privilege as a meme

isn't the point that these things are, effectively, a privilege, if everybody doesn't have them?

these things are, effectively, a privilege, if everybody doesn't have them?

As I learned the word, a privilege is some benefit which accrues to some person or group automatically upon entry into the status which grants it. If the granting status is 'whiteness', then the privilege is automatically granted at birth. Each genuine privilege or benefit remains realizable for as long as one's status remains eligible, even if it is never utilized. It's like the theory of inalienable rights, but for special rights not human rights.

Some privileges which are identified as accruing to all whites may be class privileges that have been misidentified as white privileges, but that is understandable, since greater ease of upward class mobility is among the many white privileges and these things can blur at the boundaries.

isn't the point that these things are, effectively, a privilege, if everybody doesn't have them?

― I am a free. I am not man. A number. (Neanderthal), Sunday, June 7, 2020 10:37 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

There's no question that that's the point that is supposed to be getting across, and I'm saying I don't like that framing, because the subtext is "feel guilty that YOU have these things and other people don't" instead of "everyone cleary should have these fairly minimal things."

there was some of that on my wall this weekend, where my ex's ex-husband got accosted and told he was abusing his privilege for posting frequent non-protest stuff on his wall.

he's known for exaggerating so idk what *really* happened but

yesterday i saw like two instagram stories within 5 minutes where people were like "dear white friends: if you are not using your instagram stories to post about the protests, please be aware that it is a privilege to refrain from doing that! if your instagram story doesn't currently have something relevant, i see you!"

but like idk maybe it's just that i think instagram stories aren't a very good way to spread information or make meaningful statements? but i felt guilty anyway and found something useful to post so i guess it worked.

(i should clarify that both of the ppl who posted those stories were white.)

if people of color are required to post nothing but content related to the protests, then the ability to post other content is indeed a privilege granted only to whites.

otoh, if posting any kind of instagram content that is unrelated to the protests is a prima facie case that the person posting has spent no thought upon the reasons for the protests, or dismisses their importance, has no interest in them, or simply ignores them because they feel uncomfortable thinking about them, then - yup - those are definitely manifestations of a white privilege. so, it all depends on several factors not clearly established by the choice of instagram content alone.

There's no question that that's the point that is supposed to be getting across, and I'm saying I don't like that framing, because the subtext is "feel guilty that YOU have these things and other people don't" instead of "everyone clearly should have these fairly minimal things."

i don't think that's true, although i have often felt that way. guilt is one way of processing all of this, and a very natural one, for a white person. but i don't think it's a productive way, or the intended consequence of thinking about white privilege. and when i feel that way, it is almost always a framework that i am putting on myself, not one that other people are putting on me. by itself, before i add my own bullshit on top of it, "white privilege" is an acknowledgement of the gap between our real living conditions and lived experience. what we do with that information and how we process it is up to us

otm

"white privilege" is an acknowledgement of the gap between our real living conditions and lived experience.

this was poor writing, sorry. i am tired. i meant the gap between the living conditions of white people and the lived experience of non-white people

xp yeah my feeling on the whole "you are privileged if you are not sharing x on instagram" is (1) well no not really but (2) that's a pretty effective way of getting people to share stuff on instagram, and ultimately who cares, you don't actually have to do it.

There is also something about privilege-acknowledgement that feels, to me, uncomfortably like saying grace to society rather than being outraged at injustice I guess.

Good news everyone moved on from the privilege thing like 5 years ago mostly. The new meme is abolishing the police.

not in my facebook feed!

Maybe quit Facebook, dunno what to tell you dude

yeah, facebook fucking blows

I'm too old for tik tok

ty Karl

not really specific to this thread, but since we discussed integrated schools, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/podcasts/nice-white-parents-serial.html.

IDK if there's a critical mass of people for a thread on school integration, but it's an issue I've followed a lot. Interested in that podcast for sure, particularly as I try to reckon with the fact that I attended an integrated middle school and a 90-95% african american high school but haven't prioritized school integration for my kids.

