9 ms·

It's not privilege. It's a right the country has fought and died for for over 200 years. It's a principle the country was founded on. "Privilege" has lost all

It's not privilege. It's a right the country has fought and died for for over 200 years. It's a principle the country was founded on. "Privilege" has lost all meaning in today's world. It's just a word to throw around to slow how "woke" you are. Calling our rights "privilege" is throwing out the struggle and sacrifice of everyone that fought for those rights. You may have been Lucky to have been born in the US, but not Privileged

dekhn 7y ago
I understand where you're coming from and I thought twice about using that word. I certainly appreciate the work done to give me freedoms, and I agree luck had a big part of it. But the reality is that as a white middle class male in the US, I do have the privilege to say things and do things in public that people who aren't white or middle class can't. The freedoms we have aren't equally distributed due to systemic racism and sexism. I'm pretty anti-woke, actually, I hate the term.
- Konnstann 7y ago
  Can you give me an example of something a non-white, non-middle class person can't say or do in public? Maybe it's my limited world-view, but I can't think of anything specific.
  - dekhn 7y ago
    Sure, if you (10 years ago) smoked a joint on the street, and you were black, you carried a far far higher risk of being imprisoned.
    - Konnstann 7y ago
      Where's the parallel between doing something illegal (10 years ago) and being able to comment on the political climate without fearing for your life/livelihood?
      - cblades 7y ago
        The unequal application of the law based on race. Equal treatment under the law is just as much a fundamental right as freedom of expression is and, arguably, equal treatment prevents the subtle and slow erosion of other rights.
      - munk-a 7y ago
        The fact that African Americans are the most likely people by race to be stripped of their right to representation and political expression by a wide margin. To clarify - this is via them losing access to representation by being deemed a felon, and a lot more African Americans are sentenced with drug possession or intent to distribute than any other racial group proportionally.
    - laheyBro 7y ago
      lol What an awful example.
  - notduncansmith 7y ago
    Depending on where you are, simply leaving the house. Black people are more likely to be "randomly" stopped, more likely to be searched at a stop, and more likely to be arrested at a stop. Other statistics highlight similar issues faced by other minorities. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/black-people-more-likely-be-stopped-cops-study-finds-n616546 https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/black-people-more...
    - Konnstann 7y ago
      The article you linked draws more of a link between income levels and police violence than it does race. They explicitly say that the crime rates of low-income neighborhoods, populated by majority minority groups, are higher than that of more affluent neighborhoods. Furthermore most of the injuries happen when the person stopped has a gun, regardless of race. Not great, and certainly unacceptable, but not equivalent to not being able to "simply leave the house".
      - dekhn 7y ago
        if you want to deny the lived experience of african americans in the US, you're free to do so (it falls under free speech) but frankly I think making ivory tower-level statements like this ignores an extraordinary amount of evidence that african americans (and many non-caucasians) experience systemic racism that affects their economic opportunities and health.
        laheyBro 7y ago
        Evidence points to the contrary. Equality of opportunity is a reality and has been for a long time. You cannot force equality of outcome.
        Konnstann 7y ago
        I grew up in a majority non-white area, and am now subsequently living in another majority non-white area. I can count on one hand the number of beat cops I've seen in those cities. Seems to me if there's a higher crime rate, the amount of cops increases, and the likelihood you get stopped increases as well. On another note, when did Caucasian become a term for white people? As an actual Caucasian, having immigrated to the US from a region near Caucasus, I don't get why people use the term so loosely. The debate is about skin color, just use skin color.
  - asimpletune 7y ago
    If you’re an African American male you have to be very careful how you express anger, however justified it may be. If you’re a female, it’s more difficult to be taken seriously or heard in meetings, and people constantly talk over you. If you’re basically anything that’s not white, people will embarrassingly coddle or patronize you, if they’re not prejudicing you. I never really thought about specific examples until I read this comment, but this is what came to mind.
    - laheyBro 7y ago
      What a ridiculous statement. The US is the least oppressed society in history. Especially for women and minorities.
      - dekhn 7y ago
        there were laws through the 1960s and I think even later that prevents african americans and other non-caucasians from marrying caucasians. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia required Supreme Court to override laws that violated the constitution. If that's your standard for "least oppressed", I think your standards are very low.
        laheyBro 7y ago
        Believe it or not, a lot of things have changed since the 60's. Name a society with more rights, more opportunities for the historically oppressed. Deny reality all you want, you're only hurting yourself.
        jessaustin 7y ago
        Canada? Anywhere in western/northern Europe?
