this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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"Culture war" = "issues that don't affect me personally".
Issues that don't alter economic arrangements yet are the focus of mainstream politics, or issues amplified and masqueraded as politics for this specific purpose. The idea that people you resent being treated worse than you is a political achievement, is the foundational mechanism of culture war. As the basic economic arrangement is no longer on the table or negotiable politically, politics increasingly becomes focused on individual resentments. The right is fueled by culture war right now more than any other political faction.
The right is way more hooked into the culture war, but plenty of leftist communities cannibalize each other via "no true Scots"-ing each other with intersectionality. I see very little patience or compassionate education on intersectionality, and instead see a competition about how quickly one can scold. Regardless of whether that's valid, it sure as hell makes it difficult to build bonds with other groups or onboard new folks to leftist ideas.
Definitely agree and I think sometimes people conflate intersectionality with the way it's been commodified and adopted by capital and it causes debates because it's not precise about what the problem is. A lot of left scholars have been a lot more pointed about the "problem with diversity" not being about "diversity" or inclusion etc. It's just important to recognize why it doesn't threaten capitalist institutions, which doesn't mean it's bad, it means it's ineffective for that purpose, it's like being nice to people at work. Education on intersectionality that a lot of people are exposed to is often mediated/coerced by employers through business relationships with HR/diversity industry consultants. They're presenting very specific notions of the topic that they're able to sell to employers, and employers are being sold on it as basically a branding/marketing thing to "make the company look good," but leadership might even be personally invested in it and genuinely want people to feel included at their company, it's not a radical notion at all. The problem is the inherent conflict between employers and employees and how it dictates what notions of intersectionality or EDI are presented in that context.