Sometimes when I'm like "The Democrats are more socially liberal than Western EU center-right parties" & then someone is like, "Try living in Europe to change your mind," all I want to say is, "I have & people regularly peered into my eyes before asking, 'Are you a Jew?'"

& don't even get me started on the way people in, say, France, talk about Muslims or brown people more generally. People would ask me, "How do you like France?" & I would say, "I love it! But I get sexually harassed" & then they would say, "Well, that's just the North Africans"

I'm not even trying to snark on the countries I've lived in (France, Spain, UK). I love them all & have issues w/ them all. Just like I would w/ any country. It's just. . . .I don't know where some people are coming from w/ "this is a liberal paradise," b/c it's not.

Islamophobia is often socially accepted, even in liberal circles. As is anti-semitism (though it's often more tacit). And, oh boy, the anti-Asian racism is also extreme. It can feel like you've suddenly been catapulted to the mid-80's writers' room for 16 Candles.