Is privilege something we should be fighting against?

[Underverse]

Everyone has probably noticed the recent trend of demonizing privilege and those who are privileged. Many people seem to have embraced the premise that privilege is an inherently negative force, even if they disagree with the rhetoric commonly used by activists. At first, I was one of those people who tended to agree that privilege is an inherently useless manifestation if inequality at best, and actively destructive at worst.

But I think there's more to the argument than this one-dimensional view. Privilege doesn't simply manifest from nowhere; it is generally passed down from parents to their children, both through genes and socioeconomic status. Somewhere, an ancestor of yours was successful; and while that doesn't mean you are automatically as intelligent or hardworking as that ancestor, success is at least partly founded on genes and culture, both of which can be (and usually are) passed through lineages.

So what do you think, MMO-Champ? Is privilege an unwarranted evil? Is it something we're stuck with either way, due to the genetic component (lots of interesting ethical questions here with genome editing)? Is it a positive force that encourages the selection of beneficial cultural traits?

[BuckSparkles]

"Privilege" is nothing more than an attempt to pit one party against another.

So, check your privilege, you horrible EVILLLL wealthy white heterosexual christian male. You are the cause for all of our suffering, even if you have done absolutely nothing horrible in your life.

[Deleted]

Privilege is a pretty bs term the way it's used today. The only privilege that actually matters is being born into wealth.

[zEmini]

I am a rich white heterosexual conservative capitalist male. I was also raised Lutheran.

Give me your hatred!!

[IIamaKing]

We should be fighting the very concept of "privilege" the way its presented as a negative these days.

[Berengil]

I'm a center-leftie. Privilege is hard to define, and even harder to prove. Laws should be on the books ( and vigorously enforced) to provide everyone equality of opportunity regardless of color/sexual orientation/religion/etc. And their should be a generous social safety net to catch those who fall, so to speak. All this pissing and moaning about privilege is just the loony far left shooting themselves in the foot.

[Belize]

The only way to eliminate privilege is to get rid of the ewwil white cis male.

At least, that's what I've been told.

[Heladys]

I am an rich white heterosexual conservative capitalist male. I was also raised Lutheran.

Give me your hatred!!

You can have my hatred when you pry it from my cold dead hands!

[Arewn]

I remember reading a short story in high school.
It was about a world where everyone was equal. And if you weren't, they forced you to be. The story followed a family with an incredibly gifted son. But since everyone had to be equal, the son was pulled down by any means necessary. As I recall he was chained down and forced to wear all sort of cumbersome things, had his good looks covered, and a buzzer would go off periodically to interrupt his thoughts (since he was too intelligent).

To punish privilege is to remove individuality and cater to the lowest common denominator. It's not something that needs to be fought against. It's a boogeyman some people point to when something doesn't go their way.

[Simulacrum]

Well, privilege based on identity is a real thing, but it's also relative, something most of the people whinging about it forget since they mostly use it to make their open racism and sexism sound palatable in today's society. It seems to be working just fine on lots of people, so I guess I can't blame someone too much for doing it.

[Stelio Kontos]

I am an rich white heterosexual conservative capitalist male. I was also raised Lutheran.

Give me your hatred!!

I'll do you one better, I'm a wealthy white heterosexual conservative capitalist male, raised Greek Orthodox, who's from Europe, the birthplace of white privilege and the white hegemony. So I get the SJW types AND the nasty nativists who hate foreigners/non-Protestants etc.

[Simulacrum]

I remember reading a short story in high school.
It was about a world where everyone was equal. And if you weren't, they forced you to be. The story followed a family with an incredibly gifted son. But since everyone had to be equal, the son was pulled down by any means necessary. As I recall he was chained down and force to wear all sort of cumbersome things, had his good looks covered, and a buzzer would go off periodically to interrupt his thoughts (since he was too intelligent).

To punish privilege is to remove individuality and cater to the lowest common denominator. It's not something that needs to be fought against. It's a boogeyman some people point to when something doesn't go their way.

Sounds like Harrison Bergeron. It's a very... extreme story, which makes it hard to take seriously, but it's still pretty on the money in representing the logical (and absurd) conclusion of trying to make people equal by dragging the best performers down to the level of the worst performers.

[zenkai]

Privilege is just a word being thrown out by crybabies who want to discredit someone else's accomplishments because they are miserable human beings

[Deleted]

Women have more priviliges than men.

[Arewn]

Sounds like Harrison Bergeron. It's a very... extreme story, which makes it hard to take seriously, but it's still pretty on the money in representing the logical (and absurd) conclusion of trying to make people equal by dragging the best performers down to the level of the worst performers.

Oh absolutely. I wasn't presenting it as a model of reality. It was just to illustrate a point.

[Dug]

I think its a healthy thing to keep in mind when discussing social issues. Example, I grew up with both of my parents that pushed for education as well as my father being law enforcement that helped put me on the right path and kept me out of the streets and prison. Whereas someone could have been "raised" by a single parent who was neglectful, didn't push education and didn't keep you in check leading to a life of crime.

I def have a leg up over the ladder since I was raised properly from birth.

[jakeic]

Sounds like Harrison Bergeron. It's a very... extreme story, which makes it hard to take seriously, but it's still pretty on the money in representing the logical (and absurd) conclusion of trying to make people equal by dragging the best performers down to the level of the worst performers.

Isn't supposed to be an uplifting story, I mean he was the butterfly that emerged from the cocoon, and isn't better to spend a brief moment flying opposed to a lifetime being chained to the ground?

Also, shotgun to the face has to be a good way to go all things considered.

[zEmini]

I'll do you one better, I'm a wealthy white heterosexual conservative capitalist male, raised Greek Orthodox, who's from Europe, the birthplace of white privilege and the white hegemony. So I get the SJW types AND the nasty nativists who hate foreigners/non-Protestants etc.

Yah if I were handsome, and had Blonde hair/blue eyes I could 1-up you. Too bad I am just average looking.

[RickJamesLich]

The concept of privilege is a tough one to define, for example if a student studies hard and gets a good grade in a class - was that student privileged? Then you gotta factor in weird things like what if the kid lives in a home with 2 parents that take care of him, compared to kids in single parent homes, is he then privileged? But then you gotta also factor in other things, like does the student live in a safe neighborhood, are they mentally gifted to begin with? Do they have the proper school supplies? How were their grades last year as opposed to now? Is the kid computer literate and is it helping him with his classes? I could bring up 50 more examples but you get the idea. It's pretty hard to measure this type of thing and typically the people that use the word have no interest in such measurements.

The main thing nowadays is that privilege is used by folks to demonize races/groups of people that they don't like, while at the same time justifying their own shortcomings. It's hard to imagine a world in which this type of analysis is actually useful.

[Dug]

And then of course you get wealth privilege with people like Trump who think they worked their way up from nothing when he had a very large leg up on their peers. It's a lot easier to be "successful" when you inherit your fathers wealth, get "small loans of a million dollars" (in the 70s) and turn it into more money. A skill in itself but you were privileged to be born into that fate.