Thanks to Marcu Loachim for the featured image.
As an individualist and Libertarian I am an ardent believer that the best person should do the job, regardless of sex, gender, ethnicity, age, or any other metric used to label an individual’s identity. And yet all I read and hear coming from the intersectional identity crowd is that those labels are all that should identify who should do the job. This notion is very confusing to me, and I disagree with the notion that because I disagree with the intersectional herd, I am somehow rooted in a privilege that I cannot sense or understand.
In life, especially today’s life, there is a saying. “It’s not about what you have done for me, but what have you done for me lately.” I have used it, though the idea is in itself both unrealistic and a bit odd, particularly when it comes to the professional/work/commercial world. And for those who haven’t picked up on what I mean by those three words, I mean in our lives of transactions and work.
If, for example, I am interested in going to watch a movie, I am subject to my preferences and interests, which I have developed over my life through my own experiences. While my preferences may differ from another individual, they are intrinsically valid. I was, for example, drawn into watching suspense and horror films with my ex-wife. Now, I wasn’t really into them, but I gave them a fair shake. I watched the film Get Out by Jordan Peele, who I had known from the TV show Key & Peele. I was curious about his directorial and production style, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was an interesting and enjoyable suspense horror film. In my opinion, I believe Mr. Peele is a good director, and capable of doing good work, because his track record reflects that.
And that is what merit does. When one shows that the things they produce have value (which means different things to different people), the individual is giving merit. That merit becomes a currency in and of itself, and therefore allows that individual to gain new opportunities. This specific example can be applied to all manner of situations – jobs, romantic partners, personal associations, what movie to watch, or where to go for dinner.
But I am seeing this analytical behavior cast in an unusual mold. It is no longer righteous or good to look at the individual’s behavior and track record of merit, but rather this is a sign of either hierarchy or privilege, and therefore must be ignored completely. Logic be damned, ethics be damned, merit be damned. We must look only at superficial labels and identifiers to find the most righteous and valuable candidate because that is the most certain way to success. How and why did this happen? The truth is, that I don’t know. But I do believe that this is part of the larger post-modernist philosophy.
So then, what happens next? Well, we are told that we are left with two polar opposite positions: either as a society we can believe that only someone of the sufficient pieces of identity is qualified to do the job or we continue to find those who are capable and merit consideration because of their track record of behavior which preserves the current hierarchies. I disagree with that premise as well. I am in favor of diversity when possible. If I were in need of a heart operation, and the best person for the job happens to be a Black, transgendered woman in Utah, then I guess I’m packing my bags and going to Utah, or paying for that doctor to come to me. If I were an employer looking for a supervisor, and the best person for the job happened to be a sys-gendered white hetero male, then by all means that person should get the job. But in both situations, as with all things, I look at the individuals ability to do the job, and that metric is the only one I use to determine who gets it. Not some sort of phantasmal bias that haunts my subconscious with unknown pulls on unseen levers.
For my fellow humans who believe that identity is everything and ability accounts for nothing, please take a moment to reconsider. And if you, after re-affirming your beliefs to be the correct ones, still wish to use identity as your metric of choice determination, by all means craft a business plan and actualize your theory. If your idea succeeds, it has merit. And therefore you will have made both an ally of me, and affirmed my position as well.
A Place 4Politics 
I don’t think that it’s necessarily the case everywhere. With more jobs being done remotely from a computer, the end product is the only thing that matters; if only politics worked like this!
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I agree that we should be focused on the end results, and the credentials of the person being sought out for the job. But so much gets hung up, particularly in the employment realm with the intersectional identity movement, that makes it difficult to ground the discussion and focus on credentials of the individual. Some seem to feel slighted at the mere notion that they weren’t selected and that the talk of merit is a smokescreen for some sort of prejudice.
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Totally, I do think it’s odd when I company that has a no-discrimination policy also asks people to write nationality, race, gender, religion etc. on forms, even name is too much information for conscious and subconscious prejudices
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Identity is everything now, since the current trend has surpassed even beyond existentialism, down into emotional essentialism – fundamentaly, philosophically, current man believes this:
Experience precedes existence.
It is this fundamental shift in comprehension of being that is the issue. If your experience precedes existence, it means that your existence IS your experience – of course, this is illogical, an error of logic – No True Scotsman, but the opposite – A True Scotsman. You are following a logical conclusion based on A then B, not comprehending that today, following a logical conclusion could be the issue completely.
This means that there is nothing outside of your own existence, so naturally affirming your existence becomes the primary proof of it – quite a circular logic – i experience to exist, i exist to experience. Ultimately, the amount of issues this will open will lead to a generation of philosophers and social scientists arguing over semantics and data. The last time humanity was this confused was during great cultural and religious shocks and revolutions.
Cheers. Sorry for responding late, but i like your calmness so wanted to chat and support your work. If you want to chat, visit my blog and have a good rest.
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