4 ms·

> Privilege is highly underappreciated. Perhaps if it was more widely distributed it would be more broadly appreciated. ;) (or taken for granted, YMMV)

chii 6y ago
If privilege was widely distributed, it ceases to be "privilege". The very fact that it's _not_ widely distributed makes it a privilege!
- gjm11 6y ago
  That's true for some reasonable definitions of "privilege" but not others. Originally-originally, "privilege" meant being subject to some special dispensation that e.g. exempted you from laws that applied to everyone else. (Latin: "private law".) The term then broadened to apply to other sorts of advantages held by individuals and groups, and indeed earlier uses of it are concerned only with unusual advantages enjoyed by (say) the upper classes. But these days it's commonly used to mean any substantial unearned advantage that people have as a result of belonging to one group rather than another. And by that definition, a kind of privilege absolutely can be widely distributed. For instance, it is widely and plausibly held that being male confers substantial advantages in life -- that people take men more seriously, are more inclined to promote men to senior positions, tend to give credit to men rather than women for projects in which both are involved, etc. (In, let's say, Western Europe and North America.) Some people disagree with that, saying that maybe it was so 30 years ago but that that sort of sexist discrimination has basically gone away now. Some of those people go further and say that actually now it's being female that confers unearned advantages. I'm pretty sure that almost everyone would agree that at least one of the following two propositions is true: (1) 30 years ago, being male conferred substantial unearned advantages in life. (2) Now, being female confers substantial unearned advantages in life. Either way, we've got an example of a widely-distributed characteristic that confers substantial advantages for reasons other than merit.
- nwienert 6y ago
  Which is exactly why it’s important to remind those who have it, especially when they tend to enjoy authoring ode’s of self-congratulation.
gnramires 6y ago
I agree! Disregarding that technically everyone can't be privileged -- taking it in the sense each individual should have the opportunity to develop as much as his potential. Things are of course never so simple, as there are limited resources, we can't always tell what their potentials (esp. of children) are, some potentials add more value to society, and sometimes the individuals don't even want to develop their potential! This should be a primary goal of education. Then it becomes very personal, exciting, ready to bring out the best in ourselves.

chii 6y ago

If privilege was widely distributed, it ceases to be "privilege". The very fact that it's _not_ widely distributed makes it a privilege!

gjm11 6y ago
That's true for some reasonable definitions of "privilege" but not others. Originally-originally, "privilege" meant being subject to some special dispensation that e.g. exempted you from laws that applied to everyone else. (Latin: "private law".) The term then broadened to apply to other sorts of advantages held by individuals and groups, and indeed earlier uses of it are concerned only with unusual advantages enjoyed by (say) the upper classes. But these days it's commonly used to mean any substantial unearned advantage that people have as a result of belonging to one group rather than another. And by that definition, a kind of privilege absolutely can be widely distributed. For instance, it is widely and plausibly held that being male confers substantial advantages in life -- that people take men more seriously, are more inclined to promote men to senior positions, tend to give credit to men rather than women for projects in which both are involved, etc. (In, let's say, Western Europe and North America.) Some people disagree with that, saying that maybe it was so 30 years ago but that that sort of sexist discrimination has basically gone away now. Some of those people go further and say that actually now it's being female that confers unearned advantages. I'm pretty sure that almost everyone would agree that at least one of the following two propositions is true: (1) 30 years ago, being male conferred substantial unearned advantages in life. (2) Now, being female confers substantial unearned advantages in life. Either way, we've got an example of a widely-distributed characteristic that confers substantial advantages for reasons other than merit.
nwienert 6y ago
Which is exactly why it’s important to remind those who have it, especially when they tend to enjoy authoring ode’s of self-congratulation.

gnramires 6y ago

I agree! Disregarding that technically everyone can't be privileged -- taking it in the sense each individual should have the opportunity to develop as much as his potential. Things are of course never so simple, as there are limited resources, we can't always tell what their potentials (esp. of children) are, some potentials add more value to society, and sometimes the individuals don't even want to develop their potential! This should be a primary goal of education. Then it becomes very personal, exciting, ready to bring out the best in ourselves.