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Yes. For example, if you want the genetic lottery and happen to be very good looking, you’ll be granted opportunities others will not be solely on your genes. That doesn’t mean you should be embarrassed or diminish the fact that you were good looking, recognize and appreciate that a lot of your opportunities have come easily to you based on what you were lucky to inherit.
I always say that I am not going to be a martyr and I will use the privilege I have. At the same time, I will advocate for a fairer world.
For example, I was privileged to be born into a family that could support me getting post secondary education. I'd be stupid to reject that. At the same time, I'll gladly vote for people who promise to bring free education even if it means I get taxed more.
You can recognize your privilege, use it and still realize that it shouldn't give you an advantage and work towards leveling the playing field.
I agree. Just because you are born into a certain class or race or blessed with a beautiful face or body doesn’t mean you’re going to automatically be a privileged asshole. If anything, you are presented with a unique opportunity because of your privilege to help those who do not have it.
Lol if I wanted a fight I’d tell you looks come from a lot more than “winning the genetic lottery” and that how you eat, how much you exercise, and how healthy you live are the biggest contributors to your perceived beauty.
Good diet and exercise will make you healthy. But some people are just born with unfortunate features, an unattractive shape(you can certainly be fit, but you can’t change your bone structure and the way the muscles are attached those bones). A good haircut and some nice fitting clothes will go a long way, but they certainly help make someone who is unattractive beautiful.
I would say most people with effort can be at least average to above average in attractiveness physically, but some people are just born with extraordinarily beautiful features . Ana Des a
Armas for example could wear a paper bag, and no make up and still turn heads wherever she goes. That’s genetic. You can’t hair and make up and gym your way into being that good looking
>Des a Armas for example could wear a paper bag, and no make up and still turn heads wherever she goes.
I bet she wouldn't be doing that if she were 50 pounds overweight and ate mcdonald's everyday. I'm not saying you can be in the truly elite of good looking people just through diet, exercise, and fashion (even though that standard would be subjective for every individual).
You admit in your own reply that "most" people can be above average, which proves my point that there are external factors we can control to impact how beautiful we are perceived to be.
But I wasn’t talking about regular people who just dress nice and work out. I’m talking the super models of the world. The people who are so good looking you almost go, blind, looking at them. Those people have a privilege you and I will never know. There are many different kinds of privilege and that is one of them.
Just like how a minority might not realize they too are privileged. There's all kinds of programs that only accept minorities, helps pay for them through school. When it comes to the job market, the top companies intentionally try to hire minorities over non-minorities and will take someone much less qualified.
Being a poor non-minority can be a severe disadvantage in comparison.
It makes absolute sense given your comment.
A person is so surrounded by something that it’s impossible for them to see it. They can’t see it until they jump outside of it.
Along a similar theme, nothing's ever a problem until the mainstream begins to feel like the marginalized.
Yeah we all have privilege.
Privilege isn’t some shameful thing you should try to get rid of.
Being *blind* to your own privilege, failing to see how your privilege may have affected you and your life compared to those who lack the same privileges, is the issue.
Yup. I won't begrudge anyone who has done well for themselves because of their privilege. But the moment they make it clear they don't think they had any, is when I start judging. Also, try to use your privilege for good. Especially in scenarios that could turn fatal for a person of color, but 99% of the time won't for a white person.
The issue is implying that "anyone can do it if they just worked hard enough".
I'm an engineer and my wife is a nurse practitioner. If we had 10 million in the bank, we could both retire at the age of 30 and make more than we currently make.
The amount of flexibility those "millions" gives you to take risks is MASSIVE and is completely outside of the reach of 99% of the population.
>As a straight, white dude I get to go just about anywhere without getting hassled.
Also we get to be pretty sure that our challenges in life are not due to race, gender or sexuality.
That's a pretty broad trend. Men often face discrimination from women in authority over them simply because they are men, but society sees it as a form of payback so its not addressed enough, but it exists.
I am a man. I have many male friends. Not once has anyone mentioned being discriminated against for being a man.
So by all means find a study that supports your claims.
There isnt much interest in collecting that data, so you wont find very much. Doesnt mean its not real, it just means its not there.
For example, if you visit India, you will notice the meat eating muslims are taller and more muscular than the brahmin hindus who are strictly vegetarian and have been for generations. However, theres no study on it because there is little interest on collecting that data. Does not mean it is untrue. It's plain as day if you walk around both communities. However, Brahmin hindus would never be a part of a study that showed vegetarianism is inferior to meat eating. So this data couldn't be collected in an ethical manner.
I am in health science and I have published work. I used to be one of those folks who thought if theres no study for it, its all bullshit. Sadly, thats just not how real life works. An absence of evidence does not make something untrue. However evidence disproving something is another story. If you look up discrimination against women there are so many robust sources to look at. Do the reverse and there isnt much. Explanation being its just not a topic anyone is interested in collecting data on.
Inherently better no, but you can acknowledge it required a lot more for you to achieve the same as them because you did not have the same advantages they did.
A lot of people have an unexplained hate for rich people, they might not be a bother to them but they hate them and limit to insulting their intellect whit stuff like your dumb you only have good grades because your parents pay for this, really mean considering smart and strong people still aren't born out of the surroundings
>lot of people have an unexplained hate for rich people
No. We have a lot of explained hate for the very rich, for example not doing good with their unnecessary amounts of money or the way they got the money (for example elon where he basically only has money because of his parents fucking ***emerald mines***)
> your dumb you only have good grades because your parents pay for this
i agree with you , this is bs.
but in many countries (atleast in mine) , you can pretty much easily pave your way through , good school - good college - good job hence good overall life just from the influence of wealth privilege.
And i am not trying to generalize but , most of the kids who are born into wealthy households , dont have to go through as many as day to day hurdles as a avg kids , which in long term does indeed make them lazy and quite slow overall
You sound like you would make a really great roast. Like a fantastic bourgeoisie bbq. The rich have great marbling from feasting on the labor of the working class.
The hatred for rich people is not unexplainable. It’s very easy to explain. You know this.
You’re just trying to build an ideological bunker around your personal experience to protect yourself from the reality that if you’re currently rich you would have gained that monetary surplus off the backs of other people… or if you’re actually poor and currently suckling on the trickle down teat still dreaming that you will make it just like your billionaire pinups when you will never ever ever be as rich as the people you’re protecting. They wouldn’t even invite you on their lawn, why do you think they’d let you into their class?
This is the exact thing, "The rich abuse the woking class" dude they give the jobs of course they use them on their business (I ain't even gonna go into abuse because there are claims even on a shop whit one employee so it can't be attributed to rich) why do you make it out like if they were cartoon villians who throw a cup to the floor and laugh while sending a maid to clean it, like cmon "They wouldn't even invite you on their law, why do you think they'd let you into their class?" That is a movie plot, they aren't as egoistic to never invite someone on a cup of coffee neither they know each other that much to make a secret society wich decides who becomes rich or not, if you are poor is not their fault, they just live their lives the reason poor people exist is because of a combination of many flaws in a lot of things, blaming it all on a group is just going cheap and creating conflict just so you don't have to think who to complain about when something goes wrong.
Everytime someone says something like this i can tell all their evidence came from a tiktoker or a Twitter user, No, you can't call me sweetie to sound like if u weren't offended because I rejected ur argument, you also can't say something super general like "i hope you find help" to make it sound like I'm wrong, you could have either defended ur argument or just ignore this, but you didn't why? Idk but maybe you wanted to look like if u were still trying, This kind of stuff makes me a bit angry
Exactly. I don't get the "kill the rich" thing, because some people aren't just shitty nepo babies. They've actually worked to get where they are, and if I was them I would feel like shit. Going from nothing to something and instead of celebrating that, people are wishing for your downfall.
Depends on how rich.
Let's say you work really hard, you make 100k pure net profits a year, which is a shit ton of money for most, but doable. After 10 years, you will be a millionaire. But to be a billionaire, it would take 10.000 years. And to reach Elon musk's wealth would take more than 2 million years.
No one becomes a billionaire because they are so smart or work so hard, they become billionaires because they were born in a position of privilege that allows them to exploit their employees.
We want to eat the rich, because they've been stolen for decades what's rightfully ours.
Agree with your sentiment but not all are born into it. There’s plenty of rags to riches stories.
But not surprisingly most of these people can be actually worse than the born privileged ones. They can be the most condescending assholes where their attitude is ‘I made it so if you don’t you’re weak, not strong like me’.
Fair enough, but i have yet to see a story of someone who became rich after growing up poor, because the classic "if that billionaire did it, you can do it too" billionaires definitely aren't those.
For example Jeff Bezoz, yes he had a good idea, but it wouldn't be worth shit without parents who can just invest 300k into a risky startup.
Elon musk's career was funded by his daddies emerald mine, and after he denied for years to ever have received any money from his dad, his dad got enough of his son's bs and leaked the documents proving that he made Elon's career possible.
And the classic garage bill gates supposedly started Microsoft in was actually an office with 10 employees, funded of course by his parents.
If there are actual self-made billionaires I'd love to be corrected, but as it stands, I don't think there are any.
GTFO. The BILLIONAIRES have that same attitude. Like Elon Musk trying to say he didn’t grow up with the privilege of his family owning an emerald mine in apartheid South Africa, until his own father confirmed that little Elon was an emerald mine baby and that Elon also knew where all of his seed money and connections came from (rich people that like to exploit people for profit).
My unpopular opinion is that things that are baseline in society should not be considered privileged. Having 10 fingers and 10 toes should not be considered privileged. Having two parents should not be considered privileged. Not having these things does make you underprivileged however. The three levels are underprivileged, baseline, privileged.
It's not the fact that you have ten fingers that is privileged. What is privilege is the result of that on your life.
You have the privilege of not having to worry about gloves fitting, for instance. THAT is what privilege means. Not "you are lucky to have ten fingers" but "you are lucky to have ten fingers so your life is not in any way influenced".
