Academia and Anger... What's my line?

Thus far in my academic career as a graduate student, several of the theories and concepts that I have learned about have remained just that, theories and concepts. It wasn’t until this weekend that one actually came to life right before my eyes. I found myself in a place I had never been before; justifying the very ideas that once upon a time had been so foreign to me.

Over the weekend, I had a night out with friends. We had a few drinks, played some pool, threw some darts, and enjoyed each other’s company. It was only when the subject of history and politics come up did the night take a turn for the worse.

A good friend of mine, who I have several things in common with, approached the idea of Southern culture. He is from Texas, and I from Tennessee. And while there are facets about cultures of both states that are similar, overall, they are very different. We were discussing the idea that non-southerners hardly recognize this fact. That to some, we are all a bunch of teeth missing, redneck speaking, truck driving, undereducated, cousin marrying, racist individuals. And then, the conversation took a different turn.

This friend of mine, whom I respect and revere, was spouting such ill-informed, stereotypical, over-generalized, and downright racist things, I wasn’t sure how to react. The dialogue ranged from discussions about immigration, inequality, power structures, historical marginalization and narrative bias. But the tone (from him) was always the same. It was a tone of indifference. No matter what I said, what injustice I pointed out, what empirical data I referenced, what historical event I compared, his mind was not going to be changed. To him, the argument about the privilege of white males was so preposterous he laughed it off. Being from Texas, he had very opinionated views on immigration, and was convinced that the U.S. Government supports and defends the rights of illegal aliens. That they are provided and entitled to all the benefits U.S. American citizens are (access to welfare, health insurance (umm, what?)), education, and jobs he was convinced of. These are things I had definitely heard before, so it didn’t come at such a shock.

When I had had enough of the exchange, I simply pointed out that it wasn’t surprising to me he didn’t understand his position and privilege in life because it was all he had ever known, he became visibly angry."It is not uncommon for men to exhibit random tantrums when their...views are challenged" (Matias & Allen, 292) To him, my implication that he had ever led a privileged life was insulting. In the Loving Whiteness to Death article, this statement rang true, "These theories seek to reveal what many students' egos cannot tolerate knowing; hence, their egos react defensively."
 Thus far in my graduate career, discussions of difference in opinion have mainly taken place in the classroom, a controlled, safe environment. So being taken out of that context almost removed my confidence in a way. I was unable to piece the words together that I wanted because I knew they would be heard on deaf ears. I later went home, thought about it, slept on it, and came up with a marvelous idea. Someone should undertake the project of countering ignorant statements with simple, easily understood and communicated ideas for those of us who want to spread knowledge, but trip over our own feet when doing so. If this already exists, point me in the right direction. If not, any takers? You’ve got yourself a paying (ok downloading) customer.