There’s no one for whom that doesn’t suck. The very act of seeking to empathize with a fellow human being, when done from a place of privilege, can be hurtful. It’s upsetting to recognize the pain, frustration, and anger in those who write lists of “ 8 Things Transgender People Do Not Owe You.” Or “ 10 Things You Shouldn’t Say to Someone Who Uses a Wheelchair.” Or “ 29 Stupid Things White People Do.” I confess to being snared by the “gotcha” in the title of Charles Davis’s Vice column, “ ‘Microaggression’ Is a Stupid Word You Should Take Seriously.” And this wonderful Everyday Feminism article-in which Jennifer Loubriel (a Woman of Color) gently, firmly, and very effectively supports a “ no white tears” rule for cross-cultural conversations-was a difficult, difficult read.
And that makes me both profoundly sad, and profoundly grateful. I simply can’t speak from the perspective of a black person, or of a woman, or of an immigrant, no matter how many (trigger warning) “friends” I have in any of those groups. īecause, while I believe conversations about “isms” are crucial in the world right now, the white, US-native, able-bodied, cis male, mainline-Christian-turned-Unitarian-Universalist, upper-middle-class perspective is the only perspective I have. And, occasionally, I do it right here in the (ahem) “privacy” of my own website, where anyone in the world can read it, even if they’ve never met me before and have no idea what a delightfully quirky and fabulously nuanced human being I am. I’ve been known to comment on race (from a white perspective), nationalism (from a US-native perspective), physical disability (from an able-bodied perspective), gender identity (from a cis male perspective), religion (from a mainline-Christian-turned-Unitarian-Universalist perspective), and socioeconomics (from an upper-middle-class perspective). I say a lot of things I have no right to say.
Alfred’s Essentials of Music Theory Ear Training.
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