Let’s Talk Microaggression

Joe Biden recently made a claim that he was bringing back sensitivity and diversity training but that was an untruth from our dear President. Joe Biden brought back the unethical and divisive teaching of Critical Theory. There has always been a place for sensitivity and diversity training in the United States. It’s important to understand the distinction. You can read more about CRT here but let’s focus on microaggression.

Microaggression is a popular word that you may hear in a diversity or sensitivity training session.

Websters defines a microaggression as “a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority).”

A person can be guilty of committing a microaggression even if the offended party is unaware that they could be offended. In woke/critical ideology offending someone is a huge dagger to their sense of being and they may even use the term “spirit-murder.” Dwelling on an offense as they suggest is actually not healthy. In the Bible, it says that we should step over an offense. Throughout our lives, we can choose to step into an offense and become ensnared by it. Mentally dwelling on the mistakes of others will drive a person mad with bitterness.

If you have the time, check out this sermon from a local church on being ensnared by an offense. Christ Church Of The Valley did a four-part series on training people to step over an offense and it is worth a listen after the 4.5 min mark. Key verses from can be Luke 17:1 where Jesus tells us that offenses will happen in life. Another focal verse is Proverbs 19:11.

The woke crowd weaponize the word microaggression because they assign motive to every faux pas. Critical ideologies say that microaggressions are committed due to internalized racism. They project an ideal onto people that is inappropriate for various reasons.

It’s not helpful to make false accusations of racism. Diversity and sensitivity training alone should be a unifying and educational activity. This training becomes divisive when they include critical theory which tries to explain every interaction through a lens of racism.

Most of life’s interactions cannot be interpreted through a lens of racism. For example, Critical Theory would have you believe that every mundane activity that a white person engages in down to breathing and brushing their teeth is an act of white supremacy. It is helpful to look at interactions from a Biblical perspective.

Here you can watch a secular perspective. Tanya TKO is a worldly counselor. You can read through the comments and see that she is pulling her audience into an offense.

My parents went on a trip to China a few years ago and they experienced some international microaggression. Their entire trip was quite a learning experience. They went to Beijing and bought shirts that said, “I heart BJ.” The innuendo went completely over their heads and they proudly posted themselves wearing their new shirts in their Facebook profiles.

Other comedy ensued in their various travels to tourist attractions. Chinese people stopped them and asked them to take a picture with my dad. They are not sure why people wanted to take a photo with my dad, but they thought that perhaps it was because he looked so different from the average Chinese person. My parents found the incident to be a comical addition to their trip. They could have chosen to be offended or projected inaccurate reasoning onto the local Chinese. My parents chose to see the humor in the situation rather than think that the Chinese people hated them or thought negatively of Americans

It’s not all bad

I have sat through sensitivity training myself and it is becoming a popular addition to large company policy. These types of training often make people aware of things that others may find offensive. Unintended insults could potentially impact profit margins so there is a practical application for this training. Large companies typically have their employees avoid any offense.

I’ll list a few items that are covered in this type of teaching that will give you a flavor of these trainings.

Diversity training may teach people to avoid certain phrases. One example might be the phrase “cotton-picking” which is used as a replacement phrase for swearing. It essentially means darn. The phrase “cotton-picking minute” refers to an older phrase that is still in use in the United States. Most people that use it say it without even considering the origin or implications. Cotton-picking was an activity that slaves would do in early America so this phrase may be offensive to people of African descent.

Sensitivity training covers word choices that people find offensive regardless of race. Some people choose to use terms of endearment like, sweetie, baby, honey, doll instead of using a person’s real name. People tend to do this with elderly people, but many people find it offensive. Sometimes when people choose these types of words, they use them as an intentional put-down. People can get quite offended when they believe that they are being talked down to.

There is value in these types of trainings because people may be offending others unintentionally and without realizing it. These offenses would fall under the category of microaggression and many are easily avoidable.

Its not possible or realistic to elminite all insults. Offensive is a part of life but we have control over how we react to it.

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