There are No Such Things as “Micro-Aggressions”

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Come at me Bro

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Over the past several years, the term “micro-aggressions” has become widely used, particularly in that of leftist media and college campuses. For anyone that isn’t a minority and hasn’t tossed this term around with stories of commiseration, here’s a simple explanation -

The term, initially was popularized by psychologist Derald Wing Sue who defines it as -

Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.

Sue uses simple examples to highlight the claim such as someone using the adjective “gay” to describe a poor situation or a white woman clutching her purse when a black or latino man walks by. They can be innocuous from the point of view of the sayer or doer but deeply uncomfortable depending on who is receiving the message.

In layman’s terms, they are the little/seeming invisible offenses that come about because one person isn’t aware and sensitive to potentially negative reception of another. Common ones are “are you from North or South Korea?” or “what language do you speak at home?” Sometimes simple assumptions like experience and exposure can be considered micro-aggressions.

If you ask any particular minority (religious, sexual-preference, ethnic), they’ll all have an “of course I’ve experienced that” reply. Much of it bleeds into stereotypes that everyone faces at some point, even majorities like Christian white citizens in the US. A major part of living in a multi-racial society is the constant friction between people who mean no others harm but cannot 100% empathize.

Which segues into my major argument for today.

These are Not Aggressions

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I’ll start with the rationale for dismissing this idea altogether. Like I’ve explained, I completely recognize the existence of these discomforting experiences and we must all be understanding when these experiences are expressed by individuals. But the biggest issue in creating a term like “micro-aggressions” is that it mutates that experience, most of which is not malicious in any way, into an act of aggression by another person. The person who stated the word or phrase then becomes a perpetrator in the eyes of the perpetrated.

And this is just flatly incorrect. An “aggressive” action literally denotes the intent for a person to be “forceful” and willfully enact confrontation. Aggressiveness is a purposeful behavior that is meant to achieve an aim. And a misinterpretation of aggression is not actual aggression.

Simple example. If I am cross with someone after an argument, I can choose to be aggressive and perform an aggressive action like slamming a door. Others will likely understand my mood and recognize the door-slamming as a purposeful act done to intimidate, frighten, exert dominance, disturb others, and so forth. However, if I, without an evident emotion or negative scenario, accidentally slam a door - maybe it was surprisingly heavy, maybe I was too inebriated to be sensitive, or maybe it was a simple accident - everyone in witness should understand full well that it was not an act of aggression. Again, the qualification in aggression is in intent. If the intent isn’t aggressive, there is no actual aggression.

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This is where words matter tremendously. “Micro-aggressions” are often blurred into the realm of “racism” and racial slurs. These are very different. Racist/bigoted activity is meant to harm or demean someone intentionally. No one will ever scream the N-word unless they’re mentally ill or more likely be trying to demean someone of a darker skin tone. Accidentally offending someone is not aggression.

Crimeless Victims

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The more problematic aspect is far more severe than some linguistic misuse. Because we’ve wrapped this word into mainstream culture, we’re encouraging more people to assume that these moments of discomfort and misunderstanding are legitimate acts of aggression from one person to another. We are being inculcated to believe that a lack of understanding is equivalent to bigotry and hatred. Many people simply do not know that North Koreans are almost completely forbidden from leaving their dictator-run country. A question of whether I am from the North or South may seem silly, may seem even mildly offensive, but it does not make a person who is uninformed an aggressor. That is a very dangerous outlook on people.

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And so I want to formally push back on this rhetoric. “Micro-aggressions” are a boogeyman, conjured up for political purposes and personal gain. They do not exist, yet maintaining their supposed existence in mainstream discourse makes us into feeble, over-sensitized victims in cases where there was no aggression.

So that’s me for today. Let me know your thoughts below.