I'm pretty skeptical about these arguments that Social Justice is just some co-option of "revolutionary potential" or of "ending capitalism" (LOL!), mostly bc these things are permanent fantasies of the young and dreamy-eyed, really a sort of post-God messiah that scruffy young socialists have been waiting to appear for maybe 2 centuries…
I'm pretty skeptical about these arguments that Social Justice is just some co-option of "revolutionary potential" or of "ending capitalism" (LOL!), mostly bc these things are permanent fantasies of the young and dreamy-eyed, really a sort of post-God messiah that scruffy young socialists have been waiting to appear for maybe 2 centuries by now.
But my main critique involves something the political materialists seem blind to, as if they're chatting in a dark corner with a conjoined twin but don't notice the second attached sibling. Yes, Mammon is the great American god, the globalist god who gazes down upon us all, but here at start of the 21st century and the end of Western Civ there is one other god left standing: The Self.
The Self is who we look for every time we stare into those black mirrors called iPhones, the Self is what we parade on social media, journalists want to editorialize so they can insert their Self into every story, our bosses and their HR commissars want you to Bring Your Self to work (my Self, my whole self, and nothing but my Self...), and of course our children are encouraged to swap sexes so they can find their One True Authentic Self™.
And Soc Justice/Identity politics is a natural outgrowth of the Self. Even in its rituals, you must first acknowledge your Self: "speaking as a...". And it conflates politics with the Self, so that any challenge is interpreted as a personal attack and your opponents become not just wrong, but evil; also, anything and everything (esp if you have a high Soc Just score) can be a radical political statement. Remember the founding slogan of the New Left: "The Personal is Political".
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Audre Lorde
"Even today, I have a personal errand, I need to redo my nails. And I’ve decided that I’m going to use my new manicure as almost like a personal act of reclamation for me and my story.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Social Justice is the reigning ideology of our time not because of some capitalist plot to (once again!) foil those otherwise materialist masses; it succeeds because it lets everyone pretend to care about saving the planet, saving "Democracy", while singing a passionate aria about what they love the most: their Self.
I'm pretty skeptical about these arguments that Social Justice is just some co-option of "revolutionary potential" or of "ending capitalism" (LOL!), mostly bc these things are permanent fantasies of the young and dreamy-eyed, really a sort of post-God messiah that scruffy young socialists have been waiting to appear for maybe 2 centuries by now.
But my main critique involves something the political materialists seem blind to, as if they're chatting in a dark corner with a conjoined twin but don't notice the second attached sibling. Yes, Mammon is the great American god, the globalist god who gazes down upon us all, but here at start of the 21st century and the end of Western Civ there is one other god left standing: The Self.
The Self is who we look for every time we stare into those black mirrors called iPhones, the Self is what we parade on social media, journalists want to editorialize so they can insert their Self into every story, our bosses and their HR commissars want you to Bring Your Self to work (my Self, my whole self, and nothing but my Self...), and of course our children are encouraged to swap sexes so they can find their One True Authentic Self™.
And Soc Justice/Identity politics is a natural outgrowth of the Self. Even in its rituals, you must first acknowledge your Self: "speaking as a...". And it conflates politics with the Self, so that any challenge is interpreted as a personal attack and your opponents become not just wrong, but evil; also, anything and everything (esp if you have a high Soc Just score) can be a radical political statement. Remember the founding slogan of the New Left: "The Personal is Political".
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Audre Lorde
"Even today, I have a personal errand, I need to redo my nails. And I’ve decided that I’m going to use my new manicure as almost like a personal act of reclamation for me and my story.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Social Justice is the reigning ideology of our time not because of some capitalist plot to (once again!) foil those otherwise materialist masses; it succeeds because it lets everyone pretend to care about saving the planet, saving "Democracy", while singing a passionate aria about what they love the most: their Self.