Mark, I would argue this and only this: a comfortable world (and I am teasing this out in particular) in my world is one wherein there is no growth. I’m aware that’s not what you mean here. Comfort in this regard is all about a great deal less struggle, my not having to worry about my body everywhere I go (and even approaching seventy this is an issue, as appalling as that is, if for no other reason that I continue to be pretty and have a magnificent body, which means it belongs to the State for the State’s pleasure), and that opportunities that are taken for granted are also offered, unfettered, to those you have listed in your article.
A piece of this, and I only wish to clarify the difference I mean, is that for me, discomfort forces me to challenge myself. Would that could be for all of us to embrace such a thing, that a world that entails discomfort (for it does, daily) forces us to evolve, grow, and become. That’s a good world. That kind of discomfort is a lot like body building, wherein my muscles tear a bit, fill in and expand. That discomfort guarantees growth. The heart and soul are no different, but it takes courage to confront the bullshit we’ve been fed, and the lies we live. Moral courage.
The kind of world where discomforts (abuse, bullying, assault) undermine and cost us people’s gifts, as you point out, is incredibly unfair. That’s the piece I agree with. If we can build a world where people can work, play and evolve without survival issues, that kind of comfort leads to the higher levels of Maslow’s hierarchy. But if I am regularly terrified, it’s goddamned hard for me to think about self-actualization when that physical self is forever under threat.
The white male who is only partially woke (my last ex was one of those) has convinced himself that he is one of the good guys because of his relative discomfort with some of the things that the rest of us protected classes live with every day. Now that he has begun to feel the itch, the rash, the deep dis-ease that such observations bring, he doesn’t wanna know. Of course not. Live in our world for a while, why don’tcha, and feel what it’s like to be so full of anxiety most of the time that it’s hard to function normally, always afraid of censure or inappropriate touching or outright attacks or abuse because of gender or color.
This is the price of perspective. Understanding. Learning how to relate. It’s expensive to be woke. And as in Matrix, so superbly expressed by Cypher (Joe Pantoliano) who, after becoming woke, can’t deal, and does a deal with the devil to go back to sleep.
Which is where a great many white males, and males in general, would vastly prefer to stay.