Fact Check Me: Why the Hell Are We Still Doing This?
Why are we still dealing with racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia — and whatever new acronym we tack onto the list next year? The letters aren’t the issue. The hate is. And the hate hasn’t evolved nearly as much as the cameras on our phones.
We’re in the 21st century.
People have 8K TVs where you can count the pores on an actor’s forehead, but somehow they still see other human beings with the same blurry, old-timey lens people used a hundred years ago.
All these “isms” and “phobias” — they didn’t start from fear.
They started from superiority.
“I’m better than you because I said so.”
“I’m the standard, you’re the deviation.”
“You adjust to me.”
Classic colonialism.
Missionaries showing up with the arrogance of someone who thinks God is their real-estate agent.
But then the world got smaller.
Cultures collided.
Travel exploded.
The internet erased borders.
Suddenly, you couldn’t pretend “those people” were alien when their food was in your fridge, their music was in your playlist, and their memes were better than yours.
Superiority stopped working.
So the powers that be switched to something much stronger:
Fear.
Superiority makes you an asshole.
Fear makes you a “concerned citizen.”
Fear makes cruelty sound like protection.
Fear makes hate look like caution.
You’re no longer saying,
“I’m better.”
You’re saying,
“I’m scared.”
And fear gets a free pass every time.
People aren’t taught to be superior anymore.
They’re taught to be afraid — of losing their jobs, their culture, their identity, their kids, their place in the world.
Fear turns difference into danger.
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Culture: The New Battleground
The hardest racists left don’t judge by skin.
That’s the minor leagues.
They judge by culture.
Accent.
Religion.
Clothing.
How someone cooks, prays, laughs, or raises their kids.
They say,
“They don’t act like us,”
as if there’s a single correct template for being human.
And here’s the part that should embarrass them:
They hate the culture while eating the food,
watching the shows,
using the slang,
and dancing to the music.
“Oh, I love their food and their movies and their jokes —
but the guy’s a Muslim so obviously he’s dangerous.”
Get out of here.
People weren’t born fearing Islam.
They were raised hearing,
“They’re all running around the desert dreaming of atrocities against the infidels.”
Meanwhile, those same “terrifying” people are thinking about rent,
about getting their kid to sleep,
about how overpriced groceries are,
about their aging parents,
about work,
about life.
You know what they’re not thinking about?
You, Susan.
And when they’re chatting on the bus in Arabic or Farsi or Urdu, they’re not plotting the fall of Western civilization.
They’re swapping recipes.
They’re talking shit about work.
They’re laughing about their cousin who still hasn’t proposed.
If anything?
The moment Susan interrupts them with her nervous, “What are you talking about?”
the next thing they say — in perfect, poetic Arabic — is going to be an absolute roast of Susan herself.
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Religion? Oh, You Went There
People love to talk about Christianity like it’s the global default.
It’s not.
Islam is the most practiced religion in the world.
People aren’t converting because they want virgins in heaven.
They convert because they want structure, community, belonging, clarity, discipline, hope — things modern life has completely failed to provide.
You don’t have to be religious to understand why religion works.
It fills a void.
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And Homophobia… Please
Ask someone about gay people and they’ll shrug,
“Yeah, they’re fine.”
But mention trans people,
1% of the population,
and suddenly everyone’s a bathroom engineer.
If we cared this much about bathrooms, they’d be clean.
Japan already solved the whole damn thing.
Their philosophy is simple:
“Everyone poops. It’s gross. Let’s make it a clean, private, comfortable experience.”
Meanwhile, the West is still locked in a Victorian mindset, terrified of its own body, clutching pearls like it’s 1890.
You don’t solve discomfort by avoiding it.
You solve it by leaning into it.
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So Why Are We Still Here?
Because hate didn’t disappear —
it got upgraded.
Superiority was the old software.
Fear is the new operating system.
Fear is profitable.
Fear is political.
Fear is easy.
And most people choose “easy” every time.
The truth is simple:
You can only hate a culture if you’ve never actually met it.
Once you have?
You realize everyone’s just trying to get through the damn day.