Say I open up a lemonade stand. Only I don't charge a set amount per cup of lemonade. Instead I charge less if you're white, and male, and thin, and straight. And the
more of these features you have, the less you pay. So Jack, who's a straight thin white male, hardly pays anything. Good for him, right? Yay! He gets almost-free lemonade, and that's a good thing. Or is it? What has to be happening in order for Jack to get his almost-free lemonade? Well, I have to pay my bills, so I can't be giving out all this almost-free lemonade to everyone. Someone has to cover my costs. So I hike up the prices that I charge others to compensate. That means that Jill, the fat lesbian WoC who also wants lemonade, is going to have to pay eight times as much as Jack did, if there even is any lemonade left over for her.Now imagine that this isn't lemonade, which you can take or leave, but it's jobs and housing and education and health coverage and respect that I'm dispensing. And I've got the market cornered on jobs and housing and education and health coverage and respect, so you can't go elsewhere for them. Can Jack be considered a compassionate, ethical, progressive person if he celebrates the fact that he pays ⅛ of the cost that Jill pays? Can he be considered a compassionate, ethical, progressive person if he willfully ignores the fact that he pays ⅛ of the cost that Jill does? Can he be considered a compassionate, ethical, progressive person if he doesn't do something to try to change the fact that he pays ⅛ of the cost that Jill does?
Everyone should bookmark this post for future "Privilege 101" use.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, awesome post!
ReplyDeleteBut I still don't think this accounts for the fact that some thin white men have to work really hard for what they have. And they can be mistreated too.
ReplyDeleteThis gets at exactly the feature of privilege that I don't think we talk about enough. In a world with limited resources it just can't happen that some get more than they need, and don't have to work all that hard for it, while everyone still has enough. One person getting a free ride has to be counterbalanced by another person being deprived. That's just the way it works. SO I love this idea of using something concrete a limited like lemonade. Also, now I'm really thirsty.
ReplyDeleteGood try but the existence of Sasha and Malia Obama disprove your little screed here. Those two will have every oportunity handed to them, and can't help but succeed in life. And there's some poor white boy growing up in a trailor park who will have to work 8 times as hard as they do to succeed. I think you should expect him to be bitter and have no respect for people like you.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to say that Jill gets to endlessly beat Jack over the head with the concept of privilidge until he wishes he was never born.
ReplyDeleteAh, the trolls have arrived, marching and chanting "We must, we must, we must defend our privilege!"
ReplyDelete