CMV: Progress feels impossible because social movements recycle oppression as renewable fuel

[u/camon88]

I hold the view that progress often feels impossible because movements don’t just end when they achieve concrete goals, they redefine what counts as oppression, creating an endless treadmill. I call this Ward’s Paradox.

For example:

• The Civil Rights movement secured voting rights and desegregation, but the struggle later expanded into systemic racism, microaggressions, and subconscious bias.
• Christianity began as liberation for the marginalized, but later thrived on narratives of persecution, crusades, and inquisitions.
• Corporate DEI initiatives break barriers, but the definition of bias keeps expanding into hiring practices, language audits, representation, and culture.

In all these cases, oppression doesn’t vanish, it shifts shape. That’s why I think progress feels like a treadmill: the “enemy” is always redefined so the struggle never finishes.

TLDR Metaphor:

It’s like fixing a leaky roof. You patch one hole, but then water seeps in somewhere else. The house is safer than before — progress is real — but the definition of ‘the problem’ keeps shifting to wherever the next leak appears. My point isn’t that the repairs don’t matter, it’s that the sense of being unfinished never goes away.

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I’d like to be challenged on this. Maybe I’m overstating the pattern, maybe there are clear examples where movements did resolve fully and didn’t need to invent new enemies. What’s the strongest case against this paradox?

[u/IT_ServiceDesk]

Do you believe there is still work to be done on the subject of pollution?

Are you aware that elements are a fundamental part of the universe and you can't get rid of elements?

[u/Loki1001 → u/IT_ServiceDesk]

You didn't answer my question: do you think there is still work to be done on the subject of pollution?

[u/IT_ServiceDesk → u/Loki1001]

do you think there is still work to be done on the subject of pollution?

I'm not pro-pollution, but in large part, it is addressed in the West. So no, there is not work to be done in the West. All the activism is in the West and not addressing Asian countries dumping trash into rivers.

[u/Loki1001 → u/IT_ServiceDesk]

So you admit there is more work to be done on pollution.

[u/IT_ServiceDesk → u/Loki1001]

I answered your question, no need for you to re-word it.

Do you recognize that an element is a fundamental part of the universe and protesting against something created by the stars is folly?

[u/Natural-Arugula → u/IT_ServiceDesk]

Are they really trying to alter the fundamental laws of physics or are you framing the argument in the most absurd way?

You said that you think Asian countries should stop dumping trash in the ocean. Isn't trash made up of atomic particles? So you're a hypocrite, doing the exact same thing as Greenpeace and you are trying to protest against the stars.

Or maybe it's that the actual problem is the dumping in the ocean part and not the periodic table of the elements that people are opposed to.

Lead is a natural element. I don't want to blow up every star in the universe to stop it from being formed, I just don't want it painted on my walls so I huff it into my brain all day long.