A Very Brief Moment Of Triumph

The perils of identity politics, summarised in two-step Twitter form:

First: 

And then, 13 minutes later: 

Via Cathy Young. 

Comments

[Jimmy]

Snap.

[Jimmy]

She also has a killer sense of humour.

A snowstorm in April is like in horror movies when you think the killer is dead, but then SURPRISE, he jumps up and stabs someone.

— Kristi Colleen (@KristiColleen) 4 April 2016

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[David]

It’s one of the reasons I don’t have a Twitter account. My intersectional arithmetic is terrible.

[David]

Somewhat related, the first item here.

[Sam]

And then, 13 minutes later

Never underestimate the speed of outrage bus.

[ACTOldFart]

So her idea of a good day's work is to refuse to listen to ideas and opinions that might differ from hers. I can't think of a better definition of a bigot.

[David]

It’s quite odd, this intersectional thing. It doesn’t seem to work how its advocates claim. I’ve been at several gatherings where someone was being stupid and aggravating but was nonetheless indulged at great length and with extraordinary forbearance on grounds of their being browner or gayer than other people. Despite the occasional quiet eye-roll, there was a definite air of people biting their tongues for fear of seeming racist, homophobic, etc. Rather than universal victimhood and oppression, a minority status can confer quite significant advantages. On at least two occasions I’ve been the beneficiary of this myself, which was both funny and vaguely irritating.

[Liz]

Friends don't let friends do identity politics.

[Stuart Lord]

Intersectionality is to work out which children of the revolution get to have dinner and which ones get to be dinner on a particular day.

[David]

Intersectionality is to work out which children of the revolution get to have dinner and which ones get to be dinner on a particular day.

It does tend to result in crab bucket arguments and competitive acrimony. Stripped of its airs, it’s basically the conceit that a person’s brownness or gayness or whatever determines whether what they say and do should be indulged or deferred to. It’s somewhere between a naff party game and a recipe for idiocy, dishonesty and neurosis. And taken to its logical endpoint by hardcore players, the result is a mix of tribal psychodrama and cacophonous screeching.

Bad medicine.

[NielsR]

"... Happen to be gay"

Bit of a cop out, that. What with expecting the rest of the world to issue trigger warnings about *anything*, checking privilege before every sentence, and generally assuming that anyone may trump you with a victim card at any time.

It's almost like practical solutions are not the goal, and it's really just lazy narcissism: "don't do anything that might upset me, even though I don't care about your feels"

[David]

Incidentally, if anyone thinks intersectional claptrap is merely a niche hobby and therefore unimportant, think again:

After a black high-school boy repeatedly punched his teacher in the face, sending her to the emergency room, the teacher, who is white, was advised by the assistant principal not to press charges. The administrator lectured her about how hard it is for young black men to overcome a criminal record. Worse, she was told she should examine what role she, “as a white woman” holding unconscious racial biases, played in the attack.

As I was saying, bad medicine.

[Tim Newman]

On at least two occasions I’ve been the beneficiary of this myself, which was both funny and vaguely irritating.

Just think how powerful you could become if you lost a leg.

[David]

Just think how powerful you could become if you lost a leg.

I’m hoping my mild allergy to cat hair will do.

[Rob]

"Incidentally, if anyone thinks intersectional claptrap is merely a niche hobby and therefore unimportant, think again"

as ye sow, so shall ye reap

[R. Sherman]

Still waiting for someone to discuss the intersection between being female and Yazidi within the ISIS hegemony.

[RY]

Sorry, off topic:

http://www.progressivestoday.com/footage-surfaces-bernie-sanders-praising-communist-bread-lines-video/

Breadlines are good. Apparently.

[RY]

Apologies. Just checked link and it's not working.

[David]

Link fixed.

[R. Sherman]

Apologies. Just checked link and it's not working.

In Soviet Russia, the links click you.

[Jonathan]

Worse, she was told she should examine what role she, “as a white woman” holding unconscious racial biases, played in the attack.

The SJW cries out in pain as he stamps on your head.

[RY]

Link fixed

And many thanks for that!

Apologies to admin.

[R. Sherman]

I’m hoping my mild allergy to cat hair will do.

I'm afraid you'll have to do better than that. It would appear you benefit from monosexual privilege. We all need to update our "oppression hierarchy" accordingly.

[PiperPaul]

"It's almost like practical solutions are not the goal"

Almost like?

[Spiny Norman]

It’s one of the reasons I don’t have a Twitter account.

The only reason I have a Twitter account: This old-school master of internet snark.

[Shiggz]

As always thank you! This is my safe space to scuba dive tour through this polluted lake of sjw neourosis.

[D]

Before the Internet and its accompanying carnival, we put men on the moon using slide rules and mainframe computers with punch cards.

Now we have all sorts of "social media" and all sorts of fancy-shmancy electronic toys to use them on. We're stuck in LEO, going around in circles, both orbitally and as a society.

There's nothing like the progress of civilization, is there?

[NielsR]

@PiperPaul I must have messed up the tags again.

Bad medicine, quite.

[mojo]

"...advised by the assistant principal not to press charges."

With the beat-down on video, of course.

Hell yes, press charges. And further charges might be in order for the vice-p.