It’s always been easy for the oppressor in oppressor-oppressed relationships to deny the oppression of one group and to claim that they, in fact, are the victims in the situation. This goes for whites and POC, men and women, adults and children, rich and poor, first world and third world, heterosexual and homosexual, Christian and atheist, etc.
Recently, I had a conversation with a white supremist on a post here on Blue Linchpin. The post argued against the common white sentiment that it is racist and unfair that there are no such things as “White History Month”, “White Entertainment Channel”, etc. Because our society is dominated by whites, every month is White History Month, every channel white, every club and society, everything by default white. The response was for a handful of people ready to deny any sort of white privilege and, as usual. These were some of the responses I received, the last being the strongest example:
Most African-Americans and Mexicans exploit this and use it way to much to their advantage. There’s nothing like working for the place I worked for and a black ar Mexican would walk in with their six kids drapped in gold rings and chains and be on welfare, yet you watch where they go when they leave and they are loading up the group of thugs into their pimped out Escalade.
Would anyone care to elaborate on why the prison institutions across the “United” States of America are overwhelmingly populated with minorties?
Do you have any idea what white people went through to create this country. Do you not recall any history as to why we settled in America and the battles to follow?…I say celebrate your race, help your race become the best it can be! Just don’t tell me I can’t do the same for my race because I am a racist.
i think both the content and the presentation of the content shows how educated these people are. Lack of knowledge of history and the causes behind current economic and racial problems causes these sentiments. And last, but definitely not least, we have a post that begins this way:
As a white man in a white country i certainly dont feel superior, if anything i feel oppressed and discriminated for being white.
And it continues (shortened, because the original post consisted of a long, convoluted list):
These problems did not exist 30 years ago. Its only been since non white racial groups who have moved into this country that we have had to feel this way…Now due to immigration of non white people and their demands that we cater for them…we have had…various minorities playing the race card whenever they commit crime on the white australian population, and getting away with it, and in some cases getting compensation!!! I dont have anything against anyone because of the colour of their skin. But i have something against people who live on my tax dollars, commit crime against me and taking away the rights i was born with…I am PROUD to be white, i am PROUD to be Australian. And i will fight to restore the birthrights our grandparents and their parents worked and died to give us. Anyone who cannot be proud of their heritage is a traitor to themselves and their people, and anybody who stands in the way of my happiness, my pride and my constitutional rights will be dealt with accordingly.
The racial situation in Australia is in many ways similar to the racial situation in America. You’ve got a racial group that’s been beaten down and oppressed, had its rights taken away, and through government policies has seen itself blamed for not doing as well as privileged whites. But the interesting thing is, the group this commenter is talking about is the equivalent of Native Americans in America. The Aborigines were originally in Australia when it was colonized. Their land and rights were stripped from them, and they were systematically oppressed through the generations. They were the original Australians.
These are just my closest examples of whites denying privilege and claiming that they are in fact the oppressed group. While it can be argued that, like men, by being put up on a pedestal whites are forced to act a certain way, and that that is oppression, that is not the point being made by either group. There are countless examples of whites claiming to be oppressed by minorities.
So too, often, do men claim to be the oppressed group.
In another post of mine, I talked about my experiences as a woman and the things expected of me. A male commenter felt it well within his rights to deny my experience and that I was just being a drama queen. He then claimed that men, in fact, were the oppressed gender.
WE are the ones exploited, forced to work in boring, mind numbing offices to impress YOU so you can sit at home playing with the kids. How dare YOU have the hubris to assume that YOU have it worse?
After replying to the commenter and promptly identifying his posts as spam, I nevertheless continued to get posts from him attacking other women in the thread who said they had similar experiences. Like privilege-denying whites, he assumed that he was in the right and that the oppressed class was not in fact oppressed but simply overreacting.
POC and women are simply hysterical, obviously. At least, according to misogynist blogger Steve Hall, who responded (avoid clicking the link if you can, most likely the guy’s paid based on views) to the anger over a commercial featuring sexual harassment. Being a man, Steve Hall decided that the commercial was in fact a hilarious joke and that women who were disturbed or angered over the ad simply had “sticks up their asses”. Like the commenter above, Steve Hall felt that he didn’t need to be a woman to know how the ad or sexual harassment felt for a woman. He simply assumed that he knew better and that he had just as valid an opinion on the matter. And to top it all off, he threatened those upset with the ads with sexual harassment and told them to shut up and die.
These aren’t the only forms of oppressors claiming to be the victims. Atheists are well acquainted with the unusual phenomenon of the Christian majority in America claiming to be oppressed whenever it can’t force others to abide by its religious teachings. Members of the middle class complain often about being oppressed by welfare or immigrant workers, without considering that their demand for cheap products is causing these problems.
People like white supremists D (and his imaginary friend), Bill, and misogynists Steve Hall and Wolf, Christians, middle class conservatives, etc, are just examples of the members of oppressive groups which deny their privilege and aggressively set out to set themselves up as the ones being oppressed. Why? I can see the point of denying privilege, aside from avoiding guilt it allows you to continue benefiting from that privilege. But why the stretch, why the fight to make themselves out to be the victims? Maybe it’s guilt, too. Maybe no matter what the position of a group or person, they will always try to see themselves as the underdogs, to feel better about themselves. We can admit that mistakes were made, and we can admit that everyone should be treated as a human being, but for gods sakes why is it so hard to admit privilege?
Survivalism has a pretty bad reputation. And it’s no wonder. The vast majority are right wing nutjobs who hoard guns and can’t wait to shoot looters. They’re convinced the end of the world is coming yet are completely unconcerned about far more deadly issues like heart disease, smoking (which many of them do), pollution (a lot of them are “libertarians”), etc. 
As a woman, I am constantly expected to apologize for myself. I am expected to hide any evidence of my existence. 
can eat as sloppily, as much as they please, without question. I am expected to apologize for eating, to be on a diet, to order tiny portions no one could survive on. When I eat normal portions, I am expected to be ashamed. (A recent example: Eating a handful of baby carrots for breakfast and having my grandmother gawk at me and ask how I could eat so many. I have small hands.)
How about Yulia Tymoshenko, right, who manages to be beautiful without demeaning herself or her office as Prime Minister of Ukraine? Who campaigned against corruption without winks that burnt up the brain cells of viewers every time? Who increased salaries and benefits for public workers, brought divided people together, and is among the most powerful women in the world? Or perhaps Han Myeong-sook, prime minister of South Korea, who was imprisoned for teaching communist and democratic ideals to the poor and working class, fought for gender equality, and was active in foreign policy? Maybe Dalia Grybauskaitė, president of Lithuania, who earned the nickname “Iron Lady”, who won a landslide victory as an independent with a reputation for staying out of scandals.
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