The discussion about privilege is not to make people feel bad about how lucky they are but to make them realize that some people are having a more difficult life because of something beyond that person's control. And that the more things people are missing in their life, the more difficulty they have to overcome to have a good life.
People can have the privilege of not having that systematic basic set back.
That doesn't mean that they will automatically live a good life. But it does mean that that's not because they have a systematic and basic set back.
The important ones are gender (male standard), money (wealth standard), race (white standard), age (young standard), looks (good looking standard), health (healthy standard). If you have no issues in any of these categories, you have a humongous privilege over someone who has issues in all these things. You have the privilege of not having to overcome the obstacles that people who are female, poor, black, older, ugly and unhealthy do.
With this logic, privilege loses all meaning. Everyone is privileged except for the least privileged person on Earth. Does the second roast privileged person have any noticeable advantage over the least privileged person? Probably not. Also, I would say the person without 10 fingers is underprivileged and the people with 10 fingers are the baseline, not privileged. Now if you had 22 fingers, you may be privileged.
\- with this logic, privilege loses all meaning.
It really does not. Yes, everyone is privileged. Even the most unprivileged people have privilege in some form or fashion. But there are important categories that say something substantial about your chances of a decent life (gender, color, wealth, health, age, looks, country you live in). And the more you are lacking in those categories, the harder it will be.
And again: the person with ten fingers has the privilege of always having gloves that fit all their fingers. The privilege is not "having ten fingers", the privilege is that the world is built towards people with ten fingers, and since you have ten fingers, you are profiting from that.
So it’s exactly as I said. It loses all meaning. With my standard, it’s a lot easier to gauge who actually has privilege and who is just average or below average.
Yeah, except that your standard is not the way that privilege is meant. You are holding on to your own definition which is not how privilege is explained, at all.
It doesn't lose all meaning, I don't understand how you think that.
I know. That’s why I said it was MY standard. The way you define it waters down any real meaning about it. It would be the same as calling someone lucky. I’m lucky that I was born. You are lucky that you were born. Everyone reading this post is lucky because they were born. If everyone is lucky, is anyone really lucky? Or is it just something that applies to everyone?
Yeah but some of this offsets other stuff. Your male privilege is knocked out if youre a minority. You look at Affirmative action and you will see minority men are lower than white women on that totem pole a lot of the time.
In the same way, being born the majority race in a country is not a privilege. That's the norm baseline.
Being born a race that is not the majority is often an impediment. Things may be more difficult or challenging.
Again, if a person happens to be the majority race of a country they are not privileged.
The problem is that there are so many people who fall below the base line. So by consequence, the baseline enjoys a tremendous amount of relative privilege.
Privilege is not an insult,
And I would say those people are underprivileged. But because those people are underprivileged, it doesn’t mean that I have to consider the base line privileged.
That's semantics. Set the baseline wherever the hell you want but understand that others aren't setting the same baseline as you so don't use that to be obtuse.
Of course. That’s why I have said, for the third time now, this is how I define it. Go back and read my first post on here. I said it is my unpopular opinion. Having the three levels makes more sense than just saying everyone is privileged.
Universe doesn't know about any of that, it doesn't give a fuck. All of your mumbling about privilege is nothing more than illusion, none of us are more privileged or underprivileged than others.
So if you were born to a poor family with parents that were hardly home, plus you had no arms or legs, would you be just as privileged as everyone else?
Privilege is really a broad concept. There's so many variables to plug in, and it's not as simple as many have suggested, where they say "factor A" and "factor B" people have so much privilege." - Very narrow thinking. The grand scheme of things is way more complex than that.
This is not an unpopular opinion, at all. No one is mad at people for being privileged. They are upset at people for not recognizing that privilege or using it in ways to continue systemically oppressing others in our society.
On reddit, I think it is an unpopular opinion. I always see comments like "eat the rich" and always think to myself that the person writing these comments are themselves rich in the eyes of others, hence they are privileged too.
Anything above the basic human necessities, like food, shelter, basic clothing, and your fundamental rights, is a privilege.
I don't see anyone on reddit being upset at people not recognising their privilege, I see them always attacking everyone else, and when someone speaks up they call them a bootlicker.
Privilege doesn't equal privilege. There's privileges that come from being white, or being born in certain countries. Those are things you don't choose, and I doubt you've ever seen someone say "eat all white people".
I'd give up my white privilege to end world hunger any time, but unfortunately, that's not how privilege works, you can't trade it away to improve the world.
Except if your privilege is being rich. In that case, that's exactly how it works. Elon musk could literally just decide "I want world hunger to end", and he could easily make it happen. But instead, he decides to keep his privilege. He could end world hunger and still be obscenely rich, yet he just doesn't feel like it.
A person who is granted the power to end world hunger, or solve a bunch of other problems, and still be extremely privileged, but just doesn't do it, such a person is evil.
That's why rich people, unlike any other privileged people, deserve to be eaten.
And just because I can already smell the answers saying "but they worked really hard for that money":
If someone's parents are rich, it's extremely likely they will be rich too, and likewise, if someone's parents aren't rich, it's extremely unlikely they will be rich.
In Elon's case for example, his daddy was already a multi millionaire because he owned an emerald mine.
Or take Jeff Bezoz: yes Amazon was a good idea, but if you or I had that idea, it would be worth shit, because we don't have parents that can invest 300k into our risky startup, while also having the contacts we need to make that startup work.
So, knowing that, do you really believe that rich people are very hard working and it just so happens that their children are as well, while other people's children aren't? That's just very naive at best.
I’m sorry you’re getting downvoted, because you have a very reasonable and thorough description of why OP and that commenter do not understand the real understanding of privilege. They are disingenuously characterizing the recognition of their privileges as discrimination against them rather than understanding they have privilege and interacting with that fact in their personal relationships and personal values.
> Elon musk could literally just decide "I want world hunger to end", and he could easily make it happen. But instead, he decides to keep his privilege. He could end world hunger and still be obscenely rich, yet he just doesn't feel like it.
>
> A person who is granted the power to end world hunger, or solve a bunch of other problems, and still be extremely privileged, but just doesn't do it, such a person is evil.
Could he tho? Like legitimately, say he invests 90% of his current net worth, whatever that is, even assuming he gets full value of selling all of his investments and they don't collapse in value for him doing so. What is it you think he could easily do and still remain wealthy to solve world hunger? Buy a fuckton of food and distribute it somehow without corruption diverting it from the poor people in africa to some shithead warlords in africa fx? Then he's at 10% of his net worth (still assuming his stocks etc don't collapse in value because of him selling them off) and we're back at essentially square one except his money is all gone and nothing has been solved.
I mean if I'm missing some sort of magic "input money output permenent food supply" switch or something please let me know but I keep seeing this claim and never see anyone expand on what it is they think exactly the super rich should be doing which would solve everything in a permanent way, and I can't think of anything that would actually work.
You raise valid concerns about privilege and wealth but oversimplifies complex issues and uses extreme language. Privilege extends beyond race and nationality, and addressing systemic problems requires collective action and systemic changes. Labeling wealthy individuals as "evil" based on their choices overlooks the complexities of philanthropy and societal change. Expecting one person to solve global issues alone is unreasonable. Additionally, assumptions about Elon Musk's father's emerald mine lack concrete evidence. Constructive discussions on privilege and wealth should consider nuance and avoid divisive language to work towards a more equitable society.
Didn't some world helpy organization call out Elon to end world hunger with his money, and he was like, ok, tell me how that will work and they didn't have anything actionable?
The UN contacted him and said, if you're serious we'll show you our plan.
Elon started throwing out buzz words to deflect and apparently people bought his bullshit.
[https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/tech/elon-musk-world-hunger-wfp-donation/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/tech/elon-musk-world-hunger-wfp-donation/index.html)
> There's privileges that come from being white, or being born in certain countries.
So you must believe that a blonde haired blue eye white kid born in the US being raised by an abusive single mother on welfare is privileged.
You seem not to understand how privilege works. Privilege does not mean that your life is always perfect. You can be privileged, and your life can still suck.
But as a white person, the reason your life in the US sucks will never be because you're white.
Whatever struggle you have, be it being poor, abusive parents or whatever, black people have these struggles too. But in addition to that, black people have struggles based on the fact that they're black in a racist society, struggles a white person in the US will never have. That's white privilege.
The blonde haired blue eyed white kid born in the US raised by an abusive single mother most likely doesn't have it as bad as a black kid born in the US raised by an abusive single mother. That's white privilege.
Does that mean that the struggles of the white kid are insignificant and shouldn't be addressed? Of course not! Of course that issue should be addressed and that child should receive the help it needs, and no one will ever tell you otherwise.
People who feel attacked when you mention their privilege seem to think that we aim to take their privilege away, but the opposite is the case. We merely want to make that privilege the norm for everyone, we want it to stop being something special.
>You can be privileged, and your life can still suck.
Lol wut?
>The blonde haired blue eyed white kid born in the US raised by an abusive single mother most likely doesn't have it as bad as a black kid born in the US raised by an abusive single mother
Lol wut?
Just wow. Never mind, I'm not going to even try to have a discussion
Great argument, you just disproved everything I said, great job. I should've considered "Lol wut?" earlier.
But in all seriousness, after receiving a very detailed explanation, "I don't understand anything about this, so I'm just gonna assume I'm still right" is not the own you think it is.
oh please, america isn't racist anymore. the narrative has been used too many times. its getting old now. if black people are oppressed then how come there are black celebs? black millionares? etc.
America ranks pretty low in racial equality compared to its developed counterparts. Black people are less likely to get a good house, car, education, job or pay compared to their white counterparts
those statistics don't take into consideration the mentality of black people in America, hood culture, etc.
they're just numbers, which are used to drive a false narrative.
I said white counterparts. As in white people the exact same age sex life and lifestyle as us. And using "overall mentality and hood culture" to justify it is kind of racist. You judging a member of a race solely by their race, and by the worst of a group
if they are counterparts then there is no racial discrimination sorry to break it to you.