      - mikestew 7y ago
        The US is the least oppressed society in history. What is ridiculous is to think that is an argument against the truth of parent's statement.
  - CocaKoala 7y ago
    Exercise their second amendment rights? Note the differences in the stories of Philando Castile (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Philando_Castile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Philando_Castile) and Brandon Vreeland (https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/men-who-walked-into-dearborn-police-station-armed-with-guns-tactical-vests-sentenced https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/men-who-walked-into-dear...).
    - neetdeth 7y ago
      How about Erik Scott? [1] Or Daniel Shaver? [2] These are just two incidents that immediately spring to mind to counter your cherry picking. White people are not free from the danger of being shot by police. In fact, there is evidence [3] that white people may be more vulnerable than black people in any given scenario, because scrutiny on police use of force has been applied disproportionately in cases of black victims. 1. https://reason.com/2012/06/12/family-of-west-point-graduate-shot-to-de/ https://reason.com/2012/06/12/family-of-west-point-graduate-... 2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/12/08/graphic-video-shows-daniel-shaver-sobbing-and-begging-officer-for-his-life-before-2016-shooting/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/12/0... 3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2016/04/27/this-study-found-race-matters-in-police-shootings-but-the-results-may-surprise-you/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2016/04/27...
  - kick 7y ago
    Picking up trash on your own lawn (the officer involved in this faced no penalty and is currently getting paid in full until 2020 because he resigned). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzjkmsKr6sM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzjkmsKr6sM
  - RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago
    As a minority male, I can pretty much say and do anything on public that a white person can say and do. In addition, I am not viewed by a certain portion of the population as a oppressor based on my skin color. If anything, sometimes I feel sorry for my white friends and am happy for my minority privilege of not being held responsible for things my ancestors did long before I was born.
  - mikestew 7y ago
    As a white man with upper-middle class money to afford good lawyers, I can tell a cop to piss off when they're out of line and suffer fewer repercussions than others. I might go to jail for the evening (no biggie, I've traveled that road), but come Monday morning me and Ms. Pit Bull Lawyer, Esq. go smooth it over with the judge. If it even gets that far...'cuz, you know, I'm white. This could all be in my head, but based on reporting and anecdotes from friends, I firmly believe that if a cop's being a dick and I call him/her on it, the cuffs will go on much more slowly than if I were another color or lived in a different neighborhood.
    - Konnstann 7y ago
      Anybody with good enough lawyers can tell a cop to piss off, you might even get the cop on a hate crime if you're non-white. I've got the same amount of anecdotes to suggest the opposite. My dad got pulled over because he didn't stop at a stop sign for the mandatory 3-mississippi in our neighborhood, and no lack of melanin in his skin would have been enough to prevent the ticket.
      - andrepd 7y ago
        Yes, watching the news these past few years we can totally see that cops get convicted for "hate crime" every single day. They shoot innocent, unarmed men to death as a matter of course, and get off with a few months' suspension, but somehow you think you can charge a cop for a "hate crime" for getting pulled over (conveniently concluding then that it's the black folk who are "privileged").
        Konnstann 7y ago
        No my point was that wealth supersedes race in police interactions. Look at the Jussie Smollett case, you can definitely stir up some anti-police sentiment if you're rich enough. The conclusion isn't that black folk are privileged, it's that if you are well-off and look the part, race will play a much lower role when you get pulled over.
        7y ago
- eli_gottlieb 7y ago
  Yes, but there's still a pretty hard distinction between material privileges and actual constitutional rights. For instance, we don't criticize racialized police brutality because it's some maldistribution of police attention, but because it violates rights that are supposed to be inviolate.
- klagermkii 7y ago
  I think the main issue is that the choice of the words "privilege" or "right", when used by enough people, has the power to set societal expectations. Why should a privilege ever be extended to more people, the people who have them should just consider themselves lucky they aren't taken away. And I think there are plenty of things that are "privileges", but it's based on the idea that it is impossible to extend it to everyone. Being admitted to a top school is impossible to extend to everyone by the definition of a top school. Being believed in a court of law when it's just your word over someone else's, but being more trusted because you belong to a particular group is a privilege. Being let off with a warning at a traffic stop because you have the right face is a privilege. Living in the "good" part of town is a privilege. Surviving a traffic stop without being shot by the cop should not be called a privilege. Being able to receive a competent education should not be called a privilege. These are things that can be extended to everyone and the words should reflect it, so that it's clear which things we should be fighting for, vs the things that are impossible for everyone to have.
