At last an intelligent consideration of the link between post modernism, liberal ‘identity politics’, and the current crisis of democracy. Post modernism was always essentially a reactionary intellectual movement, and US liberalism has always been at home with individual rights rather than collective rights. Where they link up is in the hysterical focus of ‘wrong think’ or ‘wrong speak’ by the DEI industry in typical US fashion, to the complete eclipse of a wider consideration of a collective history and the shared experiences of humanity. The ‘beauty’ of all of it, is that it leaves economic modes of domination unquestioned, validates the successful individual striving of the dominated in any hierarchy and ensures that modes of collective action and organisation are left unaddressed.
there is no mention of "postmodernism" in this essay at all, what are you talking about?
postmodernism is a loosely-defined skepticism against all-encompassing social narratives like psychoanalysis, feminism or marxism. it insists instead on leaning into all or none of these narratives to explain social phenomena. if anything, this essay's insistence on combining political economy and anti-racist analyses is itself post-modernist. oh, but you don't care about that right? you're just lazily using the word as a slur.
I really liked this thoughtful essay and appreciate Waleed’s frustration with a lack of focus on material outcomes. So let’s talk about that. When I engage with people to my left, I ask them what they are trying to achieve in concrete terms- and many times the answer references one of the Nordic countries. That’s a good answer- the Nordic countries are great places. But is the American left really ready to sign up for all the policies that are required to make the Nordic political economy work? Sure - they have higher taxes on the wealthy, but also higher taxes on the middle class and the poor too (check out their VAT rates). But probably the biggest point of friction is the fact that the Nordic countries understand that if you want to create more equity via a politics of high taxes and a high level of services, then the services actually have to be good. The Stockholm subway provides good wages and benefits to its workers but doesn’t tolerate NYC levels of featherbedding. (Two operators per subway train?). You won’t find mentally disturbed people in public areas of Copenhagen, they have been swept up for involuntary treatment. These countries have a solid consensus that you remove people by force from all public spaces when they are behaving in anti-social ways. That’s how you maintain a high level of public services that people are willing to pay high taxes to fund. It’s fine if you don’t want to do these things but then I don’t understand why you would expect to get Nordic outcomes if you aren’t willing to implement Nordic policies.
Brilliant reframing of what looks like radicalism but is really liberalism's exhausted form. Your point about identity politics as the 'left wing of neoliberalism' cuts to the core of why these debates feel so stuck, institutions reach for trainigns and statements because structural reform became unimaginable after gridlock set in. When you can't pass housing policy or labor law, politics slides into who gets recognized and who feels safe, leaving economic domination totally intact.
"In that moment, the exercise did what radical educators hope this kind of popular education can do: make structures visible and intimate, generate empathy, and build a kind of mutual respect that “we’re all equal here”
I'd assume most people don't want to educate in this manner, and if they don't should they be expected to?
At last an intelligent consideration of the link between post modernism, liberal ‘identity politics’, and the current crisis of democracy. Post modernism was always essentially a reactionary intellectual movement, and US liberalism has always been at home with individual rights rather than collective rights. Where they link up is in the hysterical focus of ‘wrong think’ or ‘wrong speak’ by the DEI industry in typical US fashion, to the complete eclipse of a wider consideration of a collective history and the shared experiences of humanity. The ‘beauty’ of all of it, is that it leaves economic modes of domination unquestioned, validates the successful individual striving of the dominated in any hierarchy and ensures that modes of collective action and organisation are left unaddressed.
there is no mention of "postmodernism" in this essay at all, what are you talking about?
postmodernism is a loosely-defined skepticism against all-encompassing social narratives like psychoanalysis, feminism or marxism. it insists instead on leaning into all or none of these narratives to explain social phenomena. if anything, this essay's insistence on combining political economy and anti-racist analyses is itself post-modernist. oh, but you don't care about that right? you're just lazily using the word as a slur.
This has literally nothing to do with "post-modernism" lol
I really liked this thoughtful essay and appreciate Waleed’s frustration with a lack of focus on material outcomes. So let’s talk about that. When I engage with people to my left, I ask them what they are trying to achieve in concrete terms- and many times the answer references one of the Nordic countries. That’s a good answer- the Nordic countries are great places. But is the American left really ready to sign up for all the policies that are required to make the Nordic political economy work? Sure - they have higher taxes on the wealthy, but also higher taxes on the middle class and the poor too (check out their VAT rates). But probably the biggest point of friction is the fact that the Nordic countries understand that if you want to create more equity via a politics of high taxes and a high level of services, then the services actually have to be good. The Stockholm subway provides good wages and benefits to its workers but doesn’t tolerate NYC levels of featherbedding. (Two operators per subway train?). You won’t find mentally disturbed people in public areas of Copenhagen, they have been swept up for involuntary treatment. These countries have a solid consensus that you remove people by force from all public spaces when they are behaving in anti-social ways. That’s how you maintain a high level of public services that people are willing to pay high taxes to fund. It’s fine if you don’t want to do these things but then I don’t understand why you would expect to get Nordic outcomes if you aren’t willing to implement Nordic policies.
I admire your patience with these fools Waleed...
You've written a lot of good stuff, but you really knocked it out of the park with this essay. Thanks.
Brilliant reframing of what looks like radicalism but is really liberalism's exhausted form. Your point about identity politics as the 'left wing of neoliberalism' cuts to the core of why these debates feel so stuck, institutions reach for trainigns and statements because structural reform became unimaginable after gridlock set in. When you can't pass housing policy or labor law, politics slides into who gets recognized and who feels safe, leaving economic domination totally intact.
"In that moment, the exercise did what radical educators hope this kind of popular education can do: make structures visible and intimate, generate empathy, and build a kind of mutual respect that “we’re all equal here”
I'd assume most people don't want to educate in this manner, and if they don't should they be expected to?