What assumptions or “taken-for-granted descriiptions” does it call into question?

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Response Paper #3
Write a 1-2 page, single-spaced (12pt font, 1in margins) essay that critically engages with course concepts, arguments, or issues from relevant class material and discussions (see the list below). Your paper should NOT merely summarize or paraphrase the arguments, concepts, or claims. Instead, your aim is to add something new to the discussion. That is, I want you to add your voice and insights. Imagine the readings and relevant ideas/arguments as part of a dialogue in which you are a participant. Your response paper is your contribution to this discussion and, thus, should add value to the dialogue. In terms of topic, you can address one of the questions listed below OR you can choose your own topic. The decision is entirely your own.
Readings:
Medina, Introduction & Chapter 1
Possible Topics (OPTIONAL)
“[T]he powerful can be spoiled not only by enjoying in a disproportionate way the privilege of knowing (or, rather, of being presumed to know), but also by having the privilege of not knowing or not needing to know. Sometimes there are entire domains that those in a position of privilege do not need to familiarize themselves with…An area that is sometimes put out of the cognitive reach of powerful elites is the domain of the mechanisms of oppression that create marginalization, subjugation, and social death…Although the machinery of the discipline and punishment of the oppressed is certainly in the hands of those in power, its day-to-day operations—and sometimes even the machinery itself—are not always rendered visible to all who occupy positions of power.” (pp. 32-33) What does Medina mean by this? What is an example? Why is it significant?
Medina examines three epistemic vices that are more likely to accrue to positions of privilege, and which help to foster active ignorance. He refers to these vices as unconscious defense mechanisms, which “do not result from a decision or a conscious effort to ignore, but from a socialization that leads one to be insensitive to certain things and immune to certain considerations.” (pp. 36) What is an example of active ignorance that can be found among those who are privileged (one not discussed by Medina)? What role do epistemic vices (arrogance, laziness, and close-mindedness) play in the cultivation or protection of this ignorance? How does socialization (via family, community, and culture) play a role in supporting such ignorance and the corresponding vices?
Medina notes that many of those who claim to be gender- or color-blind “congratulate themselves for their color- or gender-blindness as an accomplishment others should aspire to achieve.” He then goes on to ask the following questions: “But what does that mean? What does the ‘blindness’ involve? Is it a pretend blindness in which one denies what one sees, or a genuine blindness resulting from having been trained not to see? And why should anyone feel proud of having this blindness, of not seeing certain things? What does this pride tell us of the subjects who proclaim it and of the culture that promulgates it?” (pp. 38-39) How would you answer these questions?
“Although oppressed subjects can indeed fall victim to socially generated illusions, they often have more resources to undo these illusions, they have a richer (or more heterogeneous) experiential life that they can use to dismantle the accepted descriiption of reality…Alien experiences of this sort do not fit in the dominant perspective…they call for a…radical questioning of assumptions and taken-for-granted descriiptions…an inversion of perspectives.” (pp. 46-47) Identify an example of an experience of this sort. What is the experience and how does it correspond to oppression? In what sense does it “not fit”? What assumptions or “taken-for-granted descriiptions” does it call into question? Why is it valuable?

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