op-pres-sion

noun

prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control.

At some point in our lives, we’ve all suffered from oppression. And before you say that this couldn’t possibly be true, let me give a few examples of different types of oppression.

1. Race

The most common oppression we see today is race. It started with our ancestors and has unfortunately continued on into today’s society. We tend to group all people in the same race in the same social category. Suddenly, all African Americans are thieves, and all Caucasians are entitled pompous asses. It’s wrong for us to do this, but happens nonetheless. We even make up our own races. Muslims? They are not a race, yet that is what most of us believe.

When are we going to learn that the color of our skin does not make one or the other better? Oppressing races is achieving nothing besides creating a hatred. We were all created equal, so when will we learn?

2. Religion

Religion is another form of oppression. Surprising, yes? It shouldn’t be. Today’s society has made it clear that if you aren’t a Christian, your religion is lesser. Why is this? Why do we all have to believe in the same God? Why do we have to believe at all? Once again, we’re achieving nothing by oppressing different religions.

3. Sex

A hugely debated oppression topic is sex. Males are seen as better than females because they are “strong”. We deem it wrong to be “girly”, but why are we doing this? At a young age, we start oppressing girls. We even oppress boys who like to show their emotions because it is deemed “feminine-like.” WHY does this matter? In fact, this isn’t even sex oppression, but rather gender oppression; most people confuse the two.

4. Political Party

While society doesn't have one political party higher than the other (at least the main two there are), people with those political parties seem to think themselves better than people in the other party. There's hatred where there shouldn't be. It's sort of like religion. We oppress people based on their beliefs, but who are we to judge what is better?

5. Mental State

We like to pass judgment on things we don’t even understand. People with mental disabilities, we quickly claim that they’re psychotics and need to be institutionalized. Some may need to be, but not all people with mental illnesses are the same. We make snide comments about people with depression, but don’t understand what they’re going through. It needs to stop.

We criticize people for things they can’t control. We give special treatment to people for things they can’t control. We hate on people for what they believe in. We cannot keep going on like this.

When we’re oppressing others, all we’re doing is forcing our opinion on them. But WHY? We’re all our own person, so why do we have to deal with what society condones as “top dog”?

We've all experienced oppression in one way or another, so why do we oppress other people when we know what it feels like to be oppressed? DO NOT FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE.

We were not born to pass judgment on other people, nor were we born to consider ourselves better. We’re all equal, and the moment that society starts to show this, we’ll move forward in ways that can only better all of us.

So next time you make a hateful comment, think twice about what you’re doing.