Sympathizing with oppressors.

[noamnety]

On another blog a few years back, I read a post that stuck with me, first because it made me so defensive and later because I began to see it play out again and again.

It's an ongoing issue in the US that people identify with those in power over those without power time and time again. We sympathize with the TSA workers OVER the people they are groping. We sympathize with soldiers OVER the people they are bombing, oohing and aahing over the cute puppies they rescue from Iraq, and focus on their need for the attachment to the dog over the Iraqi parents' attachment to the children killed in bombings.

We identify with those who are oppressing, rather than those who are oppressed. I've seen people on DU get downright pissy because I didn't sympathize enough with the plight of the founding fathers who were slave owners. Those poor slave owners just didn't have any choice in the matter, they didn't want to own slaves, they knew it was morally wrong, but there was just no way to keep their mansion running without it, they were practically bankrupt, doncha know.

I've been expected to feel sympathy in this country for the fucking democratic officials who voted to fund illegal wars, because the poor senators might have lost reelection if they voted for what was right. I've been asked to show more empathy for poor Barack Obama who WANTS to end DADT, but he's in such a difficult position politically he just can't.

You know what? Fuck the TSA. They know they are traumatizing people as part of their job, and they have chosen to prioritize their own financial needs over that. Whatever. They can prioritize however they need to. I however do not need to prioritize their salaries over people getting molested and traumatized by government officials. And I don't need to prioritize poor Thomas Jefferson's plight where he just had to have slaves but gosh he treated them well and wasn't as rich as other rich people so it was okay. And I am not going to pretend to feel anything other than contempt for any other government officials, elected or otherwise, who have made a decision to take advantage of those with less power because it furthers their careers in some way.

[Xipe Totec]

1. Eloquently put. K&R nt

[lunatica]

2. Man! I so totally agree!

[atreides1]

3. Well Said

:toast:

[somone]

4. Great post

Thanks.

[hfojvt]

5. I don't think of a worker doing what they were told

as "having power".

Making them the target just deflects away from the people who have more power.

I gave up lots of money to avoid having a career in the Military Industrial complex, but I don't begrudge people who are unwilling to fall on their sword over issues that I consider important. Usually they are not demons, but people sorta like me, and like my sig line says, my tactic involves also not hating them.

[noamnety]

7. The TSA officials do have power over the people they are groping.

That's just a simple fact. If the people refuse the gropedown, they are subject to being hauled away by security, thousands of dollars in fines, etc. I'm sure at some point it will cross into tasers being used because someone refused to be groped.

I haven't asked you to hate anyone.

I am not prioritizing their need to further their career over the civil rights of the people they hold power over.

[hfojvt]

13. I don't see how that makes them into "oppressors"

nor into "people who have power".

To say "further their career" seems to deny economic realities.

"I haven't asked you to hate anyone"

Okay, just to not have any sympathy for them. I'm not seeing a huge difference there.

[Greyhound]

17. We all have the power to say "no".

Let me ask you this, is there anything that you would refuse to do for your paycheck?

[hfojvt]

25. Did I mention that I quit my job at DOD?

Because I thought I had.

But the power to lose my job is not the same thing as the power to make hundreds of other people lose their jobs. Which of those 300 "has power" - the 300 workers, or the one boss who tells those workers what they have to do to keep their jobs?

My vote is for the latter.

[Greyhound]

30. I've made similar decisions and paid the price as well.

That being said, then this makes your statement all the more incongruous.

Being a demon is not requisite to enabling evil, see Edmund Burke.

[Quantess]

28. Yes, true. They are only doing their jobs.

The TSA agents don't make the rules. They aren't the villains here.
Of course, they can choose another job, but they did not make the rules and are only doing what they are told.

[Greyhound]

29. Wrong place. n/t

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. yes, soldiers and hourly paid TSA workers are the true power in this country.

[noamnety]

9. Soldiers very often do hold power over people they are oppressing.

That is part of their function and mission, to use force as a means of power over others.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. soldiers wouldnt be at war in the first place, if it were not for politicians

[noamnety]

11. Sure, and TSA officials wouldn't grope us if we just stopped flying.

That doesn't change that our tendency is to have more empathy for those in power than those whose rights they are violating when wielding that power.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

15. no they would not grope if the TSA had not created this policy

it seems to me that you are just as willing to blame the less powerful as you accuse others of doing.

