Beware the terms men use to maintain power | Essay

Indledning
The term identity politics has often been debated, as some people think it can distort the political discussion, as political beliefs are not just formed by which identity you have, but by what seems rational, logical, and ethical.

This essay will look into MacLennan’s article on why identity politics should not be considered a relevant term in the political debate.

The essay looks at her tone of writing, argumentation and it will discuss her view on identity politics.

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Uddrag
Four children die every minute due to lack of access to medicine and food. The world has the resources to save those children, but we don't choose to do so because we refuse to share resources”.

These facts are put into a context, which implies that white men are deliberately preventing other groups of society from reaching their potential.

This can be a very convincing tactic, as a quick read-through will overwhelm the readers with proven facts, and given a specific context, the readers immediately accept the premise that white males are the reason for many of the social injustices we experience today.

Whereas a more in-depth read-through exposes how MacLennan’s choice of facts and statistics lacks proper relevance.

She continues to use facts that come from all different types of scenarios, which aren’t necessarily relevant to each other.

For instance, MacLennan mentions how activist Malala Yousafzai “was shot in the head by the Taliban because she advocated education for girls” (l. 47), to give the reader a brutal example of how some men even kill to stop beliefs, which might be considered a threat.

If not given the proper context, which in this case is: “These men would like us to ignore the fact that racism and sexism not only deprive people of human rights.

They kill”, her argument would be considered very weak. Because how is a terror act by the Taliban linked to the fact that the last “228 presidents of the United States have been men” (l. 39).

These are examples of two extremely different cultures, although both are examples of how men have power, they are incomparable.