The Poor, The Personal, and the Proletariat
Just a short kvetch about something that I feel often causes confusion among online left wing people and where I feel we could do better if we all were just a bit clearer and more honest with ourselves. It begins with the question: why be left-wing? An answer: you are a part of a marginalised group in some sense. It is in your self-interest for that group's position to improve. Being left-wing is a means of improving your wealth and status in a fairly straightforward sense; and this is not mere selfishness, because the impediments to your achieving a better state are manifestly social injustices remedying which would be laudable. So this is an admirable project of self-improvement, a communal betterment of which you can reasonably expect to partake. I think a lot of what people call "identity politics" or modern "social justice" politics is focussed on this sort of thing. (Just a side note but often people who I think are actually motivated by this sort of thin...