Bingo.SaiyamanMS wrote: Sun Mar 24, 2019 2:30 am The bubble is absolutely a big thing at the centre of a lot of all this. I grew up in a white middle class family myself where I was heavily sheltered and generally prevented from seeing the world as it really is. When I was very young, I saw the world as very black and white, right and wrong sort of deal. But as I grew, I came to realise that wasn't the case and I knew there was more to things than what I was seeing despite being kept away from it. For many years, I had the privilege of presenting as a cisgender heterosexual man, this changed when I came to terms with the fact I was actually a transgender lesbian woman and got violently disowned by my mother.
While I don't regret my transition, I do lament some of the privilege it has cost me. The world isn't always a kind place to minorities. Most people I interact with are great, but there have absolutely been a few shitty experiences I've had that wouldn't have happened to a cishet white male. The idea that "I don't see this problem, therefore it doesn't exist." is a shitty position to have, which seems to be the angle a lot of Vic supporters seem to have. "If sexual harassment is so common, why haven't I seen evidence?" Because the people who do this shit are covert about it and you're not the kind of person it happens to.
Anyone who's dumb enough and sheltered enough to think that prejudice, bigotry, and oppression against minorities are either exaggerated or a thing of the past should take a peek inside a great many homes where a child comes out as gay or trans to their family, and get a load of the reactions and the harrowing, life-upending fallout that can often ensue.
Or listen to "the talk" that a lot of black families have for long many years had to have with their kids: no, NOT "the talk" about sex. "The talk" that black parents have to have with their kids about the police, and how when you're black they are NOT always your friend or the people whom you can trust to keep you safe, and may be a very real threat to the child's life under the right circumstances.
And bear in mind: its ALWAYS been like this for MOST of these people, even up through right now and throughout the most recent of years. This stuff HAS NEVER gone away and have CONTINUED ON largely unimpeded throughout lo these many decades as serious issues that threaten the lives and well being of certain groups of people. Just like sexual assault does most women.
Most of the idiots spewing the absurd, asinine bullshit about rape and sexual assault in the wake of every MeToo scandal are people who usually have ZERO earthly fucking idea what so many rape and sexual assault victims are actually put through by both the system and society at large: or in rarer few cases are within the margin of rape/sexual assault victims who are at least lucky enough to be believed and have their case taken seriously from the getgo - which is sadly FAR more uncommon than it ought to be - and myopically assume that its the same for everyone else who's been a victim as well, and that if you're a victim who ISN'T being believed then surely there HAS to be something fishy about your story, right?
Once again, see the Just World Fallacy.
Absolutely there HAVE been massive improvements in various specific areas for all these massively crucial social ills throughout the years for sure, and no one's discounting that: but the idea that these are, or ever have been in ANY WAY "solved problems" is a total and outright fantasy and a lie that people are being deliberately fed in order to keep them ignorant, obedient, and resentful at precisely the wrong people and the wrong targets for their anger and their frustrations (many of which are certainly real and justified; just misdirected). Its a delusion that's being spread particularly within certain areas of this country (North America) even more strongly and more aggressively than it is in others: but its indeed certainly almost EVERYWHERE worldwide to one extent or another and is fairly widespread overall.
Once again, the keys to the heart of the issue here are The Bubble and its sheltering, comforting lies about the realities of the world, empathy for the suffering of others, and a willingness to listen to the experiences and perspectives of other people from different corners of life than yours and being open to the idea that the world DOESN'T treat everyone as universally the same as it has you and most of the people you know and are close to.
And if I hadn't said it before to you in this thread MS, let me say it to you now: I'm so, SO deeply sorry for what you had to go through with that kind of horrid experience. And I really hope that you're doing ok now. Absolute best of luck to you.
