There is no oppressor anywhere

[BADGE OF HONOR]

This morning as I exited my dorm I was confronted with the sight of a giant pile of garbage and a cubical construction entitled "The Wall of Oppression".  I didn't have any time until just now to examine it closely, but it was plastered with random pictures and sayings that We* are apparently supposed to identify with.  I barely paused to look closely at it, but there was a picture of "Big Brother is watching you" and somebody had cutely written, "But who is watching him?"

AAAAAAAAUUUUGGH!!!


So anyway, I immediately siezed the handy sharpie they had so nicely hung (ten bucks says it's gone tomorrow) and wrote, "I refuse to self-victimize.  I blame myself for my problems, not The Man.  The Man doesn't give a shit about me or anyone else.  It's up to us to dig ourselves out of whatever pestilential hell-hole we were born into.  There is no oppressor anywhere."  i.e. I harped on what I always harp on.  Of course, when I turn around, who is standing behind me but the most EXTREEEEEME feminist around, the one who is "transgendered" because apparently she wants to be part of the patriarchy or soemthing.  

So much for lying low.

Not that my reputation was all that great anyway.

There is no oppression anywhere!


*We being white middle class college kids

[agent compassion]

Blaaaaaaaa!

[Horab Fibslager]

when they question you further, tell them you refuse to be a communist dupe any further, possibly babbling on about lesbian nazi zionists and bhankers and whatnot. gets me out of the tight spots everytime.

[BADGE OF HONOR]

Follow up:

I refuse to make any bones about my gender, my sexuality, or my station in life. I can't help what I was born with. Am I going to take advantage of as much as possible? Hell yes. Should I feel guilty because I was born into a family with more resources than others? Fuck no. Screw neoliberal guilt. Just because there's a System--and there's always a system where you have large amounts of humans--doesn't mean there is oppression. Sure, the best way to succeed is to work the System. So? Sorry, we really can't all just get along and do what we want to do and everything is easy and life is just peachy. Human relationships and human power structures don't work that way. As a reasonably attractive, intelligent middle class white female, I can work the system with relative ease. HOWEVER, if I chose not to, I'd be just as much a loser as any of those poor oppressed people (whoever the fuck they are) because I didn't work to get where I am and do what I want. To say that you're oppressed when you're going to Beloit College is utter hypocrisy. This college costs roughly $35,000 a year.  No matter who is paying for it, somebody is. Either you were born with a silver spoon up your ass, or you got the government to help you out. Neither of these things is a sign of oppression; in fact, it's just the opposite.

"But what about the Gummint? What about the eroding of my rights and personal freedoms?" you say. I'll tell you what. As soon as you're AFRAID of your government, afraid to go outside, afraid to speak up, afraid to raise your head in case it gets caught in the crossfire, then you're living under an oppressive government. Communist China? Oppressive government. The fact that you can piss and moan about how oppressed you are should be a fucking huge wakeup call that you are not, in fact, oppressed. Hello?!

How does that quote go: "Intellectuals...Peacemongers...Liberals...IDIOTS!!!"

Something like that.

So shut the fuck up before I start oppressing you with my boot.

[agent compassion]

SOME PEOPLE JUST AREN'T HAPPY UNLESS THEY HAVE SOMETHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT.

[BADGE OF HONOR]

Then god damn it, why can't they complain about the weather?

[Eldora, Oracle of Alchemy]

Then god damn it, why can't they complain about the weather?

Maybe the big wind of the other day blew them away.  Or maybe they just aren't paying attention, you can always complain about the weather.

[agent compassion]

Because the weather happens to everyone, so it doesn't make them feel special to complain about it.

ITA though. I mean, there's pointing out real oppression and trying to think of ways to deal with it, and then there's pointless bitching. Like the comment about peacemakers...ok. I sorta agree. While we do need to do something about the war machine and the deterioration of diplomacy around the world, yelling in the middle of the street's not gonna help. Nor is making elaborate banners and getting all your "anarchist" gear on to go a-marching. I'm not sure what DOES have to be done, I don't think there's any one solution, but the decisions that people make that affect neighborhoods and families around the world sure as hell AREN'T made by the people chanting in the streets.