  - akiselev 7y ago
    Wouldn't the privilege be in the ability to exercise rights without paying a price like so many groups have had to in our history? This all sounds like a confusing semantics game.
    - klagermkii 7y ago
      Every right has been resisted at some point. It doesn't drift in and out of privilege status depending on how must resistance is being applied at any one moment. A right gains its power from people's belief that it should be universally granted, and that they will stick up for others when that right gets breached. Once a thing gets redefined as a privilege there is no expectation for people to stand up for other privilege.
      - beerandt 7y ago
        A privilege is something granted/gifted to fewer than everyone, while not harming those that are excluded. The left has tried to redefine harm to include "unequal result or outcome," which makes the entire principle meaningless.
- merpnderp 7y ago
  We're definitely in the crazy years. A conversation about a Chinese crackdown on freedom, a country that literally throws minorities in jail for being minorities, devolves into a squabble over people in the US not feeling entitled to express their opinions, even though the letter of the law, every single politician, billions in private funding amongst corporations, banks and non-profits, does everything possible to ensure people feel entitled to express their opinion.
grievances 7y ago
Many brave people have fought and died for their countries and rights. Its easy to forget that minorities and “unlucky” people fight too; knowing that you’re safe expressing your points of view is something that many have earned, not all have received. That very much sounds like privilege to me.
- gonational 7y ago
  We fight to make this country what it is so that we can all stand together as one people, not so we can whine like little babies about who’s more privileged or marginalized than everyone else.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - danharaj 7y ago
    you specifically didn't fight shit, buddy
  - cblades 7y ago
    Acknowledging that rights are more readily and equally given to some people than others is not whining.
  - danso 7y ago
    Which marginalized group, when fighting "to make this country what it is", hasn't been opposed and mocked (e.g. "whiny little babies) by the status quo at the time of their fight?
- joelx 7y ago
  We need to avoid getting lost in minor internal debates. I agree some classes of people in America have had more difficulty exercising their rights, but they always had those rights and the courts enforced them usually. What we are talking about with China and Russia is totalitarian dictatorships that come and take you from your home and beat you and murder you for making a comment on the internet they didn't like or even sharing a Winnie the Poo meme. We need to all band together to fight this or we will lose all of our privileges and rights.
azangru 7y ago
> Calling our rights "privilege" is throwing out the struggle and sacrifice of everyone that fought for those rights. But isn't it the very definition of privilege, when through no effort of your own you get to enjoy the benefits for which others have "fought", "struggled", and "sacrificed"? How is it different from the privilege of being born into a rich (or just functional) family? > You may have been Lucky to have been born in the US, but not Privileged It looks like the word "privileged", through all these fights on social media, has got a bad rep :-) How is being privileged different than being lucky?
- IllogicalLogic 7y ago
  > Calling our rights "privilege" is throwing out the struggle and sacrifice of everyone that fought for those rights. Next South Park should do an episode that shows how greedy western leaders running opium/heroin for the better part of now two centuries, turned the most populous country into a paranoid dictatorial hellhole for the Chinese people. US introspection would be too on the nose? You ever ask yourself what percentage of the heroin/opium supply would be pulled off the market if China could extradite people from HK? More than 50%... and who gets hurt by that?
- AnthonyMouse 7y ago
  > But isn't it the very definition of privilege, when through no effort of your own you get to enjoy the benefits for which others have "fought", "struggled", and "sacrificed"? How is it different from the privilege of being born into a rich (or just functional) family? The reason this framing is despicable is that rights and privileges are not the same. Being able to afford a Lexus is a privilege. Not everyone has it and that's OK. Having access to clean water is a right. Not everyone has it and that's not OK. Free speech is a right. Everyone should have it even if some people currently don't.
  - tdb7893 7y ago
    I think that this distinction isn't widely understood as the definition of privilege. If you look it up in a dictionary privileges you'll see a lot of definitions where privileges are defined as a special case of rights so they are most definitely not mutually exclusive https://www.dictionary.com/browse/privilege https://www.dictionary.com/browse/privilege
davidw 7y ago
> "Privilege" has lost all meaning in today's world. It's just a word to throw around to slow how "woke" you are. It gets thrown around a lot, but it absolutely has a meaning. Ever know anyone who says that "they ignore politics"? In many cases, those people come from a place that they can do that because it doesn't affect them that much, and certainly not as much as other people. For instance: today the supreme court in the US is deciding whether it's ok to fire people for merely being gay. To not have to worry about that is 'privilege'.