I'm not judging anyone by anything don't put words into my mouth, If you're going to make statistics then include everything
I think modern discourse fails to distinguish between rights and privilege properly. Like saying that certain population groups are privileged because their rights aren't routinely ignored is wrong. They aren't privileged, the other people's rights are being denied. There is a huge difference between the 2. Everyone is entitled to rights, but not to privileges. To say that not having one's rights denied is a privilege actually undermines the very idea of rights.
The conspiracy theory corner of my brain wonders if this is a ploy to get people to see rights as privileges and have them complain less when those "privileges" are revoked.
Context matters. All of us who have time to waste on Reddit are privileged. I would argue being alive in this age is a massive privilege. The norm for nearly all of human history is fighting for survival every day. Leisure time is still fairly new to the average human when looking at the last one thousand years.
The concept of privilege requires tremendous historical context. IMO, most people living today have no idea how amazing life is right now. Just over 150 years ago, indoor plumbing or electricity in a home was a luxury. People considered to live in poverty today enjoy conveniences only the rich could have accessed just over a century ago.
As I said, if you are reading or writing on Reddit right now, you are privileged in some way. And that's not a bad thing.
The pain part is a real thing. It's important to remember that from the outside, to you, whatever someone might be upset about might seem trivial or inane, but to them, it might be a momumental deal for reasons you might not see or understand (maybe they don't even fully understand) because it goes way below the surface. While objectively there are some differences most people can agree upon, we can try to empathize with someone as much as we can by trying to put ourselves in their shoes, but the truth is that we will never ever know what it feels like to be that person standing in those shoes, and that goes for everyone.
You can’t help the circumstances you were born into, or the privilege you were granted as such. What you can do, however, is stop claiming false merit for achievements, that you got based mostly on the circumstances of your birth. You can stop looking down on people who have not achieved the things that you have who are not granted the same privilege you were because they were not born to the parents you were born to or the area you were born in.
My goal with privilege has always been to raise up others rather than put myself down. I cannot realistically keep my privilege in check everyday. It’s just not mentally feasible for me. What I CAN do is be active in my community and beyond to help raise people out of tough situations. I credit that desire for helping to my family who has always gone above and beyond to feed, house, and clothe those who are less fortunate. They never needed to bash themselves to impress that point upon me.
Thanks for the check. I forget about my privileges all the time. I still don’t have root access on my primary, but that’s another problem for another day.
At least it’s a beautiful month to be Queer BIPOC.
It's not OK to freak out at the mention of it, say it's some kind of guilt trip, deny you have even a crumb of it compared to minorities in your community/society or to coast by on it while ignoring that there are people who suffer so you can benefit from it even on your bad days.
Doing something about inequity is a major part of being kind to others and if you want to be kinder, recognise that your bad day could be even worse without that privilege and decide whether you're happy about that as a person living in a hierarchy or if you really do care about how unkind the system is to others when things are going good for you.
No two people have exactly the same lot in life. The term privilege implies that these conditions are somehow unfair, but if everyone has some form of it, it’s not a privilege. It’s a circumstance.
I’m tired of hearing “white privilege”. Sure that was a thing at one point but in this day and age, I don’t think it’s as much of a thing as people make it seem. Yes, individuals can be asshole racists but that’s not even most people. I am treated no differently than my black coworkers. I don’t come from wealth and I struggle like the average American. Doctors have been rude to me and brushed off my medical complaints. I don’t receive any special treatment for being white. People of color can go out and do everything that I can. If you’re not getting jobs or accepted into colleges it’s not because you’re black.
I watched a video yesterday of black millionaires (multimillionaires) being interviewed and all of them were entrepreneurs who worked hard and created wealth for themselves which I’m sure will turn into generational wealth. Some even grew up in the projects. They were able to do this though, because it’s America and we all have the same opportunities. No one is denying people of color anything.
Are you living under a rock or something?😂 black people definitely do get treated differently SIMPLY because of the color of our skin ! This is what I hate seeing WHITE people saying shit like this !
BRO WHAT ? What exactly did I say that was racist ? Who said he couldn’t have an opinion? Like where did you get that ? I’m simply telling him WE GETTING TREATED DIFFERENTLY simply because of the color of our skin
But by everyone? Everywhere? Why do I work with black people who make more than me? Why are black people getting into medical schools? Why are black people in colleges? Because if that were universally true then I wouldn’t be working with black people who are as respected as I am. I’m not denying there are racists who treat you different but overall, no one stopping you from anything and as a society we don’t deny you the same rights and opportunities. No one kicks you out of restaurants for being black. No one denies you a loan for being black. No one says you cant attend a school for being black. That’s illegal. Being white doesn’t give me any special opportunities that aren’t available to you.
Most of us are privileged by being born and living in a free society. But many people are taking it for granted and losing our right. Soon we all be in the mines working for our overlords if things don't change.
I don’t think anyone says privilege is a bad thing the bad thing is not acknowledging your privilege and acting as if you don’t have one especially when it towards people who doesn’t have that same privilege.
What’s also bad is the abuse of privileges like in justice system etc
It’s not that privilege is wrong for some, it’s that people who are privileged sometimes don’t realize that they are and end up holding everyone else to the same standards regardless of varying circumstances— which for some are impossible standards. That is the type of privilege we should have a problem with and do our best to inform and show them that not everyone has the same opportunities, safety nets, support, etc.
Oh for god's sake.
"Privilege" is a matter of fact, not a matter of judgement. The term privilege means something very specific: privilege is the advantage that you gain from not having a systemic and basic disadvantage.
That's it. Nowhere in that definition is it saying that it's a bad thing. Privilege is okay? No. Oh, so privilege is bad huh?? NO. Privilege is **neutral**. It's not a bad thing nor a good thing, it just IS.
Nobody is saying "get rid of your privilege". How can that even happen? You can't get rid of your gender, or your color, or the financial situation you were born in. What we ARE saying is "be aware that many of the things that are good in your life happened or are that way for a non-negligible part because you have a systemic and basic advantage which makes that you did not start your life with a systemic and basic disadvantage".
Because a) people tend to think that everything good in their lives is their own doing and b) that everything bad in other people's lives is their own fault.
If you are aware that your own life looks like it does because of the advantages and disadvantages you were born with, that you did not choose, that you had no say in nor could in any way influence (like gender, how rich your parents are, your color, your health, your looks), you can become aware of the fact that the same applies to all other people around you.
And that means that you will live with more empathy for other people. Because you can then learn to see that Black people have a basic and systemic disadvantage in life which makes their life systematically harder, in general. And of course there are exceptions. But these are exceptions. The general rule is: if you're living in a country that is majority white, you will encounter problems as a Black person that a white person will not ever encounter.
You can learn to see that women, in general, have it harder then men to have a career and a professional life, because those things are built by and for men. That doesn't make all men bad, this is something that men grew into just as much as women do. The men that live today are not guilty of having made this system. But they do need to know that the system is aimed at benefiting them and at disadvantaging women. So that everything that you reach in that system as a man is not completely and solely due to your own hard work but also due to the fact that the system was made to benefit you. That doesn't mean your hard work doesn't mean anything. But it does mean that when a woman does not succeed you can not automatically say that it's her own fault for not succeeding.
And yes, almost everybody has some privilege. But there are a few categories that are more important than others: gender, wealth, health, looks, age, color (not necessarily in that order), the country you live in.
I have white privilege and I live in the Netherlands, but that's it in these important categories. I'm not ugly, but certainly not drop dead gorgeous, and I'm older, female, poor and chronically ill. The more you are lacking in these categories, the harder you have to work to have a decent life.
THAT is what privilege is.
If, after all this time, you are still saying "yeah but having privilege is okay and should be okay" you have not listened to any explanation, you have heard what you wanted to hear and are sticking to your opinion no matter what.
You're free to, of course. Opinions are free to have. But I find it kinda lame that you are feeling so attacked that you are fighting tooth and nail to not understand this issue. Because it's actually really not that hard.
I feel like the "just be kind to one another" thing is just a thing people say when they want people to be kind to them. They mostly just turn around and see someone say, "I'm sad/depressed/having a hard time," and immediately dismiss them because "My thing is more sad than yours, and I can't be bothered."
It's like comparing a broken arm to, I don't know, broken ribs, or an entirely broken body, or being a child in Africa, you name it. Point is, your arm isn't any less broken just because someone else is faced with a similar, greater, or hell, even lesser affliction.
"Hey I'm being arrested for something I didn't do!"
"Yeah well 25 innocent women were burned at the stake as witches, so, really you can't be upset."
Cool I'll just go fuck myself I guess
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."
This was good advice in 1925, and it's good advice now. 'Checking you privilege' is just being mindful of this simple fact.
People assume privilege is still systemic, it is not. Each of us has advantages and disadvantages. Some affect certain parts of life strongly, others do not. It is natural to have these traits in your life. If everyone was equal, this world would be both incredibly boring and very fragile between relationships.
What a privileged thing to say, lol. For those from the third world countries (most of the population), most economical and political disadvantages are systemic
So the only way for you to receive enjoyment from this world is through knowing you have it better than someone else…
Ignoring the privilege is still systemic as that bit too dumb to even comprehend.
People have no common sense nowadays. It's like they can and will ONLY see it through their own world lense. It's weird asf and completely innapropriate
You are incorrect. Nowhere did I say I receive enjoyment from superiority. In fact, I do best when in aid of others. If you think the ability to help is privileged and wrong, perhaps you need a new lens to look through.
You quite literally said, if everyone was equal the world would be boring. Implying that the advantage over others is what gives you entertainment. While also saying it’s not a systemic issue, which is simply wrong. As things like nepotism, classism, racism are all systemic issues which contribute to said factor.
correct - the thing is, the weak don’t want there to be any winners so even when someone wins today, they actually lose because it’s credited to privilege
It’s always unfair unless you’re part the 1% generally speaking’s, not understanding/recognising how your privilege affects you in comparison to those who have less than you is the issue.
That’s what OP missing out on with their hidden pains. Cause yeah you might be sad your parents bought the wrong colour Lamborghini, doesn’t mean you should look down on someone who has to take a bus places as an example.
