Race, Sex, Creed and Class.
INTERSECTIONALITY:
Very, very BAD!
Taylor Swift is on a crusade against the United States government Injustice has not struck the heart of the United States census and SJW General Swift needs to swoop in and save the world.
The United States government had the audacity to ask if the head of household is a male of female. That’s right! No, transgender, cisgender, non-binary, beastiosexual or any other of the 1800 different genders have been defined. Just male and female.
“I got my census the other day and there were two choices: male and female. And that erasure was so upsetting to me,” the “Lover” singer added.
Swift described the two-gender option as “a really brutal way of dismissing” transgender and nonbinary citizens. “We need to make sure we elect people who care about all communities.” -DailyWire
For years, Taylor Swift has stayed completely out of politics and got crap for it. I thought it was actually quite refreshing. But she received a lot of pressure from Leftist groups about her opinions. She finely caved and I no longer listen to Taylor Swift. I know she doesn’t care. I’m not exactly in her demographic. She came out as the typical dumb Millennial; as Leftist as the day is long. Her specialty seems to be LGBTQ issues but hating Trump is good enough.
This is really. dumb. The government doesn’t care about what people you are attracted too. They only care if you are male or female. If you are a male who has decided to be female, fine. Check the female box. They do not care. I am pretty sure the government does not have the other genders listed because the form would end up being 400 pages longer (it’s long enough as it is) and they do not have enough computing power to calculate the demographics of the 1800 different genders.
Not to mention, no one really cares. I do not fill out the census because I am sure there are three illegal aliens out there that are filling it out for me. That is another thing I find funny: It’s an affront not to add all the different genders but a bad thing to ask one’s immigration status (something that is actually important).
Typical. The Left always has to point out someone is a victim of something. Even check boxes can be bigoted.
But this is a perfect story to lead us into today’s topics: Identity Politics and Intersectionality.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/taylor-swift-deeply-upset-by-gender-options-on-u-s-census
Identity Politics and Intersectionality
Introduction
I was going to deal with race in this section today because it is such a hot button topic. Black Lives Matter has been heading the protests since the death of George Floyd and you cannot listen to CNN for more than 15 minutes without hearing the words “race”, “racism”, and “white supremacist”. But, then I thought about it and realized race was not really the problem. It is Identity Politics and Intersectionality that are the problems.
Black Lives Matter (a terrorist group as far as I am concerned) whole philosophy is based on Intersectionality. In their manifesto on their website, they say:
“We make our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work “double shifts” so that they can mother in private even as they participate in public justice work…
“We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise).
We cultivate an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism. We believe that all people, regardless of age, show up with the capacity to lead and learn.
We embody and practice justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another.” -BlackLivesMatter.com
So, they bond with women, gays, transgenders and the old against the patriarchy which is defined as white straight male led slavery. They are not all about black people. They are about all “oppressed” groups. If one can get through all of the communist crap they are peddling (terms like “collective” and “comrades” are sprinkled throughout the short essay), one can see that BLM is more than just about black lives.
This is the perfect cut over into what is really wrong with this philosophy.
Identity Politics
This is a philosophy that came out in the 1960’s during the Civil Rights Movement and the second wave of feminism. Though the term was not coined until much later, there were studies by professors in the late seventies and early eighties that “proved” that one’s identity (age, race, gender and creed) put one in a category of victimhood.
Identity Politics is defined as:
“The laden phrase “identity politics” has come to signify a wide range of political activity and theorizing founded in the shared experiences of injustice of members of certain social groups. Rather than organizing solely around belief systems, programmatic manifestos, or party affiliation, identity political formations typically aim to secure the political freedom of a specific constituency marginalized within its larger context. Members of that constituency assert or reclaim ways of understanding their distinctiveness that challenge dominant oppressive characterizations, with the goal of greater self-determination.” -(https://plato.stanford.edu, link below)
So, essentially, if you belong to a group (black, women, gay) you are a victim. When you accept that you are a victim, this will give one greater agency to discover their victimhood and go beyond it.
I know what you are thinking. Just wait for it. There is more to it then we will discuss how dumb this whole thing is.
Intersectionality
Identity Politics, unfortunately, does not go far enough. What if you belong to two victim groups? What if you are a black woman?
That’s where Intersectionality comes into play. The term was first used in 1989 by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a civil rights activist and legal scholar. In a paper for the University of Chicago Legal Forum, Crenshaw wrote that traditional feminist ideas and antiracist policies exclude black women because they face overlapping discrimination unique to them. “Because the intersectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated,” she wrote in the paper. (Emphasis added.) (cjr.org).
It was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2015 and defined as:
“The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage; a theoretical approach based on such a premise.”
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defined it as:
“The complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.”
The victim groups you belong to will intersect to define the victim you are and the value to society you have. And what you are owed. The less intersections (or none) the less valuable.
