Mugged student refuses to condemn attackers because of his 'privilege'
The student suggests that until we right the wrongs of the past, society should get used to “sporadic muggings and break-ins.”
Oliver Friedfeld blames his misfortune on his privilege and the inequality gap.
A Georgetown University (GU) student who says he was mugged at gunpoint says he “can hardly blame" his assailants.
Senior Oliver Friedfeld and his roommate were held at gunpoint and mugged recently. However, the GU student isn’t upset. In fact he says he “can hardly blame [his muggers].”
“Not once did I consider our attackers to be ‘bad people.’ I trust that they weren’t trying to hurt me. In fact, if they knew me, I bet they’d think I was okay,” wrote Friedfeld in an editorial featured in The Hoya, the university’s newspaper. “The fact that these two kids, who appeared younger than I, have even had to entertain these questions suggests their universes are light years away from mine.”
Friedfeld claims it is the pronounced inequality gap in Washington, D.C. that has fueled these types of crimes. He also says that as a middle-class man, he does not have the right to judge his muggers.
“Who am I to stand from my perch of privilege, surrounded by million-dollar homes and paying for a $60,000 education, to condemn these young men as ‘thugs?’” asks Friedfeld. “It’s precisely this kind of ‘otherization’ that fuels the problem.”
Police also aren’t the solution to the problem, Friedfeld argues.
“If we ever want opportunistic crime to end, we should look at ourselves first. Simply amplifying police presence will not solve the issue. Police protect us by keeping those ‘bad people’ out of our neighborhood, and I’m grateful for it. And yet, I realize it’s self-serving and doesn’t actually fix anything.”
Friedfeld suggests that the “privileged” adapt to normalized crime, until the wrongs of the past are righted.
“The millennial generation is taking over the reins of the world, and thus we are presented with a wonderful opportunity to right some of the wrongs of the past,” writes Friedfeld. “Until we do so, we should get comfortable with sporadic muggings and break-ins. I can hardly blame them. The cards are all in our hands, and we’re not playing them.”
Friedfeld did not respond to Campus Reform's request for comment in time for publishing.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @MaggieLitCRO
Note: This article has been amended since its initial publication.
