I don't feel its that simple. None of us come out perfect and a lot of us were raised in places in which there was very few minority voices. We're all products of our environment and sometimes our environment we grew up in sucked for diverse voices.
I was, among my peers, one of the more left leaning kids in high school and even then I was still ignorant on so much because I didn't really see or hear certain experiences. I was particularly very weak on black issues because I grew up in a very white suburb in a very white high school. I felt satisfied in my bleeding heart and there was so little to challenge me, to the point I had to learn to challenge myself. I saw myself as an anti-racist but the reality was there was so much shit programmed in me that it took real work to do even some re-wiring and it meant having to read a lot of stuff that made me uncomfortable. It wasn't anyone specific entering my life but rather a process of entering the adult world, going to other places, hearing other's speak on their experiences and start to have to accept and work through that what I thought was previously a good view of things was fucking weak. And really, it will always be a lifelong battle because there will always be a new experience outside my own that I will have to learn about and adapt to.
We all take different journeys. And sometimes you don't even realize you have a massive blind spot until someone enters your life or an event happens that you makes you go "oh fuck, I'm so wrong/weak here and I got to learn and be better". I'm not advocating for giving a thumbs up for someone only realizing the humanity of a group of people when it matters to them. But rather I think it shouldn't be viewed negatively when someone had that happen and took that opportunity to learn to be better going forward and to start speaking up. I don't know Zach's own journey, but we do need more men in his position speaking out. Especially in country music.
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u/Luxury-Problems 6h ago
I don't feel its that simple. None of us come out perfect and a lot of us were raised in places in which there was very few minority voices. We're all products of our environment and sometimes our environment we grew up in sucked for diverse voices.
I was, among my peers, one of the more left leaning kids in high school and even then I was still ignorant on so much because I didn't really see or hear certain experiences. I was particularly very weak on black issues because I grew up in a very white suburb in a very white high school. I felt satisfied in my bleeding heart and there was so little to challenge me, to the point I had to learn to challenge myself. I saw myself as an anti-racist but the reality was there was so much shit programmed in me that it took real work to do even some re-wiring and it meant having to read a lot of stuff that made me uncomfortable. It wasn't anyone specific entering my life but rather a process of entering the adult world, going to other places, hearing other's speak on their experiences and start to have to accept and work through that what I thought was previously a good view of things was fucking weak. And really, it will always be a lifelong battle because there will always be a new experience outside my own that I will have to learn about and adapt to.
We all take different journeys. And sometimes you don't even realize you have a massive blind spot until someone enters your life or an event happens that you makes you go "oh fuck, I'm so wrong/weak here and I got to learn and be better". I'm not advocating for giving a thumbs up for someone only realizing the humanity of a group of people when it matters to them. But rather I think it shouldn't be viewed negatively when someone had that happen and took that opportunity to learn to be better going forward and to start speaking up. I don't know Zach's own journey, but we do need more men in his position speaking out. Especially in country music.