Fake IDs
Oct 22nd, 2007 by Micah Tillman | 6 Comments |
A theme of late here has been my interactions with the idea of political identity, and pdxstudent’s informed responses (here, here, and here) that there’s something artificially limiting about labeling yourself through the idea of “identity.”
Thus, the following stories caught my eye:
GOP rivals argue who’s most conservative
Colbert says his U.S. presidential run is no joke
Dumbledore is gay, ‘Harry Potter’ author reveals
Notice the one-axis view of the first headline, and the argument over whose presentation of himself is most authentic.
Combine that with the ability to fake an identity in such a way that everyone knows you’re faking it (and that faking it is part of the identity) in the second headline.
And lastly, the claim of a sexual identity for a fictional character in the third. I think Foucault would have something to say about that, though I’ve never read him.
Well, for the third I’d say it’s like those background “facts” I come up with for my characters. Something which has had an effect on their life but isn’t really relevant to my story… :-)
All I know is that I’m way more conservative than the guys who were arguing about who was most conservative.
Wife–
Indeed, it seemed to be a necessary part of the character for Rowling judging from the situations described in the article. Not having read the books, I’ll just have to take the author’s word for it. Shall we have a discussion now about views of “the author” and “authorship” and whether “the author knows her own work best?” :-)
Scott–
*laugh* I find that very amusing for some reason. Thank you! :-D
Unfortunately I missed the debate, and what with my recent forays into trying to label myself, I’m not feeling too brave about locating myself relative to other people in political-identity-space.
Well, I meant it to be amusing, so it’s nice to know I succeeded on some level.
I should probably check myself though. I didn’t see the debate either (though I have read an article, but not that one, about it) and I assume at least of a few of the lesser known candidates there, so I might have been inaccurate.
And while I like you struggle to find a completely accurate label for myself, the ideology I identify most with these days is Libertarianism, which would inevitably lead some of those candidates to claim I’m not a conservative at all.
I personally like being very difficult for people to label. It messes with their head.
Scott-
Regardless, I know for a fact that I am indisputably more of a conservative than you have even dreamed of being.
Scott and Tim–
*more laughing*
Scott–
Libertarian. Indeed. Me too.