Adventurous Republicans who want to stir up trouble for complacent Leftists, in the tradition of organizations like ACT UP, need but ask do-gooder Liberals one question: "Where do you live?" Chances are good that they live under an inflated double-standard balloon that is just begging to get pricked, like Jodi Picoult. Picoult belongs to an organization called "VIDA: Women in the Literary Arts," which Wikipedia describes as a "pro-feminist organization committed to . . . amplifying historically-marginalized voices, including people of color."
But Picoult was born in Nesconset, New York, with a White population of 96%, and presently lives with her husband and two children in Hanover, New Hampshire, where the Black population is but 3.4%. Many White Liberals, if you ask them in public where they live, will glare at you, or just not answer. Not surprisingly, it costs more to live in places like Hanover or Nesconset, which sounds like a case of wealth trumping racial equality.
In the old days, membership in the Communist Party required personal honesty and a willingness to undergo an inquisition from other comrades, in order to find out who you really are. You have to cough up the story of your life, and if you try to omit that you grew up in a wealthy family, in a mostly white upper-class town, your comrades will denounce you as "Bourgeois!" As a Communist, the accusation could tar you for life. This is the real reason why so many White Liberals did not join the Party. Their public persona would not stand up to scrutiny. They acted out of resentment and envy, rather than out of class-consciousness.
Picoult published Small Great Things in 2016, which stands out from her other novels because it has a Black main character, a nurse who takes care of the baby of a White Supremacist couple. Well, of course, Picoult has to put her money where her mouth is, and write about Black people's lives. Critics in general liked the book but did not find the black-nurse character believable. That she received mostly positive reviews from her White Liberal readers suggests that they do not know any Black people, either.
But the chances are good that a down-at-heels Black activist, full of recriminations toward Whites, has already given Picoult the third-degree about her personal discrepancies. He would like to kick the shit out of the White Liberal balloon. All the Republican trouble-maker has to do is to put his boots on and join the queue; but the truth is that introverted White Liberals will admit, if pressed, that they are mostly afraid of Black anger. Let's see how they handle going public, on that point.
