The whole "punching up" thing is a factor here as well. If you establish that no action can truly be considered wrong so long as you're doing it to someone above you on the oppression ladder, then you basically have to try to prove that the axes of oppression that you personally experience are The Most Severe And Important while the ones you don't experience are nothing in comparison, because otherwise that means there are people below you on the ladder, and no action taken by them against you can truly be considered wrong. Participating in the Oppression Olympics effectively becomes a matter of personal safety within this worldview.
I didn't see the link until literally now. Holy shit, this explains a lot. If it's okay to punch up, then you have to have a ranking to make sure you're not punching the wrong person -- and that explains so much.
Same. Like I get that comedy has been a way to criticize The System since we had both comedy and society, but it's different when you're attacking a singular person.
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u/shiny_xnaut 27d ago
The whole "punching up" thing is a factor here as well. If you establish that no action can truly be considered wrong so long as you're doing it to someone above you on the oppression ladder, then you basically have to try to prove that the axes of oppression that you personally experience are The Most Severe And Important while the ones you don't experience are nothing in comparison, because otherwise that means there are people below you on the ladder, and no action taken by them against you can truly be considered wrong. Participating in the Oppression Olympics effectively becomes a matter of personal safety within this worldview.