Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Prive... Prilev... Priv...

I'm one of those middle-aged, middle-class, straight, white, men who objects to the term "White Privilege".
One reason is because I can't spell the word "privilege" worth a damn.
The other is because the bulk of the things we talk about when we're talking about the "privileges" are not privileges, they're rights. But elevating the fact that I'm very unlikely to be shot by cops when I'm walking down the street to a "privilege" I think we end up denying the fact that a right denied does not create a privilege.
Which, to me, sets us back a whole step.
John Scalzi has, once again, put better thinking into something. He suggests that being a straight white male is like playing a video game at the lowest difficulty setting.
To which I say "exactly". That doesn't mean the game isn't difficult. It doesn't mean that other people, on higher settings, can't play. But there are lots of things much easier to play because of being an American white guy.

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