Conference turris::womannotes-v3

721.0. "Am I the Oppressor?" by BATRI::MARCUS (The Daze of Our Lives) Thu Mar 07 1991 12:52

I have been watching a few strings with particular interest over the past 
two weeks - watching for a couple of reasons.  The first is that my anger 
has been "flamed" a number of times, and we all know how well I respond 
when I am angry.  The second is that it has taken me this long to piece 
together what *I see* as a pattern that was discussed some time ago in the 
"PCness" string.

Let me just say that what I see is the result of my experience and my 
perceptions.  Natch, you may be coming from a different place.  Hope this 
doesn't sound obnoxious, but I'd like to define a few words before I let 
loose with *my opinion.*

	Tactic	-  Strategy NOT NECESSARILY done consciously

	Left	-  Meant generically as liberal

	Right	-  Meant generically as conservative

I believe what started the round of explosions - many of which had 
subexplosions that took on lives of their own - was a lesbian requesting 
that imagery which offended her be left out of this space.  Boom!

	Censorship!  The oppressed becoming the oppressors!

Before I "get to it" let's add the thought that we are trying to create 
focus and promote safe space in this file.  Boom!

	Love it or leave it??? Who says???  What's the point of this
	if we can't discuss everything, anyway?  Even some allusions 
	to fascism......

These types of responses are, in my opinion, perfect examples of tactics 
which fall into the category of "victimless prejudice."  Now, remember 
that I said not necessarily done consciously.  It is how the right now 
points to the left - as in the fascism/bigotry/prejudice of "being PC."
In other words, many of our opinions, desires not to be offended and/or 
our perceptions of "doing the right thing" are being "turned" on us (and, 
please believe me that when I say us, I am speaking of a wide range of 
"minority" people).

Thus do we become the oppressors; the perpetrators of reverse prejudice.

Can you image the horror of a self-admitted liberal at being accused of 
censorship?  How about oppression - wow! that's heart attack material.  
But, the best *for me* are the allusions to fascism - that really does 
something special for my ethnic sense of self!

I am a good liberal - by that I mean that I try to live my life according 
to a set of ethical standards that are in congruence with my political 
beliefs.  I am terribly hurt and disillusioned by being accused of that 
which I most despise - and, it is done in such a fashion that I am SO
set-up that any answer from me sounds like rationalization.  Now, you (pl) 
have not pointed directly at me, probably because I have stayed out of 
this.  You might wonder how *I* can feel hurt.  The answer is part of the 
ethical structure I am talking about....when you hurt someone in the same 
boat as me, you hurt *me.*  

Soooooo, I would dearly love to hear some discussion on how it is that we 
end up this way.  Does anyone else feel the same way?

Barb

p.s. Mods, I think our personal/political communications are something 
that need discussion as its own topic, but, I defer to you if you decide 
to move this note to another string.

    click
    
    what Barb says reminds me also of the general upset I started last Dec
    by objecting to the use of an adjective that bothers me personally,
    that is, the use of "christian" to mean good, charitable.  Boom.  Very
    similar explosion, very similar kinds of positions taken, very similar
    tenacity by holders of those postitions (including me).
    
    notice: not a gender issue!  this one fact is a very telling one to me.
    
    Barb, I think it has little to do with "oppression", a lot to do with
    personality traits of individuals.

    Barb,

    I believe that I was the first to voice criticism of the request you
    mention, and I would hardly characterize myself as conservative.  My
    criticism was not based on censorship or oppression, but on my
    perception that a similar statement directed at homosexuals would be
    considered homophobic and unacceptable, thus a dual standard of
    behaviour for oppressed and unoppressed which is discriminatory.  I
    oppose discrimination.

    There are those who espouse that reverse discrimination is necessary to
    correct past wrongs or to speed up the process of achieving equality. 
    To me this seems foolish.  It's like someone who gets cold and turns
    the thermostat up to 80 when they really want 75, under the false
    belief that it will warm up faster. It won't and they will only have to
    come back later to turn it down.  To achieve balance you add weight to
    the lighter side of the scale, but never more weight than is on the
    heavier side.
    
    Just because a person considers themselves "liberal" does not make
    them exempt from the human frailties that afflict us all.  You see,
    although "censorship" and "oppression" are emotion packed accusations,
    that do not accurately characterize who you are and what you believe,
    there may sometimes be a small grain of truth in what your critics
    say.  None of us is really capable of living up to our own standards
    all the time.
    
    Mary
    

    
    You just have to feel what you feel. Sometimes is better to express it,
    sometimes not. You have to understand people way of behaviour first.
    Just be an observer.
    

    re .5, I think the media seems relatively conservative myself.
    
    Lorna
    

Funny 'bout that, Eagles, I find the media infiltrated by conservatives and
find a great paucity of liberals.  In fact, I am hard-pressed to come up with
a big liberal name off the top of my head.

Different perceptions, eh?

D!

	Mary Mcrory, Sam Donaldson, Dan Rather, the woman from UPI (or is 
	it AP?) that always gets to ask the first question at Bush's press
	conferences but who's name escapes me right now, everyone on 60 
	minutes, everybody on NPR...

	Just off the top of my head...

	Outside of George Will and Jeanne Kirkpatrick, I'm hard pressed
	to come up with conservatives...


						Tom_K
	

Definitions:

	Conservative: Somebody a liberal disagrees with
	Liberal: Somebody a conservative disagrees with

Reminds me a bit of:

	Unitarian: Somebody who denies the divinity of a Trinitarian (*)





(*) Courtesy Ambrose Bierce