Oh wow, thanks Jonathan. It seemed so logical. I understand what was actually going on now. No Military Nation State will sit right with me. I'm Persian Jew no less. Talk about complex identities and rare breeds! Tiny little group of thousands in 7.8 billion? that defines "other"

I’m interested in what Sunny is going to say about it because my instinct (which could be wrong) is that identity politics has been extremely productive in the past but is now being weaponised by the modern media environment in ways that are too often counter productive. BUT…

…I’m all too aware that, as a white educated male who is more middle class than he cares to admit, I haven’t the faintest idea of what it’s like for people who don’t tick all these boxes

That said, when it comes to the *utility* of identity politics I’m not sure where to put myself on the spectrum of where (I think) Sunny is coming from vs Vinay here nitter.vloup.ch/leashless/status… Instinctively closer to Vinay

Vinay is asking the question I have asked for a very long time. But I asked yesterday in relation to ableism how we remove the destructive and retain the productive? For me, the answer comes back to Cultural Influence. Language, food, dress, music, beliefs - culture is colorful!

Celebrating positive creativity is always good, as long as it is accompanied by appropriate education that defuses the misperceptions with which it may be received and therefore weaponised. This lovely programme is the positive side: channel4.com/programmes/the-…

The UK’s problem is that a huge minority think that actively deprogramming legacy Empire trains of thought is being ‘woke’, rather than seeing it as a sensible minimum investment in a kinder next generation.

I was sort of hoping the next generation would be avenging valkyries like Greta Thunburg. Kinder is just going to let the demons who rule this world continue to spit out CO2 and nuclear weapons.

OK, good point. Having the capacity to bestow kindness with greater wisdom and less futile baggage, in the sense that @iwelsh conveys: ianwelsh.net/default-to-kind… …while also taking no shit from those who are fucking us up

I agree philosophically and am usually very friendly as most people who meet me know. Three things trigger my mean: Imposition of what I should be/believe, refusal to believe a personal truth and physical abuse. Emotional abuse I've learned to take but now I will walk away.