Why some Americans have to play the identity-politics game

 



Many year ago, when we were still (sort of) innocent of the atrocity of trying to make a statesman out of Donald Trump, Ian Danskin, under the name Innuendo Studios, posted a series of videos on GamerGate, and why female and non-binary video-game critics -- notably Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency -- found it so hard to escape ruin at the hands of online, anti-feminist hate-mobs.  Part 2 was this video discussing how a simple lifestyle choice can trigger hostile reactions, even in people who agree in "principle" with the "basic idea."  He concluded his video with the following warning: "But now we circle back to people who are minoritized.  Because this reflex to anger, this distilling of a person's presence -- of their existence -- to a critique of one's self, is how white people often respond to conversations about race; how straight people often respond to conversations about sexuality; how cis people often respond to conversations about gender; and how Angry Jack responds to people like Anita Sarkeesian.

"These are people he has social and political power over.
"That makes the whole thing a whole lot uglier."

And this is why some of us can't quite give up our identity politics.  Because their presence, their entire life, is reduced to a critique of those who are constantly critiquing them.

Posted by Jennifer A. Nolan

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