tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981856246989013843.post3900603988894470580..comments2023-05-22T10:42:54.046-04:00Comments on 6th or 7th: TriviumEthanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07498712279382078624noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981856246989013843.post-59513007816075141102010-05-28T11:52:03.434-04:002010-05-28T11:52:03.434-04:00Richard (Amleft) recently posted on tokenism - and...Richard (Amleft) recently posted on tokenism - and I think it might help to understand it in terms of theater.<br /><br />Secretary Clinton is a token (or totem) who "attracts" loyalists by her possession of "ennobling traits," as well an everyday state murderer.<br /><br />She - like the Prez - presents the visual image of an oppressed <i>category</i> that has overcome institutional bias to ascend to great power. She's the sign of redemption.<br /><br />Like Kagan, or the current theater unfolding around DADT (with a whole group of people as totem stand ins. The are tokens, images in the state's assimilationist marketing campaign). Or Sotomayor. <br /><br />We have national myths, I believe. And they resemble, to some extent, those which adhere to Native Americans. Oppressed peoples are cast as noble savage victims, civilized by access and merit - redeeming society by their ascension, by their inclusion in the meritocracy.<br /><br />So long as these totemized people behave (don't act like poor people with nothing to lose, urban blacks, thickly accented Hispanics, AIM agitators, uncompromising flamers, butches, et cetera) they do get incredible access to power and its perks.<br /><br />And by doing so, give tremendous faux-moral cover to the exploitation, murder and oppression that is the feed fuel of the liberal capitalist state, and the society it governs.<br /><br />Or I could just be wrong.Jack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.com