"A small group" is responsible for all that ails DU

[BellaKos]

28. KitSileya

I was addressing BainsBane specifically, who wrote sweeping generalizations about a segment of DU members.

That said, I didn't participate in those threads that seem to be the root of the controversy here, because somehow I knew that they would contain a mishmash of accusations.

But if you did try to educate -- explain why certain comments, phrases, nuanced remarks, pictures, activities, organizations, etc. -- are insensitive, thoughtless, and offensive, then I commend you. If what you got in return was determined, narrow-minded ignorance, then consider the source and move on. Willful ignorance cannot be penetrated with education regardless of the intention.

But all I am saying is that to dismiss people based on the assumption that he or she is being deliberately cruel, as some here seem to do frequently, is a rush to judgment -- especially within the *context* of a community of progressives. Culture, background, experience, and parents embed a point of view, a perspective, within the first three years of life. That childhood imprint sits within the subconscious for a lifetime and will leak out occasionally, regardless to what extent one has embraced a progressive philosophy, intellectually. It takes constant work, education, travel, and a cold, hard, honest self-review to *unlearn* the impressions of that imprint. And I've never seen anyone in my life -- even among the well-educated and well-known -- who have been able to overcome that imprint effectively. No one on earth is perfectly, politically correct.

I say give people a break.