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Thread: Definition of privilege

  1. #81
    Simpleton Alan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JaneV2.0 View Post
    “It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch 22
    Or a democracy.
    "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein

  2. #82
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    I was thinking more of a dictatorship...

  3. #83
    Simpleton Alan's Avatar
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    A democracy is a sort of dictatorship, tribal but dictatorial.
    "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein

  4. #84
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    This concern with the basic condition of freedom -- the absence of physical constraint -- is unquestionably necessary, but is not all that is necessary. It is perfectly possible for a man to be out of prison and yet not free -- to be under no physical constraint and yet to be a psychological captive, compelled to think, feel and act as the representatives of the national State, or of some private interest within the nation, want him to think, feel and act.
    Well are they paying him? If so it's a paycheck. And if not it's quite a privilege indeed to have to worry about such soft restraints of freedom (it's a case of having nothing REAL to worry about pretty much - and having nothing real to worry about may as well just be the total of the definition of privilege in it's entirety).
    Trees don't grow on money

  5. #85
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    Well, see, this is why I liked Alan’s definition of priveledge.

    previously white Christian males had all the priveledge and they got to define terms like “freedom of association”, “conscience”, and “religious liberty” and impose their version of social equity on everybody else. Now some of that priveledge is slipping into other hands and they don’t like it. It’s not fun when other people have priveledge and you don’t And it significantly impacts your life!

  6. #86
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chicken lady View Post
    Well, see, this is why I liked Alan’s definition of priveledge.

    previously white Christian males had all the priveledge and they got to define terms like “freedom of association”, “conscience”, and “religious liberty” and impose their version of social equity on everybody else. Now some of that priveledge is slipping into other hands and they don’t like it. It’s not fun when other people have priveledge and you don’t And it significantly impacts your life!
    I think the problem occurs when people leap off the “priveledge” into all sorts of petty tyranny and ethical nonsense in the name of social equity. Wealthy white people lecturing less wealthy white people about the need to sacrifice their unfair advantages. Making judgments of guilt or innocence on a group rather than individual basis. Speech codes and silencing of opposing ideas. And the endless condescension driven by the unfounded assumption of moral superiority.

  7. #87
    Williamsmith
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    This thread reminds me of the predictions Hanna Rosin made seven years ago in an article for the Atlantic magazine called, The End of Men. Perhaps it was a few years early but in light of recent happenings....seems prescient.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...of-men/308135/

  8. #88
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    The ability to strip the license plates off a car with a long handled adjustable wrench in early morning daylight in a residential area in a strange town and have the sheriff drive past without even slowing down.

  9. #89
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LDAHL View Post
    Making judgments of guilt or innocence on a group rather than individual basis.
    Trayvon Martin would undoubtedly agree with you on this were he still alive today.

  10. #90
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    Quote Originally Posted by jp1 View Post
    Trayvon Martin would undoubtedly agree with you on this were he still alive today.
    That sad episode provided many tragically comic and comically tragic examples of that kind of thinking. The New York Times struggle with the shooter's pedigree that eventually preserved the narrative with "White Hispanic". NBC editing the 911 call audio to achieve the desired impact. ABC 're-digitizing" photos to the same purpose. Presidential musings on what his male issue might have looked like. The raising of sweatshirts and Skittles to protest totems. The usual uplifting commentary from the Rev. Al Sharpton. Spike Lee tweeting (incorrectly) George Zimmerman's home address. Zimmerman auctioning his gun to the skinhead community. It was a true Bonfire of the Vanities moment.

    Ultimately, the presumption of innocence triumphed over the forces arrayed against it; but it was a near-run thing.

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