dekhn 7y ago

I understand where you're coming from and I thought twice about using that word. I certainly appreciate the work done to give me freedoms, and I agree luck had a big part of it. But the reality is that as a white middle class male in the US, I do have the privilege to say things and do things in public that people who aren't white or middle class can't. The freedoms we have aren't equally distributed due to systemic racism and sexism. I'm pretty anti-woke, actually, I hate the term.

Konnstann 7y ago
Can you give me an example of something a non-white, non-middle class person can't say or do in public? Maybe it's my limited world-view, but I can't think of anything specific.
- dekhn 7y ago
  Sure, if you (10 years ago) smoked a joint on the street, and you were black, you carried a far far higher risk of being imprisoned.
  - Konnstann 7y ago
    Where's the parallel between doing something illegal (10 years ago) and being able to comment on the political climate without fearing for your life/livelihood?
    - cblades 7y ago
      The unequal application of the law based on race. Equal treatment under the law is just as much a fundamental right as freedom of expression is and, arguably, equal treatment prevents the subtle and slow erosion of other rights.
    - munk-a 7y ago
      The fact that African Americans are the most likely people by race to be stripped of their right to representation and political expression by a wide margin. To clarify - this is via them losing access to representation by being deemed a felon, and a lot more African Americans are sentenced with drug possession or intent to distribute than any other racial group proportionally.
  - laheyBro 7y ago
    lol What an awful example.
- notduncansmith 7y ago
  Depending on where you are, simply leaving the house. Black people are more likely to be "randomly" stopped, more likely to be searched at a stop, and more likely to be arrested at a stop. Other statistics highlight similar issues faced by other minorities. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/black-people-more-likely-be-stopped-cops-study-finds-n616546 https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/black-people-more...
  - Konnstann 7y ago
    The article you linked draws more of a link between income levels and police violence than it does race. They explicitly say that the crime rates of low-income neighborhoods, populated by majority minority groups, are higher than that of more affluent neighborhoods. Furthermore most of the injuries happen when the person stopped has a gun, regardless of race. Not great, and certainly unacceptable, but not equivalent to not being able to "simply leave the house".
    - dekhn 7y ago
      if you want to deny the lived experience of african americans in the US, you're free to do so (it falls under free speech) but frankly I think making ivory tower-level statements like this ignores an extraordinary amount of evidence that african americans (and many non-caucasians) experience systemic racism that affects their economic opportunities and health.
      - laheyBro 7y ago
        Evidence points to the contrary. Equality of opportunity is a reality and has been for a long time. You cannot force equality of outcome.
      - Konnstann 7y ago
        I grew up in a majority non-white area, and am now subsequently living in another majority non-white area. I can count on one hand the number of beat cops I've seen in those cities. Seems to me if there's a higher crime rate, the amount of cops increases, and the likelihood you get stopped increases as well. On another note, when did Caucasian become a term for white people? As an actual Caucasian, having immigrated to the US from a region near Caucasus, I don't get why people use the term so loosely. The debate is about skin color, just use skin color.
- asimpletune 7y ago
  If you’re an African American male you have to be very careful how you express anger, however justified it may be. If you’re a female, it’s more difficult to be taken seriously or heard in meetings, and people constantly talk over you. If you’re basically anything that’s not white, people will embarrassingly coddle or patronize you, if they’re not prejudicing you. I never really thought about specific examples until I read this comment, but this is what came to mind.
  - laheyBro 7y ago
    What a ridiculous statement. The US is the least oppressed society in history. Especially for women and minorities.
    - dekhn 7y ago
      there were laws through the 1960s and I think even later that prevents african americans and other non-caucasians from marrying caucasians. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia required Supreme Court to override laws that violated the constitution. If that's your standard for "least oppressed", I think your standards are very low.
      - laheyBro 7y ago
        Believe it or not, a lot of things have changed since the 60's. Name a society with more rights, more opportunities for the historically oppressed. Deny reality all you want, you're only hurting yourself.
        jessaustin 7y ago
        Canada? Anywhere in western/northern Europe?
    - mikestew 7y ago
      The US is the least oppressed society in history. What is ridiculous is to think that is an argument against the truth of parent's statement.
- CocaKoala 7y ago
  Exercise their second amendment rights? Note the differences in the stories of Philando Castile (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Philando_Castile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Philando_Castile) and Brandon Vreeland (https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/men-who-walked-into-dearborn-police-station-armed-with-guns-tactical-vests-sentenced https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/men-who-walked-into-dear...).
  - neetdeth 7y ago
