2016 Postmortem

I like the word "veridical" for this kind of thing. One can say something that's not veridical and yet not a lie, just incorrect.

On the other hand, this thread, and those like it, have two big problems.

The first is that arguing with perceptions is a dangerous business. They're built on isolated facts, are often overgeneralized, and often closely held. In some cases, daring to say a perception is wrong is decried as classist/sexist/racist or some other -ist. Often the more you fight them the more entrenched they become. That's a human thing, not a white trash thing. (As the scion of families with a history of wallowing as white trash, that's the term I choose to use.)

The second is that underlying this kind of thread is what I call outsplaining. It's like mansplaining to a woman, whitesplaining to an African-American. It's somebody from outside the group explaining a person as to their real motives and what they're really feeling or thinking. "I know what's really going on inside your mind even better than you do." It's blatantly offensive and shows utter contempt for the person or group you're outsplaining to, and really telling them how stupid they are for not accepting what you have to say.

De-winning hearts and minds one person at a time.