Harris' new identity crisis - Ep 24-408

The Kevin Jackson Show

[SEGMENT 2-1] Define extremism (best of) [X] SB – Black man says in 1000000 years he wouldn’t vote for Harris What is an extremist to the Left? Grow up in a two-parent household Not be molested by an uncle or a coach To get a decent real education with NO indoctrination To find a career that you love To find a life-partner that you love and respect To have friends you can count on, and with whom you might not necessarily agree all the time. To enjoy the things in life that you desire, e.g. travel, woodworking, hunting, fishing, or whatever as long as it doesn’t infringe upon others. To live in decent environs and be left alone. What’s so bad about that?
[SEGMENT 2-2] Kamala Harris exposed
[X] SB – Black man says in 1000000 he wouldn’t vote for Kamala Harris [X] SB – Black rapper [X] SB – CNN calls out Kamala Harris for energy hypocrisy
[SEGMENT 2-3] More on the identity crisis We have services that protect our identity, Life Lock, for example. We even know the importance of identity, as the government established HIPAA laws to protect our identity. Corporations are told to protect our data, i.e. our identities online, and we receive many cautions to that effect all the time. To have one’s identity stolen can wreak havoc in your life. What Musk insightfully points out is the identity crisis in America. And the identity crisis of today touches on timeless philosophical debates about self, individualism, and collective identity. From ancient to modern thinkers, the struggle to understand the self has been at the core of human inquiry. And many would agree that today’s crisis reflects both a departure from and a misunderstanding of these deeper philosophical traditions. The Search for the Self: Ancient Philosophers The quest to "know oneself" has deep roots in philosophy, epitomized by Socrates, whose aphorism "Know thyself" urges us to explore our own nature. For Socrates, this exploration was not merely about personal identity but understanding our place in the moral universe. The self, to him, was intimately tied to wisdom and virtue rather than external categories like race or gender. Similarly, Plato viewed the self as a reflection of universal truths, suggesting that the soul (the essence of self) exists beyond material distinctions. Like Socrates, Plato’s ideas oppose today’s focus on identities like gender or sexuality, instead calling for an understanding of self that transcends physical and social categories. I recall a family road trip where we picked up a man whose 18-wheeler had broken down. He was a 20-something white guy, and very chatty. He said something profound during his time with us. Interestingly, he mentioned that he was only driving a truck until he found something better. He said that he still needed to "find himself". After we let him out at a truck stop, I asked my grandmother why he said he needed to "find himself". She said that he was searching for meaning in his life, and that's what he meant. I joked that he was "right here!" Little did I know how this would impact me later, as I needed to find myself. Nature vs. Nurture: Enlightenment Thinkers The tension between nature and nurture has been another longstanding philosophical debate. John Locke, the English Enlightenment thinker, famously argued that the mind is a "blank slate" (tabula rasa) upon which experience writes. In contrast, Jean-Jacques Rousseau proposed that humans are born inherently good, but society corrupts them. Both philosophers emphasized that individual experience and societal influence jointly shape identity. However, modern society’s obsession with social categories may suggest an inversion of this idea. Collectivism—the pressure to conform to social groups based on external identity markers like race or gender—has, in the eyes of critics, stifled individualism. This sentiment is echoed by Alexis de Tocqueville, who warned that democracy could, paradoxically foster a "tyranny of the majority" where societal pressures subdue individual liberty. I suggest that we all struggle with this concept from time to time. Perhaps you are stuck in a rut, and can't seem to deprogram. Is it genetic or have you learned from experience to procrastinate, for example?
[SEGMENT 2-4] More on the identity crisis 2 That’s not who we are. In my case, I chronicled in my first book, The BIG Black Lie how I always felt the tug of my father's DNA, as I assessed my place in the world. My father was not a good man, and I often felt like I would undoubtedly follow in his footsteps. It took far too long for me to dismiss this notion, and allow the nurture of my maternal family assuage my angst. Freud and Jung: Inner and Outer Identity The duality of man is something I thought about at a young age. And for the reasons stated earlier this duality involved my father. Funny how most of life's problems do revolve around childhood. Which brings me to Sigmund Freud. In what was validated by Freud and Jung, I noted how I had one public facing me, and the other me that I hid. I learned later that Freud introduced another layer to identity by focusing on the unconscious mind. He argued that unresolved internal conflicts shaped our sense of self more than societal categories. Carl Jung, a contemporary of Freud expanded on Freud's theory. Jung emphasized that individual identity must reconcile both our conscious persona and our collective unconscious (archetypes shared by humanity). This need to balance personal individuality with collective archetypes aligns with my observation that we belong to broad collectives like being human and being American, while still retaining individuality. I propose further that one's individuality must be well-balanced with the various collectives. For example, I am human, however I don't espouse to all human nature. Ergo, my individual, my self as it were will not give into the collective if I believe the collective to be flawed. Criticism of Modern Identity Politics Many critics of modern identity politics argue that identity politics diminishes the importance of individuality. George Orwell warned in his novel 1984 of the dangers of collective identity leading to oppression. Today, some, like Jordan Peterson argue that by emphasizing identity categories like race, gender, or sexuality, modern society risks reducing people to labels rather than focusing on their personal virtues and capabilities. I happen to agree. My question about why society wants so desperately for me to be part of the "alt collectives" can be understood when illuminated as the tension between individualism and collectivism. While Western societies historically valorized the individual, as reflected in Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance," today’s focus on identity politics often prioritizes group membership over personal agency. The collectivist trend I observe can thus be seen as a reversal of this traditional Western emphasis on the individual. In this reversal, the individual is at risk of being destroyed. The Crisis of Individualism The modern obsession with identity that I observe turns what should be private traits—like sexuality—into public markers of social distinction. Charles Taylor refers to this as the "politics of recognition." Thus, today society increasingly demands that personal identities be publicly acknowledged and validated, most notably with the use of self-ascribed pronouns. However, this emphasis on group identities can overshadow the deeper, more universal aspects of human experience that bind us all together. What is the collective, if we can subcategorized to the nth degree?
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