At any rate, I refuse to feel guilty or sorry for someone else because someone who bears some arbitrary resemblance to me peed in their cornflakes.
There is a vast difference between recognizing the ways systemic prejudice benefits [group] as a whole, and very likely [member of group] individually, and feeling guilty about it. I recognize white privilege, accept that it benefits me in some ways, but I only feel guilty when I unapologetically take advantage of it when I know it's harmful in both tangible and intangible ways to other individuals/classes.
If you want to get rid of prejudice then just get rid of it and treat people as individuals and demand that they treat you accordingly. Running around trying to convince people that they are "privileged" or "unprivileged" solves nothing. In fact, it makes the problem worse because it polarizes people into contentious groups.
The people who hear "privilege" as a divisive attack are either incapable of comprehending the concept, or unwilling to lose the benefits they hold under the current system of institutional prejudice. Neither of those are compelling reasons to pretend that if I just stick my fingers in my ears and "la la la" loud enough there will no longer be any prejudice.
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Re: Privilege or Justice: Pick one.
Date: 2009-03-12 03:55 am (UTC)There is a vast difference between recognizing the ways systemic prejudice benefits [group] as a whole, and very likely [member of group] individually, and feeling guilty about it. I recognize white privilege, accept that it benefits me in some ways, but I only feel guilty when I unapologetically take advantage of it when I know it's harmful in both tangible and intangible ways to other individuals/classes.
If you want to get rid of prejudice then just get rid of it and treat people as individuals and demand that they treat you accordingly. Running around trying to convince people that they are "privileged" or "unprivileged" solves nothing. In fact, it makes the problem worse because it polarizes people into contentious groups.
The people who hear "privilege" as a divisive attack are either incapable of comprehending the concept, or unwilling to lose the benefits they hold under the current system of institutional prejudice. Neither of those are compelling reasons to pretend that if I just stick my fingers in my ears and "la la la" loud enough there will no longer be any prejudice.