Identitarianism – an ugly word for an ugly belief
by Chloe Westley, Conservative Home:
“I’m speaking for the benefit of all people.” This is how Kanye West responded to criticism last week that he wasn’t doing enough to stand up for the black community in America. The presenter came back, and pleaded with him that white people always have a head start in life. The rapper calmy paused before thoughtfully responding: “But there’s a lot of poor white people too”.
In 2018, that’s a bold acknowledgement to make. Individualism – the idea that the human individual should be emphasised over the collective – is increasingly rejected by Western institutions. Instead, we are being taught to reduce ourselves to a single characteristic, in order to be divided into groups of victims and villains, so that we may be resentful or ashamed accordingly.
Identity politics has infected political discourse in Britain. Instead of engaging with the substance of an argument being engaged with, bigotry is inferred on opponents. So it is that those concerned about Britain’s discriminatory immigration policy are branded as ‘racist’. And those who express concerns about gender-neutral toilets are merely “bigots” and “transphobes” – and their case is therefore invalid.
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