The Oppression Olympics

[Regina]

Because I really am starting to believe we're living in a culture where victimhood is currency. You can be an internet "activist" who writes articles on the way your tribe is subjugated, and earn attention and money talking about it under the guise of "social sciences". You can also sue and fine someone who has made a perceived slight against you for monetary gain.

It's fraudulent, and these people care more about being part of an oppressed victim class than they do uplifting people and making real change to their own situations.

[Autumnlicious]

Really? Is that what's going on in the real world outside of Reddit and Tumblr?

I ask that because I quit social media except for Facebook and it is allocated a static two hours. Reading various news organizations, crawling through MeetUp and conversing with my diverse Silicon Valley team has left me with the distinct impression that we, the taxpayers, are being taken for a national ride.

That's what the adults in various walks of life in motherfucking California is talking about. Not some shithead who made a career over saying "Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy"" (Really Yabbadopolis, your gay ass is complaining about women not attracting you?). Not about the oppression olympics.

No, the topic the real world seems to discuss is who is in power and what they are doing.

Strangely enough, that doesn't involve the Oppression Olympics or other Tumblr/Reddit arguments.

Quoth William Shatner "Get a life"

[Thumpalumpacus]

I'm wondering why the OP has any skin in the game.

Good question.  I'm a straight white male, so why should I care?  Well, I have a new roommate who is a sociology grad student, so he talks a lot about privilege and oppression, and I at least want to know where I stand.  He is a Hispanic male.  It does bother me a little bit that his whole ideology is based on the belief that white males are society's master oppressors, and I sometimes wonder why he's even nice to me at all given that his worldview points to me, the white male, as his oppressor and the source of all evil in society.  

I met three of his sociology friends - a black female and two Hispanic females.  I would have been quite happy to ignore their race and I had hoped that we could all be friends, but they kept going on and on about gender, race, and privilege, and it was annoying and uncomfortable to the point where I don't want to pursue friendships with people who are so, well.....racist against white people and sexists against men, and who can't see anything about a person other than their race and gender.  

Also, I'm seeing an increasing number of facebook posts about privilege and oppression, and I want to know where I stand.

Weird. I'm a white male member of an interracial family which features both blacks and latinos. I don't get that sort of treatment at all, not even from the California wing of the family.

In fact, I've only had one experience in my life where I was essentially called racist simply because I was white ... and showing the kid a picture of my son (white/Hispanic) took care of that.

I guess you're more oppressed than I am.

---

I'm wondering why the OP has any skin in the game.

I'm wondering why you're asking. Your point?

Because anyone can whine about shit. Why should I pay attention to this whining?

---

@Dew
Rich black people get pulled over for driving a car that's clearly too nice. 

No, they don't

lol, yes they do.

Question: how many black folk do you know?

[Minimalist]

@Dew
Rich black people get pulled over for driving a car that's clearly too nice. 

No, they don't

And you need to get out of mommy's basement more and see what the real world is like!

http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2017/0...ms-raised/

Illinois Cops Beating Black Man for Driving Own Car Highlights Larger Racial Profiling Issue

But video and audio evidence of the arrest, including footage from Crosby’s car and the police car as well as a recording of the conversation between the female caller and police were released for the first time last week.
One cop can be heard telling another cop that Crosby should be grateful they did not kill him in the video posted below.
“I said, I didn’t shoot you, motherfucker,” the cop says. “You should feel lucky for that.”

Yeah.  You know what the fuck you are talking about.

[A Theist]

---

I'm wondering why you're asking. Your point?

Because anyone can whine about shit. Why should I pay attention to this whining?

---

What shit would that be? Something in the Op must've caught your attention, or why even bother responding to it at all? You must've had some point to make other than, 'why should you pay attention to this whining'.

[InquiringMind]

So I still don't have a good answer for how we can decide who is the most oppressed.  I'm a physicist, and I like to be quantitative about things.  Can we quantify oppression?  Can we come up with an oppression score to decide who wins?  Here is a possible way to allocate points:

White: 0
Male: 0
Straight: 0
Christian: 0
Disability: 1
Jew: 1
Female: 2
Muslim: 3
Gay: 4
Hispanic: 5
Transgender: 6
Black: 7

Let the games begin!

Gay White Jewish Male vs. Straight Black Christian Female

4+0+1+0 = 5              vs.  0+7+0+2 = 9

The straight black Christian female is definitely more oppressed.

Transgender Muslim Male vs.  Autistic Hispanic Female

6+3+0 = 9                      vs.  1+5+2 = 8

Ooooo, the transgender Muslim male wins by a hair.  

But now we have a tie between the transgender Muslim male and the straight black Christian female.  So we need another metric.  Since skill, talent, and accomplishment aren't admissible criteria in the Oppression Olympics, so we need to use a superficial quality that the person can't control, like height.  Shorter people are more oppressed than taller people.  The black Christian female is 5'10", and the transgender Muslim male is 5'9", so the the winner of the Oppression Olympics is the transgender Muslim male!

I realize that it may be offensive to talk about it this way, but seriously, people keep fighting over who is the most oppressed, and I think that a way to quantify oppression would help answer the question.

[Kosh]

So I still don't have a good answer for how we can decide who is the most oppressed.  I'm a physicist, and I like to be quantitative about things.  Can we quantify oppression?  Can we come up with an oppression score to decide who wins?  Here is a possible way to allocate points:

White: 0
Male: 0
Straight: 0
Christian: 0
Disability: 1
Jew: 1
Female: 2
Muslim: 3
Gay: 4
Hispanic: 5
Transgender: 6
Black: 7

Let the games begin!

Gay White Jewish Male vs. Straight Black Christian Female

4+0+1+0 = 5              vs.  0+7+0+2 = 9

The straight black Christian female is definitely more oppressed.

Transgender Muslim Male vs.  Autistic Hispanic Female

6+3+0 = 9                      vs.  1+5+2 = 8

Ooooo, the transgender Muslim male wins by a hair.  

But now we have a tie between the transgender Muslim male and the straight black Christian female.  So we need another metric.  Since skill, talent, and accomplishment aren't admissible criteria in the Oppression Olympics, so we need to use a superficial quality that the person can't control, like height.  Shorter people are more oppressed than taller people.  The black Christian female is 5'10", and the transgender Muslim male is 5'9", so the the winner of the Oppression Olympics is the transgender Muslim male!

I realize that it may be offensive to talk about it this way, but seriously, people keep fighting over who is the most oppressed, and I think that a way to quantify oppression would help answer the question.

If your a physicist..  and this is the kind of shit you sit around and ponder..

Science is truly fucking dead.

[Regina]

Really? Is that what's going on in the real world outside of Reddit and Tumblr?

Well.... yeah? We already kind of established that in the opening post...

@InquiringMind - I'm 7.86425 on the oppression scale, don't oppress me by claiming otherwise. It's my identity...

[InquiringMind]

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.

[The Grand Nudger]

Yep, you nailed it.  Oppression is just a bunch of babies whining about their social status.  

Or not.