Men still think that race and gender have means of power, but when it came to women and African Americans who had more power since they were in the minority group, so to speak. I like the point made about how oppression is full of contradictions. We tell our children not continue oppression yet we put ourselves in that situation and continue to support it.
I also like the point and agree with the point that was made about how we need to stop saying who is more oppressed than who. We need to do something about it rather than sit back and argue who is more oppressed. We keep placing ourselves in groups based on gender, class and race that is making groups who have more power become more oppressing to lower groups. If we stop placing each other in groups then there would be no need to have someone who has more power than everyone else.
Stereotypes are such a huge issue when we are not the same as another person. This is causing others to become oppressive, we need to stop judging others and start understanding that we are all different and have something different to offer. We all have different experiences because of who we are.
I like her point at the end talking about how we have to change the world, and even though we have our race and that is pre-set for who we are, we can change how we act and can eventually have change.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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Oppression is found in any given society and among any given race, class, or gender. Who knows if this will ever dissipate; I know surely do not know. People have been studying the "why's" and "how's" of oppression and inequalities for ages now and we seem to be making a slight progress, but we still have no solution to the problem. I thought it was interesting to know how far African-American women have come out of being such an oppressed and exploitated race. I think it is absolutely great that African-American women can go to college, earn a degree, and eventually obtain a well-paying career these days. That was something that I was unaware of, until I did the readings. And I was truly amazed to say the least.
ReplyDeleteOn another point, going off of Allison's summary above, I do agree that we need to put a stop to this so-called labeling of oppressed people, or who we seem to think are the oppressed race, class, or gender. It has gotten a bit ridiculous how much world leaders and political leaders say about the "oppressed" people of our nation. Not only do they have their facts wrong part of the time, they go on national television and directly exploit their so-called "oppressed" people. What good is this going to do? Other than put the idea in people's minds that African-American women, for example, are so oppressed and discriminated against, while there are other ethnicities that are at a far higher rate of oppression and injustice. I mean who are we to say what race, class, or gender are oppressed in all nations? And no matter what we do, there will always be someone who is or thinks they are in more power than the rest. There really is no solution as of yet to keep those in power out of power, they always seem to find a way to be put back in power....somehow!
All in all, I thought this was a good read, and I did end up learning things I had no idea about from it. I both agree and disagree with Allison's post above. And if there is one thing that I would like to see in our future is that of oppression, discrimination, and injustices all put to an end! Now just how are we going to do this?:)
I agree that we should stop oppression but everyone wants the American dream. People dream of being rich, famous, and conquering the world. How can this happen if people equal or aren’t given different opportunity. Many people in this country have a feeling of self entitlement or individualism. There is no denying that in the US there is inequality but everyone wants a little more then what they have but are you willing to give up what you have for others? Most people will preach equality but when push comes to shove they aren’t willing to suffer to help someone lower class then themselves unless it doesn’t affect their current lifestyle or opportunities. It is easy to say fix the problems in our society but the reality is it is complex and extremely difficult. Referring to the questions comparing a plantation to America’s modern college/university I feel is a bold claim. The current interim president for CMU is Kathy Wilbur a female and our former president, Michael Rao, who was of Middle Eastern decent. Our board of trustees is five women which one of is black. The remaining members are three males and one of which is Indian. This may be true for some universities but I disagree with the claim that all are.
ReplyDeleteOppression is seen all over the world and one thing that I think needs to be talked about more is the oppression of cultures, peoples and religions other than females and African Americans. It is true that in the United States women and African Americans have been oppressed and in some parts of cities, towns, states across the U.S. they still are but why is it that those orientations are the ones always referenced to when the word oppression comes up?
ReplyDeleteReferring to the comments and blog above I do, also, agree that their are lacking opportunities from females and African Americans, I mean even male prisoner have more privileges than female prisoners. I believe there is no sure fire way to fix the problems within society dealing with oppression other than truly seeing what is reality and teaching our children or further children differently. All of these ideas about oppression, what it is, how it is done and the possible reasons why were created by society. So one would think that if society can create something so harmful to itself then society can create it's opposite. I feel that little steps are going to change societies idea of oppression and change the life of those who are being oppressed. But there is always going to be people who see their opportunities diminishing and they will blame it on race, gender, religion or creed instead of the government ran policies that are not being created to save jobs, stop budget cuts, build companies or support the community that is failing.
Those people who are being oppressed are usually the ones who see the real problems within society and know ways to fix those problems but the classes, races or religions that are put above seem to keep power and most the time could care less who they step on below.
I agree that oppression among groups is a problem and ideally it would not exist. Unfortunately we live in an unjust and non ideal word. Humans are conditioned to classify everything, do you remember homework from grade school where you had to chose what did not belong? We have the notion that everything has its place, unfortunately differences in people are not so black and white. There are very gray areas in class,gender, and race but because we are conditioned to categorize, the first thing we do when we meet someone is decide what groups they fit in.
ReplyDeleteThe oppression of the people that do not fit into the "most desirable" groups is engrained in the history on mankind. We have been making significant progress in the past couple centuries but are not nearly at a level that is ideal for a peaceful coexistence. Honestly I do know if we will ever be at that level. Even though we are educated enough to know that we are all basically the same, oppression still exists through ignorance and greed for power. Although we would like this to change, it is in human nature and will always exist.