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My theory of politics is that it runs in cycles. Each cycle sees a reversal of roles whereby the oppressors become comfortable and thus become kinder and fairer
by cryptica 2y ago
My theory of politics is that it runs in cycles. Each cycle sees a reversal of roles whereby the oppressors become comfortable and thus become kinder and fairer... At this point they are taken advantage of by the previously oppressed class. Hence the oppressed become the oppressors and the cycle repeats. This is a similar idea as the fourth turning "Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times." But it also works if you substitute the word 'weak' with words such as 'kind', 'fair' or 'just'.
I think this explains why humanity has repeatedly failed to achieve anything close to universal justice; every time the oppressed rise up, they do so vengefully and unjustly; and they create new future enemies for themselves.
The worst aspect of this is that there seems to be a subset of oppressors who manage to retain power through multiple cycles and they often achieve this by being particularly greedy, ruthless or deceitful. But who knows, maybe they're just operating on a longer cycle? The past has a way of catching up.
We should try hard to identify and correct injustices that we may be unwittingly perpetrating onto others as it creates hidden enemies. These are the worst kinds of enemies because you may view them as your friends. You may not realize their true disposition until they've backstabbed you.
It's easy to radicalize an oppressed person. You just need to give them a compelling narrative which explains how they've been oppressed. Oppressed people are often desperate for narratives to explain the multitude of negative internal feelings that they and/or their ancestors have accumulated as a result of decades or centuries of oppression.
- Terr_ 2y ago> This is a similar idea as the fourth turning "Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times. Ah, but does that pattern really happen in history, or is it just a recurrent trope, like how a hundred generations of elderly people each keep claiming "youths have no manners anymore"? To quote from the intro to a lengthy piece [0] on the subject: > This complex of ideas is what I phrase as the Fremen Mirage, and as you might imagine from that word ‘mirage,’ there are real, gaping problems in this vision of history. [0] https://acoup.blog/2020/01/17/collections-the-fremen-mirage-part-i-war-at-the-dawn-of-civilization/ https://acoup.blog/2020/01/17/collections-the-fremen-mirage-...
- ttyprintk 2y agoStrauss-Howe looks at 80-year cycles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generational_theory?wprov=sfti1#Defining_a_generation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generatio...
- nuancebydefault 2y ago> Hence the oppressed become the oppressors and the cycle repeats. One clear example is what's happening in the middle east. It seems that the oppressed became the fiercest oppressors. However I fail to find other clear examples.
- cryptica 2y agoThe Roman empire collapsed at the hands of barbarians which it used to oppress. Most of French nobility was killed off and replaced by peasants. Those peasants are now running the country and EU and are oppressing the population with high taxes, corporatism and globalism. In medieval times, Jews were kicked out of various countries when they became too prosperous while debt levels for the general population got out of control. More recently, the DEI movement also shows elements of this reversal of oppression. Many people will argue that it's now discriminating against whites. These issues are usually controversial because they are backed by tensions between the oppressed and their oppressors. The oppressed will attempt to maximize their victimhood and the oppressors will attempt to minimize their responsibility.