I enjoyed reading Johnson’s chapter Getting off the Hook: Denial and Resistance. It made me think about certain issues I never thought about in relation to privilege and oppression. I thought that Johnson’s examples were helpful in putting the theories into reality, for some I could relate to first hand. Such as the example of men holding the doors open for women as a symbol of dominance.
Johnson talked about different strategies that dominant group members use to deny, minimize, and erase the oppression of targeted social groups in the US. Some of the points he used were blaming the victim, claiming “I didn’t mean it”, that life for everyone is hard sometimes, simply avoiding the subject, or thinking that you are a “good one”. One idea I particularly thought was interesting was the theory about people simply avoiding the subject, for this idea connects to many of the other points. People, to avoid the taboo topics of racism, oppression, or privilege, will either call it something else (to lessen the harshness or concern), or express the mindset that it is what it is. By doing this people are denying the problem, minimizing the consequences, and overall erasing the issue from their minds. Privileged people believe that everyone has hard lives at times and should not complain about every little problem. However, a privileged persons worst day might not even compare to a minorities bad day. I feel people need to open their eyes up and acknowledge issues with race, and oppression (even if it is as something as small as a racist term) whether considered privileged or not everyone needs to realize a change needs to happen.
It is a common defense mechanism of people to blame anything and anyone else but themselves. From blaming the economy, to the status quo, to the city, or a specific group of people, anything could be used as an excuse. Majority of Johnson’s theories transpire from the idea of blaming the victim, and not the oppressor. By someone blaming the victim, it helps their self-image because they feel they did not do anything wrong therefore should feel no fault. By blaming the victim and moving away from actually identifying the problem or situation, this leads to the cycle continuing. People let themselves off the hook, and truly believe they have nothing to do with the existing problems of the victims when in reality we all do.
We should be focusing on what we can do to help the situation instead of wasting energy on thinking of meaningless excuses. Acknowledging and admitting that there is a problem, would be a huge step in the right direction. On a smaller scale, in everyday life be more courteous and compassionate towards fellow citizens. Even the smallest gesture to someone could make his or her day a little more enjoyable. We do live in a very individualistic society (we were raised to look out for ourselves); however, if we all joined together to solve problems in our communities, we could make this world a much better place to live in overall.
The last paragraph of your blog gave a few great example of what we can do to try and help the situation and end racism. I especially like that you looked at the smaller scale of things, and realized that if people were simply "more courteous and compassionate towards fellow citizens" we could make people happier. And what you said about joining together is the only we can make the world a better place-I couldn't agree with you more!
ReplyDeleteI like how you elaborated on Johnson's theory of blaming the victim. It's so true that people often shift the blame away from themselves to make themselves look and feel like a better person. Unfortunately, when everyone uses this strategy the cycle of oppression continues without much resistance.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that you point out that a man holding a door open is a symbol of dominance but then in the last paragraph you say even the smallest gesture could make someone's day...perhaps even someone holding the door as a sign of respect or out of good will. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteThanks I enjoyed reading all your posts!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes holding the door open could be that little gesture, however, we need to change the common belief that this gesture is a symbol of men's dominance over a women. Which would make it an everyday nice gesture simply from one person (of any gender) to another.