文化战争:第二阶段?
Kenneth Taylor

11 November 2015
这里有一个猜想。我们现在已经进入了所谓的“文化战争”的新阶段。当前文化战争中的战斗部分是基于对某些人认为是真正的压迫，而另一些人认为只是所谓的“压迫”的程度的相互竞争和明显不可调和的看法。I was prompted to this conjecture partly by recent events on various university campuses and partly by some advice I ran across on aUnitarian-Universalist websiteabout how to be effective allies to those with marginalized identities. They offered 20 or 21 recommendations -- some of them sort of banal seeming, but some of them intriguing. Two of the more intriguing ones were the following:
1. Assume that oppression in some form is everywhere, everyday.
2. Notice how oppressions are denied, minimized, and justified.
Now I think 1 and 2 neatly encapsulates a certain widely shared point of view about the plight of the marginalized and the response of some to that plight. Well strictly speaking, I should say those "plights" since they make it explicit that oppressions are plural and various here. You obviusly have to be alive to the many distinct forms that oppression takes. They way transgendered people are oppressed is one thing. The way racial minorities are oppressed is something else entirely. Being alive to the one doesn't guarantee you will be alive to the other. Now if you start out with the belief that oppression of the marginalized is a more or less omni-present and undeniable fact, then you are likely to regard any one who doesn't share that assumption as suffering from some form of denial -- perhaps because they themselves are complicit in these many oppressions themselves and are thereby refuse to own up to their own complicity.
Of course, someone who rejects the claim that oppression is undeniably present everywhere you find the so-called "marginalized" -- their scare quotes not mine -- will strongly resist that characterization of themselves as in denial or as being complicit. ("But of course, they will" the other will impatiently say, "Isn't that what those who are complicit and in denial always do?") Instead they will see those who endorse the combination of 1 and 2 as playing the "victim" card. And now they have given themselves a basis for hurling back at the other an accusation of bad faith, of attempting to stifle dissent and silence opposition. In their view, the marginalized have turned into the marginalizers!
"Absurd!" the other will say. "That's just another form of oppression heaped upon us!"
如果我的猜测是正确的，很难看到在这样的分歧上有什么富有成效的对话和对话。相反，你看到的是一场在社会生活的许多领域上演的文化战争。
这里有点棘手的事情——这也是此刻最让我感兴趣的事情——是文化战争的早期阶段是在相当容易划分的左翼和相当容易划分的右翼之间进行的。但是在这个新的，新的文化战争的阶段，在我看来，对立的双方似乎不太容易用旧的词汇来区分左和右。这就是为什么你或多或少会看到这样的场景:鼓吹言论自由和对话自由的左翼教授，被要求被倾听的本应是左翼的学生大声叫住。当老左翼与另一部分老左翼斗争时，你会看到一些右派在为他们欢呼。但你也可能最终看到被边缘化的旧右翼——比如福音派——提出了类似的要求，希望被倾听和关注，而不是与之争论。毕竟，他们不是也被边缘化了吗?
What a strange new world we are living in!

Comments(4)

Jack Blue's picture

Jack Blue

Thursday, November 12, 2015 -- 4:00 PM

The ongoing debate about

The ongoing debate about transgender has its routes in societies where people's primary identity is sexual. For years women have been fighting to seperate identity and sexuality, saying that their primary identity is first human and second sexual. But here we are in 2015 and we sll consider our genitals to be the most important thing about us. jackblueblog.wordpress.com

Harold G. Neuman's picture

Harold G. Neuman

Sunday, November 22, 2015 -- 4:00 PM

Yup. Stranger and stranger.

Yup. Stranger and stranger. In his critique of three philosopher/artist/scientist personalities (DaVinci, Decartes and Max Weber), Jaspers wrote: Reality is an endless fabric of meaningful and meaningless factors. The entire idea of oppression has been taken to new and astronomic heights. Everyone's rights are expanded to include a myriad of areas, which prior to such concepts as political correctness and social mediazation, were outside the sphere of legal massage and moral suasion. Reality is, indeed, and endless fabric. Another timeless nugget of wisdom appeared on page 112 of Jaspers' book: Truth varies according to the origin of its content. And just so.
(参见:《三篇论文集:莱昂纳多、笛卡尔和马克斯·韦伯》;Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc.， 1964年)
Stay thirsty, my friends; Cordially,
Neuman.

Guest's picture

Guest

Wednesday, December 2, 2015 -- 4:00 PM

About Culture your post gives

About Culture your post gives us really great ideas . I really like it and i want to say that your talking styel really too good. Please keep posting.

smithanderson's picture

smithanderson

Tuesday, December 8, 2015 -- 4:00 PM

The Culture Wars are very

“文化战争”是你和我们分享的一篇非常有趣的文章。我很高兴看到这篇信息丰富的文章。你在这篇文章中和我们分享了关于文化战争的有趣消息。
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