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I Share Some of My Traits with Others
The system misunderstands those traits and mislabels all of us
People categorize each other by physical traits, feelings, ideologies, experiences, group participation, and so on. Some categories become widely understood and assumed to be somehow “real.”
Then people who identify with a dominant category create systems to marginalize those who are classed differently. They may put on a show of allowing the marginalized people to argue their way out of their predicament, but if the system itself isn’t challenged, probably there’s no way out.
How Would You Argue Your Way Out?
The general predicament: A person belongs to a Category. They have unfair outcomes because of it: other individuals treat them poorly, the system disadvantages them, etc. The person appeals for better treatment. The dominant group replies: First, we want you to implicitly acknowledge that your Category deserves worse treatment or that others’ prejudice against you is rational. Then, you can argue for a reduced sentence.
Here are a couple common lines of argument the dominant group allows:
- (a) Tell us it’s not your fault for being born into this Category, that the Category is ultimately indefensible, and that you’d leave the…
