Yes! I said this once in a comment on another person’s article. They were pointing fingers at white people for being - among other things - defensive. I said “I don’t apologize for being ‘defensive’ if it means pushing back against unfair accusations of racism and privilege…” “Defensive” is one of those words that’s become a mantra among the crowd you talk about against their opponents, much like “ignorant” and the other word you mention, “fragility.”

I’ve had those thrown at me many times, and yes I’ve had my feelings written off because of assumptions made about my experience. The very reason I write against so-called “woke” culture is because even if I am the person with a heart murmur, that doesn’t make it any more right for the person with a heart defect to blame and dismiss me. An analogy I’ve used before is this: a wealthy or middle-class person may not know what it’s like for the poor person who robs people at gunpoint, but they probably still know that robbing people at gunpoint is wrong.

Excellent piece, Anthony. Thanks for writing this.