The Intersectionality score determines an individual’s value when it comes to: philosophy, what they deserve, temperance that they have from society and economic value.
So there you have it! Let’s review:
- You are a white woman? You use Identity Politics to emphasize your victimhood as a woman because women couldn’t vote 100 years ago. Society owes you.
- You are a black woman? You use Intersectionality to state you are more of a victim because you are a woman (women couldn’t vote a 100 years ago) and are black (blacks were slaves and dealt with Jim Crow laws). Society owes you more.
- You are a Native American trans female lesbian who is Muslim? Jackpot!
- You are a straight, white, Christian male? Screwed!
The Big Problems with this Philosophy
I reject this philosophy. Not just because I am a straight white male Christian, one who has no victimhood and should be dismissed, but because it is stupid. And its value system, is accepted, forces our civilization to be more stupid. But, what I will talk about later, it is dangerous. Here are five reasons this philosophy fails.
First, it excludes people, even those it champions to protect.
Straight white mail Christians are screwed. As far as intersectionality is concerned, we are the root of patriarchy and all that is evil in our civilization. Fine, whatever. The problem is that there have been some pretty smart white men in our civilization. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, Galileo, DaVinci, Shakespeare, Poe, Jefferson, Washington, Locke, Twain, Franklin, Einstein, Steinbeck. Gates, Jobs, Bezos, Musk and Trump, just to name a very few.
Ok, Trump was a joke but you get where I am going.
There are also very fine white men whose philosophy and reason I would trust far more than some of the victims that Intersectionality deems for its sainthood. Names like Shapiro, Weinstein, Klavan, Harris, Crowder, Peterson, Levin, Pool, Carolla, Rowe, Bongino, Rogan Hannity, Sowell, Mahr, Rubin, Gutfeld and Crenshaw, just to name a few. OK, Dave Rubin is gay and Greg Gutfeld is kind of gay but I trust the reason of these guys over some self-proclaimed victim. But, because these are straight, white men (or, just white men) they have no say about the moral questions of our country. Ben Shapiro has no right to argue about abortion because he is a rich white male. He had something to say about that we he was confronted with that:
Nuff said.
The above debate is another big problem with Intersectionality: It discourages reasonable debate if one of the parties does not belong to a victim group or his victimhood does not match the one he is debating. It is the worst aspect of this cultist philosophy. Anyone who doesn’t agree and is not a member of a victim group is just wrong because he doesn’t understand. Evil, science and reason be damned. When a philosophy refuses to acknowledge these and will reject truth, this is not a philosophy, it is a cult. We know where all cults lead.
Another huge problem with Intersectionality and Identity Politics is that it ignores history, law, capitalism and other social factors for those groups.
We have talked about history in our last podcast. The Left has created a historical vacuum when it comes to the United States. We never escaped slavery even though we fought a Civil War that almost killed 700,000 people. We never ended racism even though we have the 15th and 16th Amendments and have passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (voted on by white men). Women were not able to vote a hundred years ago even though we went through women’s suffrage, passed sexism laws and equal rights laws in the workplace. We are still a bigoted nation against the LGBTQ movement even though we have gay marriage.
The above mentioned some of the laws that were passed that ended discrimination. But here are a couple of laws that no one talks about when they say how systemically racist, sexist and bigoted we are. Murder and lynching are illegal. If done because of an attack on a protected victim group, the hate crime statute is enacted, adding 20 extra years in prison (I hate this). Workplace harassment and discrimination is illegal and can start civil proceedings. So if women actually earned 70 cents per dollar of a male counterpart, she can sue. That goes with any minority. There have been tens-of-thousands of cases through the court system and trillions of dollars of awards. Don’t believe me, learn a newspaper. Stories are brought up daily.
But the Left does not care about history. They want it gone. For them, our history is an inconvenience. It interferes with the narrative. That is why they are trying to destroy any statue, whether it be George Washington or Jesus Christ, to eliminate any reminents of our history.
Let’s face it: If there is anything good about the United States, why tear down the system? Why not build on it? The Left does not want that. They want the system gone.
Capitalism has been demonized by the Left. But capitalism is what has been assuring equality in the workplace. The “women earn 70% of men in the workplace” is complete crap. Here’s the skinny: Capitalism only cares about results. The bottom line. I know the Left thinks this is a bad thing, but it’s not. Capitalism only cares about the bottom line. And if capitalism could save 30% on the bottom line by hiring women or blacks, it would. Capitalism is why Jackie Robinson was the first black man that played in Major League Baseball. He was a great player that could make the the Dodgers a World Series winning team. Because if the Dodgers won the World Series, they would make money. That simple.
If a company makes widgets at at the retail cost of production at $5 per unit with manufacturing, but save $.30 per unit to be manufactured by a woman or save $.50 per unit because a black woman or a black man was hired, why not hire the black man or black women?
If I am a capitalist, why pay $1 for someone if I could pay $.70 for someone else?
