There is a tired, beaten-up trope that we need to be “saved” from our culture, and that only Westerners can understand us, from the outside, and heal us. And we

There is a tired, beaten-up trope that we need to be “saved” from our culture, and that only Westerners can understand us, from the outside, and heal us. And we even need Westerners to understand our own cultures. Would it be less grating if it came from a place of honest intentions, if that’s even possible? Among other things, this is how I also understand why rural Americans find “liberals” to be stuck up and condescending. It’s weird having empathy for a demographic that’s dissimilar to you, and by all appearances and experience dislikes you, but the dumpster fire of misunderstanding runs pretty deep. It’s hard to take a stand against the politics of the day when everything you hear, from both sides of the aisle, makes you want to watch the world burn.