> I'm not sure if I'm actually the bad guy, or if I'm being gas lighted.
Neither, but more gas lighted than bad guy.
The reality is that what is currently described as "privilege", isn't. It's actually the absence of oppression. Most oppression in Western society is based on class, not race or gender, and therefor all but a tiny minority of people in Western society face some oppression at some point in their life. Some oppression is based on race and gender, and this oppression is limited to people of that race or gender, and therefore some people experience more oppression in their life than others.
The gas lighting is two-fold:
1. DEI advocates ignore class issues (intentionally, and arguably maliciously), and focus only on race and gender, extrapolating as hard as possible from the most wealthy and privileged minority to the majority.
2. "Privilege" as the absence of oppression is discussed as special treatment, rather than a default state to strive for that should apply to all people. The entire movement to take white people and especially white men down a peg or two, is actually just increasing oppression in totality, rather than reducing oppression in any way. The correct path away from oppression is not adding more oppression, and it is asinine for any rational person to consider a temporary and situational absence of oppression as a form of "privilege".
Actually solving these issues is complex and likely intractable, but there are constructive and well-researched ways to improve these issues on societal scale. The, primarily white elites, advocates for DEI though are not interested in actually improving these issues, but getting social status from paying lip service to the issues without improving them to a point at which they could no longer talk about them.
Neither, but more gas lighted than bad guy.
The reality is that what is currently described as "privilege", isn't. It's actually the absence of oppression. Most oppression in Western society is based on class, not race or gender, and therefor all but a tiny minority of people in Western society face some oppression at some point in their life. Some oppression is based on race and gender, and this oppression is limited to people of that race or gender, and therefore some people experience more oppression in their life than others.
The gas lighting is two-fold:
1. DEI advocates ignore class issues (intentionally, and arguably maliciously), and focus only on race and gender, extrapolating as hard as possible from the most wealthy and privileged minority to the majority.
2. "Privilege" as the absence of oppression is discussed as special treatment, rather than a default state to strive for that should apply to all people. The entire movement to take white people and especially white men down a peg or two, is actually just increasing oppression in totality, rather than reducing oppression in any way. The correct path away from oppression is not adding more oppression, and it is asinine for any rational person to consider a temporary and situational absence of oppression as a form of "privilege".
Actually solving these issues is complex and likely intractable, but there are constructive and well-researched ways to improve these issues on societal scale. The, primarily white elites, advocates for DEI though are not interested in actually improving these issues, but getting social status from paying lip service to the issues without improving them to a point at which they could no longer talk about them.