"Getting Off The Hook"

"Getting Off The Hook"- This is a term Johnson uses in chapter 8 Getting Off the Hook: Denial and Resistance in his book Privilege, Power, and Difference. He says it is a way people deny themselves the reality of oppression and thinking that it has nothing to do with them. One such way is discussed on pp. 110 + 111 as blaming the victim, as privileged people often feel oppressed people don't do enough to bring themselves out of oppression. He also talks about on p. 111 that calling oppression something else is away of getting off the hook of dealign with the problem, such as the example he gives of te inequalities women face as being defines as the battle of the sexes in a way to avoid dealing with the issue. Another way are to say that the system is how everyone wants it, when in reality the oppressed want it to change. And another way yet is to say that if you didn't intend for the oppression, then it's ok; but actions have consequences, and therefore whether intended or not, problems need to be dealt with. Other ways of getting off the hook are by saying you're one of the good members of society or that you get sick of hearing about oppression such as racism and sexism. These are excuses for laziness to deal with the problem.