What I think it means to be privileged.
People are afraid of being called or seen as privileged. It feels like an attack to them. Like they're being accused of a crime they didn't commit. That's probably what leads them to fight back. But this is evident of a poor understanding of the word privilege.
Isn't being privileged supposed to be a good thing? Why would you hate being told that you are? Isn't it supposed to make you feel better about everything? Yet if I tell a man he has male privilege, he'll accuse me of hating men.
The issue here is this. People don't realize that privilege does not mean they have no hardships, no problems in life. It doesn't dismiss any of their difficult experiences. It only gives them an advantage. Because their hardships are not due to biological factors that put them in oppressive social structures that they cannot control.
Privilege keeps you from having to face the struggle of not being a cis het white male. The colour of your skin, your gender, your caste, religion all contribute to whether you're privileged or not. And the privileged can choose not to care about any of these things.
So it isn't an attack when someone's privilege is pointed out. I'm sitting on a mountain of it myself. And none of us are necessarily contributing to an oppressive system. But noticing that we have an unfair advantage, acknowledging it and trying to level the playing field is upto us to do.
So we can sit around and watch while the oppressed fight for their rights. Or we can lend a hand. Not speak for them, but give them the space to speak for themselves. And acknowlege their experiences.
