Privilege is a topic with, any definitions and many angles of interpretation. My definition describes privilege as a step-up or positive opportunity in a specific situation or circumstance that is not available to everyone. These privileges are sometimes earned while others are totally unwarranted by the recipient. An example of what I consider an unwarranted privilege would be a child living in a certain county and being able to attend a highly sought-after school strictly due to the way an area is zoned by the county. The privilege of a military veteran having his tuition paid for by the Government is a earned privilege by my beliefs. Privilege far extends far outside the boundaries of education. You will find privilege in virtually all facets …show more content…
of society including religion, the workplace, and just the ability to exist peacefully in life. When the oppurtunnity is granted to some and not to others there will always be an argument about fairness. Obviously, equality is something every modern society wants to strive for. However, it is my philosophy that people should gain and lose these privileges based on what society deems as right and wrong. Privilege is an ever evolving creature.
In certain peoples eyes I the thirty’s and forty’s it was being white, Christian, and German. Not being privileged with these attributes left you with only several options. First, leave behind all your belongings, your home, friends, and life to become a refugee far from the reach of socialist dictator and all around bad dude Adolf Hitler. Furthermore, the unlucky individuals would work themselves to death after being forced to a labor camp or potentially a death camp where they would be gassed. The majority of the world knew that the Nazis were wrong and that life was not a privilege to be given and taken strictly due to your race, …show more content…
religion, sexuality, or mental health. It seems every few decades some asshole comes into power that assumes he has the right to decide who has the privilege to live and die, and what makes a person worthy of living. Foday Sankoh, Ho Chi Minh, Benito Musolini, Idi Amin, Sadaam Hussein, Pol Pot, and Adolf Hitler are just a few examples of dicators that committed atrocious acts of genocide. All these people thought for some crazy reason or another that they decided who lived and who died. In their eyes they decided what privilege was. The privileges I personally am most accustomed to are through the Government. I have my tuition paid for and in addition, I receive a monthly housing stipend based on the local cost of living. This is through the Post 9-11 GI Bill, when I first entered the Army I paid $120 per month for twelve months for this benefit. Five years before I started at Augusta Tech I went to the Commercial Diving Academy in Jacksonville, Florida where I attended a Five month course to become a certified commercial diver. Those five moonths of training counted against the total forty-eight months that the Government is willing to pay for my school. I have 36 months of paid tuition left, which is great because I made too much money last year to qualify for any grants. I plan to use this privilege to better myself with a degree in business. The goal is to one day make enough money so that my hard work will turn into my future children’s privilege. The privilege to go to the best schools, have the nicest things and want for nothing. Another privilege I have is the ability in South Carolina to park in spaces that are metered and not have to pay due to the fact I have a Purple Heart Medal. The medal is awarded to Service Members whom have been wounded in direct enemy contact. I teeter tooter on whether having that medal is a privilege or not. I earned the medal, there is no doubt about it but is it a privilege? The Government is full of privileges, for a Government job Veterans get what is called preference points.
They are either given five or ten points. To receive 5 points the Veteran must have served during a time of war. To receive ten points the veteran must have what is called a service-connected disability or a Purple Heart. A service connected disability is when you have a injury or illness that came about during his or her time in service. Furthermore, what this preference system does is when you apply for a Government job the Veterans and civilian’s applications go into a system, a virtual stack of resumes if you will. The applicants with these preference points get put to the top of the list. Moreover, the applicants with ten point preference again goes to the top of five point preferrences and the civilians with zero preference. Though, even with these preferences you are not guaranteed a job. I personally applied to dozens of Government positions without even as much of a call back or thanks for applying. So as nice and beneficial as it sounds, it was of no help to
me. Webster Dictionnary has three definitions for privilege.1) A right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others. 2) A special opportunity to do something that makes you proud. 3) The advantage that wealthy and powerful people have over other people in a society. I agree with all three of these definitions. Specifically, to me when I hear privilege I think of definition #2. I’m very proud of my service, it was something at least since 1973 all service members voluntarily agreed to commit to the military and more so recently Service members signed up in times of war with a knowledge that there was a fairly high chance they would end up in either or both wars. My opinion is that the Government does the right thing in providing these privileges to Service Members who knowingly go into harm’s way in service of their Country. Sadly there are instances where there are privileges for some and not others for the completely wrong reasons. We as human beings need to put a heavy effort into the pursuance of equality. Until that happens privilege will remain a uncomfortable topic, especially for the ones who know they receive unjust privileges.
xenophobia. That ultimately lead to what was genocide in it’s purest form. They were the Hitlers
In conversations many people get defensive when someone says, “You have this because of your privilege” they feel as though that the person they are talking with doesn’t understand that they have worked hard for what they have, however that is not the point that anyone is trying to make. What someone in that position is saying is that although you have worked hard to get where you are your journey have been well furnished with privilege on account of your race. It is said to think about that you got somewhere in life due to the color of your skin, but it is also sadder to think that someone got declined a job, got stereotyped, or got overlooked because of their race or
The Holocaust. A subject most people would like to forget but shouldn't. People must find out as much as possible about it so history won't repeat itself. Millions of Jewish men, women, and children , of all strata were persecuted because of what? Nothing besides the fact that they were Jewish. Most Jews living in Germany, Austria, Poland, France or practically anywhere else in Europe were sent to concentration camps. There they were either tortured or killed.
