The Ethics of Self-Interpretation

The polemical intensity that made a set of radical ideas about race and gender seem, for a time, to be the new moral consensus of media, academia, and corporate management, is over—maybe. Kamala Harris’ losing presidential campaign was muted in its identitarian appeals, at least compared to Hillary Clinton’s clumsier efforts (remember “7 Things Hillary Has in Common With Your Abuela”—because, surely your abuela also traded sex for the bombing of Serbia?). Yet it is worth noting that Clinton came closer than Harris did to winning against Trump—and that Trump himself, through his nomination of JD Vance as running mate, makes his own appeals to identity. (Vance, a mirror image of many “woke” strivers, came to national prominence by telling an appealing narrative about his personal suffering and membership in an oppressed class.)