Understanding the Identity Game (Part I): Am I a Hypocrite?

Paul Bloom called me a hypocrite the other day. Well, he didn’t come out and call me names, but he asked if I felt any tension between my stated beliefs and my recent actions.

As loyal readers, you know that I dislike aspects of progressive politics. Yes, yes, I am chastened by the anti-anti-woke crowd, but my thinking is still deranged by anti-wokeness. Part of my madness is that I take issue with what some people call identity politics. Paul thus wondered if I saw any contradiction in my stance on identity politics and my recent decision to call out what I perceive as Jew hatred in psychology open letters or in my own neighbourhood. It’s a fair question—and an uncomfortable one—so I’ve been chewing on it for a few months now.

Am I a hypocrite? Because yeah, I rail against identity politics, at least privately (and on this Substack!), yet here I am talking publicly about antisemitism. At the time, I did not believe I was engaging in identity politics. But the more I thought about it, t…