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Try having a crippled mechanic for a father and maybe you'll reconsider whether having a dentist-dad is a privilege.

• omonra 13y ago
  Yeah, and growing up in a foster home on an Indian reservation beats crippled mechanic dad (by the way when my family came to the US, going to McD for birthday was a big deal - the dentist dad was purely hypothetical :). I'm sure there are infinitely many scenarios of having suboptimal family circumstances. My point is that the baseline (two parent middle class family) is called normal.
  • rosser 13y ago
    My point is that the baseline (two parent middle class family) is called normal. Not from the perspective of the person who lives below the baseline, for whichever arbitrary baseline we happen to be talking about at the moment. A significant part of the entire point of critical theory is the attempt to understand the world from that person's perspective, in order to better seek the justice they deserve. That's why the choice of the word "privilege" is as relevant as it is here: because these discussions are almost always to be had — or attempted to be had, given the actual impossibility of "walking a mile in their moccasins" — from the perspective of the party to whom the thing in question is, in fact, a privilege — and more importantly, one that they don't enjoy. It's not about what's "normal"; it's about what's normal for the person for whose justice, or about whose injustice, we're talking. EDIT: Thank you, by the way, for allowing me the opportunity to sharpen my thoughts on these issues. It's something that's only recently become an item of interest and value to me, so being able to engage with someone in the manner we've been enjoying is immensely helpful for me.