I put on my [priviliged] robe and ranting hat
I've finally figured out why the concept of "privilege," at least as it's commonly applied, irks me so much.
Privilege is the notion that members of a given social group are exempt from some experiences by nature and thus ignorant of them. Case in point: straight Americans won't feel the prejudice and social isolation that gay Americans do. Being straight is "privileged" where gay is not. Being white in most parts of America is privileged, as is being male. I will be the first to acknowledge that as a straight white man, I've not, nor will I ever, know the difficulties of GLBT, Black or Latinos, or women. Yet I don't think that this categorically prevents me from ever saying something meaningful, relevant or insightful about those issues.
Privilege is often used to silence people in discourse: "What can you say? You're a white man, you've never known what it's like to be a woman/black/gay/whatever, so all you're allowed to say is 'I am irrelevant to this discussion,' and then fark off and die." Privilege also is used to mediate cultural issues: the priviliged group, being the default, is treated as valueless; only those different from the default can be acknowledged. Thus "Americans" have no culture of their own, but the Blacks, the Native tribes and nations, the GLBT, the Asians all do. Men have no unique value or issues, but women, GLBT, etc do. (Why do you suppose there's never a "white arts festival" or "men's literature studies" offered?)
If you're going to render my voice irrelevant to your issues by dint of my privilige, I should expect you do the same about mine. Obviously by your own arguments, a black man, a gay woman, a left-handed Aleutian will never know what it's like being a white man, so who are they to criticize? Use of privilige as a weapon silences discourse and foments social fragmentation. As a friend pointed out, not only does it work to gag unwanted speakers, it gags unwanted speech. If the only people allowed to speak are the ones "qualified" to do so, it's amazing how uniform the speech becomes. If you're going to call someone out, do it on grounds of ignorance or malice, not which social/demographic box the person falls into.
Privilege is the notion that members of a given social group are exempt from some experiences by nature and thus ignorant of them. Case in point: straight Americans won't feel the prejudice and social isolation that gay Americans do. Being straight is "privileged" where gay is not. Being white in most parts of America is privileged, as is being male. I will be the first to acknowledge that as a straight white man, I've not, nor will I ever, know the difficulties of GLBT, Black or Latinos, or women. Yet I don't think that this categorically prevents me from ever saying something meaningful, relevant or insightful about those issues.
Privilege is often used to silence people in discourse: "What can you say? You're a white man, you've never known what it's like to be a woman/black/gay/whatever, so all you're allowed to say is 'I am irrelevant to this discussion,' and then fark off and die." Privilege also is used to mediate cultural issues: the priviliged group, being the default, is treated as valueless; only those different from the default can be acknowledged. Thus "Americans" have no culture of their own, but the Blacks, the Native tribes and nations, the GLBT, the Asians all do. Men have no unique value or issues, but women, GLBT, etc do. (Why do you suppose there's never a "white arts festival" or "men's literature studies" offered?)
If you're going to render my voice irrelevant to your issues by dint of my privilige, I should expect you do the same about mine. Obviously by your own arguments, a black man, a gay woman, a left-handed Aleutian will never know what it's like being a white man, so who are they to criticize? Use of privilige as a weapon silences discourse and foments social fragmentation. As a friend pointed out, not only does it work to gag unwanted speakers, it gags unwanted speech. If the only people allowed to speak are the ones "qualified" to do so, it's amazing how uniform the speech becomes. If you're going to call someone out, do it on grounds of ignorance or malice, not which social/demographic box the person falls into.