cultml:

Laclau and Mouffe, however, would beg to differ with Doherty’s casual
dismissal of any link between socialist revolutionaries and identity
politics. Indeed, they insisted that the only way to achieve
their socialist ends was to create a new conception of the “exploited
class,” one that would be identified not in traditional Marxist economic
terms, but by “forms of domination different to that of economic
exploitation.”

Because, as the authors explained, this society “is indeed
capitalist, but this is not its only characteristic; it is sexist and
patriarchal as well, not to mention racist.”

“These new political subjects: women, students, young people, racial,
sexual and regional minorities, as well as the various
anti-institutional and ecological struggles,” Laclau and Mouffe
continued, “not only cannot be located at the level of relations of
production…on top of this, they define their objectives in a radically
different way.”

Why Marxism Shifted from Economics to Culture | Brian Balfour

cultml:

But if the American nation is not a race, what is it? It’s now often
said that the American nation is actually an “idea” — the idea that all
men are created equal, for example, or that the powers of government
derive from consent, as suggested in the Declaration of Independence.
But that isn’t any more plausible than the racism of the alt-right.
After all, if America is a handful of abstract principles drawn from
18th century Enlightenment philosophy, what are we to make of Americans
who dissent from this philosophy — on biblical or Aristotelian, Burkean
or Humean grounds? Does philosophical disagreement mean you’re not an
American? Of course not. Similarly, if a people in a foreign land
pledges allegiance to the ideals of the Declaration, does that make them
Americans? No, it doesn’t. 

It was not until after World War II
that these core institutions at the heart of classical American
nationalism — Biblical religion, the Anglo-American legal inheritance,
and the English language — began to fade. The disintegration of
classical American nationalism, and the consequent loosening of the
bonds of mutual loyalty that had held Americans together, has created a
vacuum at the heart of American national identity. It is this vacuum
that revolutionary new theories such as “white nationalism” hope to
fill.

from time, who have thought

How Americans Lost Their National Identity

Calls for unity come loudest from the party of submissives—the GOP.
The domineering party is less guilt-ridden about this elusive thing
called “unity.”

Democrats just blame Republicans for its absence in our polity and throughout our increasingly uncivil society.

These
days, appeals to unity are made by opportunistic politicians who drape
themselves in the noble toga of patriotism on tragic occasions.

If The Disunited States Of America Is To Survive …

7 Movies To Help You Remember That Everything Isn’t Actually Awful

Patrick Courrielche: Andrew Breitbart Was Right — Pop Culture Matters

There Is More to Life Than Politics

cultml:

Alinsky’s fourth rule for radicals
is “make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” The flip side of
that, of course, is that the radicals don’t have to live up to any rules
at all. This way you can constantly keep the other side on the
defensive.

That’s why you see progressive leftists in politics, in the news
media, or in academia pull this amazing trick over and over, constantly
forcing their political opponents to live up to cultural and social and
legal rules that they themselves ignore. It took Trump to show the GOP
and conservatives how to turn this tactic back on people who make
constant use of it.

“We can say this kind of stuff, but you people can’t!” only
works if you are the sort of person who the usual politically correct
browbeating can force into submission. Leftists have spent the past
three years slowly ramping up this tactic against Trump, and failing
miserably with it because Trump simply refuses to respond as he is
supposed to. The president refuses to be browbeaten into
anything, especially by the “fake news media.”

Instead of apologizing, retreating, or being defensive, Trump
constantly goes on the attack, turning the tables on his accusers. And
it’s not just Trump. Plenty of Americans are waking up to the fact that
they can challenge these entrenched double standards and force the left
to do the retreating.

Trump and His Supporters Are Destroying the Democrats’ Ability to Enforce Double Standards