Identity Politics

[Yonadav]

Here's an article that is a perfect example of Identity Politics. The article is written by a woman who baselessly asserts that stories about Amy Klobuchar being a somewhat abusive boss are sexist. If one follows the line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, then it is not possible to talk about a female boss being a bit abusive without it being sexist. The article gives some examples of abusive male bosses, claiming that they aren't held to the same standard. Amusingly, one of the examples is Rahm Emanuel. I know Rahm. Not real well. But my favorite thing to do with him was to basically act like I didn't know he was. I never talked with him about politics, or the fact that he was mayor of Chicago, or that he had been Obama's chief of staff. I always talked to him like he was just another schmuck. And he would keep looking at me like, "Hey man, you know who I am, right?". And I would completely ignore that. Anyway, Rahm has an awful reputation for being a rather unpleasant personality to work with. If he tried to run for president, everyone would be all over him about it. He would get shot down for his foul temper and profanity so fast that it would make your head spin.

So anyway, when people tell stories about a woman being sort of an abusive boss, simply accusing them of sexism is really weak, and the strategy is just to make it socially unacceptable to criticize a woman's management style. You know, just because she is a woman.

I would like to note that I am not criticizing Amy Klobuchar. As far as I know, she has not claimed that the complaints against her are sexist. She seems to be a little tougher than that. I don't want her to get the nomination because she is a centrist. But I otherwise like and admire her quite a bit. And when she announced her candidacy I thought she was brilliant. The imagery was wonderful. She looked like she was about to lead us into battle against the white walkers.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/...eri-225026