The Culture of Privilege.

How long has it been since I last wrote a post? More than a couple of months…maybe more?

I guess this is part of my ADHD. But maybe it is more than that. Over the past month, I would be lying if I didn’t say that I have been somewhat overcome by the injustice that I have read about. Although I have been hearing about the multiple incidents of injustice faced by the African American population, it truly reached a head for me personally only recently. The most recent event in this fire of injustice against the African American population is the reversal of the judgment relating to Breonna Taylor’s murder.

I have always believed that our fight is against injustice. If we are fighting injustice, and it is painfully obvious that a majority of the injustice happens against African American individuals, it is our duty to speak out about it. It is our duty to advocate for those whose voices have been strangled by society. I do the same for the mentally ill, the individuals with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ population…all the minorities that face injustice. But I do it per person without ascribing myself to any particular population. Why? Because I am leery of assuming that all individuals from a particular minority deals with injustice.

I, personally, hold myself as an example. I have rarely faced any injustice because of my race, gender, or sexual orientation (I am a person of color, female, demisexual/asexual). Rather, in today’s context, I am privileged. I have lived in more than one country, obtained several degrees, and so forth. At the same time, I am privileged in other ways, too – I always have food to eat, clean clothes to wear, a roof over my head.

Thus, I find it hard-pressed to talk about being subject to injustice – I have had more than enough given to me in my life that I could never do so. And I am not alone, either – there are several individuals who, like me, belong to minorities but have not experienced injustice. So, when I protest injustice, I do so based on objective evidence – and there is no dearth of that – but also on whether or not the people being unjust are aware of it.

Speaking of privilege brings up a rather interesting dilemma. According to some theorists, stereotypes are neutral in nature, only becoming prejudice when they are given a value, i.e. good-bad. Prejudice is assumed to mean a negative value is imposed on a neutral descriptor of an individual. However, we can also see prejudice in the opposing direction – where a neutral descriptor is given a positive value. The tricky part is what I propose here – would privilege thus be another form of prejudice?

Think of it this way – being educated is a neutral descriptor of a person. There are still times when a person is considered “over-qualified” for a position that they are interested in because of their education. In this reference, being educated is actually being given a negative value, so this could be interpreted as prejudice.

But being educated is often given a positive value instead. So, someone who has been educated is viewed more favorably, and may thus be considered privileged. Following this logic, then, privilege is in fact the imposition of a positive value on a neutral concept just as prejudice is the imposition of a negative value on a neutral concept.

This then brings me back to why I treat every instance of injustice in its own right. Personally, this allows for me to treat the issue within the framework in which it exists, removing assumptions from the situation. I do not say that individuals are not victims of prejudice. But being a part of a population does not immediately mean that a person is a victim of prejudice. Likewise, being a part of a population does not necessarily mean that a person is privileged. What is important is: (i) the actual situation in which the topic arises, and (ii) how THE PERSON THEMSELVES identify.

Given the example above, someone may not be willing to accept the idea that they are privileged because of their education if that very education stands in the way of them getting a job. The situation is “getting a job”, and they identify THEIR having an extensive education as more of a hindrance in this situation than a privilege.

I am by no means a scholar or researcher in this field. However, I have always preferred to look at any concept from every viewpoint. I therefore sincerely hope that those who read this do not take umbrage in what is said. It is simply a thought that I would like to share.