This isn’t a contradiction. It’s how oppression works. Challenging oppression requires challenging…

theconcealedweapon: > This isn’t a contradiction. It’s how oppression works. Challenging oppression requires challenging the justifications they have. And the justifications are often inconsistent. If the oppressors flip-flop their justifications, challenging those justifications would also have to look like flip-flopping. > > Sometimes, racists want it to be clear that there are big differences between races in order to enforce hatred. Sometimes, racists want everyone to be the same in order to enforce assimilation. > > Other oppressed groups experience similar flip-flopping. Sometimes, disabled people are seen as fully incapable in order to justify treating them like burdens and not giving them a chance. Sometimes, disabled people are seen as fully capable in order to justify unreasonable expectations and get out of giving them accommodations. Sometimes, teenagers are seen as children in order to justify adults acting as their owners. Sometimes, teenagers are seen as adults in order to justify expecting them to conform to adult standards or downplaying abuse toward them. > > Since there’s no one-size-fits-all rule for how oppression works, there’s no one size fits all rule for how resistance works. The resistance should challenge the oppression. When oppressors want similarity, promote difference. When oppressors want difference, promote similarity.