From a reader:

Jonah, FYI, I’m a highly educated, Midwestern, Reaganite conservative who sincerely believes in personal and societal color blindness. I happen to be white. What exactly is wrong with “identity politics for white people?” You seem to insinuate that it’s a bad thing (or perhaps that Ramesh thinks it’s a bad thing). We live in a society where every single non-white social group is encouraged to formulate a strategic political sense based upon identity, and a fearsome insistence on entitlement based on that sense. You can’t really think that the American majority will or should sit back and watch this burgeoning sectarianism (and the identity-based plundering that it sanctions) without thinking, “hey, I also have an identity!” Look, any university that includes departments dedicated to Afro-American Studies or Woman’s Studies should be prepared for normal, decent majoritarians to insist on a White Male Studies Department. Not retrograde Klansmen – normal, decent, unbiased, unracist majoritarians. Don’t get me wrong, I’m against it. But I also sympathize with people who are tired of being the only invisible class in a society that is, some days, defined almost entirely based by identity. Majoritarians won’t put up with it forever, and in the interim, “identity politics for white people” seems to be an unavoidable and rational reaction. Get rid of identity politics altogether, or be prepared for the majority to insist that its identity be given equal, if not majority, recognition. I hope it’s the former and not the latter, but, hey, I’m not in charge.

Me: This merits a longer discussion than I’m able to give it right now. But, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” is not a compelling argument to me when it comes to surrendering to the insidious logic of identity politics. In short, I don’t care who is playing the game, I’m not a big fan. Though I think this reader is basically right in his analysis, if not necessarily in his attitude.