VSB: Mark Lilla's "The End of Identity Liberalism" is the Whitest Thing I've Ever Read

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http://verysmartbrothas.com/mark-lillas-the-end-of-identity-liberalism-is-the-whitest-thing-ive-ever-read/

This is peak Whitesplain. The entire paragraph belongs on Whitesplain Mount Rushmore. Instead of learning about history with a context that actually attempts to make it more nuanced, complex, and honest, Lilla implies that the less context, the better. This is the type of thinking that would keep Thomas Jefferson’s slaveowning (and slave children) out of lessons about him, because it would make things unnecessarily complex and distract students from the other really super duper important things he did.

When young people arrive at college they are encouraged to keep this focus on themselves by student groups, faculty members and also administrators whose full-time job is to deal with — and heighten the significance of — “diversity issues.” Fox News and other conservative media outlets make great sport of mocking the “campus craziness” that surrounds such issues, and more often than not they are right to.

Again, note how “diversity issues” is in sarcastic scare quotes. Mark Lilla really hates diversity. It’s like Lilla and Diversity were dating, and Diversity texted “be right back” to him and never texted him back again. And now Mark Lilla hates her.

This campus-diversity consciousness has over the years filtered into the liberal media, and not subtly. Affirmative action for women and minorities at America’s newspapers and broadcasters has been an extraordinary social achievement — and has even changed, quite literally, the face of right-wing media, as journalists like Megyn Kelly and Laura Ingraham have gained prominence. But it also appears to have encouraged the assumption, especially among younger journalists and editors, that simply by focusing on identity they have done their jobs.

Also, note the use and placement of “but” here. He starts the paragraph with a laud of the positive impacts of diversity, but then inserts the “but” towards the end to basically say “but it’s all bullshit.”

Recently I performed a little experiment during a sabbatical in France: For a full year I read only European publications, not American ones.

Shut the fuck up.

[JHan]

1. VerySmart Brothas..

One of the best things about the internet.

The funny thing about all these Identity Politics critics is that if Hillary had won, they'd still be complaining about Identity Politics. They shoved their issues onto narratives about the election without any deep analysis of wtf they were talking about.

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6. Absolutely (nt)

[MrScorpio]

2. This Lilla person wouldn't have a clue even if it was devouring his own ass. nt

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3. Right? (nt)

[ismnotwasm]

4. I loved reading this

Just loved it. Thank you

The wrongness of Lilla’s premise is centered in a very specific type of White male myopia that, because he’s an academic, he believes himself immune to. Although he rails against “the bubble,” he’s a product of it. The concept of “diversity” — of wanting it recognized, acknowledged, and appreciated — isn’t just some sort of classroom rhetoric or academic thought exercise. The recognition of and sensitivity to it is vital because it literally saves lives. For the tens of millions of historically marginalized Americans, this isn’t about being right or wrong. It’s about safety. It’s about being able to relax and exhale in our own home. It’s about a pursuit of the most basic human need; one that, for as long as America has existed, has been beyond our grasp. We’re not upset about the election because “our team” lost. We’re upset because this incoming administration — through both their campaign and the decisions made since the election — has promised to provide us with pain. Yet, he fails to grasp that, and distills and limits this entire concept to a high-minded, academic context. Ultimately ignoring that the fight to be recognized as full citizens has been and will continue to be a bloody one.
Diversity isn’t why the liberals lost. It’s because of bubble-wrapped White men like Mark Lilla.

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5. It's keeping me sane (nt)