Have YOU been accused of microaggressions??

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A "micro-aggression" is a small insult. By definition, it's not a big thing -- in and of itself.

However, if you are on the receiving end of lots and lots of micro-aggressions, especially as part of a larger general pattern of being treated disrespectfully by mainstream society as a whole, then they add up to one big thing.

Hence the big deal about micro-aggressions in today's world, where various marginalized groups who previously felt compelled to suffer in silence now feel much freer to ask to be treated with dignity and respect.

Given the Western world's history of imperialism these past several centuries, lots of insulting assumptions about other peoples have been baked in to Western culture -- sometimes to our own great detriment. (For example, had white Americans deigned, earlier, to pay more respectful attention to Indigenous American oral histories, then perhaps we might have realized, earlier, that the Pacific Northwest is prone to occasional gigantic earthquakes and tsunamis.)

What's new is that a lot of traditional Western racist/colonialist assumptions -- and the casual, often oblivious ways they have traditionally been expressed -- are finally being brought to Western white people's attention.

Not only former colonized and enslaved peoples are speaking up, but also other marginalized groups too.

Autistic people, too, have often been on the receiving end of lots of micro-aggressions, and some of us are speaking up.

I have been accused of "Covert Bullying" instead.

Although the accuser could not describe exactly what I was allegedly doing to earn the accusation.

The term "microagression" has not gained track here so far but, especially in childhood, I was often accused of being intentionally offensive when I tried my best to behave but it wasn't enough for some.
I think people could not believe that someone could learn well and use logic and knowledge but be genuinely ignorant about social expectations.

Anyway, I still prefer good old "rudeness", "false friendliness" and sometimes "annoying willful ignorance" etc. to describe the behaviors categorized as "microagressions".

Accusing an autistic person of microaggressions is a time-honored way to make them feel like shıt.

I would rather have change given to me in front of me, rather than in my hand. Unless the cashier lady is kind of cute

I do understand the black person's irritation----with not being treated as an equal human being with a white person. I doubt very much, these days, that a white clerk in a store would be thinking about not touching a black person's hand to give change.

<self censored>

I mean, I had to argue with my partner for an hour in the car to make him understand that I wasn't "disregarding" my brother-in-law's tone when he said something at Christmas. It took that long for someone who lives in the same house as me to understand that he could sense something that I didn't and that this caused me to say the wrong thing back. Given this, I'm not really surprised that we have no chance at strangers or acquaintances coming to the same understanding.