The problem with "check your privilege."

MakhSC · 2013-08-26T18:40:32+00:00

“Check your privilege” is an arrogant phrase that really means “I know more than you. So shut up.” This only creates division among people and makes people feel guilty about things that they have no control over.

I'm glad we're seeing more articles critical of this phrase. Privilege does exist. In some cases, entire classes of people are privileged. But belonging to a privileged class does not automatically mean that everything you say and every opinion you hold is incorrect or biased.

It's also especially unfair to hold someone's privilege against them. People shouldn't feel guilty because of things completely outside of their control.

lazlounderhill · 2013-08-26T17:30:56+00:00

As far as I'm concerned, if you don't live in constant fear of being murdered or eaten 24 hours per day, if you don't spend every waking moment of the day trying to figure out how you're not going to starve or die of thirst - you have a comparable amount of privilege to the vast majority of other human beings living on this planet. Anything over and above that is self-indulgence and you basically need to "check your concept of privilege" and perhaps see about helping the vast minority of people who do spend 24 hours a day, pre-occupied with surviving to see tomorrow. Anything beyond that is like putting the cart in front of the horse.

typhonblue · 2013-08-26T19:00:58+00:00

It's meaningless outside of its use as a tool of emotional violence against men?

If there was a way to "check your privilege" outside of sitting down and shutting up... nope, it'd still be emotional bullying.

elebrin · 2013-08-26T17:32:08+00:00

Privilege puts people into groups, instead of seeing people as individuals.

This is basically it right here. The second we stop considering people as individuals and treating them as such, and instead heard them into boxes, we invite discriminatory behavior.

newSuperHuman · 2013-08-26T20:06:01+00:00

Check [your] prejudice

Love this as a counter to "Check your privilege."

Nomenimion · 2013-08-26T17:51:00+00:00

What privileges do we have to check?

2013-08-26T23:26:49+00:00

[permanently deleted]

2013-08-27T01:49:20+00:00

Shouldn't this be posted in r/feminism?? Ya know, rule #3 they have. of course if one of us puts it there we will get banned.
"Look, he has an opinion and insight! Get him and ban him!!"

giegerwasright · 2013-08-26T22:07:33+00:00

Don't you judge me! Don't you make generalizations about me! Don't you have bias! Now check your privilege!

Nope. They aren't too good about consistency.

PoundTownUSA · 2013-08-27T05:23:24+00:00

This reminds me of a conversation I had with my high school guidance counselor years ago. While I was speaking with her about how to find financial aide for college, she told me that I was unlikely to find any help. When I asked why, her response was "Because you're a white male, you're more privileged than women or other races." When I asked her how my being denied assistance is a privilege, she told me I should just look into getting loans. I ended up not going at all...

Wawoowoo · 2013-08-26T21:17:10+00:00

Yeah, it's a total joke. The internet should be the great equalizer, where nobody can really prove who anybody is so you have to take their arguments at face value. All it really does is make you accuse anyone who disagrees with you of being a straight white male (even if you are one too) regardless of the strength of the argument. I was having an argument with people who insisted that Obama has privilege because his presence causes white women to clutch their purses in fear. They know that their meaningless rhetoric has enough strength that they want to uphold it even when it's transparent.

MRB2012 · 2013-08-27T07:49:17+00:00

“Check your privilege” is an arrogant phrase that really means “I know more than you. So shut up.”

Wrong. It means "You know more than me. So shut up."

CloudDrone · 2013-08-28T00:25:45+00:00

I actually think that the "check your privilege" is no different that the power structure feminism seems to abhor, except it works to the feminist favor, so "it can't be bad".

It assumes automatic privilege for anyone with certain characteristics, and so such people's opinions, knowledge, and experience are automatically taken as to be ineffective at truly understanding those at the other end of the privilege dichotomy. So, since a white american male "can not truly empathize" with a mexican american woman. Then the white american male is seen to not be able to comprehend the real motivations of the mexican american woman. Since the white american male can't truly comprehend, then he is innefective at decision making and therefor can't be fully informed.

Its like the more white male and cis I am, the less capacity I have for empathy, knowledge, and wisdom.

Those who are automatically born into other less privilege zones in this scale are born with some innate part of their brain that has the capacity to be unreachable by understanding. They literally cannot be understood completely by cis white males, so they have the "burden" of making decisions and coming up with plans that the cis white males can't have an opinion of equal weight since they don't understand.

p3ndulum · 2013-08-27T06:22:29+00:00

I'm a brown guy who was born and raised, and currently live in, Canada, and I've never really had a truly hard day in my entire life. Everything I've ever attempted has come easily to me. Meanwhile, I have white friends who are struggling.

I would not wish being born a straight white male in Canada on anyone.

Title	The problem with "check your privilege."
Author	Rufert
Upvotes	85
Comments	27
Date	August 26, 2013 5:21 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1l4mdk/the_problem_with_check_your_privilege/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/the-problem-with-check-your-privilege.1165428 https://theredarchive.com/post/1165428

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