Someone very close to me is homosexual, but not at all gay. ?I like dicks and that?s all?, he explains. ?I?m not defined by that“. This is heretical to the leftist dogma of ?intersectionality?, which proclaims that ?identity? defines everything about us. As Steve Sailer argues, in his review of Francis Fukuyama?s Identity, the left?s obsession with identity is a thin veil for its overweening lust for power. Quote:
Do identity politics truly represent ?the demand for dignity,? as centrist political philosopher Francis Fukuyama asserts in the subtitle of his new book, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment? End of quote.
My not-gay acquaintance is also scathing of ?Pride? parades, the Sydney Mardi Gras, and the whole clownshow of ?LGBTQI? identitarianism. ?I?d rather kill myself than go on a pride march?, he says. Not least because of its basic indignity. ?Nothing says, ?Yes! I?m just a normal member of society!? like prancing down the street in a rainbow G-string with a dildo strapped to your head”. Sailer also fails to see much that?s dignified in recent eructations of identity politics. Quote:
Personally, ?dignity? would strike me as an odd characterization of such recent manifestations of identity politics as your local gay pride parade, Ferguson?s bouts of undocumented shopping, Bruce Jenner in a ball gown, or the Asia Argento vs. Rose McGowan #MeToo spat. Nor do I expect the upcoming Supreme Court nomination hearing/teen sex comedy to be a high point in the history of American dignity.
If I were looking for an alliterative subtitle, I might try instead ?The Demand for Dominance?. Contemporary identity politics seem far less about Jackie Robinson maintaining a stiff upper lip as he demonstrates his right to play baseball than about Serena Williams feeling entitled to go off on the tennis umpire. End of quote.
A megalomaniacal drive for dominance is the identity-politics left?s prime motivation. As Jordan Peterson explains, ?The world [according to the left] is a battleground of power hierarchies. That?s what it is. There isn?t anything else outside of that?. Thus, the left see politics no longer as a contest of ideas; rather, a battle for power. Quote:
In the current year, we seem well down the road to diminishing marginal returns in identity politics. It has less and less to do with equality of rights and more to do with hunger for acclaim. Celebrities have figured out that the social constructionist dogmas taught in college, such as ?representation,? can serve to bolster their bank accounts. Identity politics increasingly are manipulated by celebrities? End of quote.
The hypocritical power game of identity politics can be seen in the differing reactions of the left to two recent identity-fuelled scandals. When all the evidence exonerated the ?Covington Kids? of any wrongdoing vis-a-vis a lying Native American shill, the left simply doubled down. The kids? white skin made even their smiles ipso facto proof of their hateful white supremacy.
On the other hand, when a barely-known actor with a freefalling career peddled his identity to manufacture a fake ?hate crime?, the left didn?t just exonerate him because he?s gay and black. No, by some fruit-loop twist of intersectional logic, the left declared that even his venal fakery was evidence of systemic prejudice. Quote:
Today, recognized identity-politics groups of privilege can?t be publicly blamed for anything, such as mentioning that blacks have very high homicide rates or that gay liberation unleashed AIDS. The identity unprivileged?the cishet white males?must shoulder all the blame. Hence, white privilege is to blame for crime, and Ronald Reagan caused AIDS?
What this all has to do with dignity is left unexplained by Fukuyama. Identity turns out to be fairly reasonable if you read all the way to the end, but the initial bulk of the book consists of Fukuyama going to undignified lengths to assure the politically correct that he?s not going to do any of the crimethinking he sneaks in later on.
?Bowing down to political correctness doesn?t strike me as terribly dignified in an intellectual. End of quote.
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