City of Harassment

In “California” (my name for a certain kind of liberal American world I once spent some time in), if you say something someone doesn’t like about something happened to you that you are angry about (and of course. one must never do this, it’s foolish because it doesn’t work in the kind of social climate in question), what they will typically do is ask for the details. Who said that, what happened exactly, etc. Once they do that, you know you should shut up about it, and avoid this person henceforth. See, what they are doing is letting you know that since you’re obviously wrong (no one person could ever be, nor was anyone ever treated wrongly, not in the way you say, you must be a fool, etc., since the Anglo-American mind just does not allow this), they intend to show you that you’re a fool, because of course the problem is you. They don’t like you but they’re not going to tell you that either, and in fact they are this way also with their own friends. It’s just that only an asshole would ever complain about anything, unless you want to become a crank. So they ask you the details. Whatever answer you give will be used, obviously, to show you that you were mistaken. The truths borne out in the details will surely reveal that what you were complaining about is nothing, people are normal and good and holy and if you complained about anything, it’s your problem. In “California” everyone knows that.

The important thing is they have ritual techniques for taking people aside and proving that they are fools. This is another feature of “California.”

In the instance, your real fault was probably that they sensed you actually were indirectly attacking them. They don’t like you because they’re sure you don’t like them, and cannot like them. And indeed, they were right all along.