On power outages and privilige
Last week, there was a power outage at my apartment complex. A "trunk" went down (I believe that was the term the maintenance guy used) and a chunk of the building, including my apartment, was without power all night (9 or 10 hours). This was a nuisance to me - I had to use a kitchen timer as an alarm clock and throw out perishable food, but only a nuisance. I could afford to replace the food - perhaps $20 worth - and I had an alternative, if not ideal, alarm clock.
At the time, I thought how much worse that would have been for the desperately poor. Hell, I work with people who would have had to risk eating the no-longer-safe-for-sure food (the CDC says toss stuff after 2 hours without power, unless you know it didn't get above 40 degrees) or go without. My apartment complex, while generally very nice (they've always been good about fixing stuff when it breaks, the power included), didn't consider this in waiting until morning to fix the power. That may be because the people who live here, like me, can generally* afford to lose a few groceries, or because they don't know just how quickly food can become unsafe or potentially unsafe.
Either way, it's a kind of privilege. They've never had food poisoning from eating food that wasn't safe, but that they couldn't afford to replace. And they've always had enough money to replace said food.
They also don't rely on any sort of medical equipment. Something I didn't even think of, but which I should have. I have a livejournal friend who relies on electrically powered medical equipment. Right now, she's worried about Hurricane Irene and the city she lives in hasn't even considered that there may be people for whom a power outage is more than a minor inconvenience.
It's something to think about. A power outage is a minor nuisance because I'm lucky. I have the privilege of having a little wiggle room in my budget and I have the privilege of not needing electrically powered medical equipment. And that's what privilege is, really. Having the good fortune not to have to worry about something other people have to worry about.
Also, people who are going to be in decision making roles should have to have their consciousness raised about these things. A city should have a plan for people who need power, damn it. And apartment complexes should consider electricity necessary, not something to be fixed in the morning. Hell, we could all use a little consciousness raising in regard to various privileges.
*But not necessarily. I know from a bit of phone conversation I overheard (I live by the office) that the apartments do take Section 8.
This entry was originally posted at http://smurasaki.dreamwidth.org/100145.html.
At the time, I thought how much worse that would have been for the desperately poor. Hell, I work with people who would have had to risk eating the no-longer-safe-for-sure food (the CDC says toss stuff after 2 hours without power, unless you know it didn't get above 40 degrees) or go without. My apartment complex, while generally very nice (they've always been good about fixing stuff when it breaks, the power included), didn't consider this in waiting until morning to fix the power. That may be because the people who live here, like me, can generally* afford to lose a few groceries, or because they don't know just how quickly food can become unsafe or potentially unsafe.
Either way, it's a kind of privilege. They've never had food poisoning from eating food that wasn't safe, but that they couldn't afford to replace. And they've always had enough money to replace said food.
They also don't rely on any sort of medical equipment. Something I didn't even think of, but which I should have. I have a livejournal friend who relies on electrically powered medical equipment. Right now, she's worried about Hurricane Irene and the city she lives in hasn't even considered that there may be people for whom a power outage is more than a minor inconvenience.
It's something to think about. A power outage is a minor nuisance because I'm lucky. I have the privilege of having a little wiggle room in my budget and I have the privilege of not needing electrically powered medical equipment. And that's what privilege is, really. Having the good fortune not to have to worry about something other people have to worry about.
Also, people who are going to be in decision making roles should have to have their consciousness raised about these things. A city should have a plan for people who need power, damn it. And apartment complexes should consider electricity necessary, not something to be fixed in the morning. Hell, we could all use a little consciousness raising in regard to various privileges.
*But not necessarily. I know from a bit of phone conversation I overheard (I live by the office) that the apartments do take Section 8.
This entry was originally posted at http://smurasaki.dreamwidth.org/100145.html.