Monologue
"When someone makes a claim of oppression," I said as I pushed away the keyboard and stood up with a stretch, "they typically cast some vast blanket over a complex issue in order to simplify it. Issues of inequality, discrimination, or power imbalance complaints are most common.
"The trouble arises when such claims are looked at for longer than it takes to scroll through your social network feed or wherever you're exposed to such information. For one thing, the person or persons making such statements need to be brought into question. Are they, in fact, experts who can make factual statements, having absorbed all relevant, current, and true data related to their claims? Or are they just repeating what someone else has said or written? And if so, can that source be verified?
"What's usually happening when someone cries 'this group is being taken advantage of' is that they're saying that they themselves are being taken advantage of. People who've been mistreated tend to see only the mistreatment around them, even when potentially none exists.
"We must be absolutely critical in our thinking when facing such claims, lest they alter our perception of the world and lead us down paths of little to no benefit. There's no sense in fighting imaginary wars, for they're just as costly as real ones and yet yield no eventual victory. One can only die one an imaginary hill, waving a phantasmal banner to a cause that was never really there."
First draft: 140704
Published: 230306