Let's make Non-LGBT the minority... 😉locked

lemmytellyousomething@lemmy.dbzer0.com to LGBTQ+@beehaw.org – 111 points –

Happy pride month! 🌈

Sources: Gallup surveys from 2012, 2016 and 2021 and the PRRI survey of 2023

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That's your projection though. How do you know that oppressed people will in turn become the oppressors once they have the chance? Same goes for racial or other kinds of oppression. Women, queer people, people of color and any other minority have been working to get a more inclusive world benefitting everyone. It is just fear mongering to warn against this. As the other person said, it is comic relief to make fun of the oppressor, in this case cishet people, and it is obviously not a long-term strategy. But it is also not bigotry because for that you need power.

How do you know that oppressed people will in turn become the oppressors once they have the chance?

Historical data... mostly political, but what in human behavior isn't "political"?

[...] make fun of the oppressor [...]

All you said is great... until that point. All action has an opposite reaction, if you want some "comic relief", I suggest you point it in an orthogonal direction so their reaction is also comic and not reinforcing their bigotry.

But it is also not bigotry because for that you need power.

You have that power in a safe space where the other bigots get silenced, don't fall into the trap of copying their behavior.

While I see your point of humans being humans and those being in power often oppressing others, I don't think this applies here. Because the struggle of emancipatory movements against the existing power hierarchies is not one of overthrowing one ruling class and replacing it with another. If you think that's what is going on when people try to abolish racism or the patriarchy, then you have to be very far removed from those struggles in the first place. Instead of trying to topple one ruling class, we fight an intersectional struggle here, running through families affecting each person differently. This is a structural oppression very different from one class of rulers against an oppressed class. On top of that, I think the vast majority of oppressed people would agree that they want to live in a emancipated society where the form of oppression they face isn't present anymore. No one wants to turn any form of oppression around.

I try to be giving you the benefit of the doubt here, but if you really think that feminism or anti-racism is about the goal of oppressing others, then you have to be either ignorant or malicious.

Regarding the comic relief, I think you downplay the role of personal emotions too much. What for of relief or venting would you suggest for all the suffering, the fear, the anger people have? I'm not Jesus and I don't think his victim mentality will bring us any further here. I won't turn the other cheek.

I also disagree with reversed bigotry in a safe place. First of all, Lemmy is no safe place. Most of the people here are cis(het) dudes and that makes it not safe per se. Second, I think there is a huge difference between structural oppression backing bigotry or people being assholes. The person you were responding to was obviously not saying that all the cishet people should vanish. You may have projected that on them, but that wasn't the point. The point is comic relief and as such more of a sarcastic joke. When I say "cis men are garbage" (as I did some months ago here on Lemmy), I don't literally mean that I think all cis men are really bad people that I want to get rid of. But what else to do about the fact that like 99% of cis men are bigots and are abusing their power? I would be the first person to welcome cis men into my life and be friends with them, if they would not be such irresponsible bigots. So saying "cis men are garbage" can help me vent all this frustration but without me being literal.

And sure, one could say that we should only apply the means that fit our end goals. But this form of comic relief is just that. It is not supposed to be a form of change or how we restructure society. If all we did would be to complain about oppression without trying to constructively change it, then I would be opposed to this as well. But this is not the case. There are already so many things people try to do to make this a better world for everyone. But we are all humans after all and so there needs to be some way of letting off steam. So don't police other people innocently complain about oppression...

Historical data… mostly political, but what in human behavior isn’t “political”?

Heavy doubt on that one. Care to cite some sources?

Sure, here go a few hundred (thousand?) sources:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_history_of_the_world

Which one of those shows an oppressed people turning around and oppressing the oppressor?

Each and every one? Start with the prehistoric era and tribal warfare, you'll find a constant theme of oppressors, revolts, winners becoming the new oppressors, revolts... all the way to the present.

I'm asking for specifics here. You made a claim, back it up with 1 single, tangible source, not some generic "all of history" bullshit

You want me to dissect the history of Israel, Korea, Morocco, Germany, the Byzantine Empire, Russia, India, Egypt, Rome... seriously? Not the time and place.

I want you to give one example of the thing you claimed will happen actually happening. Name a time an oppressed class got rights, then oppressed the people that oppressed them.

He met your burden of proof and then some. You asked him to cite sources and he did. You requiring a specific situation is partly you moving the goalposts, and partly you simply being lazy. You are not arguing in good faith and until you start, there is no reason to interact with you.

Saying all of history is not it and the fact that he can't narrow it down is telling.

Don't get it twisted. You're the one that is flying in the face of overwhelming data, not the other way around.

It's not his fault that you refuse to read anything at all about history. But to help you out I will give you a very notable one.

One notable instance of a persecuted minority group gaining rights and eventually persecuting their former persecutors is the history of Christians in the Roman Empire.

During the early centuries of the Common Era, Christians were a minority group within the Roman Empire and faced periods of intense persecution. This persecution included being blamed for natural disasters, subjected to public executions, and targeted during the reigns of several emperors, most notably Nero and Diocletian. Christians were often forced to practice their faith in secret to avoid these harsh penalties.

The turning point came in the early 4th century when Constantine the Great became emperor. In 313 CE, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which granted religious tolerance to all religions, including Christianity. Over time, Christianity not only became accepted but also began to receive imperial patronage. By the end of the 4th century, under Emperor Theodosius I, Christianity became the official state religion of the Roman Empire.

Once in a position of power, Christians began to persecute those who did not conform to their religious views. Pagan practices and temples were suppressed, and non-Christian religions were marginalized. Heretical Christian sects were also targeted. For example, the destruction of the Serapeum of Alexandria in 391 CE and the persecution of pagans and Jews are indicative of this shift from being persecuted to becoming persecutors.

Now, piss off and I'm blocking you for wasting everyone's time and arguing in bad faith. I have better shit to do than teach you history that you should have learned in 9th grade.

Yelling into the void since you blocked me, but saying "here is a list of historical events" is not a source, and expecting someone to read the whole thing to pick out an example of the thing YOU claim to have happened is not arguing in good faith.

Christians are an example, for sure. The only thing I would say is the difference is that in that case Christianity is about a religious belief and not an intrinsic property of the people. If it had been raised as an example earlier, we could have actually had a discussion about that difference instead of someone saying "just look at history, it will definitely happen in this case."

Bigotry is bigotry regardless of whether you have any power or not.

Where in the world did you ever get the idea that any type of bigotry is acceptable?

This is a huge problem with your thought process; I suggest you take whatever steps necessary to fix it.

Do you also complain about people saying 'eat the rich'? What is considered bigotry and what not? I didn't say that bigotry is fine per se, just that some comic relief is. And I'm firmly convinced that discrimination is based on a structural oppression. That's what I meant with the phrase about bigotry. But sure, even someone without much power can be an asshole and this wouldn't be fine for me either. Although it is more complicated than to say this person is just a bigot, because you would need to include a structural level in this. Calling other people bigot for not confirming to your standards is a common way of discrimination as well. So talking about bigotry like a universal thing that is always this one way and that is bad is really overly simplistic and just playing into structural oppression. So maybe go fix this yourself?

Bigotry is not acceptable. Period. End of story.

You of all people should be capable of understanding this very simple principle.

And since I am absolutely out of patience with bad faith actors today, I'm blocking you as well. Now, piss off.

You've told two people in here to "piss off". I don't care how irritated you are with them, that is not even close to be(e)ing nice. You can, in fact, block people without being a jackass about it.