Wow, you hit it bang-on, at least speaking for my experiences (sort-of). I never associated it with Obama's elections so much as just growing up. In elementary school, everyone was super friendly with each other and race/gender pretty much never came into the question (outside of the obvious fact that the guys could run faster than the girls). Come middle school, everyone becomes a douchebag and I start getting comments about looking like "curry" and not belonging here. Whatever, it's still localized to crazy hormonal kids, right? Well then comes along high school and the solemn realization that race still plays a role in even the larger sociopolitical discussions. And then in college, those problems come to play with personal identity and create tension between people.

I never ascribed it to Obama's election or "PC culture" so much as just noticing more complex and less-stomachable realities as you grow up. Kids are natural existentialists in that they don't really give a fuck about the big picture, and just want to do what's fun for them. There's no concerns about legacies of racism or identity politics; if you can have fun with someone on the playground, you'll do so. When you see the other side of the story, when you have to come to the realization that race is something outside of a big bad evil that was washed away when MLK gave his speech, then the going gets hard.

And it only gets harder when you really start thinking about it and add nuance to your opinions--e.g., finding out where exactly you stand on the intellectual continuum between "Yay the British built us savages railroads!" and "everything negative in modern Indian society can be solely ascribed to colonialism." Because ultimately, it's hard to find a place on that continuum as it's constantly shifting based on new information and new experiences.

Recently, I've tried to stop thinking so much and just try living. Yeah, it's a cop-out, I openly admit it. But while I think some amount of philosophizing is useful to get you grounded at some point, discussion can only do so much. I think there's something to be said about the negatives of Internet forum culture that emphasizes living through reading the words of somebody else's perspective on living, over actively taking control of what you want for yourself. The "real world" in general is tough, but I do sometimes feel that it's not as bad as you may read it to be on Reddit (something especially relevant for Red Pillers or "all women reject me cuz I'm brown, help).