Identity politics and the need for nuance and understanding.

As a young white privileged male, I feel I am about the most unfit person to talk about finding nuance in a debate about racism, LGBT-rights, gender equality, or other issues. Not because I do not have an opinion about these matters but because any critique whatsoever on these movements will result in the immediate labeling as a homophobic, racist, tyrannical patriarch, who simply doesn’t understand his white privileged position in society. When have we started to let separation and highlighting differences become the fundaments for societal debate instead of our collective identity as a nation or the focus on what brings us together?

Does it have anything to do with the fact that since we live in such a (confirmation) biased social media surrounding on a daily basis that we forgot the importance of making an effort to understand or respectfully discuss with someone we absolutely do not agree with? We can have our opinion (no matter what it might be) confirmed instantaneously by millions of people around the world, so why bother listening to opposing views? Why bother opening up for other perspectives? Well I would say it is the very foundation for a civilised society and an absolute necessity for a functioning democracy (combats populism). And I would say that I believe that most people are born good, this means I believe that most of this separateness, evil and malevolence is formed through our inability to deal with past experience. As my great teacher John Butler always says, to make whole be whole.

00:00 - 00:43 - Intro
00:43 - 2:12 - Nuance & Identity politics
2:12 - 11:03 - Interview with Douglas Murray
11:03 - 14:15 - The role of social media
14:15 - 16:26 - In conclusion