Johnson Ch 8: deny, deny deny?

I loved the quote by Johnson stating “If you are not part of the problem, you are not part of the solution”. We cannot just simply stand by watching and listening to oppression, discrimination and ridicule around us and do nothing- because we are not involved right? This reminds me of the quote “there are two kinds of people. Those who do evil things and those who see evil things being done and do nothing to stop them”. I think the latter option is actually worse because the oppressor and “privileged” person may have a mental condition that made him or her say or do the negative action whether it is emotion or passion that is leading their actions. Usually the by stander is somewhat neutral, and may be at a privileged advantage to do something… yet according to many social experiments, people don’t do much but stand by and watch.

Many strategies that are used to deny that the oppression and ridicule is going on is to blame the victim, minimize the problem, think “it would be a better world if…”, “I was only kidding” so it doesn’t matter or hurt if you don’t mean it, and also think that the dominant group members are better than the less powerful and oppressed. These practices blame the victim because it makes the dominant person feel better. If the dominant person feels better about his or herself then the battle is won… they have obtained their confidence from hurting someone else and contributing to their own power. Every person has their flaws, no one is perfect. The dominant oppressor may distract from his or her flaws and refocus onto the oppressed person’s flaws because it makes them feel more powerful and protects them from ridicule from a person above them in power.

In today’s society this cycle is on going from a young age to an old age. Bullies often have troubled personal lives, and do not feel confident within themselves, so they shift the attention to another subject to deflect their feelings. That victim may also turn to anther child or possibly younger sibling at home and deflect their anger towards the bully onto someone else. Where does the cycle end? We can also examine domestic violence. The aggressor lashes out on the victim because they may have had a bad day, or do not feel confident in the relationship or themselves. The woman in turn may have resentment towards herself or her children for having to stay and the cycle continues.

I think the only way that this cycle can be stopped is to put an end to it individually. I think we need to start from an early age educating children on the “right” thing to do, and to speak up for others regardless. We cannot minimize the problems of racism, sexism, ageism, etc. We also need to accept that these are OUR problems even if they are not affecting us first hand. I learned in my FS 773 course that racism starts at age 3. Many kids don’t even go to school at age three, so it must be coming from parents or other examples. We are in charge and need to instill in these young, untarnished minds that everyone is equal and to be accepting of others, otherwise this cycle is going to continue for generations ahead indefinitely.