Post by thelioness on Nov 4, 2024 23:09:24 GMT -5
New York Times
In Shift From 2020, Identity Politics Loses Its Grip on the Country
There are signs that society is moving away from the progressive left’s
often strict expectations about how to discuss culture and politics.
By Jeremy W. Peters
Nov. 2, 2024
The last time Kamala Harris ran for president, during the 2020 primaries, people were losing jobs or friends because something they said or posted online
came off as insensitive. An unfamiliar new language around identity was catching on, with terms like “Latinx” and “BIPOC.” The homeless were now “unhoused” and there were “pregnant people,” not women.
Back then, as the progressive movement tried to establish itself as a bulwark to the Trump White House, considerations of race, gender and sexual orientation became urgent
and unavoidable. And some progressives tried to enforce a strict set of cultural and political expectations almost everywhere — inside classrooms and board rooms,
movie studios and publishing houses, congressional offices and political campaigns.
Even Oprah came under attack, when angry fans accused her of supporting cultural appropriation when she promoted a white author’s novel about a Mexican family.
If some Americans thought the left’s code of conduct went too far, most were not willing to say so.
Polls taken in 2020 showed that large majorities of people — including self-described Democrats and liberals — said that they did not always speak
freely about their beliefs for fear of retaliation.
Today, in this presidential election between Vice President Harris and former President Donald J. Trump, politics still burns hot, and voters are just as deeply divided.
But the country is also in a starkly different place from four years ago.
Case in point: Ms. Harris is boasting about protecting her home with a Glock, proclaiming her patriotism and campaigning with Republicans like Liz Cheney.
more:
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/02/us/politics/election-2024-harris-progressives.html