This piece articulated so much of what I've been grappling with. Thank you! I love the phrase "cheapening one's life"; that's exactly how it feels. When we reduce ourselves to what can fit on a Walgreens poster board — and when our sense of self comes from how that projected self is reflected back to us — the rest of us doesn't just disappear; it suffers from acute neglect, which is tragic.
Thank you for this! I hope the coming baby is treating you well. Standpoint epistemology is one of the big sources of disordered thinking I've recognized as I reassess all my progressive baggage. Having previously spent time in Evangelical and Pentecostal churches, you're absolutely right about valuing experience (often superstitious hype, TBQH) over reason being a religious tendency that has been absorbed by the left.
I have been thinking about the relationship between civic self-fashioning and identity politics. I found your perspective helpful to my project. At one point you say, “To me (dare I say, “as a Jewish woman?” despite detesting such identity-appeals?) workeism …” which made me want to hear more about if and how you might distinguish between identitarianism and labeling a perspective, or claiming an epistemic standpoint like DuBois’ double consciousness. Thanks for sharing this.
This piece articulated so much of what I've been grappling with. Thank you! I love the phrase "cheapening one's life"; that's exactly how it feels. When we reduce ourselves to what can fit on a Walgreens poster board — and when our sense of self comes from how that projected self is reflected back to us — the rest of us doesn't just disappear; it suffers from acute neglect, which is tragic.
PS - Congratulations! :)
Thank you for this! I hope the coming baby is treating you well. Standpoint epistemology is one of the big sources of disordered thinking I've recognized as I reassess all my progressive baggage. Having previously spent time in Evangelical and Pentecostal churches, you're absolutely right about valuing experience (often superstitious hype, TBQH) over reason being a religious tendency that has been absorbed by the left.
I have been thinking about the relationship between civic self-fashioning and identity politics. I found your perspective helpful to my project. At one point you say, “To me (dare I say, “as a Jewish woman?” despite detesting such identity-appeals?) workeism …” which made me want to hear more about if and how you might distinguish between identitarianism and labeling a perspective, or claiming an epistemic standpoint like DuBois’ double consciousness. Thanks for sharing this.