We need to talk about identity politics

This week on 51/49, James discusses identity politics and explains how America's identity politics have gone a little haywire, shifting from a foundation of inclusion to exclusion and division.

The problem with identity politics today stems from how groups are organizing, and at the moment, identity politics is very much based on uniting around a common enemy. Everyone is super suspicious of each other, constantly trying to identify who to vilify next, leading to increasing tribalism.

Amy Chua explains in her book, Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nation: “When groups feel threatened, they retreat into tribalism. When groups feel mistreated and disrespected, they close ranks and become more insular, more defensive, more punitive, more us-versus-them.”

And what’s worse is that this type of common enemy framework has fueled the culture war in America, and allowed identity politics to be weaponized by our political elites for their own personal gain.

Instead, identity politics should be about finding commonality.

In his famous “I have a dream speech”, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated: “the marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.”

0:00 Introduction
0:48 Tribalism (the Bad Kind of Identity Politics)
4:06 Finding Commonality (the Good Kind of Identity Politics)
6:18 An Intersectional Future
6:56 Conclusion

51/49 with James Li - Commentary on business, politics, and the other things (from an independent perspective)

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