political essentialism
Mood:  cool
I think it is really bad when in political conversations, people regard historical categories- such as 'right and left' and 'DLP Catholic Right' as set in stone, and innate as structures of objective existence (as colours are, or basic biological taxonomies).

This amounts to essentialism, ignoring the dynamic capacity of people- to constantly change and evaluate - to shift their allegiances in individual issues, according to their personal deliberations. It also positions the ideology as the primary agent, rather than the person (who uses the ideologies as tools to help to understand the world)

Whenever I hear a person at the SRC denigrate a person by saying "Her politics are all over the place", I prick up my ears and wonder who this amazing person could be: Either they are new to politics- in a 'state of nature' you could say- or extremely resilient to the conformist tendencies within politically conscious circles.

To analyse this statement, we would see that it uses the spatial metaphor of 'right and left'. It also uses the word 'politics' as an object that she owns- that perhaps is intrinsic to her character. Yet our politics are only related to our character to the extent that they are authentic translations of our values, backed up by our beliefs about the world. And how many people share the exact same values and beliefs about the world?

I am always concerned that political formations expect conformity- either informally or formally. Yet we cannot enforce conformity without making our own views a hegemony- enforced through either party discipline or peer-group pressure. I worry sometimes about 'party loyalty' that is so highly regarded within the ALP- because parties as a whole have NO CONSCIENCE hence no feedback mechanism to learn from.
I was surprised to hear Linda Burney (ALP indig woman MP) saying how important the value of party loyalty was to her- in a way that raised the hackles on my back- because I see party loyalty as such a defeat of agency, creativity and potential.

If we are to have a truly democratic culture, we wouldn't judge people on where they are on the political spectrum- if indeed they do fit anywhere.
And we wouldn't make assumptions about people according to outdated categories. Enforced conformity is always a defeat for the human potential, since communities are like ecosystems, and hence require diversity.