Most of us are more familiar with a commercialized form of individualism than the political philosophy that relies on the individual as the center of meaning. From Burger King’s “have it your way” Whopper and customizable subscription boxes like Fab Fit Fun, to the numerous shades and finishes of Cover Girl foundation, we’ve grown accustom to the marketplace catering to our individualism. So, it seems rather odd that in the era of personalized Etsy products and health care plans designed around specific patient needs, the trend in politics is to strip individuals of their rights and autonomy in the name of identity politics.
The radical woke have given up the Orwellian pretense that “everyone is equal, some are just more equal than others.” Now they’re straight up telling us that those with certain identities, and combinations of identities deserve special treatment, reparations, and should even get away with criminal activity because of past oppression and inequality (see Pathology of Victimization). This is why only non-white farmers qualified for federal funds distributed in the Disaster Relief Bill, states like Oregon gave COVID relief money to businesses based on the race of their owners, and BLM and other protesters can violate curfews, police orders, and fundamental laws without consequence. In fact, according to some, black people are allowed to loot businesses because some black people in America were enslaved a century and a half ago. And I’m just getting started.
To be clear, because we no longer assume the obvious: slavery is evil, no one should be oppressed, denied rights, or unjustly discriminated against because of their race, gender, sexuality, or creed. This is true for straight, white, Christian men as much as it is for non-binary, black, atheist, trans-women. The problem today is rights are becoming stratified, and now it matters far more who and what you are than that you are a human with God given inalienable rights.
And too much of this is flying under the radar. As I’ve said before, seemingly good terms like “inclusion,” “diversity,” and “equity” are not about expanding individual rights, but rather aim to determine who is deserving of rights and recognition based on characteristics fixed at birth. Identity politics is a troubling trend that has more significant consequences than most realize. Here are just a few.
1. Government, not God, becomes the source of rights.
Even if you don’t believe in God, the Enlightenment idea that we all have individual rights apart from government is a revolutionary notion worth keeping. When rights are innate, inalienable, and individual, the state and other citizens have an obligation to respect the rights of all and recognize that in order to do so, everyone should have equal rights. These assumptions are necessary for a democratic republic such as ours because they provide a safeguard against rights violations as well as the justification to expand the rights of citizenship to others.
When government has the power to determine who has which rights, the distribution of those rights will become corrupted to suit the political purposes of those in charge. History and current events are riddled with examples of crooked politicians across the political spectrum denying the rights of those who pose a political threat or who those in power deem less than human. The American Revolution and most of the American social movements fought against these heinous rights abuses, and many of them won. When the government and its citizens are not held accountable to something beyond themselves like a higher power or founding philosophy that guarantees life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all, fighting against future infringements on rights becomes more of a pipe dream than anything else.
2. Oppressive hierarchies aren’t eliminated, they’re “reimagined.”
Don’t buy into the woke lie that identity politics and its policies will break down systems of oppression and usher in the era of social justice. Giving some groups special treatment and privileges while denying basic rights like equal protection under the law to other groups based on demographics simply creates a new hierarchy in which the “oppressed” and “oppressor” have switched places.
So, if racism, sexism, and other forms of bigotry are wrong (which they are), why is it okay to inflict them on others under the guise of social justice? And how long do the newly oppressed people have to wait for their revolution? That’s not the world in which any of us should want to live, let alone curse the next generations with.
I’m not so ignorant as to suggest that we can live in a society without hierarchies, nor am I convinced that hierarchies are inherently immoral. (For instance, do you really want your kid in charge of their kindergarten class or their qualified, mature teacher? I’m going with the teacher). I do think that we should do our best to eliminate harmful hierarchies instead of build new ones. Lest we forget, oppression under any other flag is still repressive.
3. We all become interchangeable members of the almighty group.
A dirty little secret of identity politics is that it is worth sacrificing individuality for the integrity of the group, and the ends of doing so justify the means. Therefore, if someone is a woman, person of color, a member of the LGBTQA+ community, or has another minority status, they must forgo their own interests and individualism to toe the identity line. Women are told that we must vote for candidates like Hillary Clinton because of their gender. Black Americans must hate Trump and embrace Black Lives Matter. White people must accept they are inherently racist.
Our basic rights to think, believe, and act for ourselves vanishes, replaced by the soft totalitarianism of pre-determined, identity-based scripts we are brow-beaten into following. This is why black conservatives and gay Republicans, among others, are treated as traitors. No one should be forced to think a certain why because they happened to be born one way. Ironically, this is what the woke say they are against. I’m calling bull!
Parting Thoughts
This is not to say that there should not be limits on individualism, or that we should not pair it with other values like republicanism (a philosophy that, among other things, stresses the responsibilities and duties of citizenship as well as its rights). Individuals are still responsible for how they exercise their rights, not the actions of dead guys who happen to share similar identities.
So, let’s identify with liberty instead of our melanin or our X and Y chromosomes. In the very least, it seems less divisive and volatile.
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This post brings up a good point that isn't brought up enough, which is that the identity politics of the far left are less discussed and more prevalent than most people want to think. Take BLM as an example, the core truth of that movement was something that many more people could have related to - police abuse of power and disrespect for civil rights, but instead it was made into a race based identity issue. Worst of all, the BLM core truth (that black people are killed by police at a higher rate) isn't even true!