Identity politics

Ace of Spades has an interesting discussion of identity politics.

Ben Domenech coined a claim that I really disliked when I first heard it -- he said that the Trump campaign was "identity politics for white people."

I found that pretty ugly, suggesting, as it did, that the only reason to want a wall was racism.

However, I am finding some truth in it. The core tenet of Identity Politics is that your own tribe is pure, and that your own tribe is oppressed, and there is always some great conspiracy of the other tribes -- the vicious, ugly tribes that want to keep you down -- who are responsible for your failings.

Identity Politics is at its core simply a racially (or gender-) tinged Conspiracy Theory. All new pieces of information -- particularly information about people not wishing for you to have political power -- are simply new evidences and exemplars of the Conspiracy Theory.

Ace writes about the Colorado guy, a Trump supporter, who was selected to go to his county assembly. He didn't go to the county assembly, thus missing a chance to be selected as a delegate to the state assembly. He showed up at the state assembly, but was not allowed to vote, because of what I just explained. Ace writes,

This guy's showing up at the wrong convention, then admitting maybe he missed a meeting, then blaming his failure to do the thing he wanted to do on The Man Just Trying to Keep Him Down, sure looks to me like a warm, sloppy embrace of the most repulsive aspects of Identity Politics -- the constant naming of scapegoats for one's shortcomings, failures, and missed opportunities.

This sort of politics of resentment works, to a degree, because nothing animates people politically like the feeling that they're being unfairly treated.

But like most politics of resentment, it ultimately becomes very silly and self-indulgent, as people keep upping the ante as far as their claims of oppression and tribal disrespect and shadowy conspiracies of the Out-Group to keep the virtuous members of the In-Group down.

That's not to say that Trump supporters, conservatives generally, or Americans as a whole don't have good reason to feel resentment. I feel resentment, and I think a lot of that is justified.

But then, of course, blacks have good reason to feel resentment at the nation -- but that doesn't mean they haven't gone off the deep end with their privilege patrols and #SafeSpaces and claims that noting Obama plays golf is a racist put-down.

And that's what I think I see right here -- resentment simply feeding off itself and shitting out new resentments. Guy shows up to the wrong caucus in Colorado? Damnit, he must have been tricked and duped by those wily Ted Cruz operatives.

Everyone remember when Colorado announced its convention rules? That's right -- last August. Seems to me that that should be plenty of time to read a damn two or three pages of rules and deadlines.

...It's never our own fault. Even when it is our own fault, it's really someone else's fault -- in a deeper way. A deeper truth demonstrates that we are faultless.

We're the Good Ones -- the Pure -- the Oppressed. The #Unprivileged. Definitionally, we cannot do wrong.

And meanwhile the Alex Jones friendly Drudge site shits out another series of "They're all against us" headlines.

Read more here.