Microagressions

A quick Google Scholar search for the term “Microaggressions” yields over 30,000 results. Apparently universities are interested in counting all the ways humans can hate and fail one another.

I’ve got a strong sense that Microaggressions are a symptom of a culture with a grievance economy. Regular social currency such as “likes” on various platforms, communal support, and retaliation are continuously offered for different degrees of offense experienced and shared. Microaggressions reinforce the notion that people are ill-informed, ill-intentioned, and have little power over the inner states they experience in response to others.

This has massive implications for the development of individual identity. A child raised under the premise that every action with someone of a different race contains aggression, like many studies are suggesting, would become hostile and distrusting.

In what ways is it beneficial for society to know how many ways we can inflict suffering? It seems a better use of the researcher’s time, knowledge, and resources to study the conditions people of different cultures thrive together.

What about a study for micro-expressions? Something like: “How best to show admiration in nuanced ways to foster connection and societal harmony across cultures?”

A society where humans flourish promotes forgiveness of human nature and folly. It urges all individuals to cultivate an inner space where they have refuge from the actions of others. It acknowledges all humans’ basic needs for food, shelter, safety, and belonging. It educates with compassion and mindfulness. It doesn’t adopt misanthropic and bitter concepts as truth.