Neither of these characters know what that means because John Deering and John Newcombe don’t know what it means. And it’s not even a difficult concept. “Micro” meaning small, “aggression” meaning a hostile act. The word is used to describe the many small acts that, each on their own, seem too insignificant to worry about or call out but which, added together, form a pattern that makes a person’s life measurably worse.
For example, if one person calls you by the wrong name one time, you’d probably let that go. It’s a simple mistake that means nothing. If half the people you meet call you by the wrong name half the time then, to you, it is a recurring issue that will bother you more and more every time it happens. But to each of those people, each instance is still only one little mistake that you shouldn’t get worked up over. The difference between their perspective and yours makes any reaction on your part seem justified to you but wildly disproportionate to them. That’s what makes microaggressions so insidious.
Neither of these characters know what that means because John Deering and John Newcombe don’t know what it means. And it’s not even a difficult concept. “Micro” meaning small, “aggression” meaning a hostile act. The word is used to describe the many small acts that, each on their own, seem too insignificant to worry about or call out but which, added together, form a pattern that makes a person’s life measurably worse.
For example, if one person calls you by the wrong name one time, you’d probably let that go. It’s a simple mistake that means nothing. If half the people you meet call you by the wrong name half the time then, to you, it is a recurring issue that will bother you more and more every time it happens. But to each of those people, each instance is still only one little mistake that you shouldn’t get worked up over. The difference between their perspective and yours makes any reaction on your part seem justified to you but wildly disproportionate to them. That’s what makes microaggressions so insidious.