[LMNO]

Loved the follow-up, badger.  Nice job.  


It would indeed be amusing to start harassing the TG, askink hir why she wants to sell out to the patriarchy and leave her strong, earth-mother spirituality behind.

[LHX]

Follow up:

I refuse to make any bones about my gender, my sexuality, or my station in life. I can't help what I was born with. Am I going to take advantage of as much as possible? Hell yes. Should I feel guilty because I was born into a family with more resources than others? Fuck no. Screw neoliberal guilt. Just because there's a System--and there's always a system where you have large amounts of humans--doesn't mean there is oppression. Sure, the best way to succeed is to work the System. So? Sorry, we really can't all just get along and do what we want to do and everything is easy and life is just peachy. Human relationships and human power structures don't work that way. As a reasonably attractive, intelligent middle class white female, I can work the system with relative ease. HOWEVER, if I chose not to, I'd be just as much a loser as any of those poor oppressed people (whoever the fuck they are) because I didn't work to get where I am and do what I want. To say that you're oppressed when you're going to Beloit College is utter hypocrisy. This college costs roughly $35,000 a year.  No matter who is paying for it, somebody is. Either you were born with a silver spoon up your ass, or you got the government to help you out. Neither of these things is a sign of oppression; in fact, it's just the opposite.

"But what about the Gummint? What about the eroding of my rights and personal freedoms?" you say. I'll tell you what. As soon as you're AFRAID of your government, afraid to go outside, afraid to speak up, afraid to raise your head in case it gets caught in the crossfire, then you're living under an oppressive government. Communist China? Oppressive government. The fact that you can piss and moan about how oppressed you are should be a fucking huge wakeup call that you are not, in fact, oppressed. Hello?!

How does that quote go: "Intellectuals...Peacemongers...Liberals...IDIOTS!!!"

Something like that.

So shut the fuck up before I start oppressing you with my boot.

god dammit woman

you just stole my heart

or maybe they just turned up the heat in here



but
damn
wow

let me know if you need somebody to shine the boot

[BADGE OF HONOR]

Why thank you.  I'm rather proud of it, myself.

[LMNO]

Synchronicity alert:

this just showed up on LJ.

Comments?

[Horab Fibslager]

Synchronicity alert:

this just showed up on LJ.

Comments?

oddly enough, nomatter what job i am applying for, if a good looking young woman is applying for the same job, no matter her or myability to perform teh job tasks, she will get the job and i will not.


this is not unusual.

maybe it's reverse in jobs that require college education, but i doubt it.

in any case, teh list seems to focus on mass percetpitions, rather than citing case evidence or empirical data of any kind

1. My odds of being hired for a job, when competing against female applicants, are probably skewed in my favor. The more prestigious the job, the larger the odds are skewed.
2. I can be confident that my co-workers won't think I got my job because of my sex - even though that might be true.
3. If I am never promoted, it's not because of my sex.

[eighteen buddha strike]

I can tell you that the trend is not reversed for liquor vendors. Where I am from, the trend has been to give the liquor vendor jobs to 'hot chicks' because thats just the kind of image that liquor companies want people to associate with their product.

Now, I'm sure that there are a lot of jobs where the trend is not such, but it really depends.

Its the same with bartending, being an attractive young white woman is seen as an incentive to hiring.

[Hoshiko]

I can tell you that the trend is not reversed for liquor vendors. Where I am from, the trend has been to give the liquor vendor jobs to 'hot chicks' because thats just the kind of image that liquor companies want people to associate with their product.

This would be seen by most feminists as an extension of discrimination, i.e. women only getting jobs for teh sex and not for their awesome ability to drink a lot. Not saying that this is my opinion, just that it doesn't really disprove their point.

There are lots of jobs that women still have a hard time getting because of a perception of them being weaker or not as smart. This doesn't mean that it is impossible, and it also doesn't exclude them form having to work to get said jobs. I'm just saying that for every guy who gets turned down because he's not a sexy chick, there a girl who got turned down because she couldn't "handle" the job.

It goes both ways, and usually the people who bitch about women or men getting the job because they are X are the type of people in Badger's post. Not always, but usually.