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The War in Vietnam taught a lot of us a lot of lessons.
Some of the best advice I ever received was when I asked a young woman where to begin on the road to my own emancipation. She snapped her answer without pause: “Examine your own oppression.”
“What?” I replied “I am a white man, born in America and English speaking. There is no civil rights movement for such as I! In fact, it is white, American, native born, English speaking men who oppress everyone else…”
“Examine your own oppression,” She repeated, and said no more. I never saw her again.
I pass this on to you. It may take some time, it took me a long time, to absorb the wise young woman’s message.
Can you find no ways in which you are oppressed? Have you never been lied to, traduced, seduced, deceived, intimidated, hurt, undermined, betrayed…
If you can’t think of anything else, try turning on the TV or radio for a few minutes. Observe the commercials, then tell me you aren’t oppressed!
Are you fighting obesity, as most Americans are? Have you thought about why obesity has become a major health problem? Leave off the “why” for a moment and think about the “who.” Somebody is making money, a lot of money, by promoting your obesity! Worse yet, there are many other health problems being promoted by exploiters. What about the sales of debilitating and addictive drugs such as cigarettes and alcohol, for example?
Do you answer your phone when it rings? Is someone on the other end of the line seeking to exploit you?
Are films, books, teachers, and TV shows, directing you toward unrealistic versions of American life?
At the risk of appearing not serious, let me quote: “It isn’t paranoia if they really are out to get you!”
It took me some months to fathom the young women’s safe advice. It finally osmosed its way into my thinking months later. A few things were obvious: I had been oppressed by the draft. I had really really been oppressed during my four years in the military! I had been oppressed by my need to have a job. My bosses made a regular habit of oppressing me.
Later, more general forms of oppression began to occur to me: I had to live in a world where racial divisions created animosities that led to my oppression. I had to pay taxes for wars I didn’t start and didn’t want. I had to feel ashamed and inadequate in some social situations.
Much, much later, probably years later, it began to occur to me that the many forms of personal oppression that had come to my consciousness were there by design. Not only was I being oppressed in many ways, but someone was doing it. Someone was profiting from my oppression! Who?
Once you’ve established some parts of your own oppression, start tracing each tentacle backward to its central monster. It’s pretty much the same monster for everyone.
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