Some of your readers may recall a letter that I previously sent to your paper in reply to an Alex Knepper column. In it, I take him to task on the straw man that he sets up, which stated that liberals cared less about victims of bigotry in non-Western countries than about the comparatively less severe discrimination in the West. Apparently, he has revived this canard in his latest column.
I once more reiterate that crimes east of the Prime Meridian do not mitigate the crimes to its west, and it's more practical to address problems at home than those abroad. If Knepper says he supports the plight of victims of bigotry in Muslim countries, then I recommend that he donate his time and/or resources to human rights organizations (most of them run by leftists) that advocate for them (such as Human Rights Watch), instead of crassly appropriating their cause to score cheap political points against liberals.
He also makes another erroneous point in regards to "victimhood" and "identity politics." First, no minority advocacy organization wants to perpetuate victimhood as conservatives want to caricature them. They are simply about transforming victimhood into empowerment.
Second, identity politics is a fact of life in the U.S., let alone the world. Identity politics is but a simple acknowledgment of the fact that people are categorized into groups beyond their control. The identity of each group is shaped by the forces around it, and if those forces involve past discrimination, then that cannot simply be abandoned as easily as some say it should.
Barnaby Yeh Senior, School of Public Affairs
