People Want to Be Oppressed

Between the movements for race, gender, and sexuality equality, a lot of people are getting noticed. More specifically, people's problems and struggles. Rightfully so. It’s a wonderful thing that those who have lived too long without proper voices are heard now and listened to. With these movements and outcries, walls are being broken down and people can express themselves freely and be proud of who they are and where their family comes from. Many a topic is getting heaps of attention that has needed said attention for an absurd amount of years now. In fact, it seems as though the very aspects that brought oppression and prejudice and suffering are used as trends and quirks by those with no personality of their own.
This is where my beef is. I’m not only referring to race, sexuality, and gender, for there is also class, family, and health. People who get screwed over by other people for their existence, have a right to yell about it. I stand by that, you suffer, you earned yelling rights. Unfortunately, to an outside perspective, it can look like these misfortunate souls scream about their problems and get positive change and attention because of it. This then can influence that outside perspective to try and find any issue in their own life and try to use it in the same way for the same results. Or, they’ll use their friends’ suffering to associate themselves with a struggle that isn’t personally theirs. Let me explain this through an example…
I knew a chap who is a white, straight, upper middle class male. He did not grow up worrying about money, though he would not always ask, he got what he wanted without issue. He has never been through a life altering trauma. He still has two parents. He doesn’t have to worry about, well, really anything when it comes to his appearance. He’s tall, fair, and on the broader side. No one is going to give him trouble, there is no reason. This chap’s friends though, they all had constant concerns. Predominantly females plus one male of smaller stature, all with trauma, all with different sexualities (only one being straight), most with an upbringing either in or bordering poverty. This man’s friends had all the problems collectively and that’s not counting the amount of mental and physical disorders because frankly I don’t know them all and there’s a lot. So being friends with this group of troubled weirdos, he heard a lot of yelling. It wasn’t towards him, nor was it about him, but it was around him as he tended to sit in the middle. He ultimately started to feel left out and took insult to mentioning his privileges in life. He used us as “woke” points. He’d boast about how all his friends were gay (even though that just applied to one of us). He’d constantly declare his hatred on most things popular and most things masculin. He wanted to run around in dresses and over-the-knee socks and eyeliner, which is fine, but he wanted to make a point about how endangered he was going about town now because of it. He wanted to be the quirky-not-like-other-girls-guy-who-has-obscure-and-edgy-tastes-in-things-but-also-looks-very-feminine-and-cute because that would give him yelling rights. 
I know people who said casually “they wish they were gay”. I’ve seen talk show clips of people identifying as a different race and getting surgery to further that. I’ve seen videos of wealthy young adults trying to act like they are just as humble as us peasants but it comes off as out of touch as they proceed to lead a still, very unattainable life for most people. Some humans really just want to be oppressed because it gives them attention, a following, a reason to get mad. It’s a long con publicity stunt. 
I’m fine with guys who want to look feminine. I’m fine with people that have a different skin tone than me, a different culture than me. I’m fine with people that identify as something they weren't born as or have a different sexuality than me. I’m fine if you’re more well off than me as long as you’re humble. I’m fine with people being different and diverse and having their own struggles as long as it’s organic. If what and how we are is genuine, then carry on. It’s the people using those same things to their own benefit and trying to look “cool” that ruin things. It’s people using it as a trend. 
Oppression is not trendy. Oppression being seen as a selection of personality traits goes to show even more why it’s a problem. People see this suffering and instead of registering it as “bad”, they register it as “a conversation piece”. That chap I knew, he was in my friend group for years. But that friendship crumbled because this guy couldn’t accept his privileges that he was lucky to have since no one cares right now if you’re doing well in life, we have other problems that need to be addressed. But he wanted attention and used us to live vicariously through then proceeded to get infuriated if we ever said he didn’t have the same problems we did. That is a ridiculous and stupid way to lose a friend. That is not something that should happen because people should not aspire to suffer. 
Going through life with disorders and traumas and fear of identity is not fun or cool or quirky. My life might look interesting at a glance but it’s a whole other beast to be living it. My personality might be particularly endearing but it came from a lot of terrible and inconvenient shit that continues to thwart my happiness. Here’s the thing though, I don’t think I would have been a blank piece of paper had I not suffered continuously. I wouldn’t be the same, maybe have less to write about here, but I’d still be me. I would still have stupid quirks and weird mannerisms and a good sense of humour. I’m not my problems, I wouldn’t cease to exist if they all went away or never happened in the first place. It’s lazy writing to make your issues the centerpiece of your character, so to all those who think you’re the main protagonist, heed this last sentence.