I was compiling an amusing listicle of groups believed to be the targets of the “last acceptable prejudice” (Catholics, Christians who may or may not be Catholics, gingers, fat people, “emerging adults,” women in sports, Mormons, and this Christian music CD), but then, of course, because of the nature of the internet and how Cylons will ultimately be created anew and Skynet starts differently every time, I aggravatingly came across a defunct blog that used to do this for two months in 2010, thus totally spoiling my sense of being fun and original.

So, let’s take this in a slightly different direction. The reason that talking about “the last acceptable prejudice” is so ridiculous, of course, is that the acceptability of prejudices is completely dependent on the very small pond in which you swim and experience the world, and even within your very tiny pond, right, you’ll find all the old boring prejudices hanging out and sunning themselves on rocks in perfect comfort (RACISM IS OVER, DID YOU KNOW?), unbothered by their acceptability, un-jealous of how you can talk smack about gingers on Tumblr without fear of social disgrace (YOU CAN’T, DON’T TRY, you’ll be bombarded with pictures of those hideous Weasleys all over your dash.) But, okay, maybe it would be interesting to wonder what’s coming down the pike?

What are we wrong about now? Let’s fast-forward to our nursing homes, and our bored teenage grandchildren. What are we horrifying them by saying?

No, yeah, you’re great, whatever, but even if we somehow divested ourselves of all the existing prejudices (“If You Put a Ginger in the Sun, Does it Not Burn?” – appearing on the Wesleyan Mainstage in June 2035), what are we being wangs about right now that will embarrass our descendants in the future? And by “we,” for this purpose, I mean people who self-identify as progressives and who try not to be wangs but suck at it like everyone else.

I think about this a lot with mental illness, generally, because I make a decent effort not to say “crazy” anymore, because I’ve heard the case made by people with mental illness that it’s a slur they find offensive, and so I work on it, and everything, but I feel GRUDGING about it! Like “ughhh, but I love saying that, come on, everyone says it” and I’m absolutely in that place where I am trying not to say it to avoid being offensive, but without really internalizing that it’s offensive, if that makes sense. And I wonder if I’ll eventually move into “oh, yeah, that’s a gross thing to say,” or if I’ll just move forward, basically unchanged, but not saying it. If you say it with your friends but choose not to put it in your writing, this is not super-amazing of you.

But, ableism aside, what horrible things are we doing that future generations will find horrible? This is when forced-birthers say KILLING BABIES, and vegans say ARE YOU SHITTING ME? LOOK AT THE ANIMALS! and everyone says WEALTH INEQUALITY and people fighting the good fight against our incarceration policies just start slamming their heads on the table, but I do really wonder and worry about the things that aren’t even on our radar.

So, hey, what do you think? Why are our grandchildren ashamed of us?