Is it easier to integrate virtual classrooms?

will be interested in your thoughts xp

found this completely maddening btw. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/parenting/children-screen-time-games-phones.html. i can see why people find the privilege self flagellation of, e.g. the integrated schools movement (above) a turn off, but the smugness with which she concedes that she has no idea what she's talking about because of privilege, and then proceeds to tell people what to do, is on another level.

Oh, I worked with that author once, and yeah, I can’t say I’m surprised she wrote that.

so is doordash good…or bad

It is new look carriage trade, so bad. Shop for your own damned groceries.

delivery is bad. got it.

I don't have a problem with delivery per se. I usually do pickup when ordering food because I have a car and it's often quicker, but different strokes. That said, if I needed to have food delivered, I'd rather just go through the restaurant directly than use an app like Doordash or Grubhub.

how many more times

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anonymous-prole-info-abolish-restaurants

Can I pay someone to read that for me?

food is bad

making the same dish over and over again increases the power of the simulacrum

delivery groceries are good when everyone in your household has covid and needs to eat

anyway, in my glorious communist future, we will all have delicious restaurant meals served to us by comrades talented at cooking who enjoy it

how many more times

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anonymous-prole-info-abolish-restaurants

― brimstead, Monday, 25 March 2024 15:02 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

can still have doordash without restaurants tho, needs a second "abolish grocery stores" article

anyway, in my glorious communist future, we will all have delicious restaurant meals served to us by comrades talented at cooking who enjoy it

It is new look carriage trade, so bad. Shop for your own damned groceries.

― steely flan (suzy), Monday, March 25, 2024 7:41 AM bookmarkflaglink

it's for food delivery, not merely groceries, and services like this were extremely important to my mother and I when she was home alone and couldn't leave dad in the house by himself, or when we were emotionally drained after a long day of caretaking and didn't have the energy to leave the house. I imagine there are plenty of others who use the service for similar reasons who also aren't rich.

I’m in an area where a lot of healthy, physically fit and wealthy people use our version of doordash, the rich lazy fuckers.

Anyone living with illness or a disability (or caring for others who might) isn’t catching wrath from me for using delivery services!

IDC if people use it or not as long as they tip well.

For groceries anyway. For restaurants that already have existing delivery though you're just putting money in the pocket of a big corp that could be split between you and the restaurant instead. I try to go direct for food delivery where possible.

replace this thread with claude.ai

Honestly pretty good https://t.co/GWJEESAbsC pic.twitter.com/hLzCG0NwPe

— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) March 25, 2024

_anyway, in my glorious communist future, we will all have delicious restaurant meals served to us by comrades talented at cooking who enjoy it_


It is a wonderful idea … I have friends who attempted this… the place still exists but not quite the way they had envisioned

robots, obv

leaving aside the optics of piling on someone who is clearly unwell, the miami vice affair seems like an important and fascinating cultural document

I regret looking that up but the wrongest people in the conversation are those championing the director's cut over the theatrical.

yeah the cold open is one of the coolest things

Someone give me the short version of whatever the Miami vice thing is, since I'm not on Twitter / X anymore I couldn't really get very far.

This is all I could find. Not sure what the privilege angle is:

It’s a pretty wild clip, and when combined with Streuessnig’s glowing words it ignited a firestorm of discourse about whether or not the film, which stars Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, was any good. Detractors said it was just another bro movie, dismissing it as fodder for straight men. Supporters, including our very own Carolyn Petit who has been singing Miami Vice’s praises for years, said otherwise. But I had never seen it, so I sat down this weekend to watch it. And guess what? Miami Vice rules.

alls I have to say about this thread which I regret having watched...

I am thankful that in my early 20s, when I was at my most unhinged and awful, that the shit I was posting wasn't viewable by hundreds of thousands of people.

like if this was a real-life conversation, it'd have been over in 5 minutes, but there's something about having your fuckup permanently encased in amber that tends to make people much more defensive when called out. like a wound that keeps getting re-opened.

that said, holy LOL at the "fuck you Brandon" post lol

wut