““Yeah, I migrated after the regime change, when we went from far right to far left and
Was that in the early 80s? Sorry, my knowledge on African history is close to zero . You must have been a kid then.”
Was that in the early 80s? Sorry, my knowledge on African history is close to zero . You must have been a kid then.”
I was 15 — in 1984. Anyway not quite a kid. But I tell you there were a lot of differences and people had become quite petty in the new (old?) world, which was something I have never adjusted to. Also it was very hard to move from an objective basis for ethics to a subjective one. If I encapsulate it, I can say this was the core problem relating to all of my cultural and social difficulties. Because you can’t just point something out and say, “This is obviously a problem, so how about fixing it?” You have to emote really heavily, but not just in any way but in the expected way, or in a calculated way, so that others come to your rescue. I never could do this. it was never quite right. I didn’t have those ready-made culturally appropriate emotions to bring up to the surface at the right time. The verdicts kept going against me in every instance — and I do mean in single one. And now I’ve just given up. I can’t “do” Western culture with its requisite right balance of emotion to get things done. I can speak directly, like “This, A, B or C is a problem.” But I can’t make it SEEM a problem through my correct apportionment of emotion.
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