@cmilesb
i am in all these dialogues with learned older men about post-woke. there is a consensus from these men that progressive identity politics went terribly wrong. Does anyone have a review, critique on this to share? I’m looking for thoughtful balance, not a polarized view.
(where) did progressive identity poltics go terribly wrong?
i’m fairly biased here but i’m capable of perspective; since nobody else has bitten i will take the opportunity to hop on the soapbox and yap
first of all, there’s a wry comment to be made here about older men saying idpol went wrong: “horse traders say automobile is a mistake”. idk who they are ofc, perhaps they’re real old guard Wobblies or something. anyway
my main problem with this discourse is that woke is so poorly defined. in a sense the right have won, redefining woke to mean angry bluehaired polycule nonbinary yelling something absurd like pants are appropriation. i will come back to this but i think this is a very effective strawman for shutting down what ought to be a very simple ethos of being educated, kind, and accommodating
like the original definition of woke, being aware of social justice issues - seems categorically a good thing. we should be able to get behind a general trend of understanding that people have different life experience, and that small concessions on your part can make other people’s lives easier. i remember when a friend convinced me that using “gay” as a pejorative wasn’t cool because even if i didn’t have any animosity, gay people hearing me a) wouldn’t know my intention b) would just be reminded of all the other bullshit they’ve endured.
same with pronouns: the icky mouthfeel of singular they is insignificant compared to the full body ick of feeling misgendered. it’s possible to think of this sorta stuff as an expansion of basic politeness, but i think it’s easy to feel it as taking on small discomfort to spare others large discomfort… which is still uncomfortable and can cause resentment. honestly i do feel this as a low simmer on the way way back burner myself, but it’s far from my biggest problem so whatever. and that’s probably healthy
i think there are two ways it starts to go sideways:
one: do you remember the adage that went around: “when you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression”? it’s true, i think. there’s a way in which it’s effort, and makes you feel clumsy, and then shame creeps in. we can see “this is ridiculous” is a defense mechanism against “i feel bad”
two: i think we’ve internalized an imaginary SJW “woke” person who is both prescriptive and moralizing. you must have the full list of Correct Opinions, you must adhere to them without making mistakes, and if you fail you’ll be shamed for it. there is something ugly about stating demands around social relations upfront, asking for a pledge of allegiance before entry is even granted. it assumes the worst of strangers and i think that makes for a worse, more mutually suspicious world
now, the thing is: i think of the person who does this, who says here are the rules for talking with me, here is how you must behave. i feel like this person exists; they certainly exist in my head. and yet - if i think very hard, i don’t believe i’ve ever met one in real life. i see eye rolling, i occasionally see people removing themselves from such interactions because they can’t deal – but i’ve never been in a situation where someone lays down the law with shame. someone usually steps up to say, implicitly or explicitly, we don’t do that here and here’s why.
if anything, being persnickety and moralizing is the domain of prissy stuckup liberals whose politics revolves around lawn and protest signs rather than effecting any sort of real change.
so there’s some drift, from being educated, thoughtful and kind, to moralizing and policing around a particularly cumbersome set of social requirements where failure is grounds for banishment. of course the right will jump on every instance of this they can find as proof that the left has lost the plot; and frankly i think they’ve done such a good job of making it seem like this is the status quo that we’ve all gone and believed it. again, in my experience, i haven’t seen this behaviour
so – i’m not sure progressive identity politics did go wrong. if it went wrong anywhere, it went wrong in losing control of its image, allowing the right to define “woke” as an intolerance for mistakes that leads to screaming and banishment; and failing to defend a definition of “woke” as being considerate, kind, and aware.