I shall make some attempt to offer a concise theory of oppression that has predictive power. To entertain this discussion, I take for granted that oppression in the United States is pervasive–manifesting in the various ‘isms–and shall offer no evidence to support this claim. My goal is not to validate the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy paradigm, but rather to use it as a starting point in attempt to better understand the negative forces directing contemporary society.

Virtual means manifest in effect. When we speak of Virtual Reality, we mean it has the appearance of being real–and that it acts as if it were real–but that it is not real. Many video games are emulations of reality. We do not need to know anything about the computer code governing the game world to make causal inferences. If our player falls too far, it will get hurt. Even though ‘getting hurt’ refers to equations embedded in the code that we know nothing about, we still know not to jump off of tall buildings. Virtual objects are imitations of actual objects and subject to similar laws. So though they are not actually real, they act real, and their realness is manifest in effect.

I’ve had a lot of discussions about oppression where we joke around about old fat white men sitting around a table in some secret island base where they lay down their plans for the continued subjugation of women, people of color, gays, and the poor. A vast global conspiracy! It is in that underground lair that plots are hatched to underrepresent people of color in the media, to construct an idea of womanhood based on sexuality and submission, to create cycles of poverty, and so forth. We know it’s ridiculous, but it reassures us that we are not paranoid for seeing oppression everywhere.

But oppression in the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy is everywhere. So what I offer is the concept of a virtual conspiracy. There is no secret base hidden underneath a volcano. We admit that there is no actual conspiracy. Society, however, is organized as if there were, and so the conspiracy is manifest in effect. This is useful to recognize because it gives us predictive power. By answering the question, “What would happen if there were a conspiracy?” we can generally predict what will actually happen.

In reality, complex forces govern our environment and oppression is a central factor. But since our current understanding of those forces is limited, we approach the situation symbolically, using the concept of a conspiracy to offer a limited explanation of something too complicated for us to grasp fully. We benefit more from a partial understanding than we would from neglecting the matter simply because we can’t arrive at a final conclusion. Conspiracies behave similarly to the complex forces at work in our oppressive society. So by acting as if there were a conspiracy, we become more effective agents in our environment.