# Oppressor Guilt **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 2, 2018, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppressor-guilt/805736 "2018-01-02T04:26:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppressor-guilt/805736/61 "2018-01-03T13:53:57Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > to Shodan specifically: I’m not your teacher so you get to look the studies up yourself, but it isn’t that people making bad choices get bad outcomes. It’s that when non-dominant group members DO make good choices, those choices do not benefit them as much as they benefit members of the dominant ‘in’ group. No, it’s that people who make bad choices tend to have bad outcomes, and that non-dominant groups tend to become or remain non-dominant because they are disproportionately likely to make bad choices. This is often self-perpetuating - teen agers from poor families tend to be poorer when they have children they can’t support, because they are from poor families, who tended to be poor because they had children they couldn’t support (as well as from other factors). So, it is in fact that people making bad choices get bad outcomes, and that those bad outcomes affect both those people and their children and the other members of their communities and their society as well. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppressor-guilt/805736/62 "2018-01-03T15:36:20Z")
> [@CelticKnot](#): > > As a Christian musician, I have no problem with people having their mating rituals. I do have a problem with trying to force me to perform at their ritual or ruin me financially. > > Demanding an artist create or perform against their sincerely held beliefs, or destroy their business, finances, and life. Shop around ahead of time to find the one artist who will not want to use their artistic skills for such a situation. How does that even work? Is there a sign at your door that says “No PIV, No Service” or something? Anyway, it seems to me that what you are saying is that there are social repercussions for choosing to discriminate against customers based on their sexuality. I’m actually quite OK with that, thanks for asking. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppressor-guilt/805736/63 "2018-01-03T15:38:31Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I am not where I am because I oppressed anyone **Mr. Shodan**. The court will record that you have entered a plea of not guilty. I am going to release you on your own recognizance but all this blather about our social system being a meritocracy had better not mean you’re angling for an insanity defense. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppressor-guilt/805736/64 "2018-01-03T16:26:12Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I don’t want to take us on a sidetrack, but this is not consistent with the notion of free will at all. If I have to have a reason to do something, that means my choices can be predicted just by knowing my inclinations and tendencies, thereby making me deterministic. Free will permits individuals to act randomly, without any reason (apparent or otherwise). I don’t think it is necessary to have a reason in order to do something. More to the point, though, the pool of potential reasons is not something external to me (and I to it) such that it is the stimulus and I am the automatic response. Everything that could be a “reason” is something I have potentially affected through my prior actions, so the flow of causality is not a one way street but is instead in a state of reverberation, with genuine intent making things happen on purpose embedded in that interactive scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppressor-guilt/805736/65 "2018-01-03T16:32:12Z")
If you are going to assert that I am afraid of black people because I oppressed them, shouldn’t you be able to show that [list=A][li]I am afraid of them, and I have oppressed them?[/list]People who fuck up their lives tend to have fucked-up lives. If you want to blame that on me, knock yourself out. As long as you aren’t surprised when I react, not with guilt nor fear, but with indifference. [/li] Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppressor-guilt/805736/66 "2018-01-03T17:16:00Z")
> [@CelticKnot](#): > > As a Christian musician, I have no problem with people having their mating rituals. I do have a problem with trying to force me to perform at their ritual or ruin me financially. That is messed up. They should at least give you a blindfold. ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppressor-guilt/805736/67 "2018-01-03T19:17:48Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Well, color me purple and call me Barney. Yes, I made those assumptions. Are you saying you would honestly prefer to be the successful oppressor? Or that you think you know of someone who would? Seriously??? I would, in a heartbeat. I know many others who would as well, I’d say probably the majority of the people I know. I am honestly baffled that an adult human being is not aware of how easily and readily people will fuck over each other over for power. May I suggest a history textbook? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oppressor-guilt/805736.md?page=3)