I have spent enough of my life crossing cultures, communities, institutions, and political environments to learn something important: people are often far more comfortable telling you who you are than asking you who you have chosen to become. They look at your background, your skin color, your nationality, your religion, your profession, your economic circumstances, or the groups you belong to, and then they begin filling in the blanks. They assume they know what you believe. They assume they know what should offend you. They assume they know who your allies are, who your enemies are, what causes you should support, and even how you should vote.
I have learned to be suspicious of that.
Any time someone insists that my identity comes with a prepackaged set of political beliefs, grievances, enemies, or obligations, I want to know who wrote the script and why they are so eager for me to perform it. I want to know whether the identity they are handing me actually reflects who I am, or whether it simply makes me useful to their cause.
One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a human being is to become useful to a cause he never consciously chose. Not because he studied its principles. Not because he examined its consequences. Not because he wrestled with its assumptions and found them compelling. But because someone handed him an identity, convinced him that it belonged to him, and then told him how a person with that identity was supposed to think. That is not liberation. That is conscription.
And perhaps one of the great battles of our age is the battle to prevent ourselves from becoming ideological soldiers in wars we never volunteered to fight. An identity can be fashioned for you that promotes an ideology you have absolutely no interest in pursuing. If you are not careful, you can spend years playing a role written by someone else, advancing somebody else’s grievances, repeating somebody else’s arguments, and fighting somebody else’s enemies. Beware the borrowed identity.
Identity Is Powerful Because Identity Precedes Action
Human beings naturally seek belonging. We want to know who we are, where we came from, where we belong, and what our lives mean. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, identity is essential to human flourishing. The danger arises when someone else answers those questions for you.
Once someone convinces you who you are, it becomes much easier to convince you how you should behave. “You are one of us.” “People like you believe this.” “Your community supports this.” “Your generation understands this.” “Your race should vote this way.” “Your gender should think this way.” “Your economic class should resent these people.” “Your nationality should apologize for that.” “Your religion should support this movement.”
Notice what has happened. The argument is no longer about whether an idea is true. The argument has become about whether you are loyal to your assigned identity. That is an extraordinarily powerful form of social control. Instead of asking, “Is this true?” you begin asking, “What are people like me supposed to believe?” Those are very different questions. One seeks truth. The other seeks permission.
“The moment someone convinces you that questioning an idea is a betrayal of your identity, they have stopped persuading you and started controlling you.”
Alma Ohene-Opare
You Can Become a Pawn in Someone Else’s Vengeance
Consider a chessboard. The pawn does not know the strategy. The pawn does not understand the king’s ambitions. The pawn does not know why the bishop is moving diagonally across the board or why the knight has suddenly appeared beside him. The pawn simply moves where it is told.
Sometimes entire generations are recruited into unresolved grievances in exactly this way. Someone else was injured. Someone else became bitter. Someone else developed an ideology around that bitterness. Then the grievance was packaged, inherited, and handed to people who never experienced the original offense. Now those people are expected to carry the resentment.
This is especially dangerous when historical memory becomes historical vengeance. We absolutely should learn history. We should tell the truth about injustice. We should honor those who suffered. We should correct injustice where it exists. But there is a profound difference between learning from history and being imprisoned by it. There is a difference between remembering injustice and inheriting hatred. There is a difference between seeking justice and seeking vengeance.
Scripture teaches that vengeance belongs to God. That principle is not merely theological. It contains extraordinary wisdom about human nature. Vengeance consumes the vessel carrying it. And you should be very careful when someone tries to place that vessel in your hands.
The Role May Have Been Assigned Without Your Consent
Modern society loves categories. Race. Class. Sex. Generation. Political affiliation. Nationality. Education. Religion. Income. Geography. Algorithms can now place you into increasingly sophisticated categories based on almost everything you do. And categories can be useful.
The problem begins when description becomes destiny. You are told that because you belong to Category A, you must possess Opinion B, support Movement C, oppose Group D, and vote for Candidate E. But who authorized that arrangement? When did demographic characteristics become ideological contracts? When did ancestry become political consent? When did belonging to a community require surrendering intellectual independence?
