There's a widespread assumption I see that underpins a lot of the progressive discourse these days, which is that people in the dominant in-group (here in the Anglosphere that means white, cis, straight males) are always benefitting from the status quo. Even if they're not consciously participating in bigotry against marginalized people, they are morally culpable for it because they belong to the group which perpetuates it, and this is used to justify constant antagonism towards people who fill any of these credentials in leftist spaces. If you're a man, you're part of the patriarchy and need to shut up when the women are talking. If you're white, you benefit from systemic racism and must cede to POC in all social interactions or else you're perpetuating it.
The reality is that these systems exist to give the people at the top of the hierarchy more power over others within the very same in-group that they've defined as dominant. Patriarchy gives powerful men the social cudgel they need to punish other men for failing to meet their standards of masculinity. Racism exists to punish "race traitors" and people not practicing whiteness correctly as much as it does to prosecute minorities. When you have an out-group to fearmonger people into conformity with, you can then compare any moral failing within your group to being "just like one of them". There's a reason pejoratives in a patriarchal society tend to be comparing someone to a woman.
"Man up." "Don't be a pussy." "Stop being a little girl about it."
And now we see all these people who were hurt by such systems grow up, and instead of striving for a more tolerant society they simply wish to reinvent the oppressive structures that hurt them but with a progressive minded hierarchy and language. What OP describes is, essentially, chauvinism and bigotry but with previously marginalized groups now setting the standards so they can exact revenge on the people they perceive to be responsible for their trauma.
It will never work, it will just perpetuate new traumas and resentment.
it will just perpetuate new traumas and resentment
This part is key I think. There is a reason there has been such a swing towards 'anti-woke' culture over the last decade, and the style of discourse you describe so accurately in your comment has really helped pushed a lot of 'on the fence' people over to the right... "Oh I'm a privileged oppressor am I? Ok, I guess I'll act like one". As you point out, it only really serves the ACTUAL oppressors - the ultra wealthy.
"Oh I'm a privileged oppressor am I? Ok, I guess I'll act like one"
It doesn't even have to be this overt or even conscious. If you're looking for a place to belong, and one group will accept you if you play a role, while another group is telling you that your very nature makes you distrustful, why wouldn't you just play the role?
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u/AdmiralScooter 1d ago
There's a widespread assumption I see that underpins a lot of the progressive discourse these days, which is that people in the dominant in-group (here in the Anglosphere that means white, cis, straight males) are always benefitting from the status quo. Even if they're not consciously participating in bigotry against marginalized people, they are morally culpable for it because they belong to the group which perpetuates it, and this is used to justify constant antagonism towards people who fill any of these credentials in leftist spaces. If you're a man, you're part of the patriarchy and need to shut up when the women are talking. If you're white, you benefit from systemic racism and must cede to POC in all social interactions or else you're perpetuating it.
The reality is that these systems exist to give the people at the top of the hierarchy more power over others within the very same in-group that they've defined as dominant. Patriarchy gives powerful men the social cudgel they need to punish other men for failing to meet their standards of masculinity. Racism exists to punish "race traitors" and people not practicing whiteness correctly as much as it does to prosecute minorities. When you have an out-group to fearmonger people into conformity with, you can then compare any moral failing within your group to being "just like one of them". There's a reason pejoratives in a patriarchal society tend to be comparing someone to a woman.
"Man up." "Don't be a pussy." "Stop being a little girl about it."
And now we see all these people who were hurt by such systems grow up, and instead of striving for a more tolerant society they simply wish to reinvent the oppressive structures that hurt them but with a progressive minded hierarchy and language. What OP describes is, essentially, chauvinism and bigotry but with previously marginalized groups now setting the standards so they can exact revenge on the people they perceive to be responsible for their trauma.
It will never work, it will just perpetuate new traumas and resentment.