Lightly woven into this novel is a sort of white/black discomfort, indicating to me that for some Americans, black and white folks really don't mix much and the sense/suspicion/awareness of cultural and human 'difference' between the groups is very palpable to some - Alex being among them.
Yes, it's a super important lens for considering much about American history and culture, and on a microcosmic note, it was an important theme in my paranoid experience. I wasn't ever kept separate from people of color growing up or later, but a discomfort and fear arises from knowing What Happened and What's Going On in America, plus a desperate desire to be seen as "one of the good ones," plus an awareness that trying too hard spins one back over the bar into racist, haha. And as a chronic over-thinker, this feeling got worse as I got older and more aware of all those layers of perception.
I also think more out-loud discussion of this discomfort is an important step toward curing America's illness. I believe a lot of bigotry boils down to ignorance and a doubling down out of fear and unwillingness to confront or admit to that ignorance.
Ignorance yes, but fear and unwillingness to confront and admit come under the umbrella of ignorance. More out-loud good-faith off-line discussions would make a lot of things better. Online discussion is rarely nuanced unless we're chatting with friends. Other than that it's tribal - codes, in-groups, out-groups, defensiveness, battle lines, territory, aggressive posturing ...
You're so right, and the "offline" bit is huge. Strip away the defensive performance!
And the fear and unwillingness to confront/admit are definitely facets of ignorance, I separate them from the initial ignorance because they're the fulcrum point between that fear/ignorance being reinforced or extinguished.
There's ignorance and lack of self-awareness, but I also think a lot of bigotry is reinforced by a conscious feeling of shame, and people think the "stronger, more principled" way to react is to double down on the offense, blame the person you've offended, and/or avoid similar situations (segregation), rather than admit to an embarrassing mistake, apologize, and try to do better in the future. It's a conscious decision to avoid engaging with shame and empathy, which I think is more sinister than mere ignorance.
"And the fear and unwillingness to confront/admit are definitely facets of ignorance, I separate them from the initial ignorance because they're the fulcrum point between that fear/ignorance being reinforced or extinguished." Well observed.
I do recognise what you're saying here. In the UK, if someone is accused of being racist in the public space, the response is one extreme or the other: a fawning public apology which seems questionable in its sincerity or understanding and more of a PR stunt or the doubling-down defensiveness.
Then the incident and its response polarise the wider public into one camp or the other, increasing the sense of both offence and defence.
Missing are constructive conversations. Some of the defensiveness is in the position, 'There is nothing to talk about' and some of it is more like, 'Well even if you want to talk about it I don't want to hear.' I'd say this has become characteristic of every subject we've become polarised over.
Lightly woven into this novel is a sort of white/black discomfort, indicating to me that for some Americans, black and white folks really don't mix much and the sense/suspicion/awareness of cultural and human 'difference' between the groups is very palpable to some - Alex being among them.
Yes, it's a super important lens for considering much about American history and culture, and on a microcosmic note, it was an important theme in my paranoid experience. I wasn't ever kept separate from people of color growing up or later, but a discomfort and fear arises from knowing What Happened and What's Going On in America, plus a desperate desire to be seen as "one of the good ones," plus an awareness that trying too hard spins one back over the bar into racist, haha. And as a chronic over-thinker, this feeling got worse as I got older and more aware of all those layers of perception.
I also think more out-loud discussion of this discomfort is an important step toward curing America's illness. I believe a lot of bigotry boils down to ignorance and a doubling down out of fear and unwillingness to confront or admit to that ignorance.
Ignorance yes, but fear and unwillingness to confront and admit come under the umbrella of ignorance. More out-loud good-faith off-line discussions would make a lot of things better. Online discussion is rarely nuanced unless we're chatting with friends. Other than that it's tribal - codes, in-groups, out-groups, defensiveness, battle lines, territory, aggressive posturing ...
You're so right, and the "offline" bit is huge. Strip away the defensive performance!
And the fear and unwillingness to confront/admit are definitely facets of ignorance, I separate them from the initial ignorance because they're the fulcrum point between that fear/ignorance being reinforced or extinguished.
There's ignorance and lack of self-awareness, but I also think a lot of bigotry is reinforced by a conscious feeling of shame, and people think the "stronger, more principled" way to react is to double down on the offense, blame the person you've offended, and/or avoid similar situations (segregation), rather than admit to an embarrassing mistake, apologize, and try to do better in the future. It's a conscious decision to avoid engaging with shame and empathy, which I think is more sinister than mere ignorance.
"And the fear and unwillingness to confront/admit are definitely facets of ignorance, I separate them from the initial ignorance because they're the fulcrum point between that fear/ignorance being reinforced or extinguished." Well observed.
I do recognise what you're saying here. In the UK, if someone is accused of being racist in the public space, the response is one extreme or the other: a fawning public apology which seems questionable in its sincerity or understanding and more of a PR stunt or the doubling-down defensiveness.
Then the incident and its response polarise the wider public into one camp or the other, increasing the sense of both offence and defence.
Missing are constructive conversations. Some of the defensiveness is in the position, 'There is nothing to talk about' and some of it is more like, 'Well even if you want to talk about it I don't want to hear.' I'd say this has become characteristic of every subject we've become polarised over.
Absolutely! Round and round we go…