First of all - I've followed you, becuase you are an excellent person to debate. I think when you get up some steam on Medium as a writer (if that's your intention) then you're going to be one to watch. This isn't flattery - I know we'll disagree and I always welcome respectful debate with intelligent people.
That article by Steve is a seminal work on Medium and I think will establish him as a voice on the platform for a long time to come. But this one https://level.medium.com/the-white-people-in-the-comments-b4232c7dac89 is more pertinent to what we're discussing.
It's not that the OP's original experience was invalid. I'm sure it was. It was the thought process which followed from it. Firstly that such an experience is indicative of an entire group of people. Secondly that receiving a large amount of operant conditioning for such a view reinforces the negative bias and makes dlalogue harder. it doesn't solve the problem - it simply shouts at others to correct it, whilst psychologically moving the OP away from a mindset where it can be solved. Questioning such an approach is an attempt to make racism less prevalent, not crush a marginalised voice. Marginalised voices can be mistaken - and I believe in this case, she was.
My commitment to equality is simply to call people out when I think they're wrong. If you're white and wrong you get called out. If you're black and wrong, you get called out. If you're trans and wrong... you get the picture. I debate people based on what they write and put out into the world because that's really the only thing they can be judged on. I felt the author's original article was powerfully written but drew an eroneous conclusion and I pointed it out. Her reaction to a dissenting voice was simply to accuse me of being a white supremacist and then for some reason I can't fathom, a sealion. She didn't want to discuss her world view, she wanted to play power games about who has the right to speak and who doesn't. This is a general problem with identity politics overall.
Those are not games I play. As long as the discourse is polite, everyone deserves a right to speak and a functioning society should reserve the right to question anyone who chooses to do so, regardless of who they are
Another reason I've chosen to follow you is that you called me out when I was wrong. You did it without being offensive and you did so comprehensively. I shouldn't have accused you of a bias against Republican white men you don't have. I was extrapolating from (a lot of) previous experiences in these conversations - the exact thing I called out in the original article. I know when I've fucked up. You're entirely right and I'm sorry. - that was wrong and you schooled me so much I'm likely going to write an article about it.
Let me know when you start writing articles on Medium and i will come and disagree with them if I think they're wrong. It seems, based on the limited information you've given me - that you're going to have a very individual and unique set of insights. I'm excited for you to start your Medium journey proper.
If you want to find out more about me. Here's an article https://medium.com/lucid-nightmare/the-person-behind-the-penguin-2cac54359a9b
