Thread by @jonst0kes

There's a flip side to this in elite circles for every group (not just Hispanics): if an actual current, practicing member of the group who still keeps to all its problematic codes/norms tries to join the circle & speak, they're rejected in favor of the LARPer.

https://twitter.com/Perez_Writes/status/1447931384375517193

There is an elite neuroticism around "authenticity" that has to be seen to be believed. You're supposed to perform your elite socialization while simultaneously signaling your ethnic bona fides in approved ways, in order to be an "authentic" voice for your group of origin...

...because if you just keep on being "one of THOSE people," then you get a bunch of hostility (especially from the LARPers whose franchise you threaten) like, "Oh, look who thinks they're MORE authentic. Look at this person trying be more ethnic-than-thou. What a phony!"

I realize this sounds insane if you haven't experienced it, but it's how it works. If you're in elite circles & you just stay doing your thing like the folks back home, then at some point you're seen as someone who's doing an act, while the LARPer is put forward as authentic.

The more the media obsesses over the politics of a group, the worse this weird dynamic is. Right now, there's once again a big elite media freak-out over "who will the Latinx bodied persons vote for?" This creates a market for "authentic" voices that can be held up as oracles.

Prior to that, it was "the WWC," & it was in that context that I experienced this. The fact that I have an Ivy grad school education & participate in some elite culture, but obstinately live in TX, drive a truck to a Pentecostal church, shoot guns, etc. makes me a LARPer to them.

I'm a guy who is (to them) trying a bit too hard to be an authentic WWC person. I've had these insane exchanges w/ media types where they're like, "look at you with your guns & your Jesus LARPing. You think. you're just SOOOO authentic. Why should anyone listen to you, faker?"

I'm always at a loss when I get this, because I'm not trying to be "authentic." The obsession with authenticity to one's community of origin is part of what makes neurotic elites who they are, & they project it on anyone who shows up in the room with them. It's all projection.

What it comes down to: If you're in a room where it's understood that everyone is doing a bit, then you're also doing a bit whether you like it not -- your bit is just "the one guy who wants everyone to think he's not doing a bit."

To stop doing a bit, you gotta exit the room.