Oppression: The New Peer Pressure

Back in my day, it used to be all about peer pressure.Not that I’m old now, but that’s beside the point.Let’s talk about it—peer pressure. Once upon a time, peer pressure was the biggest fear of every teenager.Your friends would get involved in something questionable, and you'd feel this overwhelming pressure to join in. Because—well, what are friends for, right?It took guts, discipline, and a strong sense of self not to give in. That was the hardest battle youth could face… or so we thought. Then my generation evolved—or maybe dissolved.I must’ve been asleep when it happened, because by the time I opened my eyes, everything had changed.Not gradually. Drastically.Even peer pressure didn’t survive the evolution. The name changed.The tone shifted.The meaning mutated.What was once peer pressure is now something far more insidious: oppression. Oppression.The new root of all evil.That title used to belong to money, but not anymore. Maybe it’s just me, but I believe oppression is the fuel that powers this generation.It's dressed up as a joke, camouflaged in banter, thrown around on the internet like confetti—but its impact is deadly real. People don’t just want what others have anymore.They feel oppressed by it. And so, they: Steal. Lie. Betray. Even kill—because envy now wears a costume. Let’s be honest: oppression is just jealousy in expensive makeup.If you look closely, you’ll see all the signs.Every symptom, every reaction, every consequence—it's all rooted in envy.But since we’re a generation obsessed with aesthetics, we had to make jealousy look good.So we gave it a new name.A cooler name.A relatable name: oppression. Because it’s harmless when someone says, "God when? You guys are oppressing me."But it sounds off when someone admits, "Aww, I’m so jealous." Where’s the logic in that? From my perspective, it's literally the same emotion, just rebranded.Yet somehow, one sounds cute and funny, while the other sounds bitter and shameful. Recently, I came across a story about a woman who went to extreme lengths just to stop feeling "oppressed."Her friends had what she didn’t.And instead of dealing with her jealousy, society handed her a new label—one that made her envy feel justified.So she acted on it.Recklessly.Tragically. We can joke about it all we want, but let’s not pretend.Oppression, the way we use it today, is nothing but modern jealousy given a trendier outfit. And honestly?I’m still trying to find the logic in it.But then again, this generation hasn’t made sense in a long time.

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