I think, or maybe I just hope, that Black Lives Matter and the increased public awareness of how Persons of Color are targeted by the authorities changes the mind of most "class-first" Leftists and Progressives.
I think I might also have to write my own post about this....
Why not both? The issue with identity politics is humans tendency to be relativists and bound to some level of fairness. First you have to establish that scarcity is a mentality issue and that life is not a zero sum game to be won.
Without a singular narrative of who or what an American is it is hard to form a stable coalition. Today a new immigrant with parents with some level of education don’t have to face the exclusions native minorities have historically had to deal with. Not saying it is perfect by any means.
If anything in our meritocracy we have exclusion of those who don’t have high IQ or go into fields that we deem worth of adequate compensation. In a white majority country this creates resentment especially when smart minorities are seen as stealing their opportunities.
They don’t give a crap about the difficulties minorities face because they can’t relate on the same level at least baseline and without exposure to different minorities it makes this task even harder because of being in survival mode. What they see maters and beliefs/perspectives about what they are seeing.
I think you can have both except you have to split the approach differently based on career tract - the ladder for success can’t only be education because even in the most ideal environment not everyone can be a doctor.
Being a doctor I can explain why I should be adequately compensated but that will probably fall on deaf ears for those in the working class. Even worse I might get painted out to be an upiddy minority elite... Yet, we could probably both agree that the business class or the buisnisification of everything creates massive wealth gaps which then reinforce themselves thanks to the belief that money is speech and lobbying is a rich persons game.
I would be curious to hear their perspective of what government should do to solve the problem or why they see government as the problem in the first place. Like how does one go from a Bernie Bro to a Trump supporter. Or from an Obama voter to a Trump supporter.
Under Biden I think their lives have probably improved yet they probably don’t see it that way. Why?
well, as I say in the piece, I think class is a huge vector of discrimination, and we should have a stronger safety net and the workers should control the means of production.
I don't think there's a ton of Bernie>Trump support. But racism is a huge driver of partisanship in the US, and white people find appeals to white resentment very powerful. Even white people who have Black friends, or who maybe voted for a Black president once.
Antiracist advocates have a number of suggestions on policy, from more investment in communities that have faced discrimination to reparations.
I don't think IQ measures much of anything except maybe access to resources.
The theme of this article is what I was trying to get to. Ultimately it is matching people to their skills without also pigeonholing people into careers that they aren't suited for, which IQ is partially responsible (ie. doctors, lawyers, engineers).
I think these folks exist (the left behind by mediocracy/global competition) and were key in certain states. I have yet to find folks who are on the strong side of antiracism that don't alienate "normies."
You know folks who are more concrete with their thinking don't deal with abstract concepts well. White privilege or systemic racism are abstract as all get out in particular if the only exposure to non-white people is via conservative media.
not a fan of unherd and meritocracy is a pernicious myth. I've just been reading Robbie Shilliam, who argues persuasively that "left behind" is not a class complaint, but a white lament about lost racial privilege (virtually every study of trump voters confirms that it is racism, not class, which explains their votes.)
Most people think that racism is pernicious! And certainly Black and POC voters of all income levels are overwhelmingly likely to viscerally understand that antiracism is superior to racism!
Thanks for the ref to Robbie Shilliam (hadn’t heard about them). I’ll have to read his stuff. Just from a quick search his argument on deserving vs undeserving and racialization is compelling.
Have you read You sound like a white girl by Julissa Arce?
I find that I often fall into the pitfalls that come from being a “white” Hispanic- ie. I feel where I don’t fit in but have a harder time recognizing my own privileges if that makes sense.
t the same time I cringe when Arce writes “white people” as a monolith because of my own biases growing up. I’ve been working on it but it is hard.
I think, or maybe I just hope, that Black Lives Matter and the increased public awareness of how Persons of Color are targeted by the authorities changes the mind of most "class-first" Leftists and Progressives.
I think I might also have to write my own post about this....
it definitely hasn't changed some minds; I got some really ugly pushback after I first posted this.
