The rules have in common a focus on other people rather than the narrow focus of our own self-interests that we find so prevalent today. Fussy or not, they represent more than just manners. They are the small sacrifices that we should all be willing to make for the good of all and the sake of living together.
This was pretty interesting.
What ‘Microaggressions’ Sound Like
A sampling of language and behaviors called “microaggressions,” provided to Clark University students, that universities are urging students to avoid.
“You are a credit to your race.”
Showing surprise when a “feminine” woman says she is a lesbian.
When a nonwhite faculty member is mistaken for a service worker.
Telling a nonwhite woman, “I would have never guessed that you were a scientist.”
“What are you? You are so interesting looking.”
“Of course he’ll get tenure, even though he hasn’t published much — he’s black.”
“What’s an environmental microaggression?” Ms. Marlowe asked the auditorium of about 525 new students. She gave an example. “On your first day of class, you enter the chemistry building and all of the pictures on the wall are scientists who are white and male,” she said. “If you’re a female, or you just don’t identify as a white male, that space automatically shows that you’re not represented.”
A nonverbal microaggression could be when a white woman clutches her purse as a black or Latino person approaches.
Another subset of microaggression is known as the microinvalidation, which includes comments suggesting that race plays a minor role in life’s outcomes, like “Everyone can succeed in this society if they work hard enough.”
2016.10.10 - American Dream Reconsidered 2016: A Conversation with Peter Thiel