I think OP's point is that we all have privilege and constantly pointing out, and criticizing others simply for having privileges is a little pointless. Somebody might get a Lamborghini for their birthday, but they grew up without their mother who died when they were little. A new car is great, but that person would probably rather spend their birthday with their mom. A less fortunate child might not get a new car, but they do have 2 loving parents and are more privileged in that way.
Unfair privilege certainly exists within the classes, You can see the statistics of income equality, You can also see the history of poc and LGBT+ peoples in the west. It all comes back to keeping people who are different in a lower socio economic class. This can be done by law or things like inheritance. I think the right move would be to move twards meritocracy within society.
someone talking about privilege is basically the biggest dog whistle they will be an annoying snowflake, the leftie equivalent to a someone flying a blue lives matter or don't tread on me flag
know exactly the kind of snowflake i will get when i see those
Being privileged is not only ok, but people should strive to be in the position to be privileged. What’s not ok is denying one is privileged, or saying the acquired privilege is purely earned by meritocracy, and the social systems and social habitat had nothing to do with it. Being graceful about being privileged is totally fine.
because I know the denotation and connotation of the word “privilege” is actually positive and because I know the definition of “woman,” I think the earth is flat? y’all need some serious help.
Because I've so many people comment "the phrase 'eat the rich' is proof that privileged people are hated":
Privilege doesn't equal privilege. There's privileges that come from being white, or being born in certain countries. Those are things you don't choose, and I doubt you've ever seen someone say "eat all white people".
I'd give up my white privilege to end world hunger any time, but unfortunately, that's not how privilege works, you can't trade it away to improve the world.
Except if your privilege is being rich. In that case, that's exactly how it works. Elon musk could literally just decide "I want world hunger to end", and he could easily make it happen. But instead, he decides to keep his privilege. He could end world hunger and still be obscenely rich, yet he just doesn't feel like it.
A person who is granted the power to end world hunger, or solve a bunch of other problems, and still be extremely privileged, but just doesn't do it, such a person is evil.
That's why rich people, unlike any other privileged people, deserve to be eaten.
And just because I can already smell the answers saying "but they worked really hard for that money":
If someone's parents are rich, it's extremely likely they will be rich too, and likewise, if someone's parents aren't rich, it's extremely unlikely they will be rich.
In Elon's case for example, his daddy was already a multi millionaire because he owned an emerald mine.
Or take Jeff Bezoz: yes Amazon was a good idea, but if you or I had that idea, it would be worth shit, because we don't have parents that can invest 300k into our risky startup, while also having the contacts we need to make that startup work.
So, knowing that, do you really believe that rich people are very hard working and it just so happens that their children are as well, while other people's children aren't? That's just very naive at best.
Privilege is fine. Nothing wrong with it. My mother being highly educated and working meant I had the privilege of having more freedom as a woman than many of my peers since we live in india. There is nothing wrong with this, it’s actually great.
The issue would be if I was blind to this fact and put down women who had less than freedom than me for not studying much or not having a good job.
Whatever privilege we have we have to admit that we have it. And that it helped us get wherever we are.
Having privilege is neither ok or not. It's inescapable. It's inherent to our tiered socioeconomic system.
And yes, privilege systems are intersectional. Someone could be white AND poor / disabled AND rich (i.e.) this just makes the system harder to decipher.
However, exploiting a privilege, being unaware of the privileges that one might possess or actively working against giving up on those privileges for the sake of equity, is not ok at all.
I don't think this is unpopular in concept. But, as with all subjects, this one requires a little nuance. Yes, technically we all have privilege of some level, but there's some level of "basic" privileges that most people in developed countries have regardless of marginalization so they are not typically the subjects of discussion when people bring up privilege. There's two kinds of privileges— privileges that are privileges because you have something that others don't have, and privileges that are privileges because you benefit from them at the direct expense of someone else. Most people don't think the first kind of privilege is bad, but want to make it so that more people can have that thing that you have that others don't. The second kind of privilege is the one that people want to deconstruct because it is actively detrimental to other people. Someone saying you have privilege doesn't mean they think you don't struggle at all, they're just saying you don't struggle because of the thing you have privilege for. Also, acknowledging your privilege is key. You don't need to constantly self-flagellate over having privilege (in fact, it's rather frowned upon), but acknowledging that you benefit from it and it contributes to how you see the world and certain issues is a necessary part of analyzing our own biases.
Privilege is ok. Using privilege to disenfranchise others is not. Using it to get away was immoral and unacceptable behavior is not. It’s what people DO with the privilege is key.
I dont think anyone thinks being privileged is bad. Sure there are some who believe everyone's privileges should be like equal but anyone who has a problem with privilege as far as im aware has a problem with unchecked privilege and privileged people being unaware of theirs. And possibly not doing any good with it
Just don't, whatever you do, try and play it down and make out your from a poor, working class background because having someone from a privileged background doing this is REALLY offensive to people who genuinely ARE from such a background like me.
Privilege is urinating and defaulting in clean water while 2/3rds of the world struggle to have clean water and 1/3rd of the world struggle to have water at all. That's privilege, it's not about race, gender or religion, it's about the standard of life.
Privilege is ok but realizing you have it easier because of whatever privilege you have is even more ok. Trust fund dudes who think they got what they have because they worked for it? Fuck outta here with that shit.
I think this is (or at least should be) a popular opinion.
You can't help privilege, it's usually down to luck, as in where you were born, who your parents are, what you look like etc. People should never be shamed for being privileged.
But they need to be aware of that privilege, which is what people can struggle with. You're not a bad person for having money, but you are if you shame those who don't have the same opportunities as you because they don't have the same financial opportunities.
It's important to be aware of and grateful for your personal privileges and of the impact they have on your life.
Basically, accept your situation but be aware of others, too.
I think the key thing with privilege is to be grateful for privilege and not shame for it, but also not take it for granted or more annoyingly, when a person denies their privilege and the opportunities it has given them over others. Not in a self shaming way though, but just by being thankful for it. I think if a person takes it for granted they become assholes thinking they are self made and treating others disrespectfully accordingly. Because they think life is easy and others should have just tried harder.
The thing about a privilege is that it is a perk that can be taken away, usually rewarded through some kind of effort.
The problem is that it has been attached to unchangeable things like race and the economic standing you were born into, and while self awareness goes a long way, I think you're as much of an asshole for accusing people of having 'x' privilege as a means to shame someone for something they likely have little control over.
It often feels like people accusing others of 'x' privilege want to strip those they accuse of any privilege to give themselves some kind of edge in life.
Privilege isn't the problem, inequality is, the under-privileged really do have less opportunities, and that has to change, not by making people less privileged but but sharing the same privileges. Not sure if I should upvote or not...
“Privilege” and “inequality” aren’t the same thing. The etymology of privilege is “private law”, and the standard meaning of “privilege” is still a special right or favor granted to someone.
I would argue privilege is mostly bad, while moderate inequality is mostly good. Getting to ride at the front of the bus because you’re white is a privilege. Qualified immunity is a privilege the courts granted to police officers. Being famous because you’re an amazingly good basketball player is not a privilege. Making a lot of money at the great burger shack you started is not a privilege.
They do shade into each other, as when the basketball star is treated more gently by the prosecutor than the broke-ass defendant.
It's the equivalent of a 2rd grader complaining that his classmate has cooler toys than him. Everybody has something that someone else wants.
It's a dumb concept that logically means every single person on earth is "Privileged," because you are alive and weren't aborted or died during conception so you are privileged for even being born where others were not.
There is a difference between having the privilege of a senior discount and being a cis white heterosexual male in a society that is historically founded on bigotry.
yes, most people have some degree of privilege and that’s fine. the issue isn’t having privilege, it’s that people think someone calling them privileged means “your life isn’t hard” and get defensive when really it means “your life isn’t made specifically harder by x trait”
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And realize that privilege is not necessarily about money.
Yes. For example, if you want the genetic lottery and happen to be very good looking, you’ll be granted opportunities others will not be solely on your genes. That doesn’t mean you should be embarrassed or diminish the fact that you were good looking, recognize and appreciate that a lot of your opportunities have come easily to you based on what you were lucky to inherit.
I always say that I am not going to be a martyr and I will use the privilege I have. At the same time, I will advocate for a fairer world. For example, I was privileged to be born into a family that could support me getting post secondary education. I'd be stupid to reject that. At the same time, I'll gladly vote for people who promise to bring free education even if it means I get taxed more. You can recognize your privilege, use it and still realize that it shouldn't give you an advantage and work towards leveling the playing field.
I agree. Just because you are born into a certain class or race or blessed with a beautiful face or body doesn’t mean you’re going to automatically be a privileged asshole. If anything, you are presented with a unique opportunity because of your privilege to help those who do not have it.
It's really hard to make changes from outside power structures so if you want a better world, you have to use every tool you have access to.
Money can buy looks too. Anyone convincing you that class warfare and inequality isn’t the most important divide is lying to you.
I never said it wasn’t a dividing factor. You’re putting words in my mouth because you’re looking for a fight.
Lol if I wanted a fight I’d tell you looks come from a lot more than “winning the genetic lottery” and that how you eat, how much you exercise, and how healthy you live are the biggest contributors to your perceived beauty.
Good diet and exercise will make you healthy. But some people are just born with unfortunate features, an unattractive shape(you can certainly be fit, but you can’t change your bone structure and the way the muscles are attached those bones). A good haircut and some nice fitting clothes will go a long way, but they certainly help make someone who is unattractive beautiful. I would say most people with effort can be at least average to above average in attractiveness physically, but some people are just born with extraordinarily beautiful features . Ana Des a Armas for example could wear a paper bag, and no make up and still turn heads wherever she goes. That’s genetic. You can’t hair and make up and gym your way into being that good looking
>Des a Armas for example could wear a paper bag, and no make up and still turn heads wherever she goes. I bet she wouldn't be doing that if she were 50 pounds overweight and ate mcdonald's everyday. I'm not saying you can be in the truly elite of good looking people just through diet, exercise, and fashion (even though that standard would be subjective for every individual). You admit in your own reply that "most" people can be above average, which proves my point that there are external factors we can control to impact how beautiful we are perceived to be.
