let us engage in a thought experiment…
the right accuses the left of engaging in “Identity politics”…
but the fact is, everyone, EVERYONE is engaged in the question of
Identity… in fact, being human requires us to have an engagement
with Identity…when the right accuses the left of “Identity politics”
that misses the point of what is happening…for the right also engages
in Identity questions…but the right holds to the question of “Identity”
in terms of religion… what is the status of our “Identity” in terms
of god, heaven, hell, the devil? Those questions are simply another
way to explore our “Identity” an athlete will explore their “Identity”
by the way of sports… as I did for over a decade…or we can explore
our “Identity” by politics, as I was an anarchist, and I explored my “Identity”
via my study of Anarchism… my “Identity” was discoverable in terms
of my belief in Anarchism…
a lot of women, not all and certainly not a judgement about women,
but a lot of women hold their “Identity” as being a mother, or wife or
companion to a man/or women…
the question of “Identity” is the biggest question we face as human beings…
‘‘Who are we?’’ or ‘‘Who am I’’ is an ‘‘Identity’’ question…
To say ''I am an ‘‘American’’ is an ‘‘Identity’’ question…
I might even say that ALL questions of existence are questions of ‘‘Identity’’…
I have often spoke of this question of the role of the individual within
the society… How do I fit within society? that is an ‘‘Identity’’ question…
the Kantian questions I so often refer back to, these are “Identity” questions…
and even the question, one of the basic and fundamental questions,
what is the “meaning of life” “what is my purpose in existence”
that is a… yep, you guessed it, an “Identity” question…
part of my own personal “Identity” is that I am a man, I am white,
I am getting older…these are my questions of ‘‘Identity’’’
but they aren’t your questions of ‘‘Identity’’ for you are a different person,
a different ‘‘Identity’’
one of the basic and fundamental statements of philosophy is this…
‘‘To know thyself’’… the Socratic starting of philosophy,
along with ‘‘The unexamined life isn’t worth living’’
are just two questions about ‘‘Identity’’
Kropotkin