Identity Politics!

There is a level of superficiality, of peer pressure, of the politics of identity, in all this.

There are conservatives, Christians, Republicans, who are afraid to appear tolerant of Gay Marriage, while they are afraid to appear intolerant of homosexual rape at Abu Ghraib prison by US soldiers, afraid to appear too critical of George Bush and the Republicans, who cater to the conservative Christian vote, while bewailing gay marriage, and at the same time rationalizing torture, minimizing abuses such as anal rape by broken thermometer, committed by US soldiers in Iraq.

There are liberals, Gays, Democrats, who are more concerned about promoting Gay Marriage than they are about condemning torture and anal rape at Abu Ghraib prison by US soldiers, or about hearing, voicing, and addressing concerns regarding sadists in the 'leather community'.

They are afraid to appear tolerant of certain psychological or moral viewpoints, and afraid to appear too critical of people they feel they are supposed to identify with.

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The roots of the problems are not necessarily found in the fruit of the problems. The symptoms on the surface are not necessarily identical to the underlying core causes, nor would the underlying core causes necessarily be as obvious as we may wish them to be. Similarly, the social dynamics and relationships of the various concrete symptoms are not necessarily in and of themselves the politically underlying and more fundamental concern.

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