I've also often seen it used to dismiss other points of view. 'You couldn't understand because of your privilege'
"I realize African Americans have been subject to red lining and segregation and hiring and health care discrimination legally within the lives of many posters here, and continue to be discriminated against illegally in some ways. And how those affects and the affects of the centuries of being shat on before that didn't vanish overnight with the passing of the civil rights acts, and leave a collective mountain of familial wealth disparity. But what really hurts is that once in a while folks on the internet tell me I can't understand something because I'm white."
Repeat for Asian Americans with laws making it illegal for them to immigrate or become citizens, and Hispanic Americans and differences in treatment for immigration and language assimilation compared to groups immigrating from Europe who also ran churches and businesses in their native languages for decades, and Native Americans who were repeatedly shoved off their land by faux treaties. And how it's mean when they tell folks who aren't a racial or ethnic minority how they just can't understand
Repeat for women who couldn't have their own credit cards and could be legally raped by their husbands until many of our lifetimes and a plethora of previous and ongoing things... And that it's awful how some women hurt men once in a while by saying they can't understand.
And repeat for folks who identify as LGBTQ+ for whom it was illegal to have sex in some states during the lifetime of almost everyone posting on here and where several major presidential candidates have publicly gone to events with folks supporting the murder of LGBTQ+ folks in other countries in the last decade. And how the important thing is to remember how painful it is for cis-het folks to sometimes be told they just can't understand.
And repeat for folks with various disabilities who still have to go to court to get the ADA enforced and who still can't get places to give accessible web content and have trouble with schools having the staff follow 504 plans. And how mean it is when someone with a disability exasperatedly tell folks without disabilities how they just can't understand.
And repeat for those suffering intergenerational poverty who are shat on like they always are in terms of quality of schools and healthcare and numerous other things. And how the real problem is impoverished folks telling those with more money that they just can't understand.
Won't someone think of the folks being told they can't understand!
Won't everyone else stop talking about their pain and let me talk about mine right now!
I wish we could just make it all get better. :-(
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