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Originally Posted by PepsiFree
This bugged me, but I wanted to respectfully explain my issue.
I think it's absolutely an instance of hypocrisy to state that "homo sapien" is the only identity that matters, while all others do not, and follow that by defending the existence and importance of an identity you just said did not matter:
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Okay, so here is the thing.
What they are saying is correct. None of these identifiers should be above "homo sapien." They should not be the basis for being hated or hating. They should not be the basis of fear or being feared. We are all people. But when it comes to identity politics, we tend to use them to draw lines and put people above or below based on their "identity". Be that colour, orientation, religion, politics or what ever it may be. It's wrong because we are all people. It's bad because it reinforces these barriers that are put up between these identities that should be meaningless at the end of the day.
Now this is there part where I think you misunderstand that quote that you placed. No one is putting the police, or at least the people that see it as part of their identity, above anyone else and demanding they get special treatment. The reason this is an issue is because, as happens in identity politics, a certain set of people has decided that the police are below them. They deserve to be on the outside looking in. They are a problematic group of people that need to be ostracized as a result.
It's not good. Instead of using the image of uniformed police showing solidarity with the Pride movement, they get forced out to show what? They used to not? It's backwards. It doesn't help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
Is "pride in your work" and "identity" the same thing? Not to me. But this was the response to me saying that "police officer" wasn't an identity (and I didn't mention having pride in your work at all) so I'd bet they think they're linked. It really didn't take dishonestly or mental gymnastics, sorry it made you go off.
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The issue was not that you did not think that people could identify with your job. The issue was you took them saying one thing and made it out to be a completely different thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
"I'm gay/a woman/black" - "No identities matter, only identify as human!"
"I'm a police officer!" - "That's an important identity! I identify as my job too!"
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And you still don't get it. They didn't say this. They took you to task for trying to say who can have what identity as a person. You then took them to task for saying police were more important people than others. You're still doing it. They didn't say this though. They didn't even imply this. I think you should stop saying that this was the message they were trying to convey.