In today's edition... IT'S OUT! - Privilege
Like a stain on the lapel of an
expensive suit, privilege is being shunned like no tomorrow. There is nothing
worse than being privileged now; indeed, the privileged are just about the most
underprivileged people around, the poor buggers.
Privilege, in the dictionary,
means a right or benefit given to some people and not others. In the world of
the commentariat, privilege was, until recently, a word saved for those of the
Bullingdon Club, the Oxbridge or Ivy League elite. There was also the
underprivileged, those stuck on their estates, unable to enjoy social mobility.
Then there was everyone in between. But that left those in between apparently
unaware of their own privileges, and able to talk about their own problems
without reference to those with bigger problems. Now, with some tinkering with
the definition in feminist discourse, privilege has morphed into something of a
currency. You have more or less of the stuff; there are nation, gender, race or
class forms of it. You can collect them all! But you can’t trade because it’s
inherent to who you are.
And that’s a problem because if
you’re privileged but don’t recognise it, you’re at fault. Hence, if you don’t
read the latest cultural theory, or use Twitter, or read Buzzfeed, or follow
memes, and you don’t know the term White Privilege (for example) then yes,
sorry, you’re part of the problem.
But I’m here to alleviate your
guilt by informing you of your privilege. Let’s take Whiteness for an example.
White privilege manifests in the favourable treatment white folk (in our
western societies) get with the police, at schools, at interviews, and so on,
and the deeper rooted cultural expectations of beauty and other things like who
is committing terrorism. It means that when shit goes bad for white people,
their race isn’t the reason; instead, it’s their own stupid fault, which is
comforting. As a sociological concept, it’s broader than any one person; it’s
an overview which attempts to consolidate statistics and social phenomena about
pay and crime and whatnot.
But it’s not just whites. Are you
able-bodied? Then you’re privileged. Heterosexual? Privileged. Middle class?
Privileged. Male? Privileged. Do you subscribe to the gender that you were
assigned at birth? Privileged. If you’re a middle-class male graduate student,
but you’re gay and lost a leg in a terrible accident, you might come out
neutral. Like Top Trumps, you can play against your friend to see who is more
privileged, but you won’t be friends for long, because this privilege stuff
really riles people up.
Have no doubt that privilege is a
disparaging term. This is nothing new – the underprivileged have always taken a
pop at the privileged in our society, especially so in the underdog culture
that we have in the UK. But a new venom has hit the scene, a new haughty venom,
as the term has gained new meaning. Most of those who are keen on the
white/male privilege label seem to be well-educated, white (and often men) and
spend most of their time explaining to the less enlightened whites out there
why the label makes sense, and why the allegedly privileged are at ‘fault’ for
not acknowledging it. Those who write with authority on the matter have the
privilege of having a voice that people listen to, and sometimes a paycheck at
the end of it. Buzzfeed and Huffpost journalists often claim to have had some
kind of spiritual awakening where they noticed finally how privileged they are,
and have a newfound sense of pity for non-privileged people, on whose behalf
they now talk. YouTube videos showing social saints explaining their own
awakening are often highly attractive, articulate and confident. Their
Christ-like quest is simply to let their readers know how privileged they are,
but don’t worry, you’re not being asked to give it up; just to accept it, be
humbled. Those on Twitter who pick up the term and run with it are often more
crass, and online bickering ensues, leading to death threats. Good work,
people.
I can’t be the only one to notice
the irony of the privilege of those given the authority to talk about
privilege. And I’m not - indeed, writers who write about privilege often write
about their own privilege, making the whole article wonderfully self-involved.
At the level of discourse, the privilege debate reaffirms whites on the top of
the pile, providing another delicious irony. It doesn’t just recognise imbalances;
it reinforces them and then adds a dash of moral superiority. It works thus: White,
heteronormative, patriarchal, Western cultural expectations frame the debate,
and the “unprivileged” are pitied for not being able to join in, like orphans
or the endangered pandas of Western China.
Pity is most inert of emotions.
But there is action! “Check your
privilege” is something that you are encouraged to do by social justice
warriors, who spend saving the world one blog post at a time. It comes from the
idea that you can work out how privileged you are by doing a checklist. Am I
white? Now, let me just check that... Yes, I am. And so on. If you say
something that belies your ignorance about social injustice, such as “So many
people doing Christmas shopping in ASDA tonight, it was crazy!” then your more
thoughtful, less ignorant friend should patiently and gently remind you that
the term ‘crazy’ is a disparaging term towards those with mental illness, and
could well trigger a bout of sadness. If appropriate, then he or she (or
neither) might then explain to you their own experiences with depression before
concluding by telling you to ‘check your privilege’.
It’s a great example of how to
conduct an enterprise of social transformation, while alienating the largest
proportions of it.
In conclusion I’d like to turn our
attention to some of the more insidious forms of privilege which no one has
seemed to notice, but which are tearing our society apart. I think they are self-explanatory.
These are non-ginger privilege, south-facing privilege, live-by-the-seaside privilege,
average height privilege, car privilege, bike privilege, higher than minimum
wage privilege, no student loan privilege, mobile phone privilege, smart phone
privilege, 20-20 vision privilege, sibling privilege, free from halitosis privilege,
skinny privilege, drug free privilege, cheap drugs privilege, no allergy privilege,
wifi privilege, and live-near-a-Tesco-Express privilege.
---------------------------p.s.
---------------------------p.s.
Many articles about privilege are irritatingly
self-indulgent. See here for a more refreshing one about the history of the
term in feminist literature, and it’s evolution as an internet phenomenon. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/check-your-privilege
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