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What you say about intersectionality is also true about quantum physics and Austrian economics and Bayesian probability. All are sophisticated concepts that explain the world around us, and familiarity with them will suggest time spent in higher education which is generally seen as a net positive and a class signifier. But you have singled out intersectionality and looked past quantum physics and Austrian economics and Bayesian probability, probably because you are skeptical that it adds value to understanding our world, and by talking about insecurity you are implying that people who talk about intersectionality do not really believe it, but are talking about it to look good to other people. In the stories you tell, only people on the left are motivated by peer pressure.
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I'm not telling a story. Intersectionality is almost entirely defined with the exact word. It's a repackaging of the obvious (to any person actually paying attention to how the world works) into a pseudointellectual theory.
I do not encounter people trying to impress me with Hayek. Most of those people are weirdos who tend to talk amongst themselves. As to quantum physics, those people would likely find me not too smart, as I'd be out of my depth a few minutes into conversation on that topic.
People who are into the soft sciences, and particularly into all the "waves" of social movements, are often navel gazing. Nothing wrong with that. But anthropology is a nerf science, if it can be called science at all. It's not the subject area where someone's going to impress the shit out of you. The best one can do in a conversation on that stuff is steer it toward philosophy, politics, or economics. Then you can at least attempt to deal with somewhat concrete concepts.
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This is certainly true of complaints about "cancel culture," which rely on the idea that it is everywhere to get past the problem that if you look closely you often can't find it. Bennett got fired for not reading stuff he was editing. Bari Weiss left her job after her boss left. Rapaport got fired for a lot of discriminating against people, not an Instagram post. And so on. Some people would rather complain that their right to free speech is being suppressed than answer for what they've done and said.
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Right. Now deal with those professors. Those very specific professors.
