“Binders Full of Women” « Clarissa's Blog
Identity politics is the contemporary form of (mal)adaption to a complex world. You look at the identities of the candidates and then decide who is good and who is evil. Of course, Obama is not nearly as liberal as one might have predicted from his skin color. Ethnicity doesn’t automatically translate into political substance, although it lends a certain street cred. Nonetheless, categorizations keep things simple. Obama’s status as one who could possible have been oppressed in a hypothetical world, due to his ethnic status, brings a tear to the eye. Even the categories of “Democratic” versus “Republican” keep reality very simple. Having such neat ways to understand the world means we don’t have to go crazy from its utter complexity. Nor do we need to apply more astute modes of analysis. We’ve got everything boxed up, so it feels like Christmas already.
Identity politics is the contemporary form of (mal)adaption to a complex world. You look at the identities of the candidates and then decide who is good and who is evil. Of course, Obama is not nearly as liberal as one might have predicted from his skin color. Ethnicity doesn’t automatically translate into political substance, although it lends a certain street cred. Nonetheless, categorizations keep things simple. Obama’s status as one who could possible have been oppressed in a hypothetical world, due to his ethnic status, brings a tear to the eye. Even the categories of “Democratic” versus “Republican” keep reality very simple. Having such neat ways to understand the world means we don’t have to go crazy from its utter complexity. Nor do we need to apply more astute modes of analysis. We’ve got everything boxed up, so it feels like Christmas already.
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