| Home |
| Archives |
| Subscribe |
| About Us |
| Contact Us |
| Links |
| Submissions |
| Our Founding Documents |
|
Declaration of Independence |
| Constitution |
| Bill of Rights |
| Amendments |
| Federalist Papers |
 |
Do 'Identity Politics' Really Work?Not when they come back to bite you...By Ric Wasley October 22, 2018 As it turns out, not so well for Elizabeth Warren. Last week we saw a perfect example of the way the Democrats' and left’s use of victimhood and identity politics is not only a double-edged sword but often turns on them and shows them up for the pandering charlatans they truly are. The ironic illustration of this was when, after years of challenges, MA Senator Elizabeth Warren, decided to she had to respond to the disbelief in her claim to be a blue-eyed, blond-haired, fair-skinned descendant of a Cherokee native American. The flap had arisen over her use of this old family tale to “check the box” of special privilege ethnicity when applying for a faculty position at prestigious Harvard Law School. Did she do this because she was so proud of her presumed ancestor? Well, that could be answered by this question - How many caucasian applicants would have used that claim to ethnicity 50 years ago when applying to Harvard before that status carried special consideration? As it happens I received one of those same DNA test kits which the senator hoped would lay to rest the doubts about her claims last Christmas. I did mine for fun. She did hers because she had hoped to use the results to insulate her from claims of ’stolen-victimhood’ in her probable run for president. It was a mistake - because as it turned out, the senator had less native American DNA than did the average American who had never used it to gain admission to a six-figure Ivy League tenured sinecure, thus exposing once again the entire fraudulent charades of the leftist charlatans who rely on identity politics to gain power and privilege. This subsequently inspired me to do a social media post to illustrate the blatant hypocrisy and absurdity of those who rely on these scams to gain personal or political advantages. Here is the post: *** "I’m so excited! Why Ric? Because I just learned today that I share the same amount of Native American DNA as my Senator, Elizabeth Warren! In fact, according to my DNA test (Ancestry), I may have even more Native American blood than Liz…because according to our hometown paper, the Boston Globe… “Due to a math error, a story about Elizabeth Warren misstated the ancestry percentage of a potential 6th to 10th generation relative. The generational range based on the ancestor that the report identified suggests she’s between 1/64th and 1/1,024th Native American,” said the clarification. 1/64th to 1/1,024th Native American?” Well, according to the ‘tales my Granny told me’, I could be anything from 1/64th to 1/32 ’d! Because according to my Granny, My Great, Great Grandpa (or something like that) was a horse trader who went out to Oklahoma in the 19th Century and met up with a winsome Cherokee lass who added to our family gene pool. Sooooo… if Granny and the family stories (just like Liz quotes) are correct, I may have even more Cherokee heritage than Liz. Hummmmm…? Well, since I’m a resident of MA and have more Cherokee DNA that our current Cherokee/MA representative - What do you think? Does that mean that I would make a good Senator?" *** I am sure that almost everyone could match my little tongue-in-cheek foray into the rather silly world of ‘identity politics’ and find something in their ancestry that would allow them to claim the current much-sought-after status of victimhood - and that’s actually the point. In all races and places and situations and times, every group, ethnicity, religion, and sex has undergone persecution, discrimination, destruction, and even genocide. For instance, have you noticed any Neanderthals lately? Cro-Magnum's exterminated them. Where do they go for redress? I guess the same place as the dinosaurs. Life and evolution are ruthless that way. That’s why everyone who is successful has learned to rely on themselves, not their ‘identity.’ If you take a look at those who did make a cult of ‘identity politics' - Nazi’s, Huns, Bolsheviks, the KKK…thing's didn’t exactly work out well for them. You would think that should be a lesson that would still resonate today - even to those who see it as an easy scam to give them a leg up. However, those who choose to take advantage of that shallow shortcut forget one thing - if you rely on identity politics, eventually it’s going to come back and bite you. Why? Because there is always someone who can “out-identity” you. That’s why we normally see people who latch on to whatever is the current most trendy ‘identity’ trying to substitute that for talent. Whether artist, athlete, craftsman, business person or politician - those who get there through ‘identity’ are pretty obvious and usually don’t last very long. There is no substitute for talent. That’s what this old dude has learned in a life spanning careers in music, business, writing, and teaching - there is no substitute for talent. That’s why I never made it to the top of any of those professions. I did OK - but not enough talent to be a rock star, NYT bestseller, or millionaire. And that’s OK too. I am very happy with my life and wouldn’t change a thing. And the only ‘identity’ I need to stay that way is to be a free, productive citizen of the greatest nation on earth. The USA. Because in the end all that we can and should rely on, is ourselves and our own hard work and talent. I may be naive, but perhaps that should be enough for anyone. Cheers!
| ||||
 Ric Wasley is a writer and lecturer, as well as the author of the popular McCarthy Mystery Series. Ric has had a 40 year professional career history in advertising, publishing and marketing in Boston, New York and San Francisco. He has degrees in history and psychology and has been trained in debating, public speaking and stage acting. A large part of his 40 year career was spent in numerous professional and business settings as a presenter and featured speaker at seminars and professional meetings. Ric has been a visiting professor at Worcester Polytech Institute. He also teaches a popular course on marketing for authors at prominent venues such as the venerable “Cape Cod Writers Conference.” Wasley has been involved in both print and broadcast media as well as writing for business and commercial markets for over 30 years and continues to consult for a major media company. In addition to his novels and short stories, he has been published in several literary magazines. Wasley currently divides his time between Boston and his home on Cape Cod where he continues to write, lecture and create worlds where the unexpected thrives.
|