OK Glenn. I get where you're coming from, but it seems to me that we can't move forward towards a society in which "race" and the weight of history don't limit our ability to trust in each other's good intentions unless we are willing to risk potentially fraught encounters. Perhaps it's corny, but I don't see any other way to build a better future except through one genuine conversation at a time even when it is difficult and when our good intentions may be called into question. It isn't so much a matter of color blindness as it is committing ourselves to look at the person in front of us at the moment as they are and sharing with them our honest thoughts, emotions, experiences, etc. while remaining open to theirs. Someone needs to walk across the aisle, offer their hand and make a joke risking that it will fall flat or even cause unintended offense. The hope is that more often than not we will manage to connect on a basic level and walk away from the encounter feeling good about ourselves and our new aquantance. What else is there that we can all do?
In fact I think, in most cases, we do "connect on a basic level" more often than not....but the radical, hyper-sensitive outliers -- who thrive on microaggressions, 'hurt feelings' and invisible slights -- are much louder.
We may open a door for a woman 100 times in a row...and 99 times we'll be thanked....but post-radical-feminism, that 100th time we'll be berated. The question, of course, becomes: what do we do on the 101st occasion? A reasonable man still opens the door.
Agreed. But the aggrieved WANT to remain aggrieved so as to not lose the power that comes with aggrievement. Silly, really. And psychologically perverse.
OK Glenn. I get where you're coming from, but it seems to me that we can't move forward towards a society in which "race" and the weight of history don't limit our ability to trust in each other's good intentions unless we are willing to risk potentially fraught encounters. Perhaps it's corny, but I don't see any other way to build a better future except through one genuine conversation at a time even when it is difficult and when our good intentions may be called into question. It isn't so much a matter of color blindness as it is committing ourselves to look at the person in front of us at the moment as they are and sharing with them our honest thoughts, emotions, experiences, etc. while remaining open to theirs. Someone needs to walk across the aisle, offer their hand and make a joke risking that it will fall flat or even cause unintended offense. The hope is that more often than not we will manage to connect on a basic level and walk away from the encounter feeling good about ourselves and our new aquantance. What else is there that we can all do?
Very true. Nicely said.
In fact I think, in most cases, we do "connect on a basic level" more often than not....but the radical, hyper-sensitive outliers -- who thrive on microaggressions, 'hurt feelings' and invisible slights -- are much louder.
We may open a door for a woman 100 times in a row...and 99 times we'll be thanked....but post-radical-feminism, that 100th time we'll be berated. The question, of course, becomes: what do we do on the 101st occasion? A reasonable man still opens the door.
Agreed. But the aggrieved WANT to remain aggrieved so as to not lose the power that comes with aggrievement. Silly, really. And psychologically perverse.
Good point, and as soon as you identify that type, avoid them. There are lots of folk interested in building human connections.