Identity Politics Analysis

In the 2019 Arak Journal article “Purity and Extremism: An Examination of Identity Politics”, Kyle Lacey claims that over the years the political world has become more polarized than ever before. Lacey is able to explain his points well with his sources, but there isn’t anything that grabs the reader's attention, which won't motivate the intended audience to do anything. 

The author begins to talk about his own personal experience with politics and political parties. This experience is what opens up the author's mind on political purity, and how polarized each party has become. He knows that some of the readers are going to be able to relate to his experience of having a hard time choosing a side. The only problem with this is that not all of the readers have had a similar experience, only a select few. Since some of the readers may not be able to relate they may not get drawn into the rest of the article. This is also one of the only times in the whole essay where the author uses a personal story to connect with the readers. Because of this the readers who may not have felt that connection right away, may never feel it for the rest of the article. 

The point of this article was to try and convince the reader that identity politics is a growing issue in America and the general population has to put a stop to it. All he does is just list out the facts with evidence, but if the reader cannot connect with the article, what was the point of it?