    How about Erik Scott? [1] Or Daniel Shaver? [2] These are just two incidents that immediately spring to mind to counter your cherry picking. White people are not free from the danger of being shot by police. In fact, there is evidence [3] that white people may be more vulnerable than black people in any given scenario, because scrutiny on police use of force has been applied disproportionately in cases of black victims. 1. https://reason.com/2012/06/12/family-of-west-point-graduate-shot-to-de/ https://reason.com/2012/06/12/family-of-west-point-graduate-... 2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/12/08/graphic-video-shows-daniel-shaver-sobbing-and-begging-officer-for-his-life-before-2016-shooting/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/12/0... 3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2016/04/27/this-study-found-race-matters-in-police-shootings-but-the-results-may-surprise-you/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2016/04/27...
- kick 7y ago
  Picking up trash on your own lawn (the officer involved in this faced no penalty and is currently getting paid in full until 2020 because he resigned). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzjkmsKr6sM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzjkmsKr6sM
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago
  As a minority male, I can pretty much say and do anything on public that a white person can say and do. In addition, I am not viewed by a certain portion of the population as a oppressor based on my skin color. If anything, sometimes I feel sorry for my white friends and am happy for my minority privilege of not being held responsible for things my ancestors did long before I was born.
- mikestew 7y ago
  As a white man with upper-middle class money to afford good lawyers, I can tell a cop to piss off when they're out of line and suffer fewer repercussions than others. I might go to jail for the evening (no biggie, I've traveled that road), but come Monday morning me and Ms. Pit Bull Lawyer, Esq. go smooth it over with the judge. If it even gets that far...'cuz, you know, I'm white. This could all be in my head, but based on reporting and anecdotes from friends, I firmly believe that if a cop's being a dick and I call him/her on it, the cuffs will go on much more slowly than if I were another color or lived in a different neighborhood.
  - Konnstann 7y ago
    Anybody with good enough lawyers can tell a cop to piss off, you might even get the cop on a hate crime if you're non-white. I've got the same amount of anecdotes to suggest the opposite. My dad got pulled over because he didn't stop at a stop sign for the mandatory 3-mississippi in our neighborhood, and no lack of melanin in his skin would have been enough to prevent the ticket.
    - andrepd 7y ago
      Yes, watching the news these past few years we can totally see that cops get convicted for "hate crime" every single day. They shoot innocent, unarmed men to death as a matter of course, and get off with a few months' suspension, but somehow you think you can charge a cop for a "hate crime" for getting pulled over (conveniently concluding then that it's the black folk who are "privileged").
      - Konnstann 7y ago
        No my point was that wealth supersedes race in police interactions. Look at the Jussie Smollett case, you can definitely stir up some anti-police sentiment if you're rich enough. The conclusion isn't that black folk are privileged, it's that if you are well-off and look the part, race will play a much lower role when you get pulled over.
        7y ago
eli_gottlieb 7y ago
Yes, but there's still a pretty hard distinction between material privileges and actual constitutional rights. For instance, we don't criticize racialized police brutality because it's some maldistribution of police attention, but because it violates rights that are supposed to be inviolate.
klagermkii 7y ago
I think the main issue is that the choice of the words "privilege" or "right", when used by enough people, has the power to set societal expectations. Why should a privilege ever be extended to more people, the people who have them should just consider themselves lucky they aren't taken away. And I think there are plenty of things that are "privileges", but it's based on the idea that it is impossible to extend it to everyone. Being admitted to a top school is impossible to extend to everyone by the definition of a top school. Being believed in a court of law when it's just your word over someone else's, but being more trusted because you belong to a particular group is a privilege. Being let off with a warning at a traffic stop because you have the right face is a privilege. Living in the "good" part of town is a privilege. Surviving a traffic stop without being shot by the cop should not be called a privilege. Being able to receive a competent education should not be called a privilege. These are things that can be extended to everyone and the words should reflect it, so that it's clear which things we should be fighting for, vs the things that are impossible for everyone to have.
- akiselev 7y ago
  Wouldn't the privilege be in the ability to exercise rights without paying a price like so many groups have had to in our history? This all sounds like a confusing semantics game.
  - klagermkii 7y ago
    Every right has been resisted at some point. It doesn't drift in and out of privilege status depending on how must resistance is being applied at any one moment. A right gains its power from people's belief that it should be universally granted, and that they will stick up for others when that right gets breached. Once a thing gets redefined as a privilege there is no expectation for people to stand up for other privilege.
    - beerandt 7y ago
      A privilege is something granted/gifted to fewer than everyone, while not harming those that are excluded. The left has tried to redefine harm to include "unequal result or outcome," which makes the entire principle meaningless.
merpnderp 7y ago
We're definitely in the crazy years. A conversation about a Chinese crackdown on freedom, a country that literally throws minorities in jail for being minorities, devolves into a squabble over people in the US not feeling entitled to express their opinions, even though the letter of the law, every single politician, billions in private funding amongst corporations, banks and non-profits, does everything possible to ensure people feel entitled to express their opinion.

