Wow. Another great post. Your material consistently blows me away. Important perspective I'm not seeing elsewhere, or perhaps expressed in quite this way.
These subcultures are in every sense anti-political. They exist not to change the structure of society but to perpetuate themselves to no practical political end. It most recently was borne out of the New Left which strived to find a new revolutionary subject since the racism and sexism of the so-called white working class disqualified it. Of course, the working class is diverse and not all white workers are equally racist or sexist or at all. My view is that the New Left was primarily a Middle-Class student movement which foregrounded culture as a result of their class status. Now professional managers speak the language of allyship entirely removed from any left-wing agenda. It is a way to advance your career. I don't think it is an overstatement, to say that this sub-cultural activity has harmed the cause of minorities that they profess to champion, particularly in comparison to how much the traditional left has accomplished.
People are so much more than the labels they put on themselves or one another. So very much more. Once a label gets applied, it’s so easy to stop seeing the multitude of nuanced things that the label hides. How diminishing it is to narrow our view of people, ourselves included, based on superficialities. How sad it is for us to focus on the differences and ignore the many, many ways we are alike.
Brilliant eulogy to the dying social justice orthodoxy and, as we maybe would have said 5-10 years ago, a “call in” for the folks who still enforce and commodify these hierarchies. I’m looking forward to see what rises from these ashes 🔥
Good stuff as usual. As a big white guy, I'm accustomed to being preemptively shunned. I don't hold it against people to make baseline assumptions based on their past deeply unpleasant or traumatizing experiences, but as you lay out it goes quite a ways beyond that kind of legitimate self-protective posture. I hope we can build a culture of solidarity that builds a real feeling of confidence while leaving room for people to challenge each other in constructive ways. It feels like a heavy lift, but in my experience things move a lot quicker when there's some kind of larger common project, so I put my hope in that.
These clowns are appropriating juggalo culture, ICP is a proud culture, and this is blatant disrespect of their heritage.
I’m just kidding...solidarity is a miracle ya’ll...
https://youtu.be/8GyVx28R9-s?si=LAuyZSUwR37n87CG
I wrote a response to your piece on my stack. Don't mean to self promote in your comments but it seems you're not especially active on Twitter. Feel free to delete. https://beforetimes.substack.com/p/a-response-to-kier-grays-why-i-dont?r=1l32l&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Wow. Another great post. Your material consistently blows me away. Important perspective I'm not seeing elsewhere, or perhaps expressed in quite this way.
These subcultures are in every sense anti-political. They exist not to change the structure of society but to perpetuate themselves to no practical political end. It most recently was borne out of the New Left which strived to find a new revolutionary subject since the racism and sexism of the so-called white working class disqualified it. Of course, the working class is diverse and not all white workers are equally racist or sexist or at all. My view is that the New Left was primarily a Middle-Class student movement which foregrounded culture as a result of their class status. Now professional managers speak the language of allyship entirely removed from any left-wing agenda. It is a way to advance your career. I don't think it is an overstatement, to say that this sub-cultural activity has harmed the cause of minorities that they profess to champion, particularly in comparison to how much the traditional left has accomplished.
People are so much more than the labels they put on themselves or one another. So very much more. Once a label gets applied, it’s so easy to stop seeing the multitude of nuanced things that the label hides. How diminishing it is to narrow our view of people, ourselves included, based on superficialities. How sad it is for us to focus on the differences and ignore the many, many ways we are alike.
Thanks for this article. It contains much wisdom.
Reading your articles makes me feel like I've finally found my little corner of the internet 🥲
Well said 🥲👏🏾👏🏾
Brilliant eulogy to the dying social justice orthodoxy and, as we maybe would have said 5-10 years ago, a “call in” for the folks who still enforce and commodify these hierarchies. I’m looking forward to see what rises from these ashes 🔥
My guess: rainbow knee socks
I appreciate you and your writing! In solidarity!!
I'm guessing red hat, second row, center leftist. Mostly cuz the tattoos are missing on the whole front row.
Excellent post!
Good stuff as usual. As a big white guy, I'm accustomed to being preemptively shunned. I don't hold it against people to make baseline assumptions based on their past deeply unpleasant or traumatizing experiences, but as you lay out it goes quite a ways beyond that kind of legitimate self-protective posture. I hope we can build a culture of solidarity that builds a real feeling of confidence while leaving room for people to challenge each other in constructive ways. It feels like a heavy lift, but in my experience things move a lot quicker when there's some kind of larger common project, so I put my hope in that.
My guess: red hat on the right.