(February 16, 2017 at 12:29 pm)Aristocatt Wrote: It would be nice if the OP could define oppression.
And with this, I believe, we come to the crux of the matter.
The vast majority of those who claim to be oppressed have their basic needs met. So what, exactly, is the oppressive system denying them?
I believe, for present political purposes, and for the purposes of the Oppression Olympics, I will define "oppression" as lack of social status.
So that's really the whole thing. People feel oppressed because they are regarded as being low-status. Remember Maslow's hierarchy of needs? These people have their physical needs, security needs, and belongingness needs met. So they turn their attention to their esteem needs, a.k.a. the desire for status.
The trouble with competitions for status is that they are always zero-sum games. In all status battles, there is always a winner and a loser. Right now being high status, according to the superficial external criteria, is to be white, straight, male, of Christian heritage (even if you are atheist) and cisgendered. Any deviation from that will lower your status.
The thing is, I don't see a solution to this problem, because competitions for status are always zero-sum games. I guess that all I can really do is thank the Cosmos that I have the status associated with being a cisgendered white male, and live the best life I can.