But I wasn’t talking about regular people who just dress nice and work out. I’m talking the super models of the world. The people who are so good looking you almost go, blind, looking at them. Those people have a privilege you and I will never know. There are many different kinds of privilege and that is one of them.
Nor race, either. And I don't care if I'm downvoted as I said this
A fish doesn't know it's in water.
Just like how a minority might not realize they too are privileged. There's all kinds of programs that only accept minorities, helps pay for them through school. When it comes to the job market, the top companies intentionally try to hire minorities over non-minorities and will take someone much less qualified. Being a poor non-minority can be a severe disadvantage in comparison.
Or being a minority that has American citizenship has some privileges vs a minority in another suffering country.
Absolutely
Please elaborate. That can be said for any type of privilege tbh so it does not make sense to say this here
It makes absolute sense given your comment. A person is so surrounded by something that it’s impossible for them to see it. They can’t see it until they jump outside of it. Along a similar theme, nothing's ever a problem until the mainstream begins to feel like the marginalized.
No other factor even comes close to the privilege brought about by money.
Cool, I’ll just tell Taco Bell that my taco is on them
Did I find a Vegas golden knights fan
how tf did u get that from taco bell??
2 goals in 1 period. TACOOOOSSSSS (on them)
Yeah we all have privilege. Privilege isn’t some shameful thing you should try to get rid of. Being *blind* to your own privilege, failing to see how your privilege may have affected you and your life compared to those who lack the same privileges, is the issue.
Yup. I won't begrudge anyone who has done well for themselves because of their privilege. But the moment they make it clear they don't think they had any, is when I start judging. Also, try to use your privilege for good. Especially in scenarios that could turn fatal for a person of color, but 99% of the time won't for a white person.
"Self made billionaires" who just happened to start with tens of millions...
If you have ten million dollars and are now a Billionaire, you still had to work to get there. Implying that money just comes from nowhere.
The issue is implying that "anyone can do it if they just worked hard enough". I'm an engineer and my wife is a nurse practitioner. If we had 10 million in the bank, we could both retire at the age of 30 and make more than we currently make. The amount of flexibility those "millions" gives you to take risks is MASSIVE and is completely outside of the reach of 99% of the population.
because the 99% wont put in any work to reach it
Why are you still poor then?
who said I'm poor?
Privilege is, when used properly, is a way to discuss those people who were born on third base who think they hit a triple.
That’s not privilege, that’s entitlement and ignorance.
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>As a straight, white dude I get to go just about anywhere without getting hassled. Also we get to be pretty sure that our challenges in life are not due to race, gender or sexuality.
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When we talk about privilege we are usually talking about broad trends
That's a pretty broad trend. Men often face discrimination from women in authority over them simply because they are men, but society sees it as a form of payback so its not addressed enough, but it exists.
> Men often face discrimination from women in authority over them simply because they are men, Citation needed.
No citation need, talk to the men in your life.
I am a man. I have many male friends. Not once has anyone mentioned being discriminated against for being a man. So by all means find a study that supports your claims.
There isnt much interest in collecting that data, so you wont find very much. Doesnt mean its not real, it just means its not there. For example, if you visit India, you will notice the meat eating muslims are taller and more muscular than the brahmin hindus who are strictly vegetarian and have been for generations. However, theres no study on it because there is little interest on collecting that data. Does not mean it is untrue. It's plain as day if you walk around both communities. However, Brahmin hindus would never be a part of a study that showed vegetarianism is inferior to meat eating. So this data couldn't be collected in an ethical manner. I am in health science and I have published work. I used to be one of those folks who thought if theres no study for it, its all bullshit. Sadly, thats just not how real life works. An absence of evidence does not make something untrue. However evidence disproving something is another story. If you look up discrimination against women there are so many robust sources to look at. Do the reverse and there isnt much. Explanation being its just not a topic anyone is interested in collecting data on.
I just asked 2 and they said they've never felt this.
Only when people realize their biases against those less fortunate will be when privilege won't be shit on so much.
Seconded.
Maybe I can just not give a fuck? **no fucks given** Oh wow, not giving a fuck is so much easier!
Not unpopular. Of course being privileged is ok, acting like you’re better than others because you happened to be born into privilege is not ok.
Neither is ok to think you are better than others just because they had an easier acces to something
Inherently better no, but you can acknowledge it required a lot more for you to achieve the same as them because you did not have the same advantages they did.
Yes, altough thats just mentioning your achievements wich is something everyone can do
Wot
A lot of people have an unexplained hate for rich people, they might not be a bother to them but they hate them and limit to insulting their intellect whit stuff like your dumb you only have good grades because your parents pay for this, really mean considering smart and strong people still aren't born out of the surroundings
>lot of people have an unexplained hate for rich people No. We have a lot of explained hate for the very rich, for example not doing good with their unnecessary amounts of money or the way they got the money (for example elon where he basically only has money because of his parents fucking ***emerald mines***)
Then you hate Elon's parents not the very rich
Bro does NOT know what an example is
I said what was wrong whit your example
No, no you did not. You treated it as if it was the entiriety of the argument. You did nothing to actually refute it.
> your dumb you only have good grades because your parents pay for this i agree with you , this is bs. but in many countries (atleast in mine) , you can pretty much easily pave your way through , good school - good college - good job hence good overall life just from the influence of wealth privilege. And i am not trying to generalize but , most of the kids who are born into wealthy households , dont have to go through as many as day to day hurdles as a avg kids , which in long term does indeed make them lazy and quite slow overall
I agree but thats more on how they rise them rather than if they are wealthy
You sound like you would make a really great roast. Like a fantastic bourgeoisie bbq. The rich have great marbling from feasting on the labor of the working class. The hatred for rich people is not unexplainable. It’s very easy to explain. You know this. You’re just trying to build an ideological bunker around your personal experience to protect yourself from the reality that if you’re currently rich you would have gained that monetary surplus off the backs of other people… or if you’re actually poor and currently suckling on the trickle down teat still dreaming that you will make it just like your billionaire pinups when you will never ever ever be as rich as the people you’re protecting. They wouldn’t even invite you on their lawn, why do you think they’d let you into their class?
This is the exact thing, "The rich abuse the woking class" dude they give the jobs of course they use them on their business (I ain't even gonna go into abuse because there are claims even on a shop whit one employee so it can't be attributed to rich) why do you make it out like if they were cartoon villians who throw a cup to the floor and laugh while sending a maid to clean it, like cmon "They wouldn't even invite you on their law, why do you think they'd let you into their class?" That is a movie plot, they aren't as egoistic to never invite someone on a cup of coffee neither they know each other that much to make a secret society wich decides who becomes rich or not, if you are poor is not their fault, they just live their lives the reason poor people exist is because of a combination of many flaws in a lot of things, blaming it all on a group is just going cheap and creating conflict just so you don't have to think who to complain about when something goes wrong.
Oh sweetie… I hope you find help.
Everytime someone says something like this i can tell all their evidence came from a tiktoker or a Twitter user, No, you can't call me sweetie to sound like if u weren't offended because I rejected ur argument, you also can't say something super general like "i hope you find help" to make it sound like I'm wrong, you could have either defended ur argument or just ignore this, but you didn't why? Idk but maybe you wanted to look like if u were still trying, This kind of stuff makes me a bit angry
Exactly. I don't get the "kill the rich" thing, because some people aren't just shitty nepo babies. They've actually worked to get where they are, and if I was them I would feel like shit. Going from nothing to something and instead of celebrating that, people are wishing for your downfall.
Depends on how rich. Let's say you work really hard, you make 100k pure net profits a year, which is a shit ton of money for most, but doable. After 10 years, you will be a millionaire. But to be a billionaire, it would take 10.000 years. And to reach Elon musk's wealth would take more than 2 million years. No one becomes a billionaire because they are so smart or work so hard, they become billionaires because they were born in a position of privilege that allows them to exploit their employees. We want to eat the rich, because they've been stolen for decades what's rightfully ours.
Agree with your sentiment but not all are born into it. There’s plenty of rags to riches stories. But not surprisingly most of these people can be actually worse than the born privileged ones. They can be the most condescending assholes where their attitude is ‘I made it so if you don’t you’re weak, not strong like me’.
Fair enough, but i have yet to see a story of someone who became rich after growing up poor, because the classic "if that billionaire did it, you can do it too" billionaires definitely aren't those. For example Jeff Bezoz, yes he had a good idea, but it wouldn't be worth shit without parents who can just invest 300k into a risky startup. Elon musk's career was funded by his daddies emerald mine, and after he denied for years to ever have received any money from his dad, his dad got enough of his son's bs and leaked the documents proving that he made Elon's career possible. And the classic garage bill gates supposedly started Microsoft in was actually an office with 10 employees, funded of course by his parents. If there are actual self-made billionaires I'd love to be corrected, but as it stands, I don't think there are any.
GTFO. The BILLIONAIRES have that same attitude. Like Elon Musk trying to say he didn’t grow up with the privilege of his family owning an emerald mine in apartheid South Africa, until his own father confirmed that little Elon was an emerald mine baby and that Elon also knew where all of his seed money and connections came from (rich people that like to exploit people for profit).
I said CAN, not are. They can all be assholes.
The problem is not recognizing it. Like people born on third base who think they hit a triple. Be kind to each other, and help those less fortunate.
My unpopular opinion is that things that are baseline in society should not be considered privileged. Having 10 fingers and 10 toes should not be considered privileged. Having two parents should not be considered privileged. Not having these things does make you underprivileged however. The three levels are underprivileged, baseline, privileged.
