From a discussion on Tumblr:
Privilege means it doesn't even occur to you that something was easier for you
Privilege, in the sociology-type sense we're talking about here, is a thing that society does, not something the individual sets out to do. Belonging to a privileged group doesn’t mean you’re a jackass who’s deliberately ridden over other people, it doesn’t mean you were born with a silver spoon and life's been all sunshine and roses for you, and it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.
It just means in one particular aspect of your life, things are easier for you in ways you don’t even notice. Often it means there are experiences you don't have rather than ones you do, and you don't know what you've never had.
Men don't know having yobbos in passing cars scream "show us your tits!" when they're walking down the street, for instance, or random internet strangers getting creepy the moment you log on with a feminine username. (These days I'm more judicious about the online neighbourhoods I hang out in.)
The point of privilege is you don’t notice it until you know what it is. And you won’t learn unless you read about it and talk to people with different points of view. So calm down and listen, instead of getting all prickly and huffing “how dare you suggest I’ve had it easy just because I’m a straight white cis male neurotypical dudebro?”
What you say makes plenty of sense. Your example however have another base untouched.
ReplyDeleteThose whom suffer want those who have not suffered to know that they are people who are suffering and that you should take note of that. There are senseless people who want handout and dislike those whom have it just because they don't.. Most people are not like that.
People who work hard would like the people who don't work as hard to know that their life is not fair - just in case there is someone one who is more privileged could do something about it.
On another bases... Men whom disrespect women (most are morons) that most can agree on... But why are they so? Why are women treated in a derogative way?
In the same sense that we should learn and talk with people with different points of view, is the same way, I believe, we should tackle disrespect of women... Perhaps if a man knows the feeling of being treated in a such a way, he wouldn't do it?
http://eou-banks.blogspot.com/
People get all mixed-up with groups and collective nouns. To put this 'privilege' discussion in a context familiar here, 'white people' do not scheme to 'rig the system' against 'black people' in order to preserve 'white privilege.' (At least I don't think the do it much now. In the past, though, there have been frank attempts to justify and preserve white ascendency.) But what does go on, in this and other contexts, is people experience privilege when other people treat them nicely, respectfully, sympathetically, giving them aid and acceptance, overlooking faults, etc, etc, etc.
ReplyDeleteThis happens on the individual level. One individual is nice (or not) to another individual. So there is a lot of wrong thinking happening when people speak of collectives treating other collectives badly. That makes 'collectives' sound like things that do things, that have intentions, goals, powers. It's important to remember that collectives do not think and do not act. Society is an abstraction--in the concrete world, it does not exist. (Margaret Thatcher was right, though she was wrong in bigger ways....)
Only individuals think, and have intentions and goals. Individuals do everything that is done. Only individuals really exist. Keeping this in mind will help everyone judge everyone around them as individuals, worthy of consideration, not 'dismissable' as members of the 'wrong' collective.