{"id":7251,"date":"2011-09-21T15:50:43","date_gmt":"2011-09-21T19:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/deaconsbench\/?p=7251"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:37:06","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:37:06","slug":"from-the-balkans-to-the-ghetto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/09\/from-the-balkans-to-the-ghetto\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Balkans to the ghetto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Anchoress hits the nail on the head<\/strong> <\/a>this afternoon, as only she can:<\/p>\n

The increased Balkanization of our society<\/strong> \u2014 with everyone hanging out in echo chambers peopled primarily by those who agree with everyone else \u2014 is settling us into ghetto mentalities. I once had a Catholic Mom express concern to me that her kids admired a flamboyantly \u201cg-a-y\u201d singer, and she didn\u2019t know what to think about that, or what to tell them, since \u201cwe don\u2019t know any people like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in the ghetto next door, of course, there are gays who have nothing good to say about \u201cChristian conservatives\u201d because they don\u2019t actually know any people like that. A family member once brought a gay friend to an Eagle Scout ceremony. He\u2019d prepared to walk into a lion\u2019s den of growling, spitting haters, and instead found himself told to get comfortable by a bunch of firefighters doing ceremonials and middle-aged moms fighting over the coffee urn, none of whom cared about his eyeliner.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to simmer in the ghetto, easy to get comfortable with assumptions, stereotypes, paranoias and fears, because there is nothing to challenge them. Actually\u00a0meeting<\/em> the people we think we know all about (gay people; \u201cillegal\u201d immigrants who have been here for twenty years, the progressive blogger everyone told you was a meanie, but is just worried; the conservative who seems so terse but is just shy) getting to know them, working with them, agreeing on some things, disagreeing on others \u2014 when you do that, suddenly the \u201cother\u201d is a person struggling along, just like you, being battered in some ways, soaring in others. That\u2019s when caricatures crumble.<\/p>\n

And others, of course, culled from the same groups, are just miserable bastards you can\u2019t do much about but kiss \u2018em up to God, and move on.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To find out what sparked this insight, read the rest. <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Anchoress hits the nail on the head this afternoon, as only she can: The increased Balkanization of our society \u2014 with everyone hanging out in echo chambers peopled primarily by those who agree with everyone else \u2014 is settling us into ghetto mentalities. I once had a Catholic Mom express concern to me that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-great-links"],"yoast_head":"\nFrom the Balkans to the ghetto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Anchoress hits the nail on the head this afternoon, as only she can: The increased Balkanization of our society \u2014 with everyone hanging out in echo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/09\/from-the-balkans-to-the-ghetto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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