Whose Identity Politics?

sotomayorhearings

Identity politics can be a very dull topic but this paragraph via Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson piqued my interest:

Republicans’ outrage, both real and feigned, at Sotomayor’s musings about how her identity as a “wise Latina” might affect her judicial decisions is based on a flawed assumption: that whiteness and maleness are not themselves facets of a distinct identity. Being white and male is seen instead as a neutral condition, the natural order of things. Any “identity” — black, brown, female, gay, whatever — has to be judged against this supposedly “objective” standard.

via DailyKos

Image Caption: Senator Patrick J. Leahy escorted Judge Sotomayor to the second day of her confirmation hearings to the Supreme Court. via NYTimes’ The Caucus blog, photo by Ron Edmunds/Associated Press

2 responses to “Whose Identity Politics?”

  1. Joanne Mattera Art Blog Avatar

    Thanks for pulling the rug out from under the “objective” standard. I talked about this on my blog today, too. Time to change the Default settings.

  2. libhomo Avatar

    My view of “identity politics” is that it originated on the left and was used in much the same way that people on the right used “family values” as a smokescreen for their racist, sexist, and/or heterosexist prejudices. I wasn’t exactly shocked when the right co opted that one.

    The notion that people who face hostility, discrimination, and violence based on who they are should forget about all of that to form their political views and priorities is as silly as it is unfair.

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