#internalised oppression

[eilidhmxcleod]

I've got to say I'm veryyyyy happy with this merch it's a 10 from me

[msfbgraves]

Certain things are so normalised we don't talk about them anymore. Even though when looking at them, I find them deeply disturbing.

Ever since I was six, six, mind you, I was working to stay "on top of things". I was a slow learner, which may have had something to do with the impaired motor function. But I had to try to "keep up".

Keep up with what?

And here I am again, thinking "OK, right, I need to stay on task, to stay on top of bills, and housing issues and bodily needs and family demands and office politics and actual politics and why does simply being a part of daily life feels so much like a fight for survival? Why do you have to stay so alert that something or someone doesn't trip you up? It's not only money. In a job you're trying to stay relevant you need to keep your eye out for the next opportunity or some boss on an ego trip or some coworker trying to sabotage as well as doing the damn work. School was dealing with classmates and schoolwork and bullying from either teachers or classmates or parents as well as cultivating the fun parts. I've been functioning on adrenalin since first grade, as you do in this society, and we get two to five weeks a year off from that, and maybe a part of the weekend because you know, chores.

And very, very occassionally someone points out that maybe life is not supposed to feel like this. That maybe my favourite meow meow is wrong when he says: "Life isn't a fairytale (gruesome though they are), it's a competitive sport!"

I'm no absolutist. Competition can be fun. Focus can be thrilling. Work can be fulfilling. But constantly being on the alert because you might need a new job there's a storm coming you're managing a health condition they've raised prices with 20% you need to check your heating a family member needs assistance wtf man? Necessity I understand but we accept this stuff as 'normal life'. Sure there's stuff about "smell the roses, it can be over tomorrow," but if I suggest, Modern Times like, that this normalcy is weird people look at me blankly. It's normal to work what amounts to six days out of seven, more sometimes when money is tight or your job is very demanding. Which goes for 99% of people but we accept the struggle. Life is supposed to be a struggle.

Says... says who?

Everytime I return to the ratrace - because illness has thrown me out of it for actual death matches a few times - I keep thinking: "But this is ridiculous." I see no immediately apparent alternative, but I keep thinking we're in some capatalism imposed, somehow accepted insanity. And some people think the biggest revelation about this is that capitalism creates those conditions to benefit those with the most capital, which duh, but my question is not "Why was this system put in place?" but "Why tf do we accept it?" Maybe because it is somtimes rewarded but why then do we reward it? AI rearranges stolen artwork and writing and it makes them rich. Supermarkets price millions out of staples it makes them rich. People invest in oil companies that constantly provoke bloody wars and it makes them rich. The least discriminatory way I could make cold hard cash would probably be to give some company money to kill other people. And it makes me sick to my stomach, but that is called business savvy. Making our own lives, that of others and the planet itself unlivable is something that pays. Why tf do we accept that? We could regulate it out of existence. Why don't we? Why is it a harsh truth that if you can find a way to make as many people as possible as desperate as possible you make the most money?

Yes we also strive for a healthy society but that is not what capitalism rewards. We treat decency as a luxury we can't afford; riches erode whatever inherent decency people may get born with.

And yet we keep on racing lest we get crushed by it.

It boggles my mind and keeps doing so.

[adphilosophyclub-blog]

November 4th 2015

Hey guys!So we had originally planned to discuss gentrification today, but last week we also had a really interesting conversation about intersectional activism that I believe a lot of people wanted to continue. We started talking about oppressive 'isms' (sexism, racism, ageism, etc.) in general and then kind of focused on how oppression is internalised. We referenced the doll test and discussed the ways in which we viewed the world when we subscribed to society's ideals.

We also touched on beauty standards and how they've changed over the years

Body Evolution - Model Before and After

Beauty Standards Around The World

It's really interesting to consider how such ideals have evolved over time differently all over ther world.

Something to think about:Have you ever had an experience that challenged a single story you've created for a group of people?

(you can totally tell us about it in the comment section below if you like)

[capsing]

when a woman disses women as drivers

[brasandbodyimage]

"Policing how an oppressed individual responds to their oppressors shifts the focus away from the real problem, and it puts the responsibility on the oppressed to 'avoid' being attacked. There is an inherent power imbalance in these exchanges, and condemning the oppressed for their tone/language rather than condemning the oppressors for their comments/actions is not constructive."

"Someone doing something wrong doesn't give you the right to do something wrong back! You don't know always what group the person making comments is from! What if they're from the same group, but they just believe [oppressive opinion]? Why should they have to monitor their tone?"