Systemic oppression and "oppression olympics"

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I've heard people degrade the "oppression olympics" by saying "we're all oppressed, let's not compete about it." I guess that's true, but "oppression" (particularly nowadays) seems to be very broad. It includes sexism, homophobia, racism, religious discrimination and sometimes is expanded to classism and ableism.

Under these definitions, I'd wager that probably something like 95% of all Americans qualify as "oppressed" in at least one of these ways. If the "oppression olympics" is so bad, why do we still see aggressive and divisive behavior amongst human beings surrounding "privilege" when literally it seems like most people are oppressed on some level (by the common definitions of oppression)?

Oppression—much of it much worse in the past than what is occurring, has been with us since the beginning of our species.

We have done much—through legislation and through less “official” means—to lessen the oppression felt by people.

Yet, much work must still be done to continue our progress.

By the same token, I feel that people, at times, must develop a “thicker skin,” and seek to not let oppression stymie their personal progress, and to not see oppression when none is there or intended.

Because oppression of wealthy people involves the demands of "Social-Justice Warriors" who sincerely believe that all wealthy people are completely undeserving of the wealth and privileges they've earned, and that only the hardships wealthy people face are well-deserved and appropriate.

"Save the environment!", "Help the poor!", "Give to charity!" are all demands placed more on wealthy people than on even the upper middle class ("Pay my bills!", "Send my kid to college!", "Let me move in with you!" are all demands that my own relatives have made on me), and when these demands are not met, wealthy people are suddenly labelled "Selfish", "Cruel", "Greedy", and many other pejoratives simply because they refuse to take on the burdens that other people have created for themselves.

Who has it worse?  It depends on whose yardstick you use.

I’m going to use your terms.

I don’t see why most people being oppressed would lead to those people banding together?

In particular, oppression takes many different forms. Someone might understand why they personally have it tough, but not understand the struggles of other people. They may even be contributing to them.

People should seek to identify with the struggles of others.

Why?  Where were these "others" when I was homeless?  For that matter, where the hell were you?

I’ve had struggles where no one was around. Where the hell were YOU?

This every person for his/herself garbage will only doom our species, and make life exceedingly unpleasant while we’re still around.

Homeless.  Also, serving my country, raising my family, volunteering at soup kitchens, going on medical/relief missions; that sort of thing, and no self-righteous Social-Justice Warrior had to tell me to do them -- I volunteered!.This every person for his/herself "garbage" is all that got me out of homelessness and poverty; and if I could do it, I don't see why others can't either (unless they are so far gone that no one could help them).  People should learn to stand up for themselves instead of waiting for some "Prince/Princess Charming" to ride up and rescue them.

Last edited by Fnord on 24 Apr 2020, 10:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

Where was I?

I was serving my country, my family, and my friends in various ways, too.

I’m a staunch believer in self-reliance. I had about 40 years of virtually no help from others after becoming an adult. And I’m a better person for that.

Well then, I have more respect for you, and only because I have more respect for any military veteran who has served their country honorably.

I wish I was a military veteran.

I served my country by emphasizing to others the values and ethos of that country.

And by respecting veterans.

Disregard my previous statement, then.  Emphasizing values and ethics to others is like expressing thoughts and prayers to disaster victims -- it's the very least someone can do while still claiming to have done something.

There are a couple of ways the pejorative term “oppression olympics” is tossed around.

One is to minimize or deny that discrimination against groups exist. To belittle those that say those groups that certain groups as a whole face more discrimination then other groups or just to imply those complaining that they are being discriminated are a bunch of snowflakes.

The other is too criticize the idea of intersectionality the notion that that if you belong to several minority groups you have more of a chance to be discriminated against or will be discriminated against more severly then if you belong to one minority group. Specifically the “hierarchy of oppression/privilege” self defeating arguments seen too often in believers of intersectionality. For example lets say I start talking about the oppression I face as an autistic I am belittled as a privileged white male who has no right to an opinion about discrimination. In this example the person who told me off then talks about her experiences of discrimination as a women and another person proceeds to belittle her experiences because she is cisgender. Then the whole thing devolves into an “oppression olympics” argument over who has it worse that only makes each person in this discussion feel even more victimized. This “circular firing squad” harms everyone and benefits nobody.

Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 24 Apr 2020, 10:46 am, edited 6 times in total.

I’ve still done my part.

Obviously, I would have liked to have done MORE of my part.

But there you go....

To put it in simpler words...

Just because someone else suffers more than I does NOT mean I don't suffer at all.

I had my privilege explained to me by someone in a very black and white way that didn't take into account my experience as an individual, it felt like it was being rammed down my throat, it felt every bit as bad as "mansplaining". I also had the impression that the person explaining it to me was very in the habit of objectifying people, I didn't use social media at the time and that mindset of relating to and reacting to images, fragments and representations of real multi-dimensional people felt clinical and dehumanising. I also wasn't equipped with the jargon or terminology to counter what felt (at the time) like an attack. I also had the distinct impression that the person lecturing me was doing so to empower themselves at my expense and that felt bad too.

I'm on board with much of what they had to say but the experience was unpleasant.

It's possible for a few people to make a lot of noise in activist circles and push hard for immediate change. I like idea of change but I don't like some of the tactics employed. I've done my own research into coexisting mental health conditions and personality disorders within some groups and found it to be very high. My introduction into personality politics was delivered by one such person, it could have been better explained and delivered with less glee and more compassion by someone with better regulated emotions.

Last edited by Sahn on 24 Apr 2020, 1:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.