"Letās take that number-one narrative, which is I was taught to treat everyone the same. You know, actually no one was - or could be taught to treat everyone the same. We canāt do it. We donāt do it."
"A white progressive generally believes niceness is all that it takes. As long as Iām nice and friendly, Iām finished. And niceness not only is not courageous. But niceness is not going to get racism on the table."
"Our opinions generally have emotional rather than intellectual roots, and indeed rationality largely functions as a post hoc justification. Our political opinions, ultimately, are what we feel about the world, not what we think about it. And in turn, our opinions about particular events have a lot to do with how we feel about the world in general. Itās not an exaggeration to say that most peopleās views about the kind of things that happen today are extensions of concerns of their own ego. And consequently, invitations to change their minds because new facts emerge, or because old ideas are discredited by new evidence, are in fact a threat to the strength and even survival of that ego."
"But few people, especially those who have received a decent education, want to acknowledge that their views are based on emotion and not reason. They therefore try to argue".