Intolerance Exposed

So last night, my son, who is nearly fifteen, was talking with us about colleges, because his dad pointed out that in another year, he will be an entering junior in the fall, so will need to start thinking about where he wants to go to school.

Apart from needing to tamp down the obvious silent inner shriek that my baby boy is almost in college, I found it an interesting discussion.

We were talking about where he might like to go. The US, Canada, who knows?

My husband mentioned that there are many places that would seem familiar to him, but that if he went to say, Alabama, there would be some adjustments required. So I went ahead and opened my mouth and out popped my bias. I said something negative about Alabama, and the deep south in general, and while I tried to couch my criticism of the southern racist stereotype with historical precedents, my son saw right through it totally called me on it.

He said, "Aren't YOU over-generalizing and being prejudiced against THEM?" And he proceeded to absolutely trash my house of cards argument that there are more racists "down there". What do I really know about Alabama, anyway? Why am I so scared of Mississippi? (I had a friend who grew up there, and she told me scary stories.) (And yes, I love her, and think she's cool, and SHE'S FROM MISSISSIPPI, ergo, not everyone from Mississippi is ignorant or racist. It's so logical.)

So, really, who am I to criticize?

Yes, my son has lapped me in the rational argument department. He totally caught me in my own bias and ignorance.

I tried to pivot within the discussion, and tell him I was "intolerant of intolerance", but he said, "Well, then you're intolerant". And he's RIGHT.

I like to think I'm not that judgmental, but I'm judgy as shit. Maybe we all are.

Fortunately, we have the kids to call us out on our blind spots and massive overgeneralizations.

Thanks to my son, Emma Gonzalez, and other kids all over the world who are calling BS on our own negativity, judgments, and ignorance, I think we grown-ups need to shut up and listen.