Member-only story
Can I Get an Appetizer of Whitesplaining, Please?
Sheer ignorance that left me speechless
Her story left me speechless. When my best friend comes to visit me spontaneously, we have a lot to discuss. And more often than we would like, our conversations revolve around old white men who explain the world to us and tell us how to feel about it at the same time.
I am looking forward to a time where unsolicited mansplaining and whitesplaining are a thing of the past.
The subsequent unpleasant encounter between my white best friend and a co-worker of her father has hallmarks of both. She told me about her father’s birthday party, which can be safely described as a celebration of horror. Among the invitees at the party was a 60-year-old average Swiss guy with enviably high ignorance levels. While he had no shame to drop the N-word in the middle of a conversation, he dared to ignore my friend calling him out together with her sister. They were both furious and wanted to talk sense to the guy. However, he found nothing wrong with it and did not attempt to take their concerns seriously.
Moreover, it was okay to use the word in his mind because he had learned it in Sunday school. Therefore, he saw no reason to adjust his rhetoric. But he did however like the way the sister were engaging in conversations.
