Discrimination has a flavor
In fact, it has two flavors. I think a problem I've seen in discussions about discrimination and privilege is that there are two very different ways that people can be discriminated against, and often people are talking at cross-purposes when someone is arguing that one flavor isn't there, and someone else says yes, discrimination happens, this other flavor is there.
So, here's my attempt to describe two very different ways a minority can be discriminated against. I will use the minority group left-handed people for this example, because they have faced both kinds of discrimination, I think they'll serve as a good example, and I am hoping it will be less emotional and thus clutter up the discussion of discrimination in the abstract less with people getting angry over details.
Now, first there is the kind of discrimination where the group is actively being harmed and told they are inferior. For example, left-handed people have often been told they must learn to write with their right hand and even had their left hands tied behind their backs to force them to use their right hands. This sort of discrimination is usually fairly obvious.
But there's a second way that left-handed people are discriminated against. Door handles, refrigerators, handshakes etc. are almost all designed to work best for a right-handed person. There is nothing inherently better about making things work better for right-handed people. The left-handed versions are just as useful and good, except they would be easier for left-handed people than for right-handed people. Left-handed people have a higher mortality rate, and it is believed to be caused by the extra klutziness imposed on them of a world designed to work for people who aren't them.
Now, people may say, we don't discriminate against left-handed people, because we treat them exactly the same as right-handed people. I'd give a job to a leftie just like a rightie if they were equally compotent. The only thing we'll do is set up countless aspects of life so that they are constantly at a disadvantage, but if they can't handle the normal world... well, why should the world adjust to them. They're just not as good, because everything is designed to work better for a right-handed person.
This second form of discrimination is harder to see. I think it's easier with handedness, where it certainly exists, but is also at the heart of people saying ludicrous things like, homosexuals have just as much of a right to marry someone of the opposite sex as a heterosexual does so they're not being discriminated against.
The problem is that when a particular group is in power, they design things to work for them. And often the alternative designs are neither better nor worse, simply better or worse for certain groups of people. But I think a lot of people want to dismiss discrimination when it is of this form, because they are saying everyone has the same chance, but some people aren't as good at using it, but they miss the fact that the course is rigged, because we don't even necessarily know what some of the other courses would look like. Or even whether they might not be better for everyone. But it's almost certain that the world is simply set up to work for certain kinds of people, and if you fall into that group, you have an unfair advantage. And if you do not, you have an unfair disadvantage. And most of you probably fall into it in some ways and not in others.
On a side note, I'd enjoy my right-handed privilege except that I am probably left-handed. I was told to write with my right hand as a very young child when I asked my teacher which hand I should use. I am somewhat ambidextrous/ambisinistrous. I write better with my right hand, but I have many more years of practice with it, and can write with either hand. I can only shoot pool left-handed, which is quite awkward when a right-handed shot would be useful. There are a few other tasks I can only do left-handed. I'm not sure there are any tasks I can only do right-handed, that used to be true for using scissors, but I had trouble with all scissors, and finally realized it's because they give kids crappy scissors to use. I wish I'd been told to try both hands and use whichever seemed to work better for me. But it's a right-handed world, and I was told to be right handed. Like the good child I was, I did as I was told and didn't question it until much later.
So, here's my attempt to describe two very different ways a minority can be discriminated against. I will use the minority group left-handed people for this example, because they have faced both kinds of discrimination, I think they'll serve as a good example, and I am hoping it will be less emotional and thus clutter up the discussion of discrimination in the abstract less with people getting angry over details.
Now, first there is the kind of discrimination where the group is actively being harmed and told they are inferior. For example, left-handed people have often been told they must learn to write with their right hand and even had their left hands tied behind their backs to force them to use their right hands. This sort of discrimination is usually fairly obvious.
But there's a second way that left-handed people are discriminated against. Door handles, refrigerators, handshakes etc. are almost all designed to work best for a right-handed person. There is nothing inherently better about making things work better for right-handed people. The left-handed versions are just as useful and good, except they would be easier for left-handed people than for right-handed people. Left-handed people have a higher mortality rate, and it is believed to be caused by the extra klutziness imposed on them of a world designed to work for people who aren't them.
Now, people may say, we don't discriminate against left-handed people, because we treat them exactly the same as right-handed people. I'd give a job to a leftie just like a rightie if they were equally compotent. The only thing we'll do is set up countless aspects of life so that they are constantly at a disadvantage, but if they can't handle the normal world... well, why should the world adjust to them. They're just not as good, because everything is designed to work better for a right-handed person.
This second form of discrimination is harder to see. I think it's easier with handedness, where it certainly exists, but is also at the heart of people saying ludicrous things like, homosexuals have just as much of a right to marry someone of the opposite sex as a heterosexual does so they're not being discriminated against.
The problem is that when a particular group is in power, they design things to work for them. And often the alternative designs are neither better nor worse, simply better or worse for certain groups of people. But I think a lot of people want to dismiss discrimination when it is of this form, because they are saying everyone has the same chance, but some people aren't as good at using it, but they miss the fact that the course is rigged, because we don't even necessarily know what some of the other courses would look like. Or even whether they might not be better for everyone. But it's almost certain that the world is simply set up to work for certain kinds of people, and if you fall into that group, you have an unfair advantage. And if you do not, you have an unfair disadvantage. And most of you probably fall into it in some ways and not in others.
On a side note, I'd enjoy my right-handed privilege except that I am probably left-handed. I was told to write with my right hand as a very young child when I asked my teacher which hand I should use. I am somewhat ambidextrous/ambisinistrous. I write better with my right hand, but I have many more years of practice with it, and can write with either hand. I can only shoot pool left-handed, which is quite awkward when a right-handed shot would be useful. There are a few other tasks I can only do left-handed. I'm not sure there are any tasks I can only do right-handed, that used to be true for using scissors, but I had trouble with all scissors, and finally realized it's because they give kids crappy scissors to use. I wish I'd been told to try both hands and use whichever seemed to work better for me. But it's a right-handed world, and I was told to be right handed. Like the good child I was, I did as I was told and didn't question it until much later.