Throughout history
we tend to see the idea of oppression come up many times. To this day there are
individuals who live under oppression and have no way out. The reason for that
would be in a quote once said by Dr. Martin Luther King. He states, “Freedom is
never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the
oppressed.” What this means is that the oppressors will never magically decide
to set you free. If you want to be free and remove the idea of oppression from
your life you must demand it. No one has ever gotten anywhere in life by not
going for what they want. We also see this in Dr. Martin Luther King’s life as
he fights for the idea of freedom and discrimination. In order to be free, you
must fight for it, in order to no longer be oppressed you must demand your
rights.
We often times see
many people fight for the oppressed with the idea of egalitarianism. Egalitarianism is the belief in human
equality regardless of social class of political standing and advocated the
idea of removing inequalities among people. Many oppressors at times believe
that denying others from their freedom is the right thing to do. For example,
in “The Yellow Wallpaper” illustrates a woman who has a history of depression
and has been given the treatment of bed rest by her husband who also happens to
be a psychiatrist. In this moment, the husband thinks that this is the best
cure for his wife when in reality it is the complete opposite. His wife never
once tries to fight with her husband over his treatment idea and takes it as it
is. This makes the wife’s mental health even worse to the point where she
begins to see a lady inside her bedroom wallpaper and begins to scratch off
trying to set her free. Her wanting to set the woman behind the wallpaper free
is a depiction of herself who has been locked inside her bedroom. If she had
fought for her freedom and told her husband she may have never experienced a
moment like that in her life. This story is a very big eye opener that can show
us what females may have been going through mentally when they were caged in
and had to live their lives under the oppression of men.
It is hard to
believe that many countries still treat some citizens unequally. In early
January, an 8 year old girl named Asifa Bano was kidnapped, raped, and then
killed. She was found in a forest days later dead. As stated by Jefferey
Gettleman for the NY Times, “Eight men have been arrested
in connection with the case, and several have confessed, according to the
police in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where the killing took place. Two of
the accused are police officers said to have accepted thousands of dollars to
cover up the crime. One of the arrested suspects said he was 15, though police
officers, based on a medical examination, believe he is at least 19.” This
incident goes to show that if these cops are able to give money in order to
cover up a story, who knows what else they do to make people live under
oppression. Since they have tons of money, the voiceless have no voice and acts
like these will carry on.
Gettleman,
Jeffrey. “An 8-Year-Old's Rape and Killing Fuels Religious Tensions in India.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Apr. 2018,
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