A biography of protean intellectual Edward Said situates the advocate for Palestinian statehood as a deep political thinker and skeptic of identity politics would both excoriate the crimes of Israel and the US and denounce Arab despotism.
Despite its relative diversity, HBO's “Industry” is peppered with casual instances of sexism, racism, and classism.
The argument that's usually framed as "identity politics" versus "class politics" is one of the animating features of today's insurgent left. Both this book and reviewer Gandesha seek to unpack this argument's complexities.
Reader Comments: Italy Unions Refuse to Load Saudi Ship; Eyewitness Report: Venezuela Up Close; The Strange Workings of Identity and Adolph Reed Jr.; Boeing Allowed to Decide What Planes Are Safe?; Socialism; Announcements - Chicago, New York, DC
I personally find characterizations of Reed as a class-reductionist to be quite confusing. Far from trying to bolster an economistic, class-reduction understanding of the world, Reed has gone out of his way to do the opposite.
Total Culture War; Parkland + 1; Greta Thunberg; That NYT Cartoon; "Cultural Marxism"; White Identity; Voters Think!
Methodist melee; Smearing Omar; Jewish jihad; Hating AOC; Abrams on idpol; Poverty and politics; Chait meets Sunkara
An analysis of what defines our sense of self is scholarly and tender but unsatisfying.
It’s often argued that centering economics means abandoning racial or other identity groups that have fought hard for well-deserved political leverage. But political messaging is not a zero-sum game. The question is not “identity politics or economic justice,” but how to adopt a complementary union of the two.
Dissonance created by a certain conception of identity: if we believe that “women and people of color” are defined entirely by their identities, it becomes impossible to understand how anyone who shares the identity could reject a candidate who fits that identity. Once the distinction between perspective and identity is erased, voters of color become an undifferentiated hive mind incapable of political independence.
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