Question: "What's your working definition of oppression?"

My answer: "Feminism."

Soh: "As a feminist and a woman, I could never be in a relationship with someone who didn't feel comfortable talking about patriarchy".

She is soh full of crap. I've tried talking about patriarchy, oppression, gender and race with feminists and they did not like it at all. They are the ones who don't feel comfortable talking about it. Or I should say they may like talking about it; but they sure don't like discussing it.

(discuss: talk or write about (a topic) in detail, taking into account different ideas and opinions)

Remember the leftist definition of "discussion": They lecture, you shut up. If a leftist invites you to speak, they do so for the purpose of finding things to shame you for.

I am sick and tired of politics infesting every aspect of life. You can scarcely find any form of entertainment these days where someone isn't shoving their political opinions in your face. My response to the question would be: "It's not you, it's me. Well, actually, it's you."

SCENE: A pleasant after-work cocktail bar. Two people have just met for a blind date.

"What looks good to you? I think I'll have a Manhattan."

"That sounds great. Say, what's your working definition of oppression?"

"Excuse me."

(Goes to bathroom, calls a Lyft)

I genuinely thought Everyday Feminism was a site parodying feminism/intersectionalism by taking it to stupidly-absurd levels when I first discovered it. I recall headlines like 'Black womanist feminism, because white women feminism isn't enough' or some-such, and it was one such nonsensical headline after another. At first I laughed, then it slowly dawned on me they were writing those articles with a straight face. Really, we used to put crazies like these in asylums, now we allow them to set the direction of public policy, to dictate the tone and standards of etiquette of our culture, to educate our kids, to set curricula at colleges/universities, to determine hiring and censorship policies at powerful companies like Google ... and they're loonies ... literal moonbats.

I am sick and tired of politics infesting every aspect of life. ~ Cousin Dave at September 25, 2017 6:39 AM

It's not even politics. It's thought policing.

Politics in this country are becoming rigidly doctrinaire. If you're a Republican who doesn't support a Constitutional amendment to ban flag burning, you're a RINO. If you're a Democrat who thinks BLM is going too far, you're a racist.

And no one can just sit down and enjoy something with anyone who disagrees with them in the slightest. Classical music fans were in an uproar when Dennis Prager, conservative radio host and classical music enthusiast, was invited to guest-conduct the Santa Monica symphony. Prager was not there to speak, and didn't. He was there as an outreach to a community the classical music world struggles to connect with, for the Santa Monica Symphony to build a fan base.

Frank Gifford told the story of an experience he had with Monday Night Football. Governor Ronald Reagan and John Lennon had been invited to appear on the show that night. Gifford worried how. and if, the two polar opposites would get along in the booth. But when he turned around, there was Reagan, the former sportscaster, with his arm around Lennon explaining American football to the enthralled Brit. What happened to that, just watching a game?
______________________________

"The attitude is that when you change when you get older there’s something wrong with that, but the world is stupid enough as it is; if the young were running it, it would be really dumb. Whatever changes I’m going through because I’m 40 I’m thankful for, because they give me some insight into the madness I’ve been living all my life." ~ John Lennon

@" am sick and tired of politics infesting every aspect of life"

I think what's happening is SJWs/feminists are succeeding in inculcating (by browbeating everyone around them) a vast set of new, stifling societal taboos (eg male gaze, sexualization/objectification, 'body positivity' BS, bullying their puritanical standards onto video games, on how people dress, on simple daily interactions like complimenting a woman or opening a door, or merely touching/hugging a woman, 'micro-aggression' BS, 'cultural appropriation' BS, and so on) ... they're in a sense the new Puritans, but worse ... and that increasing oppressive stifling atmosphere that one perceives, is the sensation of our culture being slowly turned by them into something like the Middle East, where so many similar stifling, crushing taboos have been in place for centuries - e.g. literally touching a woman in public, or seeing a woman, taboo). And by targeting media channels like video games they indoctrinate the next generation with their new-puritanical values (eg sexy female characters in a video game? Can't have that - and even on EF right now I just saw a headline shaming men who like breasts as sexist, wtf). And these taboos they're putting in place will probably become entrenched in our culture for centuries to come, unless there is an active rebellion against it, some push-back. They are polluting and ruining every aspect of life, squashing the fun out of it.

It is amusing, in a way, to watch them transform into the sort of prim-n-proper social conservatives that they claim to be opposed to. As for John Lennon, he always had a cynical streak that (usually) kept him from falling for the worst excesses of leftism. He did, after all, help George Harrison write "Taxman".

Amy says: "Seems you end up treating the other person as a woke object instead of as a person." This. So much of this discussion is the fetishization of black people. They aren't people, they are Marxist symbols of some giant class war. I have a black friend who runs a small construction (remodeling business). He has no interest at all in race. He is only interested in people. He thinks people who talk about racism are retarded and looking for something to complain about. He is not rich and knows that there is still racism but he is looking forward not back. God bless him.
The whole idea of class war about either race or sex supposes a giant conspiracy. While there was in fact a political conspiracy 80+ years ago called the Jim Crow laws (passed by Democrats because ordinary people were allowing integration and getting along pretty well) this is NOT true today. Most major cities have had black mayors for example. As to sex, I certainly missed the secret meetings about how men should be holding women down, and women are now getting 60% of college degrees.
How people can fall for Marxism is just beyond me. It is not only stupid and contradictory but has killed 100,000,000 + in the real world. It just shows that many people prefer what sounds good to what is tested by reality.

And that's just it: Marxism sounds good on paper. What's mine is yours and yours is mine. Only one political party running everything. A unified voice. No conflict. And at the end of the process, a peaceful, prosperous, caring, sharing society. In a world where so many things go wrong, this stuff can be quite seductive.

Hell Cousin Dave, the social conservatives were never this puritanical. This is the problem with people who become completely divorced from reality. They swing all over the map. Not long ago they were all about nude drug fueled orgies. Now if a man looks at a woman no matter how she is dressed he should be ostracized and possibly jailed. There is nothing to stabilize them when they take a good idea of into absurdity. You have the same thing with religious converts. Hence the phrase 'More Catholic than the Pope'.

Question: "What's your working definition of oppression?"

Answer: Self-righteousness masquerading as enlightenment.

Sounds like Dr. Soh's working definition of a relationship is "finding somebody who will never, ever disagree with me."

I can't imagine dating someone who sees everything through a race-or-gender lense. It would be exhausting.

Ken R and Old RPM Daddy: Dr. Soh is mocking the Everyday Feminism article. She didn't write it. Amy tends to like and RT a lot of Soh's work, and Soh would never write the kind of crap that appears in Everyday Feminism.

Jay Hall: OK, I see that I misunderstood her. Thank you for pointing that out.

It is exhausting and very disheartening Ahw. Everything is out of your control. Success or failure doesn't depend on you or your actions but on other people and their whims. In the end you just give up. Nothing you do matters so why not just do the minimum. And hence it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. The oppressors may be imaginary but the lack of effort and despair do the oppressing for them.

The only way I've found to deal with people like that is to tell them they are wrong and walk away. I cannot engage and get anything useful done. Logical arguments don't work. Statistics and facts don't matter. It is emotional and only they can change their emotions.

Talked to an old time colleague several years ago. Back in the day, she'd dated a black man. Sometimes felt she was being showcased as some kind of trophy.
Extra complications whichever way you cut it.