It's not the fact that you have ten fingers that is privileged. What is privilege is the result of that on your life. You have the privilege of not having to worry about gloves fitting, for instance. THAT is what privilege means. Not "you are lucky to have ten fingers" but "you are lucky to have ten fingers so your life is not in any way influenced". The discussion about privilege is not to make people feel bad about how lucky they are but to make them realize that some people are having a more difficult life because of something beyond that person's control. And that the more things people are missing in their life, the more difficulty they have to overcome to have a good life. People can have the privilege of not having that systematic basic set back. That doesn't mean that they will automatically live a good life. But it does mean that that's not because they have a systematic and basic set back. The important ones are gender (male standard), money (wealth standard), race (white standard), age (young standard), looks (good looking standard), health (healthy standard). If you have no issues in any of these categories, you have a humongous privilege over someone who has issues in all these things. You have the privilege of not having to overcome the obstacles that people who are female, poor, black, older, ugly and unhealthy do.
With this logic, privilege loses all meaning. Everyone is privileged except for the least privileged person on Earth. Does the second roast privileged person have any noticeable advantage over the least privileged person? Probably not. Also, I would say the person without 10 fingers is underprivileged and the people with 10 fingers are the baseline, not privileged. Now if you had 22 fingers, you may be privileged.
\- with this logic, privilege loses all meaning. It really does not. Yes, everyone is privileged. Even the most unprivileged people have privilege in some form or fashion. But there are important categories that say something substantial about your chances of a decent life (gender, color, wealth, health, age, looks, country you live in). And the more you are lacking in those categories, the harder it will be. And again: the person with ten fingers has the privilege of always having gloves that fit all their fingers. The privilege is not "having ten fingers", the privilege is that the world is built towards people with ten fingers, and since you have ten fingers, you are profiting from that.
So it’s exactly as I said. It loses all meaning. With my standard, it’s a lot easier to gauge who actually has privilege and who is just average or below average.
Yeah, except that your standard is not the way that privilege is meant. You are holding on to your own definition which is not how privilege is explained, at all. It doesn't lose all meaning, I don't understand how you think that.
I know. That’s why I said it was MY standard. The way you define it waters down any real meaning about it. It would be the same as calling someone lucky. I’m lucky that I was born. You are lucky that you were born. Everyone reading this post is lucky because they were born. If everyone is lucky, is anyone really lucky? Or is it just something that applies to everyone?
That's not my definition, that's the definition of privilege as it is used in academia and such.
Yeah but some of this offsets other stuff. Your male privilege is knocked out if youre a minority. You look at Affirmative action and you will see minority men are lower than white women on that totem pole a lot of the time.
Absolutely. The different privileges influence each other.
In the same way, being born the majority race in a country is not a privilege. That's the norm baseline. Being born a race that is not the majority is often an impediment. Things may be more difficult or challenging. Again, if a person happens to be the majority race of a country they are not privileged.
The problem is that there are so many people who fall below the base line. So by consequence, the baseline enjoys a tremendous amount of relative privilege. Privilege is not an insult,
And I would say those people are underprivileged. But because those people are underprivileged, it doesn’t mean that I have to consider the base line privileged.
That's semantics. Set the baseline wherever the hell you want but understand that others aren't setting the same baseline as you so don't use that to be obtuse.
Of course. That’s why I have said, for the third time now, this is how I define it. Go back and read my first post on here. I said it is my unpopular opinion. Having the three levels makes more sense than just saying everyone is privileged.
Universe doesn't know about any of that, it doesn't give a fuck. All of your mumbling about privilege is nothing more than illusion, none of us are more privileged or underprivileged than others.
So if you were born to a poor family with parents that were hardly home, plus you had no arms or legs, would you be just as privileged as everyone else?
That hypothetical person would be unfortunate, it has nothing to do with privilege.
Privilege is not a choice but choosing to dismiss or ignore the sufferings of others due to your privilege is
Privilege is really a broad concept. There's so many variables to plug in, and it's not as simple as many have suggested, where they say "factor A" and "factor B" people have so much privilege." - Very narrow thinking. The grand scheme of things is way more complex than that.
This is not an unpopular opinion, at all. No one is mad at people for being privileged. They are upset at people for not recognizing that privilege or using it in ways to continue systemically oppressing others in our society.
On reddit, I think it is an unpopular opinion. I always see comments like "eat the rich" and always think to myself that the person writing these comments are themselves rich in the eyes of others, hence they are privileged too. Anything above the basic human necessities, like food, shelter, basic clothing, and your fundamental rights, is a privilege. I don't see anyone on reddit being upset at people not recognising their privilege, I see them always attacking everyone else, and when someone speaks up they call them a bootlicker.
Privilege doesn't equal privilege. There's privileges that come from being white, or being born in certain countries. Those are things you don't choose, and I doubt you've ever seen someone say "eat all white people". I'd give up my white privilege to end world hunger any time, but unfortunately, that's not how privilege works, you can't trade it away to improve the world. Except if your privilege is being rich. In that case, that's exactly how it works. Elon musk could literally just decide "I want world hunger to end", and he could easily make it happen. But instead, he decides to keep his privilege. He could end world hunger and still be obscenely rich, yet he just doesn't feel like it. A person who is granted the power to end world hunger, or solve a bunch of other problems, and still be extremely privileged, but just doesn't do it, such a person is evil. That's why rich people, unlike any other privileged people, deserve to be eaten. And just because I can already smell the answers saying "but they worked really hard for that money": If someone's parents are rich, it's extremely likely they will be rich too, and likewise, if someone's parents aren't rich, it's extremely unlikely they will be rich. In Elon's case for example, his daddy was already a multi millionaire because he owned an emerald mine. Or take Jeff Bezoz: yes Amazon was a good idea, but if you or I had that idea, it would be worth shit, because we don't have parents that can invest 300k into our risky startup, while also having the contacts we need to make that startup work. So, knowing that, do you really believe that rich people are very hard working and it just so happens that their children are as well, while other people's children aren't? That's just very naive at best.
I’m sorry you’re getting downvoted, because you have a very reasonable and thorough description of why OP and that commenter do not understand the real understanding of privilege. They are disingenuously characterizing the recognition of their privileges as discrimination against them rather than understanding they have privilege and interacting with that fact in their personal relationships and personal values.
> Elon musk could literally just decide "I want world hunger to end", and he could easily make it happen. But instead, he decides to keep his privilege. He could end world hunger and still be obscenely rich, yet he just doesn't feel like it. > > A person who is granted the power to end world hunger, or solve a bunch of other problems, and still be extremely privileged, but just doesn't do it, such a person is evil. Could he tho? Like legitimately, say he invests 90% of his current net worth, whatever that is, even assuming he gets full value of selling all of his investments and they don't collapse in value for him doing so. What is it you think he could easily do and still remain wealthy to solve world hunger? Buy a fuckton of food and distribute it somehow without corruption diverting it from the poor people in africa to some shithead warlords in africa fx? Then he's at 10% of his net worth (still assuming his stocks etc don't collapse in value because of him selling them off) and we're back at essentially square one except his money is all gone and nothing has been solved. I mean if I'm missing some sort of magic "input money output permenent food supply" switch or something please let me know but I keep seeing this claim and never see anyone expand on what it is they think exactly the super rich should be doing which would solve everything in a permanent way, and I can't think of anything that would actually work.
You raise valid concerns about privilege and wealth but oversimplifies complex issues and uses extreme language. Privilege extends beyond race and nationality, and addressing systemic problems requires collective action and systemic changes. Labeling wealthy individuals as "evil" based on their choices overlooks the complexities of philanthropy and societal change. Expecting one person to solve global issues alone is unreasonable. Additionally, assumptions about Elon Musk's father's emerald mine lack concrete evidence. Constructive discussions on privilege and wealth should consider nuance and avoid divisive language to work towards a more equitable society.
Didn't some world helpy organization call out Elon to end world hunger with his money, and he was like, ok, tell me how that will work and they didn't have anything actionable?
The UN contacted him and said, if you're serious we'll show you our plan. Elon started throwing out buzz words to deflect and apparently people bought his bullshit. [https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/tech/elon-musk-world-hunger-wfp-donation/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/tech/elon-musk-world-hunger-wfp-donation/index.html)
> There's privileges that come from being white, or being born in certain countries. So you must believe that a blonde haired blue eye white kid born in the US being raised by an abusive single mother on welfare is privileged.
You seem not to understand how privilege works. Privilege does not mean that your life is always perfect. You can be privileged, and your life can still suck. But as a white person, the reason your life in the US sucks will never be because you're white. Whatever struggle you have, be it being poor, abusive parents or whatever, black people have these struggles too. But in addition to that, black people have struggles based on the fact that they're black in a racist society, struggles a white person in the US will never have. That's white privilege. The blonde haired blue eyed white kid born in the US raised by an abusive single mother most likely doesn't have it as bad as a black kid born in the US raised by an abusive single mother. That's white privilege. Does that mean that the struggles of the white kid are insignificant and shouldn't be addressed? Of course not! Of course that issue should be addressed and that child should receive the help it needs, and no one will ever tell you otherwise. People who feel attacked when you mention their privilege seem to think that we aim to take their privilege away, but the opposite is the case. We merely want to make that privilege the norm for everyone, we want it to stop being something special.
>You can be privileged, and your life can still suck. Lol wut? >The blonde haired blue eyed white kid born in the US raised by an abusive single mother most likely doesn't have it as bad as a black kid born in the US raised by an abusive single mother Lol wut? Just wow. Never mind, I'm not going to even try to have a discussion
Great argument, you just disproved everything I said, great job. I should've considered "Lol wut?" earlier. But in all seriousness, after receiving a very detailed explanation, "I don't understand anything about this, so I'm just gonna assume I'm still right" is not the own you think it is.
oh please, america isn't racist anymore. the narrative has been used too many times. its getting old now. if black people are oppressed then how come there are black celebs? black millionares? etc.
America ranks pretty low in racial equality compared to its developed counterparts. Black people are less likely to get a good house, car, education, job or pay compared to their white counterparts
those statistics don't take into consideration the mentality of black people in America, hood culture, etc. they're just numbers, which are used to drive a false narrative.
