One of the biggest scams liberalism pulled on us is to convince us that we exist in societies where we actually have "rights" and "freedoms."
In reality, we exist in a society that is hierarchically based on privilege.
It seems more accurate to say "... people aren't using it to make your life worse."
Being yourself isn't a problem unless someone else decides to make it one.
True mostly, although some things may occur regardless of how other people treat you, like feelings of dysphoria from being transgender, since it's based on your own perception of yourself.
Of course, other people can certainly make it even worse.
I'm not sure "privilage" is the right term in this scenario. For me, the term "privilage" would be more fitting to describe rich people.
I know you have good intent, but if we go around calling straight white cisgender men "privilaged", that's just fueling the "culture war" when we really should be focusing on the class war.
Social privilege is 100% a thing. You can bet that the fact that a white person doesn't receive subconsciously ingrained doubt and xenophobia from literally everyone else pretty much ensures that a white person will be subconsciously favoured. (edit:) this doesn't mean that they will necessarily receive a cornucopia of riches, but it pretty much guarantees that they'll be first pick for the football team, so to speak.
Same goes for Maleness™ and Cis-ness (?), they are perceived as defaults, as standards. It also applies in the neurotypical-neurodivergent face-off.
In short, as long as there is any kind of "other" and one is not perceived as part of it, one is intrinsically privileged.
(edit 2:) And the only thing which trumps social privilege is money.
For the ones who love without such "privilege", I'm sure the word fits just fine.
But I think I get where you're coming from. Whether the dictionary definition applies or not, some words just wreck havoc with effective communication. And the larger the group of people, the worse this effect will be.
Unfortunately, that's probably by design...
I agree with all of the ideas in this meme, but I've never been a fan of this wording. "Privilege" in particular. To flip the wording, I'd rather it be "the minority handicap" or something. It almost seems like it's calling out straight white men as the enemy of these ideas. If straight white men are the problem, then seems like that's the group you'd be trying to convince. Yet this wording seems to alienate them more.
To flip the wording, I’d rather it be “the minority handicap” or something.
Societal debuffs.
I agree. Privilege definitely exist, but it's kind of a burned word. If you call someone privileged, you've made sure, that the person gets defensive and will not think about in any way.
I think it's more accurate to speak of resources. Everyone has some of them, but other people don't. Inherited money, having good relationships to your parents, having a stable upbringing, living in a good neighborhood and not being homeless, being perceived as competent, being physically or mentally healthy, are all valuable resources and everyone should try to see what resources they benefit from, where others can't. Sadly prejudice and racism/sexism/... exists, so your skin color is also a resource, making it easier to be perceived as trustworthy/competent/... which is a huge benefit.
And none of that holds a candle to privalige of being rich.
I mean, you've got the OJ paradox.
Did he get away with murder by throwing money at an army of top lawyers? Absolutely.
Did he get singled out by the LAPD and dragged through what was supposed to be a kangaroo court run by literal Hitler worshipping fascists? Also Absolutely.
Wealth doesn't completely immunize you against bigotry, particularly from the vile views of other richer people.
I remember one time I'd been doing yard work and had my hair wrapped up to keep dirt and some sweat out of it. I got in the car and went off to my (now) ex's house. The road ran past that country ass courthouse in the northern part of the county and I got pulled over just in front of it after going through a stoplight that I'd been stopped at so I couldn't possibly have been speeding. I was like 20 with the life experience of a fundie kid who was discouraged from leaving the house until 18 and stupid as FUCK and for some stupid fucking reason thought it would be cute and / or funny to lean out the drivers window and yell "what could I possibly have done???" The officer literally started stuttering and apologizing and told me "you just went around the corner a little too fast sorry maam drive safe" and got back in his car and sped off. I was so confused. Later it occurred to me that he suddenly realized I was white (I was also really cute to the extent that I'm kind of enjoying the reduction in attention now I've gotten older).
When I tell this story to other white people I say that I don't think I should've gotten my ass beat and honestly I probably shouldn't have gotten pulled over. But I was also being a little bit of a 20 year old little shit. And the moral of the story is that I think everybody should have the right to be a 20 year old li'l shit (just a little, obvs. There's limits). There are so many times in my life that I have just gotten through by sheer luck because someone gave me the benefit of the doubt. Somebody looked at me and saw a dumb kid fucking up and said,"look, that was kinda shitty of you, here's how you're supposed to handle that." It's literally saved my life multiple times over. I got my ass beat by the cops during a mental health crisis where somebody who wasn't some cute little white chick would've just got shot. I would not be living the life I'm living now if people hadn't been so kind to me (or at least gone easier on me than they might've otherwise).
And honestly I just think everybody deserves the benefit of the doubt at least most of the time. And it's not being ungrateful for what I have to say that (because that's usually how this conversation comes up). In fact, I think a lot of people are really ungrateful for how many times in their lives that someone looked at them and saw someone who needed help when something as small as a darker shade of skin could've meant they saw someone malicious.
Anyway that's my soapbox.
I really like the moral argument that everyone should be treated like a cute little white girl. It's perhaps a little sad to see that it's the straightest line between two points, so to speak.
Yeah. I know my audience. I've got a couple of innate qualities that kind of person listens to (although I actually got rid of the couple you're probably thinking of) and when you phrase it as humility and gratitude sometimes you can activate that little shred of goodness they learned in Sunday School at eight years old.
https://www.wordnik.com/words/privilege
I agree with what the poster is trying to say, but you can't just change the meaning of words to fit your argument
A special advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual, class, or caste. synonym: right.
Say what now?
Is a special advantage synonymous with a right? Sounds like it's only a synonym in certain contexts, which is probably why it's a bad word to use.
Like that famous quote about how people interpret respect and it's used differently in the same sentence. Give me a sec to find it.Ok, famous is maybe a bit generous as it looks like it's from Tumblr
Hearing it like that makes it even sadder, because it shows in an easy way that people discriminate against each other without even being good off themselves.
I got all three of these, lucky me.