When I read “Checking My Privilege” written by Tal Fortgang, a freshman at Princeton University, it made me stop and think. What does privilege mean, how should it be used and does it affect me and my life? Fortgang never really states the exact meaning of the word privilege but goes on to complain about the mistreatment of the word and how it is a form of reverse racism; could that be true, I wondered? However, he also claims that privileges do not exist based on race or gender, and that is something I do not agree with. I imagine many people will not agree with his stance on the word privilege or mine, as a matter of fact. Mainly because the word privilege has a different
White privilege is not a figment of African American or colored people’s imagination, it is just as real as many problems in America and one privilege that wealthy and middle class white people have is the right to a decent education. Many people might not think a simple thing such as education is a privilege seeing that all students by law have to attend schools but it is, and we all know that all schools and their districts are not created equally. In Jonathan Kozol essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Education Apartheid,” he writes, “Of seeing clusters of white parents and their children each morning on the corner of a street close to school, waiting for a bus that took the children to a predominantly white school” (349) Kozol
What I mean by this is that their privilege is dependent on where they are located and are dominant in that area. The example in the essay “The Unexamined” that Ross gives when he was going to Rome illustrates this very clearly. As he says that the white people have the privilege of being unexamined, it depends on how good they fit in with others in the same area. When he was in his city everyone around him had similar features so he would blend in easy. In this case nobody would examine him, or point a finger on him, hence the being in a privileged group opinion he had about himself. But all this would change as soon as he moved to another place, where people have different features then his. He would stand out from the rest, losing his group’s privileges as unexamined. So in order for Ross to maintain his group’s privilege he has to maintain his geographic location. Another example that shows that privileged groups maintain their privilege by staying in the same location is of that of people who are part of a gang. Being in a gang you have the privilege of having power over other people who are not part of your gang. Everyone is afraid of you and nobody would come against you. I’ve seen this in a lot of different movies that I like to watch during my free time. Members of different gangs taunt everyone that come in their territory. They are the ones that make the rules in that area. They have the privilege to rule other people’s lives. But if they move to a different area that’s not part of their gang they lose their privilege. They are not in control anymore. Nobody cares who they are no one is afraid of them. It’s like they don’t even exist anymore. These two examples show that groups can maintain their privilege by staying in the same geographic area, otherwise they would lose it and be no more than a regular group with no power or even a slight importance
Having privileges gives out respect to those who earned it for you, as explained in the article, “Checking My Privileges”, by Tal Fortgang. Privileges are not for people who deserve them but instead it is for people who are lucky enough to have them passed onto them. Tao explains how she was handed her privileges from the hard work of her grandparents and the accomplishments of their struggling journey to give their granddaughter the privileges she has today to be thankful for. Society judges one another based on their sexuality, and color of their skin, you may judge others of the same basis without knowing the story of how they have received their privileges, because by looking at how a person looks will not give you their background story of them or their
Privileges are things that a person receives that gives them an advantage over most people (Merriam-Webster). These are benefits that only certain people receive for being in a certain group or discourse. Peggy McIntosh, director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, wrote “White Privilege and Male Privilege” and states “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privileges, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege” (605). She argues that whites and males receive certain privileges, yet they do not even notice them. This shows that different races and women are still put at a disadvantage, but the people who receive the benefits are blind to the problem. Many people will argue that she is correct while some others will explain why this not is the case.
Prejudice and the Holocaust Prejudice was the main factor that led to the holocaust. For some, resisting these forms of oppression was survival. Considering the dehumanizing the Nazis had forced upon the Jews, people took whatever courage and strength they had to get through this period of time. I believe luck also had a part to play in survival.
Superiority and discrimination have been the underlying problem in many world-wide events throughout history leading into present day. Whether it be a caste system issue or a race issue, there’s always a group that labels themselves greater than that of another. This affair was apparent in 1940s Germany. The German people would be persuaded into a dictatorship led by Adolf Hitler, who while in power would give rise to Nazism, allowing the mistreatment of Jews to commence. This extermination would be known as “The Holocaust” translated to “sacrifice by fire” and would affect many different people groups during and after the event.
Do you consider yourself to be privileged? If so, to what extent? Yes, but only as far as my race is concerned. My SES throughout my life has been low, and in my opinion, has effectively mitigated my white privilege on countless occasions. But there is no denying that being considered white has afforded me opportunities, accommodations, and entitlements that are out of reach for folks of other races and ethnicities.
White privilege is a benefit that society gives to a white person. It is embedded in and supported by institutions, where it overtly manifests and reproduces as inequality (Cox & Taua, 2016, p. 48). This translates into preferential treatment for white coloured individuals. Such injustice results in the oppression of those who are not white, leading to unequal access to education, healthcare, housing, and employment (Gorski, 2003, p. 9).
The prevalence of white privilege had not occurred to me previously, but after reading White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack I have a better understanding of the impact my privilege has on myself and others. I also started to realize that this privilege can not only cause emotional distress for people, but also prevent them from achieving success. For instance, privilege can cause people from wealthier areas to receive more money for their school compared with those from poorer areas. This does not only impact the student by affecting the quality of their education, but also makes it harder for these students to rise above the poverty
I was raised by mother; although my father was always in the picture, he was never home since he was the breadwinner. My mom has thought me everything that I know and I am extremely grateful for her. The first question that I asked was “Define Privilege”, immediately she stated, “A gift that you get or that is earn. Nonetheless, a gift.” A little thrown off, she continued to talk about my grandfather.
Many of the unearned privileges describe in the article are ones that I meet the criteria for. Since I am a Caucasian male of catholic religion I have been lucky to have not dealt with issues others have dealt with. The acceptance of me and comes as one of the unearned privileges described. It is something that I didn’t earn or ask for and it has made things a little easier for me when it comes to dealing with racist people. Five examples of my unearned privilege I have received are listed below.