5 ms·
The people who will inevitably say things like "this is just oversensitivity" or "it's an exaggeration to act like a whole city is outside your comfort zone" ar
by mbillie1 10y ago
The people who will inevitably say things like "this is just oversensitivity" or "it's an exaggeration to act like a whole city is outside your comfort zone" are either unbelievably thick-skinned or simply live in a relatively insulated, homogenous environment. I'm a straight white married upper-middle-class man and there are decidedly places I feel very uncomfortable in the country (I am thinking of highly conservative small towns in the mountain west in my particular case, where I stand out visually). You might not visit them very often, but those places are real and the feeling of being an outsider is palpable. I can only imagine how much more influential that feeling would be if I were a minority in any way, not to mention one of the minorities it's still nearly de rigueur to overtly discriminate against.
- nostromo 10y agoThose rural mountain west folks feel just as odd and unsafe in New York City, btw. That feeling may or may not be an accurate representation of actual danger.
- mbillie1 10y agoTotally agreed on both counts, but what matters really is whether you feel too uncomfortable to live in a place.
- rayiner 10y agoThat's interesting. I'm a brown upper middle class male and i've never felt uncomfortable anywhere in the country. That includes rural parts of Illinois, Georgia, and Virginia. Americans are really warm and welcoming if you approach them on their own terms.
- kevin_thibedeau 10y agoThe majority of Americans are decent people but at least 10%-20% of them are inveterate racists who are only nice to your face. When these white folks are among "their own" the bigotry comes pouring out of their mouths. Who do you think nominated Trump? We should all be concerned that such a big slice of America sees nothing wrong with promoting a pugnacious narcissist fueled by a message of hatred. Just look at the healthy segment of evangelicals excusing his behavior even though the man hasn't a Christian bone in his body. All because Trump furthers their bigoted agenda.
- rayiner 10y agoIt's entirely possible southerners are just nice to my face. But I don't think coastal folks are any nicer. I grew up in the latte liberal suburbs of DC, and man talk about people who can sit around spewing hate about people different from themselves.