With the advent of social media and 21st century liberal culture, it seems that not one day goes by where some self-proclaimed spokesperson shouts on Facebook and Twitter or even television about “#blacklivesmatter” or “#leanin” and stuff. Gosh, just looking at the last Academy Awards every single actor seemed to stand up and speak about how racism is a problem, women are not paid enough, and gays are abused. If you truly care about a solution, spend less time shouting and more time thinking.

That introduction, along with the title, was intentionally meant to be provocative because I really want every single person genuinely interested in social justice to read this. We have a problem in our fight for justice and equality, and it’s overzelous and uneducated fools. In the same way as a Christian I get frustrated at the Westboro Baptist Church, and my Muslim friends get frustrated at Jihadists and ISIS, I am get extremely frustrated at undergraduates that barely took one intro course to gender or racial theory and start misrepresenting the ideas of feminism, racial equality and freedom of sexual orientation.

The reason why so many people associate feminism with man-hating, racial equality with demonizing white people, and LGBTQ+ movement with anti-religous beliefs is the same reason why people associate Islam with terrorism and Christianity with fundamentalism: we as intellectuals are not doing a sufficintly effective job at purging our movement from these views that in no way reflect our core ideals. Yea, some people make the argument that we have no obligation to do so, and that the real problem lies in dumb people making those associations. There is some truth to that claim, but if we realistically want to accomplish positive change in the world, we need to those people to become part of the solution, and it is up to us to go the extra mile and persuading them with the truth.

Thus, because I genuinely care, unlike a whole lot people who just want to make sure they don’t come across as racist, homophobic or sexist bigots, I am writing this post to give hope to the intellectuals of the world. I am frustrated to a large extent by feminists, racial equality and LGBTAIQ+ rights activists: please STOP! Patriarchy, Racism, Transphobia and Homophobia are not the real issue to address: they are manifestations of the same oppressive force. Yes! You see, that’s what you figure out once you move past intro courses in post-modern philosophy and social theory…

Social oppression originates from the same source: the imposition of the white, privileged, heterosexual male! The most current thinkers on critical social theory and philosophy pretty much agree that all forms of social oppression in the western world come because any individual whose identity deviates in any way from the white privileged heterosexual male (a mouthful from now on refer to as WPHM) is seen as an abbhoration of some kind. The issue is thus the imposition of an arbitrary and absurd standard on EVERYONE. Intersectionality (the name give to the theory that oppressive systems intersect) thus shows us how each and every one of us is being royally screwed over and oppressed by WPHM. Are you a woman? You are oppressed because you are not a man. Are you gay? You are opporesed because you are not heterosexual. Are you an ethnic minority? You are oppressed because you are not white. Are you a heterosexual white guy? Not good enough, because you are systematically oppressed because you come from a financial humble background. It never ends!

Whether some of these forms of oppression are worse than the others is a pointless conversation, because our efforts should be geared towards fighting against intersectional oppression as opposed to against each other! Yes, let us spend some time identifying the various ways oppression manifests itself in our western society, but let us use that analysis to unite us against the fight over the source of our oppression. The discussion over the oppresive structures due to financial inequality, the horrible consequences of racism, the harsh world patriarchy creates for women, and the disgusting way our society treats and talks about members of the LGBTAIQ+ community should be an act of inclusion, not exclusion. It is absurd that we have conversations over what the number one social issue in America should be. Are we really gonna say that acts of policy brutality against African Americans are more important and worse than they way colleges handle rape cases, or than the way trans-gender individuals are treated as second class citizens?

That kind of conversation is a smokescreen that’s preventing constructive solutions against the real oppressor: if we keep alienating each other based on what we feel the number one social issue is, we will never turn our heads towards our real enemy. That’s why oppression persists and only gets more insidious, because we consistently give haircuts to as opposed to decapitating the true source of oppression. Feminism, racial equality, freedom of sexual orientation are all fights we should be concerned about not beacuse one is necessarily more important than the other, but because they demonstrate just how horrible and toxic intersectional oppression is.

Let’s make the 21st not about feminist, racial, or LGBTAIQ+ battles. Let’s make it about the fight against the imposition of WPHM and intersectinal oppression so that everyone can live in a more free and fair world.