Valentina’s Reviews > Why We're Polarized > Status Update

There's a quote I occasionally see ricochet around social media. "When you are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression." There's truth to this line, but it cuts both ways. To the extent that it's true that a loss of privilege _feels_ like oppression, that feeling needs to be taken seriously, both because it's real, and because, left to fester, it can be weaponized by demagogues and reactionaries.

"The simplest way to activate someone's identity is to threaten it, to tell them they don't deserve what they have, to make them consider that it might be taken away. The experience of losing status - and being told your loss of status is part of society's march to justice - is itself radicalizing."