grievances 7y ago

Many brave people have fought and died for their countries and rights. Its easy to forget that minorities and “unlucky” people fight too; knowing that you’re safe expressing your points of view is something that many have earned, not all have received. That very much sounds like privilege to me.

gonational 7y ago
We fight to make this country what it is so that we can all stand together as one people, not so we can whine like little babies about who’s more privileged or marginalized than everyone else.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- danharaj 7y ago
  you specifically didn't fight shit, buddy
- cblades 7y ago
  Acknowledging that rights are more readily and equally given to some people than others is not whining.
- danso 7y ago
  Which marginalized group, when fighting "to make this country what it is", hasn't been opposed and mocked (e.g. "whiny little babies) by the status quo at the time of their fight?
joelx 7y ago
We need to avoid getting lost in minor internal debates. I agree some classes of people in America have had more difficulty exercising their rights, but they always had those rights and the courts enforced them usually. What we are talking about with China and Russia is totalitarian dictatorships that come and take you from your home and beat you and murder you for making a comment on the internet they didn't like or even sharing a Winnie the Poo meme. We need to all band together to fight this or we will lose all of our privileges and rights.

azangru 7y ago

> Calling our rights "privilege" is throwing out the struggle and sacrifice of everyone that fought for those rights. But isn't it the very definition of privilege, when through no effort of your own you get to enjoy the benefits for which others have "fought", "struggled", and "sacrificed"? How is it different from the privilege of being born into a rich (or just functional) family? > You may have been Lucky to have been born in the US, but not Privileged It looks like the word "privileged", through all these fights on social media, has got a bad rep :-) How is being privileged different than being lucky?

IllogicalLogic 7y ago
> Calling our rights "privilege" is throwing out the struggle and sacrifice of everyone that fought for those rights. Next South Park should do an episode that shows how greedy western leaders running opium/heroin for the better part of now two centuries, turned the most populous country into a paranoid dictatorial hellhole for the Chinese people. US introspection would be too on the nose? You ever ask yourself what percentage of the heroin/opium supply would be pulled off the market if China could extradite people from HK? More than 50%... and who gets hurt by that?
AnthonyMouse 7y ago
> But isn't it the very definition of privilege, when through no effort of your own you get to enjoy the benefits for which others have "fought", "struggled", and "sacrificed"? How is it different from the privilege of being born into a rich (or just functional) family? The reason this framing is despicable is that rights and privileges are not the same. Being able to afford a Lexus is a privilege. Not everyone has it and that's OK. Having access to clean water is a right. Not everyone has it and that's not OK. Free speech is a right. Everyone should have it even if some people currently don't.
- tdb7893 7y ago
  I think that this distinction isn't widely understood as the definition of privilege. If you look it up in a dictionary privileges you'll see a lot of definitions where privileges are defined as a special case of rights so they are most definitely not mutually exclusive https://www.dictionary.com/browse/privilege https://www.dictionary.com/browse/privilege

davidw 7y ago

> "Privilege" has lost all meaning in today's world. It's just a word to throw around to slow how "woke" you are. It gets thrown around a lot, but it absolutely has a meaning. Ever know anyone who says that "they ignore politics"? In many cases, those people come from a place that they can do that because it doesn't affect them that much, and certainly not as much as other people. For instance: today the supreme court in the US is deciding whether it's ok to fire people for merely being gay. To not have to worry about that is 'privilege'.