You're Oppressed Lyrics

Okay, so here's a problem
There's a big problem here
The problem is it's true

[Chorus]
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
God only knows why
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
(God only knows why)

Maybe you're too short or you're not as beautiful as you could be
Or your grandparent was a serf
Likely, 'cause almost everybody's great grandparent was
And you know, you're not as smart as you could be, and you have a sick relative, and you have your own physical problem
Frankly, you're a mess
Frankly, you're a mess
And you're oppressed in every possible way, including your ancestry and your biology
The entire sum of human history has conspired to produce victimized you
With all your individual pathological problems
It's like yes
True!
[Chorus]
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
God only knows why
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
(God only knows why)

Okay, but the problem is, that it is true
And so if you take the oppressed, you have to fractionate them and fractionate them, fractionate them, and fractionate them and it's like, “You're a woman”
“Yeah okay, well, I'm a black woman”
“Well, I'm a black woman who has two children”
“Well, I'm a black woman who has two children, and one of them isn't very healthy”
And then, “Well I'm a, I‘m a Hispanic woman and I have a genius son who doesn't have any money so that he can't go to university. My husband is an alcoholic brute.”
It's like, well yeah that sucks too and so
Let's fix all your oppression, let's fix all your oppression
Let's fix all your, fix all your, fix all your oppression And we will take every single thing into account, and then we'll fix yours too
We'll take every single thing into account
No you won't, no you won't, no you won't
Because you can't, you can't, it is technically impossible
[Chorus]
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
God only knows why
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
(God only knows why)

First of all, you can't even list all the ways that you're oppressed
Second, how are you gonna weight them?
Third, who's gonna decide?
That's the bloody thing
Who's gonna decide?
Who's gonna decide?
That's the thing
You have to fractionate the oppressed all the way down to the level of the individual
Well, that's what the West figured out
It's not an accident that the axiomatic Western individual is someone
Who was unfairly crossed and tortured
It's like yes, right, exactly!

[Chorus]
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
God only knows why
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
You're oppressed, you're oppressed, you're oppressed
(God only knows why)
So what do you do about that?
Well, I thought about that for a long time, too
It's like, well you don't get together in the damn mob
All that does is allow you to be as horrible as you can possibly imagine and suffer from none of the consequences
That's a bad idea, so how about we don't do that
Well, there's a deep idea in the West, too
It's like pick up your damn suffering, and bare it!
Try to be a good person, so you don't make it worse!
Well that's a truth, you know?

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