Identity politics can be tricky. For example, it’s tough to know how to react when a member of one group of designated victims — Muslims — attacks a member of another group of designated victims — women. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Which side should we defend, regardless of the merits, based on their identity?
Watch as victim Hani Al-Seba’i, a Muslim cleric, yells at victim Rima Karaki, a woman, for interrupting him:
This man is a Muslim, so we can’t criticize his culture. This woman is not a man, so we must applaud her assertiveness. Side with him and you’re a misogynist. Side with her and you’re an Islamophobe. It’s a stalemate.
Does it change the equation if Karaki is a Muslim as well? I don’t know if she is, but that would probably change things. Or would it? I can’t do the identity-politics calculus in my head. I can’t adjust my standards on a whim, because I’m not a liberal.
This one is too close to call. There’s no way to declare a winner and a loser, so I’m just going to forget I ever saw it. And so are you.
What did you just see? Nothing, that’s what.