Privilege and Oppression: Discussing What and How Our Society Is Hurting Us

A

airsuperiority

Captain
First of all, this thread is not meant to be in any ways political. We can argue the political correctness of certain decisions governments made, but essentially I want to revolve our discussions around what we are making of our society and what our society is making of us.

Second, this thread, I hope, can be used to discuss everything ranging from racism to media distortions to bullying to LGBTQ rights to ability to education to wealth to age to health to citizenship and internet freedom and even something I call "Moral Discrimination".

I know this can infringe the comfort level of some people, but I hope we can come in here with an open mind and share thoughts and what you see of how things can go.

Lastly, all of us will suffer from privilege and oppression at some point, whether you be of certain ethnic, age, look, orientation, what not. It is something that we are different in our own ways, which is also why we should all respect one another.

To kick start, how do you feel our societies address these issues? Do you feel we as society are doing enough, or you continue to suffer in a certain way? Or perhaps some folks of yours refuse to talk about these?
 
shen

shen

Senior Member
I remember someone one said that slavery in America was more corrupting of the white men than the black men. Privilege is not necessary a good thing.
Of course it is difficult to ask people to talk about their privileges. We don't think about such things in our daily lives. What you are proposing reminds me of the self criticizing sessions my grandfather was forced to undergo during the Cultural Revolution. The difference is that those self criticism sessions were forced, it was essentially something that is good, introspection, turned into a method of torture and persecution. But that doesn't mean introspection is inherently bad.
Is this what we doing here?
 
A

airsuperiority

Captain
shen said:
I remember someone one said that slavery in America was more corrupting of the white men than the black men. Privilege is not necessary a good thing.
Of course it is difficult to ask people to talk about their privileges. We don't think about such things in our daily lives. What you are proposing reminds me of the self criticizing sessions my grandfather was forced to undergo during the Cultural Revolution. The difference is that those self criticism sessions were forced, it was essentially something that is good, introspection, turned into a method of torture and persecution. But that doesn't mean introspection is inherently bad.
Is this what we doing here?
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That stuff that happened in CR wasn't even introspection. It's brainwash and forced resocialization. That's stripping them of who they are. Worst thing you can have: kills their culture and cause them to suicides, because values are what we take in to define ourselves. If you're forced to remove a value that you identify with yourself, that means telling you, you're not what you describe yourself as to be. In other words, someone is coming along to tell you what to be. It can be a very troubling thing. What are you supposed to be? Does it also force you to start questioning the other aspects of yourself too? When people live in a certain way and think a certain way all these years, suddenly telling them everything they do is wrong can be very traumatic, unless they accept it or realize it themselves and they want to change that. Anyways that's why CR is so bad; it's forced. On the other hand, introspection or self-reflection done on voluntary basis is good. In my opinions, enhances self-awareness and what you're doing to yourself, the people around you, and the environment.

Back to this topic, yes, we're discussing what privilege means, and what you guys think of it.
 
A

airsuperiority

Captain
It's true that many who are deemed wealthy aren't really actually happy. They suffer from mental health issues, unhappy life, and what not. That's not something money can buy. And them also are victims too in the sense where the society emphasizes on healthy mental well-being, and sharing your negatives could result in stigmatization.
 
shen

shen

Senior Member
airsuperiority said:
That stuff that happened in CR wasn't even introspection. It's brainwash and forced resocialization. That's stripping them of who they are. Worst thing you can have: kills their culture and cause them to suicides, because values are what we take in to define ourselves. If you're forced to remove a value that you identify with yourself, that means telling you, you're not what you describe yourself as to be. In other words, someone is coming along to tell you what to be. It can be a very troubling thing. What are you supposed to be? Does it also force you to start questioning the other aspects of yourself too? When people live in a certain way and think a certain way all these years, suddenly telling them everything they do is wrong can be very traumatic, unless they accept it or realize it themselves and they want to change that. Anyways that's why CR is so bad; it's forced. On the other hand, introspection or self-reflection done on voluntary basis is good. In my opinions, enhances self-awareness and what you're doing to yourself, the people around you, and the environment.

Back to this topic, yes, we're discussing what privilege means, and what you guys think of it.
Click to expand...

I don't claim to be an expert on CR, but it was somewhat more complicated than many foreigners know. Forgive me for continue to talk about CR, but it is actually related to conversation about privileges.
While CR was initiated by Mao (Mao was essentially pushed out of power at that point, his last base of power of control over propaganda, which can be used to stir up public sentiment) in his power struggle against other party leaders such Liu Shaoqi, the reason why the campaign resonated with a significant segment of the population was due to its criticism of the privileges enjoyed by many Communist Party officials. The Revolt Faction targeted anyone they perceived as enjoying unfair privileges, including senior party officials, factory managers, intellectuals who were valued and well treated by the party, basically anybody who was in a position of power. It was a campaign based on envy, which is universal. I think given the right political atmosphere, something like the CR can be stirred up by propaganda in almost every countries in the world. Is there anyone you don't like at work or know in life? Do you think they benefited from unfair privileges? How you like a chance to bring them down a peg?
 
A

airsuperiority

Captain
shen said:
I don't claim to be an expert on CR, but it was somewhat more complicated than many foreigners know. Forgive me for continue to talk about CR, but it is actually related to conversation about privileges.
While CR was initiated by Mao (Mao was essentially pushed out of power at that point, his last base of power of control over propaganda, which can be used to stir up public sentiment) in his power struggle against other party leaders such Liu Shaoqi, the reason why the campaign resonated with a significant segment of the population was due to its criticism of the privileges enjoyed by many Communist Party officials. The Revolt Faction targeted anyone they perceived as enjoying unfair privileges, including senior party officials, factory managers, intellectuals who were valued and well treated by the party, basically anybody who was in a position of power. It was a campaign based on envy, which is universal. I think given the right political atmosphere, something like the CR can be stirred up by propaganda in almost every countries in the world. Is there anyone you don't like at work or know in life? Do you think they benefited from unfair privileges? How you like a chance to bring them down a peg?
Click to expand...

Hmm interesting. No I don't mind talking more about it. It's just that because I don't know enough, and it can get too political, therefore I fear that the mods won't like it. Yes you're right, that it can always be possible some people act because of envy. However, privilege shouldn't be envied. It's a slow poison; basically preferential treatment, and lots of times this preferential treatment is what leaves others suffering. It won't be a surprise this results in eventual uproar against the privileged group(consider the Tutsis who were targeted). The result is often more hate and more violence, and nothing really gets done unless someone steps up and starts to feel they need to fight the system, not the privileged bunch, by changing what is causing the privilege. An example would be Mandela and MLK; they challenged racism, not actively go out and destroy the other race. On the other hand, Rwanda was a dark spot in humanity because they did the opposite.
 
shen

shen

Senior Member
That's the problem, most people are not like Mandela or MLK. Most of us are probably just like the Tutsis and Hutus. I may not be religious, but I have a very well developed version of Catholic Guilt :) Looking at our history, I know what we are capable of. I know what I'm capable of. I think that's one of the reason why people get nervous when you start talking about privileges and oppression, especially people in China with experiences of the Cultural Revolution. You think we have is bad? It can get a lot worse.
 
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