Blog 19 – Third Integrated Quote: “Beyond Oppression.”

According to Rauch, the definition for "oppression" has been wrongfully used, that it is a word that defines every political designation used for any minority who feels unequal. In order to declare a population being oppressed we must understand and defined it. Political oppression consists of five main items: direct legal or governmental discrimination, denial of political franchise (right to vote, organize, speak or lobby), systematic denial of education, impoverishment relative to the non-oppressed population and a pattern of human rights violations. "Homosexuals are objects of scorn for teenagers and of sympathy or moral fear or hatred for adults." (Rauch, Paragraph 3) Even though minorities may feel that certain issues are not unfair, they are not living under oppression. We can validate this statement by analyzing the lives of homosexuals to the five criterions. Meeting one or two of these criterions maybe because of reasons other than oppression. First criterion, direct legal or governmental discrimination, homosexuals do in fact experience this criterion. Homosexual relations are illegal in twenty-three state, gay marriage is not legally recognized anywhere and gay people are persecuted by the military. Second criterion, gay people can vote but also their votes really count, Bill Clinton supposedly put his candidacy on the line to win over the gay votes by discussing his view of the military issue during the primary season and has been declare one of the most bravest things a living politician has done. Third criterion, denial of education, is definitely not met. Results from random sample surveys, found out that homosexuals had an average of 15.7 years of education compared to the 12.7 years of education of our country as a whole. The fourth criterion, relative impoverishment, also is not met. In Overlooked Opinions' sample an average gay men household income is 51,624 dollars, lesbians with 42,755 dollars compared with to the national average income of 36,800 dollars. the fifth criterion, human rights violations, is definitely not met. Since 1965 America's homicide rate has doubled and more than tripled for juvenile violet crime arrest rates. People who kill do it for either money objects or just because they can do it, hates crimes against gay people are just a small issue under a bigger picture. In fact gay people are on average sage due to their social class compared to other urban minorities such as blacks. Black males, in Los Angeles or Chicago, have a better chance to be killed than a United States soldier who was in a tour of duty in Vietnam. To say homosexuals are oppressed implies that you suffer if your gay, which makes homosexual pitiable. For that reasons gays should get rid of that notion because it is obviously not true.