The Roots of Unfounded Expectations
I am always startled to notice how often I and other people, where and when we are in an oppressed role, can have a naive, frozen hope or unfounded expectation that the people in the oppressor group will think well about us. We expect this even though we know that the “oppressor” is by and large “stupid” in regard to that oppression.
Our first experience with oppression is young people’s oppression. I just realised that on the distress recording that this oppression installs, everything that is going on at the time gets recorded—including our natural expectation and need to be thought about, as well as our parents, teachers, and other adults telling us that they know what is best for us and acting as if their behaviour toward us always comes from wise human choice. Perhaps that way the notion that “oppressors” are able to think about us becomes part of the whole chain of recordings related to being oppressed.
Westerpark, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
(Present Time 171, April 2013)