7.15.2015

Rape, "Social Justice Bullies" and Older White Male Aristotelis Orginos

Aristotelis Orginos writes about "social justice bullies" and "identity politics" by examining the Rolling Stone "rape article" incident.

He points to Millennials as the problem, when the real problem is a character issue not specific to either political beliefs or a generation. Both left and right political stripes have narrow-minded, intolerant believers. In a short-lived blog in DailyKos, I was attacked by liberals for suggesting that Amazon tribesmen should be given the option of getting housing and health care. The belief was that "their way of life" should be left untouched. Fine, if that is what they want. But shouldn't they be given the right to choose? None of my detractors would give up their air conditioning and clean water to return to the practices of 500 years ago. "They live longer, healthier lives" while naked in a dangerous Amazon forest, were the claims - which is patently absurd. Many commenters hadn't even left the U.S., relying on stories of shoeless children in the American south to inform their opinion. Never mind how that relates to the subject. It doesn't.

My DailyKos experience showed me that narrow-minded, irrational thought is not isolated to a generation or political party. It was quite a shock. I will admit to the elitist presumption that such character traits were limited to uneducated, conservative watchers of Fox News. I was wrong.

The rape dialog is separate from Originos' complaints about an entire generation. His reasoning misses the mark. The point of taking identity into account is including an introspection of one's own biases in analysis.

Nowhere in Orginos' remarks does he include his own experiences as someone who knows a person who was raped. It would add to the conversation to know what the culture surrounding accusations of rape when he was young. What does he remember? I want to know how his life has informed his thoughts, analysis, and yes, possible bias.

Because we all have bias. Analysis without acknowledging our own perspective and its limits and strengths is limited. That is the strength of identity politics.

Do you want a discussion of rape, and the presumption of belief? Let's.

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