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PaperclipPerfector  20d ago (text post)   33828 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 15, 2025

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I think microaggravators and microaggressions are distinct, and separately meaningful concepts; oftentimes the former is mistaken for the latter, but equally, the latter has every incentive to disguise itself as the former. A microaggression properly understood is a deliberately microaggravating comment, knowingly pitched by the offending party as a subtle enough thing that it has inherent plausible deniability and affords them the ability to deny any ill intent while still getting the satisfaction of making the receiving party momentarily uncomfortable. This is clearly a thing people do, separate from the phenomenon of irritating people through genuine thoughtlessness.

I find that there is more incentive for people to disguise the former as the latter, as evidenced by the vast majority of the examples that people give for the latter are clearly just disguised versions of the former.

FWIW, Wikipedia explicitly disagrees with you, calling out in the very first sentence that it can be "intentional or unintentional".

EDIT: Some quotes from that Wiki article:

In contrast to aggression, in which there is usually an intent to cause harm, persons making microagressive comments may be otherwise well-intentioned and unaware of the potential impact of their words.

They are thought to spring from unconsciously held prejudices and beliefs which may be demonstrated consciously or unconsciously through daily interactions.

Because microaggressions are subtle and perpetrators may be unaware of the harm they cause...

I think that depends on how you define "intentionally". Certainly some activists emphasize the "unconscious" angle, but as your second quote block shows, the idea is still that the microaggression is stemming from genuinely-if-perhaps-subconsciously-held prejudices. I don't think a genuinely coincidentally aggravating turn of phrase would properly count as a microaggression even by the more expansive definition Wikipedia puts forward, although, of course, this is a hard thing to prove, perhaps by design.

I think that depends on how you define "intentionally".

I mean, please try? Sketch out some plausible definitions that reconcile your presented distinction and what is in the Wiki article.

the idea is still that the microaggression is stemming from genuinely-if-perhaps-subconsciously-held prejudices

Possibly so. That's a far cry from your distinction that:

A microaggression properly understood is a deliberately microaggravating comment, knowingly pitched by the offending party as a subtle enough thing that it has inherent plausible deniability and affords them the ability to deny any ill intent while still getting the satisfaction of making the receiving party momentarily uncomfortable. [emphasis in original]

You call out both deliberate and knowing as primary parts of your definition. You possibly even require specific intent behind the statement (plausible deniability and satisfaction from the receiving party's discomfort).

I don't think a genuinely coincidentally aggravating turn of phrase would properly count as a microaggression even by the more expansive definition Wikipedia puts forward, although, of course, this is a hard thing to prove, perhaps by design.

I think this is pretty obviously not true in the case of the Wiki definition. I think you either need to just say that Wikipedia (and most purveyors of the term) are just wrong on this... that many of the things that they think are in the category of "microaggression" should be properly understood to be in the category of "microaggravator" (namely, the ones that lack at least some of your qualifiers of deliberate, knowing, intent of plausible deniability, and/or satisfaction from the receiving party's discomfort)... or you need to do some actual work to reconcile things.

A microaggression properly understood is a deliberately microaggravating comment, knowingly pitched by the offending party as a subtle enough thing that it has inherent plausible deniability and affords them the ability to deny any ill intent while still getting the satisfaction of making the receiving party momentarily uncomfortable.

No, this is a misunderstanding of what microaggression means. A microagression, by definition, requires no intent or deliberation on the part of the aggressor. The fact that it's made with good faith effort to be decent or positive is the defining factor that makes something a microaggression. An act similar to a microaggression, but made deliberately with intent to have plausible deniability is generally called "being passive-aggressive" and has been considered rude generally long before the concept of microaggressions were invented.

The key thing about "microaggressions" is that they're entirely dependent on the mind state of the person who believes they've been micro aggressed upon, and, as such, provides unlimited leeway by which people who have been labeled "oppressed" can accuse anyone else of being oppressive via microaggression.

This is why, eg a classic example of a microaggression is a woman grabbing her purse more tightly when a black man walks into the subway car, which is a microaggression regardless of if she noticed that he had entered, noticed he was black, or if she was holding her purse closer for independent reasons. If the man perceived that action as being an act of stereotyping him as a potential mugger based on his race, then the woman has certainly committed a microagression on him.

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