Most people object bitterly to being on the downhill side of the slope of oppression, but they don’t actually want a level playing field. They just want to claw their way to the uphill side of the slope. To make it concrete: over the course of human history, many, many people have objected to being slaves, but relatively few people have objected to being masters — which is to say that mostly, people don’t actually object to slavery. There have been plenty of slave revolts, but very few times when a society of masters voluntarily surrendered their role. (And by “very few,” I mean it’s never happened ever, not anywhere, except in the Christian West, where it’s happened culture-wide, twice.)
As regards slavery, hopefully we’ve learnt our lesson, and we can use that big picture to have a look at the details of our own lives. Want to know how someone really feels about justice and oppression? Watch how they behave toward people who are downhill from them. There are always moments when you find yourself in a superior position, whether it’s with restaurant servers, grocery-store baggers, children, pets. How you behave in those positions will reveal your real attitude toward injustice and oppression. It’s really a disturbingly simple question: when you can do unto others what they can’t do back to you…what do you do? How do you treat people when they’re at your mercy?
Every human faces this question, and every human has favored work-arounds to justify their own injustices to themselves. The white supremacist talks about the “natural order;” the activist talks about “punching up;” no matter how you talk about it, the matter reduces to that simple question: How do you treat people who can’t (or won’t be allowed to) respond in kind?
If you are generous and honest, well done. If you’re reacting to this post like I touched your eyeball, well…repent.
Posted by Tim Nichols 
Full Contact Christianity 