[Arctic Dave]

20. The wouldn't be there either if they didn't join knowing full well what the job entailed.

They always have the ability to say, No.

[TheKentuckian]

8. Following that, the further up the totem pole a person is the less accountable and the more sympathy

they will get.

God forbid we ever get tough with the order givers. We'll even more quickly side with a general or president than we would a low level operative or a grunt fresh out of boot camp.

We are a power loving, popularity contest oriented people which allows for every conceivable divide and conquer technique to be used effectively against our citizenry.
This programming is reinforced by the "rugged individualism" bullshit that puts us in the frame of mind that we are in a one on the universe battle for any piece of the pie, damn near winner take all.

[Hydra]

12. You have choices in your life

I morally object to doing things, so I don't do them. I may be poor, but I sleep well at night.

People that perpetrate evil in the name of duty(or a paycheck) are giving in to its basic banality. Evil isn't some difficult task, it's the simple act of ignoring your better sense.

The more people who give in, the more pervasive it all gets.

[Little Star]

14. You have made a good point! k&r

[laughingliberal]

16. When an oppressed people believe the reality of the oppressors, the oppression is complete. nt

[Greyhound]

18. Hear, hear! I'm a bit surprised that this is the outrage that has caused significant

numbers of people to at least consider what we've become and where it will lead, but I am happy that something has finally shaken people up enough to refuse.

The first TSA employee that forces her employers to act over this will be a hero (albeit unsung).
:kick: & R

[noamnety]

23. I'm not so surprised that this is a trigger point.

People who consider themselves middle class or higher view a lot of what's been happening from a distance. Even when we know intellectually that something could happen to us, losing our job or health care or being falsely imprisoned, we still are disconnected, we still feel in our hearts "oh, that couldn't happen to me."

This, this is something that can happen to us even without losing our class status, it's something we can envision happening so it's personal - and the nature of it makes it all the more personal.

You're right that this being the tipping point for many Americans is maybe a testament to our collective privilege, that we aren't up in arms until something comes along that affects even the middle class or rich - or especially the middle class and rich. I wonder if the men who don't get it (hey, I'm comfortable being groped, why aren't you all?! Get over it!) are also displaying some of their privilege here, when one out of six women are survivors of sexual assault (vs. one in 33 men by some statistics). For them it still falls under things that aren't part of their world, thus they don't need to worry about it.

I would love to see the TSA refuse to participate.

[Greyhound]

26. I just really expected it to be teevee related. n/t

:kick:

[TexasObserver]

19. "They're just following orders" is still with us.

It's a mindset that always tries to rationalize away legitimate concerns.

[Arctic Dave]

21. K&R

[sabrina 1]

22. Well said, and sadly true.

But, some of us are not concerned about the TSA workers, or politicians who betray the people over and over again, and the good part is, more people seem to be waking up. Maybe it will take a few more abuses before some of the apologists finally begin to see the light.

[InvisibleTouch]

24. What, it's not possible to sympathize with more than one group at a time?

It's not possible to have sympathy for the travelers that are treated with such indignity and hate it, and also for the employees that have to do their job and hate it? Aren't both groups being oppressed? The traveler who needs to get somewhere, and the employee who needs to feed his kids? I think you're drawing a false dichotomy. The real oppressors are those that are putting all these people in such an awful position. And I don't think anyone is sympathizing with them.

[sally cat]

27. Without the TSA, the terrorists would not have won. They have ensured their victory.

[Catherina]

31. Rec'd! n/t

[patrice]

32. Is it sympathy that is expected, or objective understanding of the whole situation? Valid opposition

, which would also be more effective opposition, requires complete knowledge of that which is opposed. Without that understanding, effective action can always be blindsided by the unknown and rendered less effective.

You can call that sympathy if you wish, but it is also true that the most powerful offense does include enough sympathy/understanding to be truly capable of striking vital vulnerabilities.