Who believes you can't oppress the majority?

Why don't we ask the shiites in Iraq as well? I don't think that being a majority has to mean they are unopressable. in fact, often it is the majority that are opressed by a stronger minority.

I believe the minority can oppress the majority but they must stand fast for what they believe. As far as the words "Merry Christmas" is concerned I think that the wrong word has be selected as offensive. As a fresult of what our current government is doing to us it should be the work "Merry" that is offensive.... there is absolutely nothing "Merry" about this coming Christmas for all the out of work people and their families!

[b]Oh, I know all too well how true this is. It's akin to the passive-aggressive psychological games some play, or perhaps a better analogy would be to call it political jujitsu. In that form of martial arts, one takes note of one's opponents weaknesses (& the Left views Christian charity as a weakness), & uses them to defeat him. It's a cross between being confrontational, yet seeming weak. If enough mosquitoes attack a cow, they can kill it. The "underdogs" of society play on our sympathies, & we fall for it darn near every time, it seems, though I think finally some are waking up to this manipulation, & toughening up. "We're the victims of oppression," they whine, & "it's your doing!" By "you," they mean non-underdogs. Never mind that you may have had a similar financial (or even racial/ethnic) background. If you've somehow prospered, instead of asking how you did it, the "victims" just pretend you personally made their bad choices for them! It steams me. It really does! Oh, & let me be the first to wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS! Maggiepie IMPEACH HIM![/b]

Morning Taskr, I had to laugh at the little agenda hi-jacking there in box 2. Of course the minority suppress the majority, it takes little when religion is used by ones at the top who break all the rules in private which they subject their people to. The communist leaders were in the minority yet controlled the lives of millions who did not want to be controlled, the Ayatollas control Iran through religious suppression, women are suppressed by men in Arab states by withholding education, slaves by a few rich masters. The current situation in the US is not really in the same league in my opinion as you do have a large mixed population who could speak out, but there is great apathy there it appears. Also there is not enough concensus to criticise sensibly as witnessed here. Any criticism here against any party condemns the person to being blindly accused of following the other. There appears little rational debate. Witness Hatley's remark the other day that Obama alone is not responsible for every single thing wrong in the US, quite correct in any reasonable mind, as there are always hangovers from previous administrations. She was immediately accused of adoring Obama, thus killing her valid point unless she then wanted to engage in playground games here. Whilst there are two vocal sides each lambasting the other any common middle ground of sense seems to be lost, instead of you all joining to make intelligent joint criticism of the kind to bring into question these ridiculous policies. Once you all remove religion and race from the politics game and just realise that as a nation you are being played then you will be less easily played.

You made some great points about disproving majorities not being capable of being oppressed. I would like to add the rape of Nanking and the British invasion of India. However, I could not agree with your statement of jobs being taken due to affirmative action. That was just a stupid statement to me. The government makes attempts but cannot control who businesses decide to hire. A business will generally ALWAYS try to hire workers who will do quality work for the least amount of pay. I'm sure your outfit your wearing today probably wasn't "made in the US". Some businesses just don't value American workers. As for the Christmas statement, I have never heard about that and it seems absurd (the action not whether your statement is true or not). I am still annoyed with the old churches in Germany stealing what should still be a Holiday for fun, partying, and celebration and changing it into something to force Christians into churches. I say let people live, they don't have to go to church to be closer to their diety, but whatever that is just my opinion.

The minority can certainly oppress the majority. It happens all the time. Governments can do that to their people. And back when kings still ruled many countries, lots of tyrants oppressed their people. I don't know why anyone would think that the minority can't oppress the majority because then you would have to be blind to what is happening in society.

Our government is a prime example of a some group of individuals oppressing the majority. Though I do not like speaking of majorities, or minorities. I am an individual, I am one person that represents the views of this one person.

As you and xfahctor have pointed out, oppression is not about numbers but, rather, about power and control. So, yes, the minority can oppress the majority depending on the circumstances and the desires of those in control.

Ok i'm not an expert about American democracy, and election process. But if i'm not mistaken current goverment and president still needs the vote of majority in order to be elected. The situation here does not seem to me an oppression of minority on majority. At least the way you stated yourself. If you're referring the fundamentals of democracy, this would be a great discussion probably will remain unresolved. I'd like to quote from Benjamin Franklin to clarify my point: 'Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch' Regarding minority oppressing the majority question. That is the fact of the world. World history is history of oppression from minority who has vast resources to majority who has not.