In “Getting Off the Hook: Denial and Resistance,” Allan Johnson’s thesis is that we as a society are in denial that we have anything to do with any past or present problems that are affecting our world, especially in relation to the treatment of certain social classes.
Johnson explains that with this denial, people of privileged groups often make themselves seem as if they are worse off than thos of other subordinate groups. While they hardly know what they are talking about in the first place because they don’t know what it is like to be part of the other class, they are once again using their privilege to get themselves off of the hook. Another way that people of privileged groups attempt to get themselves off the hook is by blaming the victim. A popular assumption is that if the other group was more like themselves, then they wouldn’t be in the position that they are in today. In addition, it is common for this privileged group to think that the other group would prefer the situation the way it is, that they want to be segregated so that they are with their own kind or prefer the way they are treated because it is all they know. We also tend to make up excuses for ourselves, making it seem as if we “didn’t mean something” we say if it offends someone of another group or class. Or we use the excuse that we won’t want to worry about it or, as Johnson explains, “If we use an individualistic model of the world, the answer is that people are callous or uncaring or prejudiced or too busy to bother with paying attention to their actions.” According to the article, these are just a few of the ways that people in privileged, more fortunate groups are trying to not take the blame for actions of their kind that they may very well have had an influence on, either by their actions or lack of action.
I think that Johnson is a little strong in his opinions in this article. It seems as if he is blaming everyone for trying to hide the fact that they have anything to do with prejudices or poor treatment of others. He says that “we don’t know what we are talking about” and that we cannot judge how much of a role we play in the lives of the oppressed because we have never lived as them. However, not everyone know enough to do something about such problems or has the resources to do so. In addition, not everyone will deny the fact that they are part of the problem because of their lack of participation in fixing the problem. We therefore cannot judge those of the privileged groups even more just because they are part of that group.
This article was an interesting one in that it explained the various ways people try and get off the hook for the actions of themselves or of the group that they belong to in their society. However, some of Johnson’s opinions were a little too strong and he did not seem open-minded to how individuals of a group might feel. He made it seem as if we all should feel horrible for how groups opposite or lower than us are treated since we aren’t treated the same way and have to go through the same things. While he has a good point to an extent, he shouldn’t judge each person based on the actions of the group.
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