Anonymous enemies - and friends - in effect, because the folk you have a heated argument or confiding collusion with today you may never meet in person and may never correspond with again.
Of course that "anonymity" allows people who want to act as trolls and bullies to run roughshod over "usual" social convention; you can't catch a ghost in the machine, so they take and get away with significant liberties.
It's more problematic with racism because there's a natural racial divide running through the middle of everything, creating an "us" versus "them" dynamic.
You don't even have the option - as you do with, say, climate change - of finding 1001 links to demonstrate why their 999 links are horse manure. With racism, it's enough to say "I'm brown/black/white/yellow" to automatically obtain a degree in brown-ness (etc).
And from the lofty heights of an assumed PhD in racial purity, then declaim as you see fit in full expectation your word is not only law but will be bowed to without question.
Which would all seem a little silly to the objective observer were it not for the fact such "purists" tend to get very picky, and very personal, and often downright offensive should someone dare to dispute them. This even extends to members of their own racial group, should any take a conciliatory tone or (heaven forbid) express a contradictory view.
But there's one overarching factor that must always be borne in mind: no-one chooses their parents.
It's purely an accident of birth what race you wear; nurture may define how you think and act, but basic colour cannot be changed.
And that's the difference between a debate on race and any other subject: every other topic is entirely mutable.
With your race, you have no choice.
So to say to someone, for example, "You cannot understand this because you aren't this colour" is to deny everything - everything - about that person except the one thing they cannot change.
Is that fair? No.
Is it just? No. Is it inherently true? Again: No.
For no matter how high the barriers of difference, understanding of and empathy with another human being is always possible.
That's part of what makes us human - a better part, one that if respected and encouraged can reach enlightenment.
Deny that and you deny yourself, for you make yourself something lesser. To do so undermines all you think to stand for.
So go softly with others not of your set.
If they express the wish to understand, freely offer help, not hindrance.
No one can see through a closed door - whereas an open door works both ways.
And maybe, if you treat people kindly, they'll surprise you.
- Bruce Bisset is a freelance writer and poet.
