Wrote a fairly comprehensive piece on #IdentityPolitics a year or two ago. Have a “Good Fences” thread on the go also, about classifying individuals AND groups and recognising “woolly” boundaries and less than objective definitions (amongst other things). Naming is always political, for reasons of policy objectives. ALWAYS. The individuals being named, fluidly straddle the definitions of the groups or classes being named. When it comes to naming and identity, (subjective) self-identity is the closest we can get to neutral objectivity, but even then contentious identities may conflict, so mutual acceptance is needed. Equally externally imposed identities are “somebody else’s”, unwitting or deliberate, political ideology.
[The “Good Fences” piece remains in draft for a possible wider publication, but many fragmented references.]
Anyway. 3 Twitter threads today on the topic
Clive on “Disabled cyclists”, the disabled and cyclists
Worthwhile reminder that cyclists & disabled people are not 2 separate, somehow opposed, groups. Cycles often offer mobility & independence. https://t.co/11VzXOmHPg
” Clive Andrews (@CliveAndrews) June 20, 2017
The “political utility” of calling #FinsburyParkMosque perpetrator a “terrorist”. This whole thread:
I understand – completely – the place that this comes from. But I question the political utility of calling Darren Osborne a terrorist.
” Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) June 20, 2017
The recurring “Islam is not a race” nonsense – supporting a couple of threads from Alom Shaha
Yes. “Race” based on religious tribes is no more or less real than race based on biological tribes. Bigotry is bigotry either way.
” Ian Glendinning (@psybertron) June 20, 2017
Don’t @ me with your “Islam is not a race” nonsense.
” Alom Shaha (@alomshaha) June 20, 2017
Obviously the last two are related. The naming of the perp as a terrorist and the claims he’s not a racist. Generic point would have been clearer if I’d used “cultural tribes” rather than “religious tribes” in that tweet, but same-same … is the point.
All grist to the upcoming “Good Fences” piece.
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[Post Notes – and there’s more …
Category mistake: they are not mutually exclusive.. https://t.co/BEIg97HNpi
” Peter R. Neumann (@PeterRNeumann) June 20, 2017
And more from 2019:
“You would have been met with incomprehension in 2015 if you had declared yourself a “Leaver” or “Remainer” or talked about E U nationals in Britain and Britons in Europe as if they were aliens” – Me on the identity politics of the right.https://t.co/Pb3LcXiefA
” Nick Cohen (@NickCohen4) October 5, 2019
5 thoughts on “More on #IdentityPolitics”