Navigating the World When the World is Out to Get You

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Infinite Oppression

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Before we begin, take a look at this clip of an early Jordan Peterson lecture -

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A popular message that has oddly spread through the minds of many young people is this notion that their poor situation or lack of success/happiness/respect is due to someone else. This might take form as a literal perpetration by some particular jerk or some general obstruction in a haze of racism or sexism or transphobism.

This mode of thought assumes that someone’s potential isn’t being reached because of someone or some system working against them. How could a person of color possibly found of a company if racist brokers won’t sell him/her property? Or how could an aspiring woman manhandle herself into a boy’s club of executives?

This also assumes that if this person or system did not exist, success would already have been attained. Everything is perfectly paved other than that one glaring thing. If ‘transphobia' in the media did not exist and everyone just used the right pronouns, we would see skyrocketing levels of personal happiness amongst this group.

These assumptions are tremendously precarious and potentially more damaging than if the assumptions were measurably verifiable.

“What?? You don’t think racism exists? Or that there are real barriers for women/gays/poc/religious minorities/etc./etc./etc.??”

Of course these components of social life exist and if broken down in each and every instance, produce an infinite array of oppressions and obstacles that could very well have negatively affected your capacity to succeed in the world. Sometimes, the range and frequency of obstacles seems so constant that it becomes a haze of 'racism' or 'sexism' or 'ableism' or dozens of other chronic systems stacked up against you. And it has gotten to the point in mainstream rhetoric and it seems impossible to step outside your house, or even your very own mind, and not be steeped in horrifically imbalanced realities that are all out to get you.

But if those beginning assumptions are real that these obstacles must be removed to allow a person's success, the only logical conclusion is that they must be forcibly and unequivocally removed - this is the only option in many people's minds. The issue becomes the incapacity to deal with the infinite roster of oppressions and to wage a very abstract war against said '-ism'.

This will likely not only distract you from the actual success you originally desired but even work against you to stunt your growth and prevent you from learning the life skills that will allow you to further navigate the sea of oppressions.

I'm not saying that you should tolerate blatant infringements like biased hiring practices at a certain company or butt-patting at another corporate office. Specific measurable instances should dealt with swiftly. But when the general ethos of oppression creates an air of "It's not me, it's X-ism!" without the ability to point out personal circumstance and even with identifiable circumstances, that is all a person can do with their time... it generates a very unproductive society of superstitious and trigger-happy warriors.

And so my approach, because I have faced my own litany of 'oppressions' as an Asian American of immigrant parents, much of which are stereotypical and some I would never transcribe on a blockchain, is to promote resilience. If your scope of vision is only transfixed on what is against you, you'll be perpetually distracted from what is to your benefit and resource. Coming to resolution that yes, there might be a bunch of rando-weirdos that say strange things to you and might possibly affect your educational or professional prospects, but that is not where the goalpost is. Everyone (yes, including the whities) will face obstacle after obstacle, and the only true solution is to overcome them and be a personal precedent for success.

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Those were my thoughts of the day and this convo can easily splinter into sub-topics of political action, civil protest, general resistance vs. compliance, etc. but we can go into those another time. Let me know what you think below!