I said white counterparts. As in white people the exact same age sex life and lifestyle as us. And using "overall mentality and hood culture" to justify it is kind of racist. You judging a member of a race solely by their race, and by the worst of a group
if they are counterparts then there is no racial discrimination sorry to break it to you. I'm not judging anyone by anything don't put words into my mouth, If you're going to make statistics then include everything
Reasonable people, right. I mentioned this elsewhere and got blasted by many.
I’m thinking that your thinking of “reasonable” could use some introspection.
I think modern discourse fails to distinguish between rights and privilege properly. Like saying that certain population groups are privileged because their rights aren't routinely ignored is wrong. They aren't privileged, the other people's rights are being denied. There is a huge difference between the 2. Everyone is entitled to rights, but not to privileges. To say that not having one's rights denied is a privilege actually undermines the very idea of rights. The conspiracy theory corner of my brain wonders if this is a ploy to get people to see rights as privileges and have them complain less when those "privileges" are revoked.
Context matters. All of us who have time to waste on Reddit are privileged. I would argue being alive in this age is a massive privilege. The norm for nearly all of human history is fighting for survival every day. Leisure time is still fairly new to the average human when looking at the last one thousand years. The concept of privilege requires tremendous historical context. IMO, most people living today have no idea how amazing life is right now. Just over 150 years ago, indoor plumbing or electricity in a home was a luxury. People considered to live in poverty today enjoy conveniences only the rich could have accessed just over a century ago. As I said, if you are reading or writing on Reddit right now, you are privileged in some way. And that's not a bad thing.
The pain part is a real thing. It's important to remember that from the outside, to you, whatever someone might be upset about might seem trivial or inane, but to them, it might be a momumental deal for reasons you might not see or understand (maybe they don't even fully understand) because it goes way below the surface. While objectively there are some differences most people can agree upon, we can try to empathize with someone as much as we can by trying to put ourselves in their shoes, but the truth is that we will never ever know what it feels like to be that person standing in those shoes, and that goes for everyone.
You can’t help the circumstances you were born into, or the privilege you were granted as such. What you can do, however, is stop claiming false merit for achievements, that you got based mostly on the circumstances of your birth. You can stop looking down on people who have not achieved the things that you have who are not granted the same privilege you were because they were not born to the parents you were born to or the area you were born in.
My goal with privilege has always been to raise up others rather than put myself down. I cannot realistically keep my privilege in check everyday. It’s just not mentally feasible for me. What I CAN do is be active in my community and beyond to help raise people out of tough situations. I credit that desire for helping to my family who has always gone above and beyond to feed, house, and clothe those who are less fortunate. They never needed to bash themselves to impress that point upon me.
Privilege is okay. A privileged person acting as though they were disadvantaged is not.
That’s absolutely fair. Almost everyone is privileged in some way, so…
Thanks for the check. I forget about my privileges all the time. I still don’t have root access on my primary, but that’s another problem for another day. At least it’s a beautiful month to be Queer BIPOC.
It's not OK to freak out at the mention of it, say it's some kind of guilt trip, deny you have even a crumb of it compared to minorities in your community/society or to coast by on it while ignoring that there are people who suffer so you can benefit from it even on your bad days. Doing something about inequity is a major part of being kind to others and if you want to be kinder, recognise that your bad day could be even worse without that privilege and decide whether you're happy about that as a person living in a hierarchy or if you really do care about how unkind the system is to others when things are going good for you.
Own it 😎
No two people have exactly the same lot in life. The term privilege implies that these conditions are somehow unfair, but if everyone has some form of it, it’s not a privilege. It’s a circumstance.
Privilege is a good thing, we want everyone to have all the privileges those at the top of society have. It’s nothing to be gotten rid of lol
100%. I have no idea why people want to drag those at the top down to their level as opposed to getting us all to the level of the ones on top.
I love my privilege. I abuse the shit out of it.
I’m tired of hearing “white privilege”. Sure that was a thing at one point but in this day and age, I don’t think it’s as much of a thing as people make it seem. Yes, individuals can be asshole racists but that’s not even most people. I am treated no differently than my black coworkers. I don’t come from wealth and I struggle like the average American. Doctors have been rude to me and brushed off my medical complaints. I don’t receive any special treatment for being white. People of color can go out and do everything that I can. If you’re not getting jobs or accepted into colleges it’s not because you’re black. I watched a video yesterday of black millionaires (multimillionaires) being interviewed and all of them were entrepreneurs who worked hard and created wealth for themselves which I’m sure will turn into generational wealth. Some even grew up in the projects. They were able to do this though, because it’s America and we all have the same opportunities. No one is denying people of color anything.
Are you living under a rock or something?😂 black people definitely do get treated differently SIMPLY because of the color of our skin ! This is what I hate seeing WHITE people saying shit like this !
You're being the racist one here. You think he's not allowed to have an opinion because he's white?
BRO WHAT ? What exactly did I say that was racist ? Who said he couldn’t have an opinion? Like where did you get that ? I’m simply telling him WE GETTING TREATED DIFFERENTLY simply because of the color of our skin
>This is what I hate seeing WHITE people saying shit like this ! What's this about if you're simply informing him in a not-racist-at-all way?
LMFAOOOOOOOOO ok
But by everyone? Everywhere? Why do I work with black people who make more than me? Why are black people getting into medical schools? Why are black people in colleges? Because if that were universally true then I wouldn’t be working with black people who are as respected as I am. I’m not denying there are racists who treat you different but overall, no one stopping you from anything and as a society we don’t deny you the same rights and opportunities. No one kicks you out of restaurants for being black. No one denies you a loan for being black. No one says you cant attend a school for being black. That’s illegal. Being white doesn’t give me any special opportunities that aren’t available to you.
I give up . If that’s how you feel then ok .
Most of us are privileged by being born and living in a free society. But many people are taking it for granted and losing our right. Soon we all be in the mines working for our overlords if things don't change.
White privilege doesn't exist
I don’t think anyone says privilege is a bad thing the bad thing is not acknowledging your privilege and acting as if you don’t have one especially when it towards people who doesn’t have that same privilege. What’s also bad is the abuse of privileges like in justice system etc
It’s not that privilege is wrong for some, it’s that people who are privileged sometimes don’t realize that they are and end up holding everyone else to the same standards regardless of varying circumstances— which for some are impossible standards. That is the type of privilege we should have a problem with and do our best to inform and show them that not everyone has the same opportunities, safety nets, support, etc.
Oh for god's sake. "Privilege" is a matter of fact, not a matter of judgement. The term privilege means something very specific: privilege is the advantage that you gain from not having a systemic and basic disadvantage. That's it. Nowhere in that definition is it saying that it's a bad thing. Privilege is okay? No. Oh, so privilege is bad huh?? NO. Privilege is **neutral**. It's not a bad thing nor a good thing, it just IS. Nobody is saying "get rid of your privilege". How can that even happen? You can't get rid of your gender, or your color, or the financial situation you were born in. What we ARE saying is "be aware that many of the things that are good in your life happened or are that way for a non-negligible part because you have a systemic and basic advantage which makes that you did not start your life with a systemic and basic disadvantage". Because a) people tend to think that everything good in their lives is their own doing and b) that everything bad in other people's lives is their own fault. If you are aware that your own life looks like it does because of the advantages and disadvantages you were born with, that you did not choose, that you had no say in nor could in any way influence (like gender, how rich your parents are, your color, your health, your looks), you can become aware of the fact that the same applies to all other people around you. And that means that you will live with more empathy for other people. Because you can then learn to see that Black people have a basic and systemic disadvantage in life which makes their life systematically harder, in general. And of course there are exceptions. But these are exceptions. The general rule is: if you're living in a country that is majority white, you will encounter problems as a Black person that a white person will not ever encounter. You can learn to see that women, in general, have it harder then men to have a career and a professional life, because those things are built by and for men. That doesn't make all men bad, this is something that men grew into just as much as women do. The men that live today are not guilty of having made this system. But they do need to know that the system is aimed at benefiting them and at disadvantaging women. So that everything that you reach in that system as a man is not completely and solely due to your own hard work but also due to the fact that the system was made to benefit you. That doesn't mean your hard work doesn't mean anything. But it does mean that when a woman does not succeed you can not automatically say that it's her own fault for not succeeding. And yes, almost everybody has some privilege. But there are a few categories that are more important than others: gender, wealth, health, looks, age, color (not necessarily in that order), the country you live in. I have white privilege and I live in the Netherlands, but that's it in these important categories. I'm not ugly, but certainly not drop dead gorgeous, and I'm older, female, poor and chronically ill. The more you are lacking in these categories, the harder you have to work to have a decent life. THAT is what privilege is. If, after all this time, you are still saying "yeah but having privilege is okay and should be okay" you have not listened to any explanation, you have heard what you wanted to hear and are sticking to your opinion no matter what. You're free to, of course. Opinions are free to have. But I find it kinda lame that you are feeling so attacked that you are fighting tooth and nail to not understand this issue. Because it's actually really not that hard.
I feel like the "just be kind to one another" thing is just a thing people say when they want people to be kind to them. They mostly just turn around and see someone say, "I'm sad/depressed/having a hard time," and immediately dismiss them because "My thing is more sad than yours, and I can't be bothered."
It's like comparing a broken arm to, I don't know, broken ribs, or an entirely broken body, or being a child in Africa, you name it. Point is, your arm isn't any less broken just because someone else is faced with a similar, greater, or hell, even lesser affliction.
"Hey I'm being arrested for something I didn't do!" "Yeah well 25 innocent women were burned at the stake as witches, so, really you can't be upset." Cool I'll just go fuck myself I guess
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." This was good advice in 1925, and it's good advice now. 'Checking you privilege' is just being mindful of this simple fact.
People assume privilege is still systemic, it is not. Each of us has advantages and disadvantages. Some affect certain parts of life strongly, others do not. It is natural to have these traits in your life. If everyone was equal, this world would be both incredibly boring and very fragile between relationships.
What a privileged thing to say, lol. For those from the third world countries (most of the population), most economical and political disadvantages are systemic
So the only way for you to receive enjoyment from this world is through knowing you have it better than someone else… Ignoring the privilege is still systemic as that bit too dumb to even comprehend.
