Of all that I read on myspace, this guy is always above it. He’s sharp, knowledgeable, original and consistent. I’m introducing him to you because I admire him and his thinking. I intend to post him regularly. Look for him under “Josh”.

What follows is his first contribution to brainspank:

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 – 12:26 PM

Hell Hath No Fury: The Legacy of Hillary

I truly thought I had written my last piece on Hillary Clinton once it became clear that Barack Obama would be the Democratic nominee for President. That was until I read today that 28% of Clinton’s primary voters don’t plan to vote for Obama and 18% of her female voters plan to vote for John McCain. At the risk of being labeled a sexist (it wouldn’t be the first time), I have to wonder whether disgruntled women are really willing to be responsible for the end of the world.

If I had an opportunity to converse with a member of this 18% (I don’t know any personally), I would ask her if it is really more important to avenge her mistreated sex than to avert World War III. I thought men were the ones who are supposed to be self-destructively stubborn, but if these 18% tip the scales from Obama to McCain, we men will at least be able to enjoy the vindication in knowing that women are capable of matching us, if not exceeding us, in pig-headedness.

In a broader sense, this is not about feminism at all; it is rather an example of a larger phenomenon which I believe is the greatest source of evil in the world – i.e. group identification. Whether it be patriotism, racial solidarity, school spirit, or any of countless other examples, we are taught from the cradle to the grave that it is a good thing to support those who are like us against those who are not like us. In fact, what could be a better example of this mode of thinking than the nationalistic orgy of the Olympics that we are currently witnessing? Why does is matter whether the US has more medals than China? Why should we root for an American athlete over a Russian athlete? What if the American is an asshole and the Russian is a nice guy?

Likewise, anyone who has the audacity to argue that an Iraqi life is of equal value to an American life is immediately branded as “un-American”. How anyone can hold such a belief and simultaneously claim to believe in a God who created heaven and earth is beyond me.

There is nothing wrong with being proud of one’s country, race, class, sex, etc., but when one crosses over to giving preferential treatment to members of the “in-group”, harm is necessarily done to everyone else who is not a member of the preferred group. (For a further discussion of this subject, please see my earlier pieces “Anti-Semitism and Jewish Solidarity” and “The Money Lender”.)

If this world is going to save itself, it will not be due to the efforts of any specialized interest-group, whether it be the labor movement, the women’s movement, the pro-choice movement, the pro-life movement, or any other movement. The very basis of all of these movements is fundamentally flawed. As a result, despite the best of intentions, they all serve to perpetuate the struggle of human against human, and by doing so they threaten to lead to the eradication of the human race. Only by moving beyond all forms of group-identification and truly embracing the “brotherhood of man” will we have a chance of drawing back from the brink and saving ourselves from the destruction that seems more likely with every passing week.

So, to those 18% of female Hillary supporters, I beg you to reconsider your stance. To allow your dedication to your “in-group” to cause you to withhold your support from Barack Obama (who you know damned well is a far better choice for President than John McCain), would be a tragic instance of cutting off your nose to spite your face. Like you, I look forward to the day when race and sex will be a non-issue in selecting our leaders, but if you pursue this goal from the limited perspective of group-identification, there may be no future at all for man, woman, black, white, American, Iraqi, Russian, Georgian…

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