There are a number of locations that have reputations for being full of “nice” people, and regardless of what their history says or how they actively behave, they maintain that reputation. Even if there are marginalized populations who have completely different experiences, there will always be tons of beneficiaries who will insist that the population is “nice.” As the empire continues to be unveiled, people will be forced to contend with the reality that “nice” is merely defined as being compliant, and conforming with the dominant narrative.
When I was studying for a teacher certification exam, I mistakenly bought what I thought were helpful books to study. Unfortunately, not just me but almost everyone else who bought those books failed the exam because none of the material was on the test. Later, when I wrote a lesson plan for a program on KLRU, I compared the history in those books with the history I know to be true–meaning documented by multiple sources. None of the information was accurate, but it was indicative of the lies repeated by the dominant narrative, and hailed as gospel by the imperial conservative movement. In other words, that history was very “nice.”
People often have no tolerance for advocates not because they demand injustice, but because they despise being enlightened with truths that shake them out of their comfortable understanding. They will become either emotionally or physically violent when someone fails to repeat comforting lies, or interrupts them during these monologue recitals. In fact, people will endure hours of the same repeated stories that they know are false simply to avoid confronting their dishonesty. Everything and everyone that “confirms” their fantasies will be deemed as “nice.”
The South in the United States and Canada as a whole are two places where people enjoy saying that everyone and everything is “nice.” Both locations have an absurdly violent history and blatant racism that most people ignore, but because the beneficiaries of the lies enjoy them, no one truly confronts the liars. They cry over the burning of plantations and lament the “loss of history” when discussing land rights, but because they offer lemonade and/or poutine, people give them a pass as being “nice.” Because of this, there has been excessive emotional gaslighting over centuries with people who behave like monsters when backs are turned, but whip out a smile and a pie to manage their reputations.
As the empire collapses, it will become more important for people to be authentic because even if they are highly problematic, others will be kept safe. Nobody cares about “nice” anymore because “nice” offers nothing of substance. Pretending that smiles and parties will enact change is the same thing as believing that cancer will be cured without medical attention. We all need to start asking ourselves if we believe that being “nice” is more important than being a human being, and if we do, how we are compromising our humanity for the sake of conformity.
Chasing A Dying Empire 