Oh, Bruce! No, Bruce. The left hasn’t become bogged down in “identity politics.” “Identity politics” is a catch-all term which means “people who aren’t white, generally aren’t male, and generally aren’t Christians who have the nerve to demand equality.” Think about it. Who believes they were granted the license to decide what rights others should have, when they can obtain them, and to what degree?
What people of color, women, the disabled, and non-cis folks have in common is discrimination. They are discriminated against because of who they are, period. They are discriminated against as groups because some other people decided that they were “other” or "different" groups in the first place. When they make claims for more rights and respect, they do so as groups because they have injuries in common.
Are they “victims?” If honesty is within your character, then you tell me. Were indigenous people robbed of land, killed by thousands, and herded together into spaces designated just for them? Were people kidnapped from Africa enslaved in perpetuity and later had discrimination against them codified in law? (Please don’t waste my time telling me about the horrors of indentured servitude; only blacks were enslaved in perpetuity from one generation to the next.) Were LGBTQ people considered deviant, denied of human rights, and to this day killed because of who they love?
Imagine if someone other than you decided that you did not deserve to vote; to marry; to be educated. Well into the 60s, 70s, 80s, and within this decade, people had to wait for the rights many could take for granted from birth.
Perhaps “victims” is not the perfect word, but it serves well enough. People who hate “the culture wars” are simply angry because the culture most familiar to them will no longer receive pride of place, and pride of place is all that some of them have.
The author is right. People still enamored of the American Dream imagine that if they do not become the wealthy class, then surely their offspring will, despite so much evidence to the contrary. They also imagine, if they are white, that social and economic fairness means that someone else (the undeserving) might get the same thing that they have. Rather than keep their eye on what they themselves deserve, they have been trained to look down. (Don’t look up!) They can’t do very much to the people who keep them down, but they can still kick down and hurt those below. That is why the right continues to screw itself and to let undereducated crazies make the rules.
The left is still interested in improving society for everyone. It's simply that so many others in this society are so damaged that they're unwilling to deny improvement to themselves. Sad.
