Johnson Chapter 8 (ex.)

Chapter 8: Getting Off the Hook: Denial and Resistance

Thesis: Everyone is part of the problem of privilege, and no one can avoid being part of it. However, many people try to escape being part of the problem through different means and leave the problem for others to attempt to resolve.

Argument/Support:
“No one likes to see themselves as connected to someone else’s misery,” (108). Most people immediately find a way to get themselves off the hook. However, everyone is on the hook because we cannot avoid being part of the problem of privilege. Dominant groups are more likely to not know they are on the hook and privilege usually allows them to get away with it (108). Everyone needs to wake up and be part of the solution though. One way people get off the hook is by denial. The isms do not exist today…oh but the do, so this is just denying the facts. Denying the reality of oppression means that one is also denying privilege. Another way in which people get off the hook is to blame the victim such as, “if blacks were all white then there would not be a problem,” (110). A third way people get off the hook is to call the problem something else. “A way of denying oppression and privilege is to call them something else, so they do not have to do something about it,” (111). Another way people get off the hook is by considering talking about privilege the problem and not privilege itself. “Racism is not a problem unless you talk about it,” (113). Not true. People may not recognize the problem as much if no one talks about it, but it does not just disappear. We are all in the problem, so we must come together in order to talk about it and make changes to fix the problem. People also use the “It doesn’t count if you don’t mean it” technique to get off the hook (114). If intentions are not meant to do harm, then no harm can be done. Intentions do not matter once something has been done or said. The consequences will remain the same after the action even if intentions were good. Yet another way people get off the hook is to convince everyone that they are a good person, and only bad people create bad things. The problem of privilege and oppression leaves no one out though, everyone is involved. People in privileged groups also say they are sick and tired of hearing about oppression and privilege and they seem annoyed by it. They say that it is talked about “all the time” and “they have troubles of their own,” (122). A final way people get off the hook is to get on the hook, or be committed and a part of the problem.

Personal Response/Question:
How can people in privileged groups say that the oppressed are at fault for “their own problem?” Blacks did not choose to be black, or rather nonwhite. I am almost positive there are some people with black skin that at times wish they were white. Being white means being privileged by race. Even though race is made up, society has also made it so white people were privileged. Some oppressed people may not be doing all they can to solve the problem of privilege, but the privileged individuals must also help to solve it.Think before you speak and before you take offense to something said. Do not say something that seconds later you know you should not have said, or “you did not mean it.” Also, people may word what they say a little weird or it may just slip out wrong. Before taking offense to something ask if what you heard is what was said, and if so then possibly ask for a small explanation of what the speaker meant. Accept the fact that everyone is a part of this problem of privilege and try to solve it with everyone.