The “Identity Fallacy” aka “Identity Politics”

Posted by Solver 5 years, 5 months ago to Education
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When trying to determine if what is said is valid or invalid, using ones mind to spot logical fallacies is one of the best tools mankind has.

When having a civil, reasoned and logical argument, watch out for the logical fallacies. There are many of them. The “Identity Fallacy” aka “Identity Politics” is just one, that a growing number of individuals and groups are commonly using to try and shut down logical arguments and push their agendas.


“#64 The Identity Fallacy (also Identity Politics; "Die away, ye old forms and logic!"): A corrupt postmodern argument from ethos, a variant on the Argumentum ad Hominem in which the validity of one's logic, evidence, experience or arguments depends not on their own strength but rather on whether the one arguing is a member of a given social class, generation, nationality, religious or ethnic group, color, gender or sexual orientation, profession, occupation or subgroup. In this fallacy, valid opposing evidence and arguments are brushed aside or "othered" without comment or consideration, as simply not worth arguing about solely because of the lack of proper background or ethos of the person making the argument, or because the one arguing does not self-identify as a member of the "in-group." E.g., "You'd understand me right away if you were Burmese but since you're not there's no way I can explain it to you," or "Nobody but another nurse can know what a nurse has to go through." Identity fallacies are reinforced by common ritual, language, and discourse. However, these fallacies are occasionally self-interested, driven by the egotistical ambitions of academics, politicians and would-be group leaders anxious to build their own careers by carving out a special identity group constituency to the exclusion  of existing broader-based identities and leadership. An Identity Fallacy may lead to scorn or rejection of potentially useful allies, real or prospective, because they are not of one's own identity. The Identity Fallacy promotes an exclusivist, sometimes cultish "do for self" philosophy which in today's world virtually guarantees self-marginalization and ultimate defeat.  A recent application of the Identity Fallacy is the fallacious accusation of "Cultural Appropriation," in which those who are not of the right Identity are condemned for "appropriating" the cuisine, clothing, language or music of a marginalized group, forgetting the old axiom that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Accusations of Cultural Appropriation very often stem from competing selfish economic interests (E.g., "What right do those p*nche Gringos have to set up a  taco place right here on Guadalupe Drive to take away business from Doña Teresa's Taquería? They even dare to play Mexican music in their dining room! That's cultural appropriation!"). See also, Othering.”

A whole list of fallacies can be found here,
http://utminers.utep.edu/omwilliamson...


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  • Posted by $ blarman 5 years, 5 months ago
    This is the same type of argument employed by those who:

    A. argue that the only people who can talk about abortion are women
    B. argue that the only people who can talk about police violence are blacks
    C. argue that the only people who can talk about incarceration rates are blacks
    D. argue that the only people who can talk about gender equality are those who are "non-binary"
    ad infinitum

    It's all nonsense because they don't have any real arguments.
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    • Posted by LibertyBelle 5 years, 5 months ago
      I once was riding with a City bus driver, and I mentioned Aristotle (I believe I had gotten a book from the library). Well, he wasn't interested in discussing any of Aristotle's ideas themselves; no, he just wanted to go on about how blacks had founded civilization, or philosophy,or etc. And I believe it was the same guy, who, when I mentioned Ayn Rand, and let out that her original last name had been Rosenbaum, seemed interested only in the fact that she had been Jewish. But that's the mentality of many people in the modern world.
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    • Posted by term2 5 years, 5 months ago
      Its emotional manipulation, and I am so tired of it that I just ignore it and proceed with my life. The purpose of our constitution is to preserve my freedom, and thats really what I want from government, and ALL I want from government.
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    • Posted by 5 years, 5 months ago
      They might as well argue that A is not A; and they do that also. But since they don’t have good well thought out logical arguments, they pour on the heavy emotions. (See #98 - Playing on emotion fallacy.)
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      • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 5 months ago
        Well thought out arguments are useless in a world that means nothing, using words that are meaningless or living a life that's meaningless:
        Nihilism:: that is where postmodernism leads you.

        Shame, they don't just commit suicide and save the rest of us the headache.
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        • Posted by 5 years, 5 months ago
          We don’t have that world. Not yet. Those that truly believe that reason is meaningless, that existence is some social construct, are a small minority. Logical arguments are for the rest. It is the rest the world we should consistently point out these fallacies to; And show why they are fallacies.
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  • Posted by maxgeoac 5 years, 5 months ago
    So basically: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - Animal Farm by George Orwell. Is it not the ultimate goal of the Identity Fallacy?
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  • Posted by bsmith51 5 years, 5 months ago
    This is a useful list but, given 146 fallacies, where's the "overwhelm them" fallacy (perhaps #90?)? Could the list be meant to shut people up who are not "scholars"?
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    • Posted by 5 years, 5 months ago
      Discovering truth can be hard. Discovering what is false is easy. If someone is yelling that fallacy A is absolutely true, why not point out the fallacy of A? That allows them the opportunity to rethink their position. If truth is the goal, this is what civilized people do.
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  • Posted by nhtemplar 5 years, 5 months ago
    The greatest fallacy behind arguments based on "identity" is the proposition that one's worth ultimately derives from the collective. Rather one's worth derives from their individual being, Anything else is to enslave the individual and ultimately mankind to the tyranny of the mob and reduce human achievement to the lowest common denominator.
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  • Posted by 5 years, 5 months ago
    The master list of logical fallacies in the link above starts this way,

    “Fallacies are fake or deceptive arguments, "junk cognition," that is, arguments that seem irrefutable but prove nothing. Fallacies often seem superficially sound and they far too often retain immense persuasive power even after being clearly exposed as false. Like epidemics, fallacies sometimes "burn through" entire populations, often with the most tragic results, before their power is diminished or lost. Fallacies are not always deliberate, but a good scholar’s purpose is always to identify and unmask fallacies in arguments.”
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