The LGBT “community” has long grappled with internal fractures, particularly in relation to the distinction between sexuality and gender identity. The presumption that those who love non-traditionally and those who orient their gender non-traditionally share unified political interests has always been tenuous.
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I’ve recently given two different talks for the Platypus audience in which I’ve tried to articulate a problem I have with ideology critique.
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On March 14, 2024, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a panel discussion at the Rationalist House in Auckland, New Zealand, with panelists Joe Hendren (Auckland Socialist Society), James Robb (A Worker At Large blog), and Robert Reid (FIRST Union). Platypus member Michael McClelland moderated the panel. An edited transcript follows.
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IRONICALLY, IT MIGHT ONLY BE NOW that the 21st century is really beginning. But this comes after the death of the Millennial Left, which strived but failed to be true to what was new and different about the 21st century, instead falling back on rehearsing and repeating the 20th century, to which it remained beholden.
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THERE ARE TWO DISTINCT THEORIES of “Bonapartism”: one liberal; the other Marxist. The liberal theory of Bonapartism is about “strong-man rule” and focused on the character of the political leader; the Marxist theory is with respect to the role of the state in capitalism.
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