02-27-2019, 03:40 PM
(02-27-2019, 07:11 AM)jgsz Wrote:(02-26-2019, 12:13 PM)tomh009 Wrote: The professional qualifications indeed appear to be good (I have not looked into his work yet). But Moraga described himself as a minority member first, and an environmentalist/scientist second, so it's not surprising that this is what the discussion has focused on.
Yeah, and this is why I referred to privilege. When a heterosexual, white man or women declare their candidacy they don't have to mention their minority status because they don't belong to one. But when they parade their spouse and kids on the stage they are proclaiming their heterosexuality. It's just that that is so 'natural' no one seems to notice.
At first I was going to suggest you use less loaded language than 'parade' if you want to convince anyone of anything, but then I realized that you're right. This is what a candidate is doing when he or she campaigns with his family: signalling to people facts about his identity.
I remember when Patrick Brown was running for the Tory leadership, among other thoughts about him and his qualifications were rumours concerning his status as a bachelor, and what that might mean. A few people suggested he might not be "normal" (I don't want to repeat some of things people said about him) because he was nearly forty and not married. Campaigning with one's spouse dispels those notions without having to come right out and identifying as a member of a certain group.