
And yet you're more than happy to disregard my views on these issues, despite the fact that on a literal daily basis, I am dealing with the uneducated, racist, bigoted types who are a huge part of the population of suburban Pennsylvania. You don't see these people, but I do.
These are people I know, these are people I work with, these are clients who come into my salon. These are people I am related to. My experience with these people is valid and important, but all too often I'm told that these are "caricatures" and that it's "more complex" than what I'm saying. Yet those of us who live in the US and actually see these people are treated as if we don't know what we're talking about.
Me sitting here on this forum and saying racist police in Missouri are a bad thing achieves nothing other than let people know I'm a decent person. The people I know in real life already know I'm a decent person. I don't especially care what people on the internet think of me.
No one is saying it's wrong because they're straight. They don't have experience with the situation. A straight person doesn't have to worry about having an alliance with others to give them a place to feel supported, because straight people are inherently supported because it's the "norm." So this hypothetical guy still doesn't have the same view of the topic, because he has no grasp of the effect that something like a GSA can have, thus yes, his opinions are lacking a huge part of the equation. Without knowledge of the consequences, without experience being discriminated against, this person cannot get a full, 360 degree view of whether or not that GSA is valuable.
What comes across from in all this complaining about "identity politics" is a condescending subplot that because we're directly affected by certain policies, we cannot clearly think about or discuss said policies, because we're too emotionally involved.
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