The Welty example is brilliant for showing how systems survive through preserved innocense. When harm gets framed as external rather than structural, people dunno how complicit they are in maintaining it. Recognizing that the ordinary neighbor can be the problem is way more unsettling than some distant villain.
That’s it. Distant villains let us stay innocent. Ordinary people force us to confront how harm is built, normalized, and maintained. Welty’s power is in collapsing that distance.
The Welty example is brilliant for showing how systems survive through preserved innocense. When harm gets framed as external rather than structural, people dunno how complicit they are in maintaining it. Recognizing that the ordinary neighbor can be the problem is way more unsettling than some distant villain.
That’s it. Distant villains let us stay innocent. Ordinary people force us to confront how harm is built, normalized, and maintained. Welty’s power is in collapsing that distance.