We live in a very interesting time where we have, I think, a combination of what’s called expressive individualism,

我们生活在一个非常有趣的时代 融合了所谓的表达个人主义

which is about the importance of me, my experience, what makes me happy.

也就是我的重要性 我的经历 能让我高兴的东西

What we now have is something additional and that is identity and tribal identifications where we have—

我们现在还有一些额外的东西 那就是身份和部落身份

and I want to say there’s a good part of this, for one thing—that we have historically marginalized groups,

首先 我想说 这是好事——从历史上来说 我们排斥了某些种群

women certainly in the workforce, in the public sphere, gay people, African-Americans, other minorities,

比如女性职工和公共领域的女性 同性恋 非裔美国人 其他少数族裔

we’ve had a lot of folks who have been in the margins of power in our society

有很多人处于社会权力的边缘

who have said uh-uh this isn’t working anymore.

他们也声明过 啊哈 这样不行

So these movements towards individual and group liberation have, in net, been very positive for our country.

所以这些朝着个人和群体自由的运动对我们的国家很有好处

But we always tend to turn things towards a kind of individualistic focus.

但我们往往容易把事情变成个人主义焦点

Now we have a culture in which there is competition for victimhood and white men now,

现在我们的文化中 受害人和白种人之间存在竞争

many white men are calling themselves victims; victims of affirmative action, victims of the liberal left.

很多白人自称为受害者；他们自称是平权法案的受害者 是自由主义左派的受害者

And you have religious groups that have tens of millions of people in this country who are victims of outsiders who want to destroy them.

还有那些在这个国家有数百万信徒的宗教团体 成为了想要摧毁他们的局外人的受害者

So what’s happened then is, I think, this expressive individualism has been combined with sort of the benefits of being in an oppressed group,

所以我觉得现在的情况是 这个表达个人主义已经跟身为被压迫群体的好处结合了起来

you know, the moral high ground that comes with that and the strong identification that comes with being in a victimized group.

这些好处就是其自带的道德高地和身为受害群体的强烈身份

And now, everybody is in a victimized group.

现在 所有人都处于受害群体中

After the great recession in 2007/2008, bankers were the new victimized group.

2007/2008年的大萧条过后 银行家成为了新的受害群体

And so there’s an unhealthy trend towards tribal competition for victim status in our country and I want to go back and again say,

所以我们的国家中存在着不健康的受害身份部落竞争 我想再说一遍

there is something to the victim, there is something to it.

受害者有一定的道理 有其一定的价值

This is hard to talk about without saying: okay everybody should just get along and stop complaining.

要谈论这一点 就不得不说“好 大家都应该和睦相处 别再抱怨了”

I'm not saying that at all.

但这根本就不是我想表达的

But there is something unhealthy, and what it keeps us from doing—this is my main problem with it —

不过有一些不健康的现象 它会妨碍我们——这是我的主要问题——

it keeps us from working across identity groups to solve the problems that we have together.

它会阻碍我们跨越种族群体去解决我们共同的问题

Because all of our major problems related to poverty, to education, to healthcare, to the environment—

因为所有与贫穷 教育 医疗 环境有关的重大问题——

just take any of our problems—they require cross-identity group coalitions to work on together.

任何问题——都需要跨越种族的合作去共同努力

And when we divide into identity groups we can’t work across coalitions.

如果我们划分了种族群体 我们就无法联合协作

Martin Luther King, just before he died, was working on poverty on a cross-racial coalition.

马丁·路德·金去世前在一个跨种族的联合中致力于减贫

He knew that the civil rights laws needed to be changed and it had to be a black leadership to change those Jim Crow laws.

他知道民权法需要更改 而且必须由一个黑人领袖来改变那些吉姆·克劳法（黑人歧视法）

The next step was poverty and poverty is not just racial.

下一步就是贫穷 而贫穷不分种族

And he knew that you needed to have a broad coalition.

他知道人们需要一个广泛的联盟

That’s going to be hard nowadays.

这一点在现代很难实现

Some are trying it, but that is much harder to do in an identity-based society.

有人在尝试 但在一个基于身份的社会中这要难得多