Finally, somebody (other than me, I mean) managed to articulate one of the reasons why centering the current progressive discourse around the meaningless concept of privilege is a mistake:
For me, though, the biggest problem is that little word “privilege.” Why should precisely tha tbe the key term? A privilege is something extra — and from a very young age, I knew that when something was referred to as a privilege, I was in danger of losing it. How does that make sense, for instance, with something like being free from fear of police harrassment? Undoubtedly, that is part of my privilege as a white, straight, cis, well-dressed man. But when it is called a “privilege,” my initial thought is that it is something unjustified that should be taken away — i.e., we should all have to be stopped and frisked. Something similar came up in my post about how I had some degree of autonomy and dignity in my work — do we really want to say that that’s a “privilege”? In both cases, aren’t we dealing with something more like a right that’s been denied to a great many people?
Think about it, folks. All that this privilege-scratching achieves is justifying austerity policies and making you feel all noble and superior. That’s hardly hugely productive. Let’s stop already with examining privileges because that is a waste of time.
Clarissa's Blog 
“Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action. If it leads to change then it can be useful, since it is then no longer guilt but the beginning of knowledge. Yet all too often, guilt is just another name for impotence, for defensiveness destructive of communication; it becomes a device to protect ignorance and the continuation of things the way they are, the ultimate protection for changelessness.”
– Audre Lorde
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Who gives others the right to determine how much or how little guilt is appropriate for a particular person, or group? It’s all a power trip by those who wish to feel justified in policing others.
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Guilt and privilege-scratching go hand in hand, and they are obnoxious beyond belief. I’m going to judge the ever-loving Hell out of straight cis people who babble and chirp nonstop about how terrible they feel about being straight and cis when they’re talking to a queer/trans person.
Guilt and privilege scratching re-position conversations about people who are suffering, who have their rights denied to them, and put the spotlight on navel-gazing fools who would rather talk about *their* feelings and *their* precious ponderings than put action into how they can make things right.
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And while middle class Western people debate how to better impose their morality on others, real people are having very weird experience because of the way Westerners have warped reality:
10 minutes ago
I did not know that I was a racist this long. Two guys asked me for some changes in San Antonio.
The first was a Spanish guy, he told me: “Sir, I can have something to eat, I’m really hungry, I do not need your money, just give me some food, please. ” It was emotional and I gave him some changes, he left quickly and returned with Burger King food.
I realized that the guy was just hungry, I gave him little extra money to help himself in two or three days.
The second guy was a black man has a box full of KFC chicken and told me. “Sir, I do not need food, can I get a change for joint, I need to smoke, haven’t smoke in days”. I told him that it will be a waste of money.
Hereby, the guy gets up, I thought he was ready to fight, he just shouted loudly: “you are a racist, you do not like me because I’m black baby, I’m black and chocolate I love it, you are jealous because I am chocolate and you’re dirty black, you racist idiot. ”
Huh! That was a bad entertainment. .
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Wow, who downvoted my comment from a Congo refugee who fought in the war there as a child soldier and was traumatized by it? It seems people really, really are very racist.
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test
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Why should precisely that be the key term?
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“Why should precisely that be the key term?”
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The concept of “privilege” is useful for imagining how others may see the world, what problems they may face, and what solutions might be in order. The able-bodied in general do not appreciate the existence of wheelchair accessible street curbs and toilets.
Recent “privilege” discourse dates from the Peggy McIntosh white privilege checklist, a teaching tool. Many other similar lists have been made.
The people who dislike being made to stretch their imagination via “privilege” lists are often white men. The point of the lists is not that the person with “privilege” vis-a-vis someone else is “bad”, the point is to step outside one’s own viewpoint for a moment.
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This sounds like one massive attempt at justifying some people’s need to feel superior and condescending towards others. Surely, we can agree that every area of life should be made accessible to wheelchairs without making this contingent on whether non-disabled people can imagine something or not. Surely, we can agree that racism is despicable irrespective of whether white people can imagine being black. Which, honestly, sounds quite racist in itself.
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@NancyP
You should try stepping into a “white man’s” world here in the west. You might find its not quite as rosy as you imagine.
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I agree that when it comes to gender, the concept of privilege doesn’t work quite. But I do find the discourse useful when talking about race. There are a myriad little things that –while not racist in and of themselves–impact the life and psyche of nonwhite Americans. For instance, it’s much more difficult for women of color to find foundation that matches their skin tone than it is for white women; there are far more children’s books that feature white children than nonwhite children; Jesus is most often (erroneously) depicted as white; children’s programming features white children more often than children of color; Santa Claus, who features prominently in the holiday experience of most American children, is portrayed as a white man; greeting cards tend to feature white people more often than nonwhites. And the list could go on.
Taken alone, none of these things are racist and none of these things are harmful per se. But as an aggregate, it points towards a social structure that promotes the white body as normative and that “others” nonwhites in various, shadowy, and not always immediately apparent ways. Perhaps the word “privilege” itself might be unfortunate. But the privilege discussion–at least when it comes to race– highlights social inequities that hurt while not being illegal or technically racist.
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Privilege is still a misleading word for these things. Like other beloved concepts of progressive discourse (the word “empowering” comes to mind) it implies a great shadowy force that strongly influences people’s lives. I find such a unified antagonist implausible and sometimes suspect its main purpose is to create a well-defined enemy that people can use in defining themselves as progressives without doing much(if any) actual work. Such a mighty force cannot be opposed by mere humans, after all.
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“Privilege is still a misleading word for these things. Like other beloved concepts of progressive discourse (the word “empowering” comes to mind) it implies a great shadowy force that strongly influences people’s lives. I find such a unified antagonist implausible and sometimes suspect its main purpose is to create a well-defined enemy that people can use in defining themselves as progressives without doing much(if any) actual work. Such a mighty force cannot be opposed by mere humans, after all.”
– I really love this comment. I have the best blog ever because profoundly intelligent people exchange incredibly insightful comments on every thread. The level of discourse here is higher than any other place I know. I’m swelling with pride.
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@Evelina
Do you think that may change as the numbers of the colors/races change? As in, typically North America was populated by white people. Slowly that dynamic is changing and I would imagine along with that change comes a different view, overall.
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Interesting comments: but what words and what framing would you use?
Merely saying, “I get better treatment, in big and small ways, because of who I am” riles. Having somebody say to you, “You get better treatment, in big and small ways, because of who you are” riles. (I’m oversimplifying, obviously).
I agree that privilege discussions generally stop at privilege discussions. (Note the tautology.) Defensive or not, it generally is just navel gazing. People can be very adept at privilege discussions without actually having the empathy, sympathy or the will to act that a privilege discussion would imply.
I’m a giant pile of socio-economic demographic characteristics. Wait, that probably explains why “privilege” discussions are so popular! It’s marketing speak for social justice concerns! Bleagh.
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