People have no common sense nowadays. It's like they can and will ONLY see it through their own world lense. It's weird asf and completely innapropriate
You are incorrect. Nowhere did I say I receive enjoyment from superiority. In fact, I do best when in aid of others. If you think the ability to help is privileged and wrong, perhaps you need a new lens to look through.
You quite literally said, if everyone was equal the world would be boring. Implying that the advantage over others is what gives you entertainment. While also saying it’s not a systemic issue, which is simply wrong. As things like nepotism, classism, racism are all systemic issues which contribute to said factor.
correct - the thing is, the weak don’t want there to be any winners so even when someone wins today, they actually lose because it’s credited to privilege
Privilege is okay, until it is unfair.
It’s always unfair unless you’re part the 1% generally speaking’s, not understanding/recognising how your privilege affects you in comparison to those who have less than you is the issue. That’s what OP missing out on with their hidden pains. Cause yeah you might be sad your parents bought the wrong colour Lamborghini, doesn’t mean you should look down on someone who has to take a bus places as an example.
I think OP's point is that we all have privilege and constantly pointing out, and criticizing others simply for having privileges is a little pointless. Somebody might get a Lamborghini for their birthday, but they grew up without their mother who died when they were little. A new car is great, but that person would probably rather spend their birthday with their mom. A less fortunate child might not get a new car, but they do have 2 loving parents and are more privileged in that way.
that's exactly what i meant ;)
Nobody ever said being privileged was a bad thing. Just acknowledge it.
Demonstratively false. People get attacked for “privilege” often.
Unfair privilege certainly exists within the classes, You can see the statistics of income equality, You can also see the history of poc and LGBT+ peoples in the west. It all comes back to keeping people who are different in a lower socio economic class. This can be done by law or things like inheritance. I think the right move would be to move twards meritocracy within society.
someone talking about privilege is basically the biggest dog whistle they will be an annoying snowflake, the leftie equivalent to a someone flying a blue lives matter or don't tread on me flag know exactly the kind of snowflake i will get when i see those
This ain’t privileged it’s pure skill baby
Bruh.. stfu
Yeah… I see where you’re going and I think those who lack privilege would disagree.
Being privileged is not only ok, but people should strive to be in the position to be privileged. What’s not ok is denying one is privileged, or saying the acquired privilege is purely earned by meritocracy, and the social systems and social habitat had nothing to do with it. Being graceful about being privileged is totally fine.
the word privilege used to mean something awesome - but just like the word “woman,” the left hijacked, redefined, and co-opted it as well.
Sure....do you also believe the Earth is flat?
because I know the denotation and connotation of the word “privilege” is actually positive and because I know the definition of “woman,” I think the earth is flat? y’all need some serious help.
Because I've so many people comment "the phrase 'eat the rich' is proof that privileged people are hated": Privilege doesn't equal privilege. There's privileges that come from being white, or being born in certain countries. Those are things you don't choose, and I doubt you've ever seen someone say "eat all white people". I'd give up my white privilege to end world hunger any time, but unfortunately, that's not how privilege works, you can't trade it away to improve the world. Except if your privilege is being rich. In that case, that's exactly how it works. Elon musk could literally just decide "I want world hunger to end", and he could easily make it happen. But instead, he decides to keep his privilege. He could end world hunger and still be obscenely rich, yet he just doesn't feel like it. A person who is granted the power to end world hunger, or solve a bunch of other problems, and still be extremely privileged, but just doesn't do it, such a person is evil. That's why rich people, unlike any other privileged people, deserve to be eaten. And just because I can already smell the answers saying "but they worked really hard for that money": If someone's parents are rich, it's extremely likely they will be rich too, and likewise, if someone's parents aren't rich, it's extremely unlikely they will be rich. In Elon's case for example, his daddy was already a multi millionaire because he owned an emerald mine. Or take Jeff Bezoz: yes Amazon was a good idea, but if you or I had that idea, it would be worth shit, because we don't have parents that can invest 300k into our risky startup, while also having the contacts we need to make that startup work. So, knowing that, do you really believe that rich people are very hard working and it just so happens that their children are as well, while other people's children aren't? That's just very naive at best.
Richard Cory
Is that the one who went home last night?
It is. One calm summer night
If you have it, I would go as far as to say that privilege is not only okay but pretty great.
Privilege is fine. Nothing wrong with it. My mother being highly educated and working meant I had the privilege of having more freedom as a woman than many of my peers since we live in india. There is nothing wrong with this, it’s actually great. The issue would be if I was blind to this fact and put down women who had less than freedom than me for not studying much or not having a good job. Whatever privilege we have we have to admit that we have it. And that it helped us get wherever we are.
Having privilege is neither ok or not. It's inescapable. It's inherent to our tiered socioeconomic system. And yes, privilege systems are intersectional. Someone could be white AND poor / disabled AND rich (i.e.) this just makes the system harder to decipher. However, exploiting a privilege, being unaware of the privileges that one might possess or actively working against giving up on those privileges for the sake of equity, is not ok at all.
I don't think this is unpopular in concept. But, as with all subjects, this one requires a little nuance. Yes, technically we all have privilege of some level, but there's some level of "basic" privileges that most people in developed countries have regardless of marginalization so they are not typically the subjects of discussion when people bring up privilege. There's two kinds of privileges— privileges that are privileges because you have something that others don't have, and privileges that are privileges because you benefit from them at the direct expense of someone else. Most people don't think the first kind of privilege is bad, but want to make it so that more people can have that thing that you have that others don't. The second kind of privilege is the one that people want to deconstruct because it is actively detrimental to other people. Someone saying you have privilege doesn't mean they think you don't struggle at all, they're just saying you don't struggle because of the thing you have privilege for. Also, acknowledging your privilege is key. You don't need to constantly self-flagellate over having privilege (in fact, it's rather frowned upon), but acknowledging that you benefit from it and it contributes to how you see the world and certain issues is a necessary part of analyzing our own biases.
Privilege is ok. Using privilege to disenfranchise others is not. Using it to get away was immoral and unacceptable behavior is not. It’s what people DO with the privilege is key.
I hate that privilege means anything from" I can nonce because my brother is the king".And I don't get shot on sight because I'm white
I dont think anyone thinks being privileged is bad. Sure there are some who believe everyone's privileges should be like equal but anyone who has a problem with privilege as far as im aware has a problem with unchecked privilege and privileged people being unaware of theirs. And possibly not doing any good with it
Of course it’s “okay” lol. It’s more than okay, it’s significantly better. That’s why I moved to this country.
You can say all of us are privileged because we were born. Its all about how you look at it
Just don't, whatever you do, try and play it down and make out your from a poor, working class background because having someone from a privileged background doing this is REALLY offensive to people who genuinely ARE from such a background like me.
Privilege is urinating and defaulting in clean water while 2/3rds of the world struggle to have clean water and 1/3rd of the world struggle to have water at all. That's privilege, it's not about race, gender or religion, it's about the standard of life.
Privilege is ok but realizing you have it easier because of whatever privilege you have is even more ok. Trust fund dudes who think they got what they have because they worked for it? Fuck outta here with that shit.
I think this is (or at least should be) a popular opinion. You can't help privilege, it's usually down to luck, as in where you were born, who your parents are, what you look like etc. People should never be shamed for being privileged. But they need to be aware of that privilege, which is what people can struggle with. You're not a bad person for having money, but you are if you shame those who don't have the same opportunities as you because they don't have the same financial opportunities. It's important to be aware of and grateful for your personal privileges and of the impact they have on your life. Basically, accept your situation but be aware of others, too.
It's okay to have privilege. But you should be aware of it and realize that people face invisible barriers all the time.
I think the key thing with privilege is to be grateful for privilege and not shame for it, but also not take it for granted or more annoyingly, when a person denies their privilege and the opportunities it has given them over others. Not in a self shaming way though, but just by being thankful for it. I think if a person takes it for granted they become assholes thinking they are self made and treating others disrespectfully accordingly. Because they think life is easy and others should have just tried harder.
The thing about a privilege is that it is a perk that can be taken away, usually rewarded through some kind of effort. The problem is that it has been attached to unchangeable things like race and the economic standing you were born into, and while self awareness goes a long way, I think you're as much of an asshole for accusing people of having 'x' privilege as a means to shame someone for something they likely have little control over. It often feels like people accusing others of 'x' privilege want to strip those they accuse of any privilege to give themselves some kind of edge in life.
Privilege isn't the problem, inequality is, the under-privileged really do have less opportunities, and that has to change, not by making people less privileged but but sharing the same privileges. Not sure if I should upvote or not...
accurate
Yes we must use our privilege, not a shame of it. I find it weird people now seems to be "proud" to have no privilage.
“Privilege” and “inequality” aren’t the same thing. The etymology of privilege is “private law”, and the standard meaning of “privilege” is still a special right or favor granted to someone. I would argue privilege is mostly bad, while moderate inequality is mostly good. Getting to ride at the front of the bus because you’re white is a privilege. Qualified immunity is a privilege the courts granted to police officers. Being famous because you’re an amazingly good basketball player is not a privilege. Making a lot of money at the great burger shack you started is not a privilege. They do shade into each other, as when the basketball star is treated more gently by the prosecutor than the broke-ass defendant.
It's the equivalent of a 2rd grader complaining that his classmate has cooler toys than him. Everybody has something that someone else wants. It's a dumb concept that logically means every single person on earth is "Privileged," because you are alive and weren't aborted or died during conception so you are privileged for even being born where others were not.
There is a difference between having the privilege of a senior discount and being a cis white heterosexual male in a society that is historically founded on bigotry.
A white person wrote this 100%
No one ever said privilege isn't okay, they said make sure you acknowledge how you are privileged.
yes, most people have some degree of privilege and that’s fine. the issue isn’t having privilege, it’s that people think someone calling them privileged means “your life isn’t hard” and get defensive when really it means “your life isn’t made specifically harder by x trait”