I agree, it's another form of identity politics. Trying to break this down, I think:
Either you believe in increasing equality in American society, or you don't. If you don't, well I think that is sort of the statement you are suggesting, which is, people have every right to be privileged, born or otherwise.
If you do believe in increasing equality, then if you focus on class - let's just all it family wealth to avoid controversial loaded words - if you focus on family wealth and privilege people with less, then at least you're getting to the root of the issue.
However, if you believe in increasing equality and you don't focus on wealth, and you care only about skin color or genital type or gender identity, then I think you're making the problem worse for the reasons I wrote in the parent thread here, the points around privileging the already privileged (i.e. upper class 'of color' people), while creating suspicion around anyone who's a minority ('my cubicle neighbor got here not out of merit'). All of this is toxic.
There are two main causes of this problem. One is general economic stress. When people feel like they don't have enough, they look for ways to get more. For example, blaming people who have more for being "unfair" or something suggests you have a right to their property. The other is more insidious, which is pure greed. Some people, even people getting by just fine in life with minimal work, fantasize about taking down people who have more. They envy people who have more constantly and can't accept that some people actually deserve much more in life by virtue of luck or their hard work.
>Either you believe in increasing equality in American society, or you don't. If you don't, well I think that is sort of the statement you are suggesting, which is, people have every right to be privileged, born or otherwise.
I think privileged is a loaded word here. What I'm saying is that nobody has a right to equal monetary outcomes in general. If some people are colluding to prevent others from getting a fair shake, that should probably be stopped. You should have a right to compete fairly in the world and to accumulate the fruits of your labor. Of course this all gets very complicated when taxes and various other wealth redistribution schemes enter the picture.
>However, if you believe in increasing equality and you don't focus on wealth, and you care only about skin color or genital type or gender identity, then I think you're making the problem worse for the reasons I wrote in the parent thread here, the points around privileging the already privileged (i.e. upper class 'of color' people), while creating suspicion around anyone who's a minority ('my cubicle neighbor got here not out of merit'). All of this is toxic.
I agree with you, and the discrimination based on immutable characteristics is the worst because there's not much that the victim can do about it. Somehow, various minorities have been convinced that discrimination is OK so long as it benefits them, and that's wrong in general. It does make a lot more sense to think in terms of class lines and economic opportunity. But if that goes too far, it can become toxic as well. We don't need communism, we need people of all walks of life to have more compassion for their fellow man.
Either you believe in increasing equality in American society, or you don't. If you don't, well I think that is sort of the statement you are suggesting, which is, people have every right to be privileged, born or otherwise.
If you do believe in increasing equality, then if you focus on class - let's just all it family wealth to avoid controversial loaded words - if you focus on family wealth and privilege people with less, then at least you're getting to the root of the issue.
However, if you believe in increasing equality and you don't focus on wealth, and you care only about skin color or genital type or gender identity, then I think you're making the problem worse for the reasons I wrote in the parent thread here, the points around privileging the already privileged (i.e. upper class 'of color' people), while creating suspicion around anyone who's a minority ('my cubicle neighbor got here not out of merit'). All of this is toxic.