isms

Me:  "Please stop doing this to me. It's offensive, makes me uncomfortable, challenges my rights and personhood."

Them: "But we've always done this."

Me:  "I know, and it's always been a problem, so I'm asking you to stop."

Them:  "But, it's not hurting anything."

Me:  "No, it actually does hurt me, and countless others. Here are 12,684,597 links to editorials, charts, graphs, news stories, statistics, surveys, and op-eds to prove it."

Them:  "Nah, I think you're overreacting."

Me:  "Did you read the info provided in the link?"

Them:  "They're overreacting too."

Me:  "Why is this genuine reaction so hard for you to accept?"

Them:  "Because it changes the way *I* have to think/feel/act and I don't want to do that." (never said, but what I suspect is the problem.)

What's actually said:

Them:  "Because you're overreacting! And here's a tangential comment that has nothing to do with the issue we were actually talking about!!"

Every conversation about racism and sexism I've ever had via social media.

Every. Single. One. SMMFH