THE IDENTITY WEAPON

   Hey there, It's me back to the game after more than a year. A lot has changed. So did I. The thing that has sparked interest in me to get back to writing today is the political similarity of different geopolitical grounds at so many levels. This is not some new theory of mine that I propose. its just a world view of the juncture that we're at and I'm not blaming anyone for doing it. And yes its not about AI. 

  The word identity politics has been around since the last decade in India, thanks to Prashant Kishore. Today, the world, politically is at a crux where there are best of many sides playing against each other. But one remained emerging victorious. There is a pattern established to emerge as the winner. That is the game of identity politics.

  People identify themselves with many things. from religion, caste, Sex, occupation, region, the language they speak, some people also say that they are an Indian first in an attempt to put the nation first. When I identify as a student, I fall into the basket of a young generation of people whose potential has been untouched. When I identify with my religion as a Christian, I'll be called a conversion expert. (jk I love rum cake). Whenever someone says that I identify myself with something, that something, has a major role of how I exist, what principles I abide by and how I function in the society. Today I call it the crux of a political fight because, this very identity thing that every one does as a basic human to distinguish ourselves from others is being used to be used for complete political gains. 

  Lets talk about what happened all over the world and why I chose to write this.

  India is a diverse nation. By diverse I mean, its a subcontinent of its own. We are divided by out food, our clothes, our language, our religion. Religion in India plays a major role in basically everything. after all, we are a nation that was born out of religious divide. Its just that Jinnah was successful and the Savarkars are trying. The religious divide we see in India is for complete political gain of power and nothing else. It was a separate Pakistani state for Jinnah where the Majority would listen to him because of their identity, because they were Muslim. But, India isn't built on such principles. We at least believe and have written that we are constitutionally Secular. The Right Wing (conservationists) whatever you call them, they have been a part of the political system and the one major party is the BJP. It had always been political about religion but never made it about identity till 2012. Then came the Modi wave on the pillar of Prashant Kishore. The 2014 campaign was clear. The scams were out and the face of Chaiwallah against a dynasty clearly got them the landslide. When you are in power, you need to keep it to you for as long as possible. For that, you either need to work and satisfy the people who voted you to power, or you take things that don't matter to a stage where its significance is negligible and give it all the hype. The small things here are the things like stereotyping Muslims for population outburst, Beef ban because its sacred to someone else. Building a vote bank on the common grounds of hating someone that doesn't identify with you is some basic pattern that was observed in the primitive days. After this, the textbooks have been "remodeled" for the betterment of students where they learn how Savarkar rode a sparrow across the nation from the jails of Andaman while writing mercy petitions. All this play of identity is just to lure the masses into believing what the masters feel is always correct. By playing with the same weapon at so many fronts, its interesting to observe the massive amount of support the BJP has gotten and I don't see the decline any soon.

  The USA has lead the world in various aspects. They also had the power of directing the world's judiciary to a certain direction bringing major reforms across nations. The identity exploited when it came to India was religion. When it comes to the US, they are not as diverse as India, they have a history that does not have any similarities India. But the same political weapon of exploiting the identity of the masses has been exploited here too. The identity exploited here something universal. It is the population. In the previous posts of this blog, I talked multiple times about normalizing things and acceptance and inclusivity. This is something I have been getting wrong for years. Normalizing things is like accepting crimes but more at a mental level. When you talk about normalizing obesity, you're building an army of unfit and weak people. When you talk about positioning yourself in the LGBTQIA+ (idk when they'll run out of letters) you are making yourself someone that is going completely against the nature. Its a whole different theory on how its not natural to identify as Gay. Its not okay for a man to identify himself as a submissive being. This too has its own month of celebrating gayness, where people perform sexual acts in parades. Just like how Indians are forced to not have beef, you are forced to witness such unnecessary actions happening in the name of normalization. There is a similarity in terms of reforms in the educational system of the Americans where the kids get to witness twerk classes and get taught about the negative side of sex in the name of sexual education. Demonization of sanctity in its truest senses.

  Whether it be the right wing of India or the Left wing of the USA, they are playing the same game of identity politics. You may ask me about how religion and gender are similar. Religion in India, and gender in the US have now become a major part of how the population identifies itself as. This political development of this century will have a really different trajectory in both the nations and it is already evident in the US economy. It also stands as a really good testament to the timeless horseshoe theory. 

  Should we feel bad that things like this are happening? or should we be happy for this sort of political development happening? That's open to interpretation. But what I feel is, instead of looking at identity politics as a political strategy, looking at it as a marketing model works even better. 

  If you've read till here, you either love my blogs or are just jobless. Sorry if it felt like a personal attack but check my other posts too because you're jobless anyways.