A few weeks ago, travellers at Pearson airport were flummoxed, bewildered and otherwise pissed off after claiming they had to wait up to three hours to see immigration officials after travelling from such hell holes as Hong Kong and New Jersey. Pictures taken by a Toronto Star photographer show the tired masses waiting desperately to get home.
Looking at that photo one might think these poor folks were in some third world country. In fact, some of them did. People at the airport compared their conditions to being in a developing country.
I don’t want to minimize the suffering of these folks… no wait I do! Because their attitude speaks to one generally held by westerners - Canadians in particular - the attitude that no matter how dire their conditions may seem, it’s somehow comparable to some other hellish existence on earth, the third world being the most convenient comparison.
I think it’s highly arrogant to use such hyperbolic language to describe an annoying situation. Just because you’re inconvenienced does not make you a refugee all of a sudden.
Similar attitudes were expressed during the G20 summit last summer in Toronto, with the heavy-police presence being labeled everything from fascist to police-state. I was as critical of that summit as the next guy, but a police-state it was not. In what authoritarian country do the authorities allow new video to appear every few months to show how the police overreacted?
North Americans all too often make these kinds of over-the-top comparisons to third world countries and Stalinist regimes. The above examples are trivial, however, when you compare them to how the word “oppression” gets bandied about.
The radical left have a pretty consistent record of labelling every form of prejudice - racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia - oppression. Regardless of whether they're criticizing systemic discrimination or individual acts of prejudice, they all somehow fit under the umbrella of oppression, and folks who combat said prejudices call their work “anti-oppression.” I myself participated in an anti-oppression workshop several weeks back. I’m not against teaching people to recognize that discrimination still exists, but I’m weary of equating it with oppression. It’s such a loaded term. I’m not trying to exalt Canada as being the most fair and equal country on earth, but Libya it’s not.
In an oppressive society, the state or government is usually the one pushing back against people’s rights. I know economics and cultural factors play a role, but without legal or state powers to back them, I can hardly call the discrimination that does exist here oppression because it’s not intended to keep marginalized groups down.
Oppression in a Canadian context belittles the real oppression faced by millions of people around the world. And while it may seem like I’m making a big fuss out of a simple word, I think groups that do so-called anti-oppression work need use the tools and mechanisms already in place, like the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to call out discrimination rather than play victim.
Similarly, people in privilege need to recognize how lucky they have it here and not compare their temporary hardship to people in other countries who face it on a permanent basis.
True. I think admitting you have it pretty good means you're primarily responsible for your own failures, which is hard for the coddled to accept.
And there's also this belief that if you admit we've made significant strides towards equality (in a global context) then there will be no more progress in those areas. I can sort of understand that point of view - remember 'we're in a post-racial America' now that Obama's elected... Bullshit