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.
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