a few non-exhaustive words about privilege

[sophiaserpentia]

A friend pointed me to this list of privilege the other day. Quoting bits which are relevant to frequent discussion in this journal:

privilege is consistently responding to disagreement, criticism, and concerns with condescension and hostility, then accusing the unprivileged of being irrational, inconsistent, duplicitous, guileful, and unappeasable

privilege is feeling entitled to the conformity in behaviours and attitudes of the unprivileged

privilege is not having to be self-conscious and self-critical

privilege is the habit of seeking power and influence over others

the privileged sees power over others as success

privilege is the ability to start, end, and avoid discussion with little consequence

privilege is shelter from direct consequences

privilege is feeling entitled to be better off than others

I want to add a few of my own:

Privilege means not having to wonder, ever, if people around you are regularly putting your needs ahead of theirs.

Privilege means being able to laugh at certain kinds of joke instead of being aware of your inferiority.

Privilege means not having to worry about the effects of your words or actions.

Edit. It was correctly pointed out that this list reflects the automatic assumption or perhaps assertion-by-default of privilege.

Comments

[laeva.livejournal.com]

I would not just walk up to a black person I'd never met before and make a racist joke

I'm sure that you wouldn't. I never said, nor assumed that you would. You inferred it. What I was trying to get at is that it doesn't matter if the person you are joking with has been you friend for years, when it comes to a question of privileged/underprivileged, the boundaries may not be the same.

Me and my coworker, who is black, regularly try to offend each other and we both understand it has nothing to do with any kind of prejudice and all the "privileged" white males have nothing to be concerned about except which hundred dollar bill to use to light their cigars are incorrect.

I'm not sure why you continue to use this anecdotal evidence. It is immaterial whether you converse with one black coworker or twenty or none, or if that coworker does not object to your humor, or how much money people choose to set on fire. My point is ONLY that the privileged cannot dictate what is and is not offensive to others. In other words, what is true for your black coworker may not be true for successive black coworkers, and this should not come as a surprise or be written off as "oversensitivity" or "lack of a sense of humor."

People don't see that the "privileged" class are just as highly suspected by others as all the underprivileged.

I'm not sure what this means. Suspected of what? Of being superior? Of having an agenda against the underclass? And what, exactly, is the unclass suspected of? Being inferior?

And to suggest that all whites are privileged is ludicrous.

I never made this statement, nor did I mean to suggest it. I am well aware that black/white is an oversimplification. Wealth, education, age, gender, sex, gender orientation, weight, religious affiliation, health are all factors as well. I was just trying to be brief.

The poor/working poor class has many white members, too.

Yes, and there are wealthy minorities out there, too. This is becoming anecdotal again. Poor white people/wealthy minorities do not alter the overwhelming reality of white supremacy.

Plus there are tons--TONS--of organizations, laws, institutions and programs out there that are geared specifically towards protecting the rights of minorities.

And have they eradicated racism? Tipped the balance of power? Do they grant minorities privileges that others do not have? Or do they give minorities overreaching power over others?

There is still a lot of work to be done for gay rights.

At least we agree on something.

[laeva.livejournal.com]

I think I can put this even more succinctly: it is a privilege to be able to take lightly, to ignore, or to remain completely ignorant of the hardships of another. Most of us have this privilege to some degree. All of us experience some hardships. But there are also very visible patterns of suffering that occur in the lives of entire groups of people. Such groups do not suffer because of some innate trait, but because of the way this trait or traits is characterized, acted upon, and reacted upon within the context of society. When these acts are systematized, and when they create or amplify suffering, this is oppression. It can be malicious or unintentional or even well-intended. This does not alter its nature.

I hope that makes some sense.