Identity Politics: Is This Picture Beautiful ?

I wanted to stay away from this page.

Democracy drives me back to the table.
Cheerleading on identity politics as a subterfuge for winning votes makes the meal difficult to swallow.

Can you folks really believe this following statement from our Canada, that purportedly operates on the principle of rule of law... and not ideology?

Message from the Minister of Foreign Affairs

"Peace and prosperity are every person’s birthright. Today, as Canadians, we have a great opportunity to help the people of the world’s developing countries join the global middle class and the multilateral system that supports it.
It is worth reminding ourselves why we step up—why we devote time and resources to foreign policy, trade, defense and development: Canadians are safer and more prosperous when more of the world shares our values.
Those values include feminism and the promotion of the rights of women and girls."

Standpoint epistemology is not a credible justification of a point of view.

I believe that I am right does not make me right.


Yes, there are identity politics.  However...  the valued pursuit in democracy is a higher value than yours'... it is the common good.


Where is the evidence that "Canadians are safer and more prosperous" because the world shares our values, including feminism?


Just a mixed bag of worms kind of statement.

Unfortunately, a technically perfect self serving statement: "Canadians are safer and more prosperous when more of the world shares our values."
Of course.
It that needs to be spelled out for folks:  "this is a statement made that has no evidentiary value and serves no useful purpose other than furthering the or reinforcing a party’s position".   Got that from lawdictionary.com.


Some thought could be put into discussions about safety and prosperity based on military alliances, banking and international flows of finance, international shipping regulations, mining and resource extraction, and at least ecological principles.

Point is that many complex factors produce what is perceived or experienced as safety and prosperity.

Sorry for harping on this... but it seems completely un-Canadian to tout the idea that more of the world should share our values. In our own interests of prosperity.

The more I think of it, the idea does not even make sense in terms of identity politics. Which I understand to be more along the idea of live and let live.  Canadians are telling other people how to value life?  Join our global middle class and our multilateral system or else you are not really worthy?

Really?

Not that that is not true.  Maybe we are.  It is, however, a very aggressive statement.  Which usually means guns and bombs and increased control over resource extraction... to defend our own interests... and values.

I am for this, actually.

Rather than telling people how to think and behave, I find it much more interesting, honest, and exciting to come to the bargaining table with differences.

While acknowledging that somebody at that table has a bigger hammer.