By: u/Crafter235

This has been something I have wondered about for a while, and while bigots and accepting people can exist in any generation, I just cannot help but notice how this is so prominent amongst a lot of Gen X.

From J.K. Rowling to Ricky Gervais to Dave Chappelle, I notice how people seem shocked that entertainers and creators that promote themselves as progressive turned out to be bigoted assholes, but when looking back in retrospect, it seems that there were a lot of red flags, or at least signs that they were fakers.

And yet, they got away with so much of just being “a product of their time”, but when looking at the bigger picture, it’s hard not to realize that it seems like it was so easy to pretend to be a progressive ally, and way too easy to be accepted and worshipped.

I mean, look at all those “brave” stories of writers going through so much just to have a vague 5-second moment of a gay kiss and being seen as some sort of revolutionary.

Of course for something so simple, they could easily hide their bigotry if standards are so low.

Why was this, and why such gullibility?

  • TexasDrunk@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    9 days ago

    I agree that communication is incredibly helpful better than 99% of the time. But I’m going to play devil’s advocate here for a moment.

    I was raised in a casually racist town. Not maliciously, at least not that I saw. It was more “that’s just the way they are” and less “they’re lesser and evil and should be subjugated or eliminated” (that was a few towns over). I’m making the distinction because, while the end result comes down to the same thing the place where it comes from is entirely different. So I carried some of those attitudes and said some heinous shit out of ignorance. This would have been in the 90s and early 00s. But as I got out into the wide world, went into the military, and met people from all walks of life I realized I wasn’t just meeting a few “good ones”. People of color were just like me. Humans with strengths and flaws, open minds and biases, triumphs and defeats. So I changed the way I thought and acted.

    I wouldn’t want that following me around for my entire life because some folks (especially online) really act like people aren’t allowed to grow and change. But I still believe more information is better than less.

    I don’t know that there’s a real point to be found in that mess I just spewed. But I felt compelled so you all have to suffer the things that go through my head with me.