Freedom requires more than the ability to speak. Freedom requires the ability to think before you speak. You must reserve the right to examine every proposition individually. You must reserve the right to say: I agree with you here. I disagree with you there. I understand your grievance without adopting your hatred. I share your background without sharing your ideology. I can love my community without outsourcing my conscience to it. That is agency. And agency is one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind.
Know Yourself Before the World Tells You Who You Are
There is an old wisdom contained in the command to “know thyself.” Knowing yourself does not mean indulging every desire you possess. It means understanding your principles deeply enough that you cannot easily be manipulated.
What do you believe about God? What do you believe about human nature? What do you believe about liberty? What do you believe about responsibility? What do you believe about family? What do you believe about justice? What do you believe about work? What do you believe about forgiveness? What do you believe about the purpose of government? What do you believe about the dignity of every individual?
If you cannot answer those questions, someone else will happily answer them for you. And once someone else supplies your worldview, they can begin supplying your enemies.
This is why principles matter more than movements. Movements change. Parties change. Politicians change. Cultural fashions change. Institutions change. Principles provide a compass when everything else is moving.
The American experiment itself was built around several profound assumptions about human identity: that individuals possess rights that precede government, that legitimate government derives authority from the consent of the governed, and that liberty requires responsibility. Those ideas place tremendous dignity upon the individual. You are not merely a representative of your tribe. You are a moral agent. You are accountable for your choices. You have the right and responsibility to think.
Ask Who Benefits From the Identity Being Offered
Whenever someone aggressively attempts to define you, ask an important question: What does this definition require me to do?
Identity narratives almost always contain behavioral expectations. If someone tells you that you are oppressed, there may soon be instructions about whom you should resent. If someone tells you that you are privileged, there may soon be instructions about what beliefs you must surrender. If someone tells you that you are a victim, there may soon be instructions about whom you should blame. If someone tells you that you are an ally, there may soon be demands for ideological obedience.
This does not mean oppression never exists. It does not mean privilege never exists. It does not mean victimization never occurs. It means descriptions of reality should remain descriptions of reality rather than becoming mechanisms of control. Truth should produce understanding. It should not manufacture obedience.
Your Deepest Identity Is Not Political
For the believer, there is an even deeper truth. Before you are Republican or Democrat, conservative or progressive, rich or poor, black or white, immigrant or native-born, employer or employee, you are a child of God.
That identity carries obligations. It means the person standing across the political divide is also a child of God. It means you cannot justify hatred merely because your tribe approves of it. It means no political movement deserves your unconditional loyalty. It means every ideology must ultimately stand before truth, morality, conscience, and God.
Jesus repeatedly refused the identities others attempted to impose upon Him. Political factions wanted to recruit Him. Religious leaders attempted to categorize Him. Crowds tried to crown Him according to their expectations. His answer, in essence, was always the same: My mission comes from somewhere higher. That is a powerful model for us.
Build an Identity Strong Enough to Withstand the Crowd
So what should we do? Examine your beliefs one at a time. Ask why you believe what you believe. Read people you disagree with. Separate facts from narratives. Separate injustice from ideological exploitation of injustice. Refuse to inherit hatred. Reject the idea that demographic characteristics determine political obligations. Study history without becoming imprisoned by it. Anchor yourself in eternal principles rather than temporary cultural movements. And above all, maintain the courage to disappoint your tribe.
There may come a moment when everyone around you is walking toward one gate and your conscience tells you to walk toward another. Walk toward the other gate. There may come a moment when refusing the assigned role costs you approval. Pay the price. There may come a moment when people accuse you of betraying your identity because you refuse to surrender your mind. Remember that your identity was never theirs to grant.
God gave you agency. Use it.
America’s tradition of ordered liberty depends upon citizens capable of thinking independently, governing themselves morally, and resisting the temptation to reduce neighbors into competing tribes. A free society cannot survive for long if its people surrender their identities to ideological architects.
Know who you are. Know what you believe. Know why you believe it. And never allow another person’s bitterness, ambition, ideology, or grievance to quietly become your destiny.
“If someone else can define who you are, they are already halfway toward deciding what you must believe. Know yourself well enough to remain free.” — Alma Ohene-Opare
Excellent commentary! True and accurate. We all need to think critically, ask questions and ask what is true. Agency, yes!