Well, I...uh, wrote a response on my own Substack.... https://drdarkeny.substack.com/p/in-re-noah-berlatskys-post-why-class .
I hope you like it, and I'm sorry if I've brought on the trolls?
Why not both? The issue with identity politics is humans tendency to be relativists and bound to some level of fairness. First you have to establish that scarcity is a mentality issue and that life is not a zero sum game to be won.
Without a singular narrative of who or what an American is it is hard to form a stable coalition. Today a new immigrant with parents with some level of education don’t have to face the exclusions native minorities have historically had to deal with. Not saying it is perfect by any means.
If anything in our meritocracy we have exclusion of those who don’t have high IQ or go into fields that we deem worth of adequate compensation. In a white majority country this creates resentment especially when smart minorities are seen as stealing their opportunities.
They don’t give a crap about the difficulties minorities face because they can’t relate on the same level at least baseline and without exposure to different minorities it makes this task even harder because of being in survival mode. What they see maters and beliefs/perspectives about what they are seeing.
I think you can have both except you have to split the approach differently based on career tract - the ladder for success can’t only be education because even in the most ideal environment not everyone can be a doctor.
Being a doctor I can explain why I should be adequately compensated but that will probably fall on deaf ears for those in the working class. Even worse I might get painted out to be an upiddy minority elite... Yet, we could probably both agree that the business class or the buisnisification of everything creates massive wealth gaps which then reinforce themselves thanks to the belief that money is speech and lobbying is a rich persons game.
I would be curious to hear their perspective of what government should do to solve the problem or why they see government as the problem in the first place. Like how does one go from a Bernie Bro to a Trump supporter. Or from an Obama voter to a Trump supporter.
Under Biden I think their lives have probably improved yet they probably don’t see it that way. Why?
well, as I say in the piece, I think class is a huge vector of discrimination, and we should have a stronger safety net and the workers should control the means of production.
I don't think there's a ton of Bernie>Trump support. But racism is a huge driver of partisanship in the US, and white people find appeals to white resentment very powerful. Even white people who have Black friends, or who maybe voted for a Black president once.
Antiracist advocates have a number of suggestions on policy, from more investment in communities that have faced discrimination to reparations.
I don't think IQ measures much of anything except maybe access to resources.
https://unherd.com/2020/09/who-does-meritocracy-help-get-ahead/
The theme of this article is what I was trying to get to. Ultimately it is matching people to their skills without also pigeonholing people into careers that they aren't suited for, which IQ is partially responsible (ie. doctors, lawyers, engineers).
https://www.vox.com/polyarchy/2017/6/16/15817702/democrats-economics-trump-obama-voters
I think these folks exist (the left behind by mediocracy/global competition) and were key in certain states. I have yet to find folks who are on the strong side of antiracism that don't alienate "normies."
You know folks who are more concrete with their thinking don't deal with abstract concepts well. White privilege or systemic racism are abstract as all get out in particular if the only exposure to non-white people is via conservative media.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/theres-still-a-huge-partisan-gap-in-how-americans-see-discrimination/
Any how I don't disagree with your essay but think more needs to be done to help people visualize a welcoming home in the Democratic party.
not a fan of unherd and meritocracy is a pernicious myth. I've just been reading Robbie Shilliam, who argues persuasively that "left behind" is not a class complaint, but a white lament about lost racial privilege (virtually every study of trump voters confirms that it is racism, not class, which explains their votes.)
Most people think that racism is pernicious! And certainly Black and POC voters of all income levels are overwhelmingly likely to viscerally understand that antiracism is superior to racism!
Thanks for the ref to Robbie Shilliam (hadn’t heard about them). I’ll have to read his stuff. Just from a quick search his argument on deserving vs undeserving and racialization is compelling.
Oh yeah; I just finished the book. He's great.
Have you read You sound like a white girl by Julissa Arce?
I find that I often fall into the pitfalls that come from being a “white” Hispanic- ie. I feel where I don’t fit in but have a harder time recognizing my own privileges if that makes sense.
t the same time I cringe when Arce writes “white people” as a monolith because of my own biases growing up. I’ve been working on it but it is hard.
Fair.