A Question of Privilege
I’ve heard rather a lot about the concept of “privilege”. Particularly how I am someone who benefits from two demographics of said privilege. The first because I’m “white”. The second because I’m male.
Supposedly because I am a white, male I have privilege. This means I have advantages that gave me a leg up in life over females and other ethnic demographics. Which means that everything I ever planned for, worked for, and sacrificed for was supposedly made possible by an advantage I received through the benefit of my skin color and my gender.
I’ve thought about this quite a bit and read many an opinion on the subject. Plus I have the benefit of my own upbringing, the many environments I’ve lived in, and the education I’ve pursued my entire life to add perspective and reason to my position.
Having bundled all that together, I feel like I have all the information I need to venture a proper opinion. So now I feel that it’s time for me to put forth an opinion of my own.
I have not, will not, and will never apologize for my skin color, my gender, my upbringing, my education, my possessions, or my success. I do not owe someone something simply because I was born. Your skin color, gender, upbringing, experiences, or culture entitle you to exactly nothing of mine.
To ask me to apologize for that which I was born with is racist, sexist, or just plain fucking stupid.
If you are ever able to point out where this alleged “privilege” gave me something at the expense of a more deserving person, feel free to show me the evidence. If someone is truly cheated, they are perhaps owed recompense.
But I do not owe for that which I did not do. My debts are based on my actions. Not those of others.
You are asking for something to be given to you because someone sharing certain genetic characteristics with me supposedly did something to you (or your relatives). I would respectfully submit that you are mistaken. Or more to the point that you are a whiney fool with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement and a self-aggrandizing agenda that in no way will ever lend a true helping hand to the presence of justice in our world.
Or perhaps you just need drama and wish to create it using my skin, gender, and existence as fodder. To which I would politely suggest you fix your own life before trying to grab on to mine.
This might be hard for the myopic apologists and non-white racists to contemplate. But I was not “granted” anything simply because I was born. I did get help from time to time from my parents, friends, and others who did me the favor based on my relationship with them as an individual.
But to be clear, I earned my education through my own work. I paid for my own college tuition. I paid for every car I ever owned. I found my own employment. I saved money I earned through that employment to plan for my own future. I took out my own loans to invest in that future. And I now enjoy many benefits from that work, time, and investment.
And I don’t owe you a damn thing simply because you have a gender or ethnicity that differs from mine. The up side is you don’t owe me a damn thing either. In fact, I’m doing you a favor with my indifference towards the traits you were born with.
Because it’s who you are as a person that will form my opinion of you. Your actions will form my perspective in combination with my own experiences. But to suggest you are “owed” something simply because I was born is blatantly dishonest.
It implies you can’t get where you need to be on your own. That if I don’t “compensate” you, that you cannot reach the same goals as me.
Why would I hate you enough to cheat you of your own chance for success by suggesting that there’s no way you could do the same things I did and make it on your own?
I don’t. So I won’t. I’m doing you a favor by giving you nothing and respectfully calling bullshit on the rhetoric you are espousing. Because it’s stupid and it’s wrong.
And worse, it’s not fair to you. Or to me.
Work, learn, plan, attempt, learn some more, and keep trying. These are principles we can all utilize. They are principles we all have the ability to apply.
Because truth is blind to genetic categories.
So kindly take your excuses, your con, and your attitude and get out of my face. I have benefits to enjoy that I worked my white, male ass off for. And I don’t need your permission or approval to do so.
Come back when you’ve grown up and perhaps we can have a real discussion about how unfair the world can be and how we might offer sensible solutions to improve it. But you won’t convince me of your credentials when you greet me with racism, sexism, and a greedy hand looking for a payoff.
True change doesn’t start with a hustle. And those of us who work for what we have can spot a mooch a mile off.
Try not to be one.
Supposedly because I am a white, male I have privilege. This means I have advantages that gave me a leg up in life over females and other ethnic demographics. Which means that everything I ever planned for, worked for, and sacrificed for was supposedly made possible by an advantage I received through the benefit of my skin color and my gender.
I’ve thought about this quite a bit and read many an opinion on the subject. Plus I have the benefit of my own upbringing, the many environments I’ve lived in, and the education I’ve pursued my entire life to add perspective and reason to my position.
Having bundled all that together, I feel like I have all the information I need to venture a proper opinion. So now I feel that it’s time for me to put forth an opinion of my own.
I have not, will not, and will never apologize for my skin color, my gender, my upbringing, my education, my possessions, or my success. I do not owe someone something simply because I was born. Your skin color, gender, upbringing, experiences, or culture entitle you to exactly nothing of mine.
To ask me to apologize for that which I was born with is racist, sexist, or just plain fucking stupid.
If you are ever able to point out where this alleged “privilege” gave me something at the expense of a more deserving person, feel free to show me the evidence. If someone is truly cheated, they are perhaps owed recompense.
But I do not owe for that which I did not do. My debts are based on my actions. Not those of others.
You are asking for something to be given to you because someone sharing certain genetic characteristics with me supposedly did something to you (or your relatives). I would respectfully submit that you are mistaken. Or more to the point that you are a whiney fool with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement and a self-aggrandizing agenda that in no way will ever lend a true helping hand to the presence of justice in our world.
Or perhaps you just need drama and wish to create it using my skin, gender, and existence as fodder. To which I would politely suggest you fix your own life before trying to grab on to mine.
This might be hard for the myopic apologists and non-white racists to contemplate. But I was not “granted” anything simply because I was born. I did get help from time to time from my parents, friends, and others who did me the favor based on my relationship with them as an individual.
But to be clear, I earned my education through my own work. I paid for my own college tuition. I paid for every car I ever owned. I found my own employment. I saved money I earned through that employment to plan for my own future. I took out my own loans to invest in that future. And I now enjoy many benefits from that work, time, and investment.
And I don’t owe you a damn thing simply because you have a gender or ethnicity that differs from mine. The up side is you don’t owe me a damn thing either. In fact, I’m doing you a favor with my indifference towards the traits you were born with.
Because it’s who you are as a person that will form my opinion of you. Your actions will form my perspective in combination with my own experiences. But to suggest you are “owed” something simply because I was born is blatantly dishonest.
It implies you can’t get where you need to be on your own. That if I don’t “compensate” you, that you cannot reach the same goals as me.
Why would I hate you enough to cheat you of your own chance for success by suggesting that there’s no way you could do the same things I did and make it on your own?
I don’t. So I won’t. I’m doing you a favor by giving you nothing and respectfully calling bullshit on the rhetoric you are espousing. Because it’s stupid and it’s wrong.
And worse, it’s not fair to you. Or to me.
Work, learn, plan, attempt, learn some more, and keep trying. These are principles we can all utilize. They are principles we all have the ability to apply.
Because truth is blind to genetic categories.
So kindly take your excuses, your con, and your attitude and get out of my face. I have benefits to enjoy that I worked my white, male ass off for. And I don’t need your permission or approval to do so.
Come back when you’ve grown up and perhaps we can have a real discussion about how unfair the world can be and how we might offer sensible solutions to improve it. But you won’t convince me of your credentials when you greet me with racism, sexism, and a greedy hand looking for a payoff.
True change doesn’t start with a hustle. And those of us who work for what we have can spot a mooch a mile off.
Try not to be one.