Hidden identities aren't just for Halloween!
Published October 30, 2003
Let me step back and narrow the focus. Might I be over-generalizing when I characterize the Big Split in American politics as Marxism versus Fundamentalism?
Might it be more evolving into something more specific? Something more along the lines of Identity Politics Left versus Identity Politics Right? Homos versus Christian Reconstruction, for example?
Let's take a look at the "sides."
Identity culture politics is one of the most tyrannical aspects of modern American society. It begins with labeling.
Under the philosophy of identity politics, there is no individuality, no right to be left alone to be yourself. Instead, you must be charted and analyzed. Your race must be identified, and you are not allowed to decide whether it matters or not. It matters. Your religion (or lack thereof) matters as never before.
One would think that human sexuality — what it is that turns a person on sexually — would be one of the most private matters there is. Even more than race. But no. Even such a personal matter is subject to an inquisition by religious maniacs and sexual activists.
I defy this system, and I always have. But most people won't and can't. Heterosexual or homosexual. According to many religious people, that's the choice. According to the sexual identity political activists, it isn't a choice. Under either approach, you must define yourself, so that you can be manipulated and then tyrannized some more. You must either be a homosexual or a heterosexual, and you must declare this. According to your answers, you will be either welcomed or shunned in various places. You cease to be an independent human being. You are now a something-sexual. It is fascinating that religious identity activists and sexual identity activists are increasingly in agreement about the need to ask, to identify, and then play the include/exclude game. In a recent example, religious school authorities asked a boy whether he was gay, and when he answered in the affirmative, demanded he submit to the shame cure, and then expelled him.
Religious identity politics is a more recent development, but one which is growing rapidly thanks to a ruthless juggernaut called Christian Reconstruction (another link here — and here is a statement of some of the core beliefs of the Committee on Reconstruction).
Getting unbiased information is problematic, because Christian Reconstructionists believe in obtaining power through stealth, and conservatives are loathe to criticize those who help them. Especially fellow travelers. This brings up a central point: the similarity of Christian Reconstructionists to Communists. I have been around Communists and worked with them, and it amazes me how similar they are in their methods:
- Hidden identities aren't just for Halloween!
- Published: October 30, 2003
- Type:
- Section: Politics
- Writer: Eric Scheie
- Eric Scheie's BC Writer page
- Eric Scheie's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments
pretty amazing Eric, very important. I think you are doing the very best thing you can do in shining a light onto these processes. Thanks!









Very thought provoking piece.
I have listened to Dr. James Dobson, he comes up on our local Christian radio station, I have never heard him say that homosexual should be imprisoned. I don't know the other two that you mentioned.
I would have to agree that there are fanatics in any organization, people that believe that they have the insight and thus this gives them permission to ride roughshod over everybody else to get them to see "what is right". There are people in the Green party, Libertarian party, in you local groups, etc. That is the nature of things. There is always a bell curve, and there will always be extremists at both sides of an issue.