(From my FB page) All due respect, have you considered that maybe your issues with Islam stem from, as Eric Ray seems to have suggested, an over-emphasis on identity politics? —–A person can take issue with the generally higher degree of homophobia and sexism in Muslim cultures while also being against the fear-mongering with which some people believe Islam = terrorism. The latter glosses over the reality experienced by people on the receiving end of US foreign policy (much of it done to increase the power of multinational corporations, not make ordinary US citizens safer.)—–As a fellow progressive, I’ll say that in my opinion various folk on the Left in the 1990s focused primarily on hot button social issues such as abortion and gay rights, while paying inadequate attention to economic justice issues. Part of that involved some progressives dismissing working class urban and working class rural folk as backwards, uneducated sexist homophobes, conveniently ignoring the public policies that affected them. That seems to have been part of liberal support for Bill Clinton. —–On top of this, if we over-emphasize identity politics and focus mostly on gay rights, some of us seem to cozy up to corporate America turning a blind eye to their environmental and human rights abuses and their hijacking of democracy, so long as they, for example, offer some amenities for gay couples or have nondiscrimination policies in their hiring and promotions. —–In fact, the current Democratic party, which is almost as enabling for corporate abuses as the Republican party, relies on for their support progressives who focus on social issues such as abortion, guns, and gays.——I suggest Queer issues be understood as part of the Global Justice Movement, and not as an issue to pursue at the expense of all else when it comes to justice, fairness, or, if you will, ‘love’
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