It’s impossible to live in the world we live in, a society that is inherently racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, transphobic, etc, without internalizing some bigotry. Even the most “woke” person will have had to overcome those internal assumptions and bigotries. These are really hard things to discuss, because we feel like ever believing something -ist makes us permanently awful, but accepting these faults and overcoming them is part of the basic work of making society better.
So, let’s have that uncomfortable talk. What assumptions did you used to have that were rooted in ignorance? What bigoted things did you used to believe about people or groups of people? What are you still working to overcome?
A couple of ground rules before we get started:
- A trigger warning applies to this whole discussion. Since we’ll be discussing ideas built on ignorance and bigotry, people might mention awful and harmful beliefs they used to hold. Be prepared to see those things mentioned.
- People are meant to be talking about things they used to believe or are working on overcoming. To that end, please try not to shame people for those past faults.
- That being said, if you’re still working on an issue, please don’t expect people directly harmed by that issue to be there to educate you in this thread.