But it was easier to believe that I was fifty year old with erectile dysfunction because it played into your world view. As I said before, that's neither here nor there.

And yes, you can't easily differentiate race and class in America... but targeting poor black folks against poor white folks was a misstep. As I've tried to explain to a number of writers - proving all white people are racist is something that can be semantically easy to do (and it's correct) - convincing white people in very real rust belt poverty that they've been oppressing liberal metropolitan black folks in California is a whole different thing. Tell a homeless white guy he's got far more privilege than Michelle Obama and though it might be (semantically) true - it doesn't play into real world understanding abd experience. The argument becomes meaningless when it is moved out of rhetoric.. It was so easy for Trump to drive a truck through that argument it actually hurt. Instead of poor white folks and poor black folks campaigning for social change, the middle class basically fired them up at each other.

Once again, I don't care what colour, age or sexual preference a politician has. I want the person pushing for socialism and raising people out of poverty. I'd be equally happy to have AOC too. Between Bernie and AOC you'd have a genuine chance at progress. Unfortunately the model of socialism that we have over here (NHS, Maternity pay etc) seems to be a non-starter in your country. There seems to be a pathological blind spot that can't differentiate between Communism (Which I don't support) and Socialism (which I do).

You're prepared to listen to every disadvantaged group in society and support them? How would you solve this current British problem. We have Muslims pulling their children out of school because they don't want their children to learn about homosexuality. Do you want to be an islamaphobe or endorse homophobia? Or what about Keira Bell? A trans woman taking the Tavistock to court for granting her puberty blockers and a mastectomy she asked for but now feels she's too young to have consented to?

Identity politics provides simple solutions to complex problems - I don't believe it will work... you do. That's fine. We're having a constructive discussion about it - and you're making sensible points (that's why I've followed you).

I'll call that a win. Because at the start of this exchange, you were prepared to dismiss everything I had to say based on my genital arrangement and my skin colour - or whatever you believed them to be. As I put in a previous comment - go and read some Steve QJ, and challenge his world view too. Debate with the same passion you have with me - he's a black guy and I'm a penguin, but both of us think identity politics is flawed.

Believe it or not. I have enjoyed this exchange. Once you cut through the snark, there's always the kernal of consensus to be found - and its on the back of both disagreement and consensus that democracies function.