It’s not really something that can be proven or disproven by data convincingly most of the time, even in pretty extreme cases that could be measured (like Palestinians, which are genuinely oppressed by any objective measure) you can quite successfully rationalize the injustice away with good publicity machine (“that’s because they’re terrorists” or something).
I think a lot of it has to do with just how closely linked powerlessness and rightness are in people’s minds. If someone supporting Palestine tells someone supporting Israel that the Palestinians are oppressed, the Israel supporter feels like letting this statement go would be equivalent to admitting that Palestinians are in the right and Israel is in the wrong, or even that Israel doesn’t have a right to exist.
The best way to deal with this IMHO would be to say “Yes, the Palestinians are oppressed, but even so Israel still deserves its land.” But this is a very difficult statement to make. The natural human response is “No, the Palestinians aren’t oppressed!”
Huh? Surely, by the definition of “oppress”, A can oppress B only if A is in the wrong. Who would ever say things like “the Israelis are oppressing the Palestinians, and they are right to do so”?
Would you object to “The police oppresses rapists and murderers” on the ground that it’s factually incorrect? Or just that it’s a very weird thing of framing things, with misleading connotations?
The connotation is that it’s bad, yes. Reduce it to “The Israelis are seriously restricting the opportunities of the Palestinians” and probably there are many Israel supporters who would agree it’s true but say Israel’s not in the wrong. The use of the word “oppress” is how you would express “seriously restricting opportunities” if you wanted to communicate that it was bad.
The best way to deal with this IMHO would be to say “Yes, the Palestinians are oppressed, but even so Israel still deserves its land.” But this is a very difficult statement to make. The natural human response is “No, the Palestinians aren’t oppressed!”
Or maybe, “The Palestinians still deserve their land”?
Are you actively trying to change the subject to the conflict itself? My sympathies are very much in line with yours, but we are not getting into that subject here. At least, not yet; if we are to start talking about live political issues we should lay a lot more groundwork on how to approach them first.
I think a lot of it has to do with just how closely linked powerlessness and rightness are in people’s minds. If someone supporting Palestine tells someone supporting Israel that the Palestinians are oppressed, the Israel supporter feels like letting this statement go would be equivalent to admitting that Palestinians are in the right and Israel is in the wrong, or even that Israel doesn’t have a right to exist.
The best way to deal with this IMHO would be to say “Yes, the Palestinians are oppressed, but even so Israel still deserves its land.” But this is a very difficult statement to make. The natural human response is “No, the Palestinians aren’t oppressed!”
Huh? Surely, by the definition of “oppress”, A can oppress B only if A is in the wrong. Who would ever say things like “the Israelis are oppressing the Palestinians, and they are right to do so”?
Would you object to “The police oppresses rapists and murderers” on the ground that it’s factually incorrect? Or just that it’s a very weird thing of framing things, with misleading connotations?
The connotation is that it’s bad, yes. Reduce it to “The Israelis are seriously restricting the opportunities of the Palestinians” and probably there are many Israel supporters who would agree it’s true but say Israel’s not in the wrong. The use of the word “oppress” is how you would express “seriously restricting opportunities” if you wanted to communicate that it was bad.
Or maybe, “The Palestinians still deserve their land”?
Are you actively trying to change the subject to the conflict itself? My sympathies are very much in line with yours, but we are not getting into that subject here. At least, not yet; if we are to start talking about live political issues we should lay a lot more groundwork on how to approach them first.
Sorry, I’m not that noble. I was going for humor. I found Yvain’s statement too unconsciously ironic to pass up.