Because, in capitalism, companies hire based capacity and ability. And they pay based on capacity and ability. One’s race is irrelevant. Capitalism is color-blind. If I suck at my job, I lose my job or get paid less. If I’m great at my job, I get paid more or get promoted. Period
The “big bosses” don’t know if I’m black or white. They just know what I did. If capitalist companies were racist and sexist, they would lose good workers. Because those great workers would quit and find another company. Likewise, people do not get paid less based on their race or sex. If this happened, again people would leave and go to another company. Thomas Sowell, a black economist, proved this statistically more than thirty years ago.
Everyone thinks capitalism supports the rich. It doesn’t. It supports the productive and the innovative. That includes the advantaged. If one creates, they win. Period. Amazon knew it. Apple knew it. Microsoft knew it. Tesla knew it. Capitalism is not the evil the Left likes to make it out to be. Socialism, on the other hand, is evil. Stealing money and giving to others is nothing short of theft. Just because it is legal does not mean it is not theft.
Finally, this philosophy creates an “us versus them” environment. Because I do not belong in a victim group or am in a lower victim class, my views and life is irrelevant. Do you think I am going to sit easy with that? Nope, I am not and I am going to tell you. Not to mention, I am going to have very little respect for your opinion. That lack of respect will turn to anger, anger turns to hate and hate usually leads to violence.
That’s where we are heading.
Why this Philosophy is Dangerous
Here’s the big problem with Intersectionality and Identity Politics: it’s dangerous. Because the victim classes believe that the sins of the United States never went away, the system is still corrupt. That means that the system needs to be changed. As we have seen with the Black Lives Matter philosophy (and Antifa, for that matter) we know what they want to replace it with: Socialism. The destruction of capitalism, opportunity, freedoms, the Constitution, speech, religion; all gone. The government will control all and we will be at the mercy of its whim.
How close our we to this? Very. The Left is very close to controlling the government. If President Trump does not mellow out on the Tweeting thing, he could very well lose this election. His poll numbers are not looking great and Joe Biden’s strategy of hiding is his basement and not screwing up is working (though I think that is going to end soon).
Finally, the most dangerous aspect of this philosophy is cancel culture. In the beginning, cancel culture was actually kind of funny. People would call for the firing of Conservatives like Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson. Of course, by people who have never seen their shows. They cancelled things like Aunt Jamima and scream that chess is racist. That is a thing because the white pieces always go first (ugh!).
But, right before our eyes, cancel culture is morphing. Looting and domestic terrorism is cancelling businesses by destroying them. Companies like the NFL, NBA, Google, Twitter and Microsoft has bent the knee to these groups and rejected anyone who rejects the radical beliefs of Black Lives Matter. Our statues are being torn down. Our flag is being burned.
This is happening now.
But it is getting worse. People are being silenced on social media because of their beliefs. People are being doxxed and fire from their jobs, ruining their careers. People are being attacked because of the color of their hats, saying the wrong thing or just looking different. Normal, law-abiding citizens are being left unprotected because the police departments are being told to stand down and defunded. This has led to the serious injury and deaths of the innocent. Think I am exaggerating? Look up David Dorn, David McAtee, Chris Beaty, Dorean Murrell, Italia Kelly, Marquis Tousant, Patrick Underwood, Calvin Horton Jr., James Scurlock, Javar Harrell, Barry Perkins III, Jorge Gomez, Jose Gutierrez, Victor Cazares Jr. and Marvin Francois. Just to name a few. I did not mention the hundreds that are getting shot in places like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles simply because the police have been told to stand down.
This is happening now. What could happen in the future?
Could I get into trouble with the law because I say the wrong thing? Use the wrong pronoun? Pray to my God? Complain about the government? Not want to give up my gun? Be able to reason why our government is wrong? Seem far fetched? They are already doing that in countries like China, Russia, North Korea and, to a smaller extent, Germany, Canada, Japan and France. Why don’t we think it could not happen here?
Could I be arrested for my race? Being part of the “privileged class”? Because I reason, pray and see injustice? could I be imprisoned in a work camp? Lose my family, career and life because people do not like what I am saying today? It happened in countries like Russia (Soviet Union), China, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, and Germany. Why don’t we think it could not happen here?
Folks, this is the endpoint of cancel culture. It has been done before. It never ended well.
This is something I cannot get behind. This is something I will fight against.
https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/intersectionality.php#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIntersectionality%E2%80%9D%20was%20coined%20in%201989,overlapping%20discrimination%20unique%20to%20them
https://www.vox.com/identities/2016/12/2/13718770/identity-politics
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-politics/
https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/
https://fox6now.com/2020/06/08/deadly-unrest-here-are-the-people-who-have-died-amid-george-floyd-protests-across-us/
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https://7news.com.au/sport/sydney-radio-station-asks-if-chess-is-racist-because-white-always-moves-first-c-1121419