Where the New Identity Politics Went Wrong

[BeyondGeography]

Don’t let right-wing culture warriors obscure the fact that some ideas behind this progressive ideology have genuine problems.

By Yascha Mounk

In universities and newspapers, nonprofit organizations and even corporations, a new set of ideas about race, gender, and sexual orientation has gained huge influence. Attitudes to these ideas—which are commonly called “woke,” though I prefer a more neutral term, the “identity synthesis”—have split into two camps: those who blame them for all of America’s ills and those who defend them, largely uncritically.

…As the identity synthesis has gained in influence, its flaws have become harder to ignore. A striking number of progressive advocacy groups, for example, have been consumed by internal meltdowns in recent years. “We used to want to make the world a better place,” a leader of one progressive organization complained recently. “Now we just make our organizations more miserable to work at.” As institutions such as the Sierra Club and the ACLU have implemented the norms inspired by the identity synthesis, they have had more difficulty serving their primary missions.

…The identity synthesis is also starting to remake public policy in ways that are more likely to create a society of warring tribes. In the early months of the pandemic, for example, a key advisory committee to the CDC recommended that states prioritize essential workers in the rollout of scarce vaccines rather than the elderly, in part because “racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented” among seniors. Not only did this policy, according to the CDC’s own models, have the probable outcome of increasing the overall number of Americans who would perish in the pandemic; it also placed different ethnic groups in competition with one another for lifesaving medications.

When decision makers appear out of touch with the values and priorities of most citizens, demagogues thrive. The well-founded fears roused by the election of Trump accelerated the ascendancy of the identity synthesis in many elite institutions. Conversely, the newfound hold that these ideas now have over such institutions makes it more likely that he might win back the White House in 2024. The identity synthesis and far-right populism may at first glance appear to be polar opposites; in political practice, one is the yin to the other’s yang.

More at https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/woke-ideology-history-origins-flaws/675454/

[stopdiggin]

1. the article might have some problems

But the overall idea - that ideologues inevitably (and rightly) offend and alienate in society - is sound.

We are currently serving up convincing evidence that the old, "extremism in the defense .. " shibboleth ..

Is quite simply - WRONG.

[justaprogressive]

2. All of this looks like RW shit to me

Especially this crap: "…As the identity synthesis has gained in influence, its flaws have become harder to ignore. A striking number of progressive advocacy groups, for example, have been consumed by internal meltdowns in recent years. “We used to want to make the world a better place,” a leader of one progressive organization complained recently. “Now we just make our organizations more miserable to work at.” As institutions such as the Sierra Club and the ACLU have implemented the norms inspired by the identity synthesis, they have had more difficulty serving their primary missions."

ONE quote no proof no links!

AND anti-democratic

What it really says: Oh Oh Oh don't protect our minority citizens, we want to continue raping them, abusing them, killing them!

The Atlantic has had problems since they made a hard-right turn.

[BeyondGeography]

3. Do a search on Michael Brune, Sierra Club

and “ACLU identity politics” and you’ll be up to speed.

[justaprogressive]

4. Doesn't look like it.... 0 results for that search

Color me NOT IMPRESSED