Gregory's ServerTo understand your own privilege, ask yourself whether you see politics as a game or as survival. Where you land on that spectrum should give you a fairly good idea of how privileged you are.
 16 comments
 @aral Exactly. If it seems like something you can opt out of with no consequences for how you go about, look at & feel about your life, then contratulations, you're privileged. Also, I wish people would stop viewing "you're privileged" as an insult. I mean, you tell someone "You're lucky" it's almost universally accepted as something akin to a compliment & it basically just means the same. @jwcph @aral “Privileged” means at least two different things, maybe three now you mention “lucky” as an option. Sometimes it means “given special treatment”—the law operates differently for different people. Sometimes it means “oblivious”—you never had to worry about (eg) climbing a staircase, so you forget that some people can’t do that. “Lucky” is underneath both of these, but special treatment is different to finding life easier with the same treatment as others. @jwcph @aral “You’re taking advantage of something you did nothing to deserve” certainly sounds like a moral judgement (if not an insult per se). “You aren’t an empathetic person” seems like a criticism. This is what people hear when they’re told “you’re privileged”. Of course, when these *criticisms* are taken as *insults*, people become less likely to change… @ulyssesalmeida @aral That's a pretty load-bearing "usually" there. If a conversation has already broken down for whatever reason, yes, maybe you'll find that meaning with some frequency - other than that, though, it sounds more to me like the kind of "You probably mean X as an insult"! they-are-out-to-get-me kind of excuse a lot (!) of people come up with to not have to listen or check their own standpoint. I think you have it backwards. @aral sorry, me again. I'm plenty privileged but politics is still a matter of survival since the overheating of the planet will come for everyone.  @spz @aral That said, in a lot of political situations right now it's 'odds of being dead in one year' due to policies, and that is now a very measurable number is horrifying. @aral I've got the benefit of being privileged to the level, that survival politics doesn't affect me (now/yet?). But, it's one that matters in the world. Some areas of politics are about survival, and past that, about well being not just survival, ... but some are an annoying game politics, distracting from what matters. I like to support survival matters in politics. But, I'm annoyed by game politics, because it distracts from what matters. @aral but, I'm in definition of being privileged to have an opportunity to get a decent job, and don't live in bombarded country. Not in a group having "special treatment" by law. But, still not in oppressed country. Not having to think, whether I die due to war tomorrow. So, from that perspective, a privilege.  |
@aral