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The goal of admonishing a person to check their privilege is not to invalidate their argument from a logical standpoint. It doesn't represent an ad hominem arg
by jbarciauskas 12y ago
The goal of admonishing a person to check their privilege is not to invalidate their argument from a logical standpoint. It doesn't represent an ad hominem argument, because it's not about winning the argument, at least not directly. It's merely posing questions to consider: How has my privilege potentially affected my opinion? Would I have the same opinion if I had different life experiences?
A reasonable equivalent that is somewhat less loaded and suggestive, but equally less powerful, is to admonish someone to "check your assumptions". Do your assumptions include the fact that people are poor because they are lazy? Why do you assume that? Is it based on empirical evidence, or your own unwillingness to acknowledge the fundamental randomness of the circumstances surrounding your own success?
- gingerrr 12y agoI think the rephrasing "check your assumptions" is better in some senses - part of privilege is the ability to assume certain things and have them be true because you're part of a dominant segment, while others don't have the luxury of making those assumptions - e.g. myself, a white male, being able to assume that a store worker is asking if I need help to be genuinely helpful, rather than to be suspicious. "Check your privilege" doesn't make the connection to those underpinning beliefs like "check your assumptions" does.