Identity

After what can only be described as a thrilling week of work...here we are.  Ok, the Duke win last night was awesome...to be sure, UNC was short-handed, but...Duke did avoid their usual practice of playing with their heads up their asses, and even weathered the run the Tar Heels made in the second half.  Phew.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/devos-backlash-sees-parents-threatening-to-homeschool-kids/ar-AAmKXT2?li=BBnbcA1

I posted before about Trump's enemies doing his dirty work for him, and this article...well, made me smile.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/interrogation/2017/02/what_pro_trump_english_professor_mark_bauerlein_thinks_now_that_his_candidate.html

I found some of this a little disconcerting; I mean, NOT paying to attention to certain things Trump has done is, well, foolish, but there was one part I found most...correct:
I think what has happened here is that identity politics have forced everyone to start thinking in these terms. And I think on the left, you have an alarm: What if white men start playing the game of identity politics the way we have for the past 40 years? That is going to go very badly for everyone.

I would posit that in actually, white men just started to play the identity game now by voting for Trump, and if he can deliver on some of what he has promised, they will continue to do so.  On the one hand, this doesn't bother me; as Dems are going to discover, that which is done by you can be done to you, and if that sucks, well, too bad, you should have thought of it.  I really don't mind white men (and women), especially working-class ones, voting as a bloc; it's been done in the past before.

I think the issue -- which the good professor sees -- is that if white men decide to act like an aggrieved minority, that is when the problems start, because the media (as evinced by the questioner above) doesn't know how to handle it, aside from claiming hate (possibly but not always true) or some reactionary prejudice (ditto) and that of course will only fuel the grievance machine...as I like to say, if I really had white male privilege, my life would be a hell of a lot better, but it's not, so...