Oppression Everywhere

Pretty much I can make an argument that every piece of anything ever created/said/thought/written/sung contributes to oppression. Why is this? Possibly because everyone is different and something one person considers to be sacred and holy defiles another person’s spirit. Also any creation comes from one person. One person attempting to share his or her thoughts or feelings will probably upset someone else.

I feel like I could be spending my efforts on something helpful to society but instead I will painfully create some elaborate way that Stephen King is destroying the world.

Okay I know I’m coming off a little strong so let’s go back to the original point of this blogpost…

“The object is to illuminate--what's really going on here that, once identified, we might be able to change?”

I personally believe that not everything needs to be changed. If we all were forced to only share what will not offend then there would be no talking at all. The point of art, poetry, and media is to make the viewer or consumer feel uncomfortable. His or her reaction is where the REAL change comes from-not from critiquing every move an author makes in his attempt to write a fictional story.

Alas I will do what I was asked for the sake of my grade…

1.       Exploitation- Stephen King writes book after book after book all in an attempt to get richer off the backs of the middle class who are reading his books. Although he writes about how wrong this is and gives examples of how ugly exploitation gets, like in his novel The Shining when Jack and Wendy are taken advantage of because of their financial situation, King is only using this as a distraction to make his readers believe he is on our side. This clearly gets the reader to trust King and so a cycle of buying and ingesting his material persists.

2.       Marginalization- Stephen King writes about issues such as school shootings because he probably doesn’t see them as an issue in society. King’s book Rage got pulled out of circulation because it marginalized school shootings. King is a perpetrator, allowing for children all over the country whose lives have been affected by school shootings to be continually agonized. (Dear God this one hurt to write. For a more accurate explanation of Rage go to the following website: http://www.pageofreviews.com/2014/04/marginalization-and-stephen-kings-rage/)

3.       I can’t actually argue that King promotes powerlessness… read Carrie, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Rose Madder, or Christine. King writes in an attempt to free females from stereotypes and the culture that surrounds Americans on what it means to be “feminine.”

4.       Cultural Dominance- King writes about anything and everything. I can’t honestly think of an example where one culture rules over others…

5.       Violence- King’s characters are often full of explosive violence- often directed at one character or a group of people. This just encourages bullies and anyone who uses violence as a means to oppress.

*Stephen King, if you were to ever read this, disregard everything.

Please Respect My Opinion

               Today in class we talked about oppression. Coming from a fiscally conservative family in an extremely conservative town wasn’t easy. I was practically brainwashed until I finally broke away from those I love. However, because I have a deep understanding of both right and left, I formulate my opinions while considering both sides. When the topic of welfare came up, I expressed my frustration. I specifically used my friend as an example because it really upsets me that her family can drive a fancy car but be incapable to pay for her shoes. They could have easily traded in their Lincoln for a Camry and been 20 grand richer. I was simply pointing out that I find these decisions to be unwise.

              Ironically I was feeling a little oppressed. It’s funny because we came to a consensus that this was wrong. Being in the minority because of my background and different beliefs sucked. Today I experienced these types of oppression:

Violent- What I was saying was apparently judgmental, unsympathetic, and that I was not “giving people who receive welfare the benefit of the doubt.” This is attacking my character. These statements were intentionally said to embarrass me and bring me down by telling me what a bad person I am. I especially didn’t like the assumption that I was not treating others with compassion. When you divide my parents’ income between the four of us, we qualify as being under the poverty level (however we are not because when evaluating poverty one counts all dependents in the household and there is some math stuff that I’m not quite capable of explaining). I KNOW how it feels to not have spending money… I know how it feels to not have fancy clothes, new school supplies, the newest technology, and to have to eat low grade food. I understand how much that sucks. My parents were on welfare until I was two. My parents lived in a tailor for the first three years of their marriage.

Marginalization: Quick definition for those who didn’t fully understand what this term meant.  

  to treat (a person, group, or concept) as insignificant or peripheral.

    "attempting to marginalize those who disagree"

              I don’t mean to drag Madison in here but I completely understand what she said about rich farmers taking advantage of the welfare system. A farmer does not actually need to OWN a NEW combine. Combines cost anywhere between $350,000 to well over $500,000. Many farmers however chose to rent a combine from companies or even borrow their neighbor’s. In small towns and rural areas everyone knows everything about everyone, including their economic status.  I personally spend my summers mucking hog barns- grandma is getting a little old to do it by herself- this gives me some pretty good incite about what goes down on a farm. These are not insignificant issues, at least not to me. It bothers me that people who don’t need welfare would lie and cheat. Also I would like to point out that I think welfare is awesome (definitely not perfect though). I do not generalize people who get food stamps as pigs suckling my parents’ tax money. Most people on welfare truly need it and make great decisions for themselves and their family. The fact that some people do cheat the system is something that really bothers me.

Anyway, I just wanted to post this because I know it’s hard to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Not many Augie kids are small rural town girls living in southern Illinois.