Definition of privilege

[Alan]

I think real privilege is the ability to force your idea of social equity on others.

[LDAHL]

LDAHL,

i object to your tax break. I don’t see you “paying twice” I see you paying once for the education of all the children in the community - just like people who do not choose to have children. (You feel you benefit by increased property value. As someone who intends to die here I see “increased property value” as a bad thing, but “a well educated populous” as a good thing.) And then, separately, I see you exercising the privilege afforded you by your economic situation to opt out of public education and give your children something you think is better.

your tax break allows you to contribute less to the community as a reward for a choice that benefits only your family. I think it is a mistake on the part of the community to give you that tax break.

I think defining community as government is too narrow. Private institutions and voluntary associations are also an important component. Participating in a private institution that offers an alternative to a state-provided educational monoculture is probably good both for its supporters and the community at large.

One way this is recognised and encouraged is through various tax credits or deductions.

[Teacher Terry]

Some people do not feel that health care is a right but more of a privilege. I personally know 2 people that would be dead without the ACA. When my friend's daughter developed a rare liver disease at 19 she was too sick to go to college but was allowed to stay on her Mom's work insurance until age 26. Previously she would have been out of luck. She needed a liver transplant and before being put on the list you had to prove you can afford it and afford all the anti-rejection drugs later. Then someone else I know works f.t. but has no insurance by her employer but has ACA insurance. She needs a surgery out of state by specialists and they would not even give her an appointment until she could prove she had insurance that would cover it. So without the insurance she would die. I paid taxes and sent my kids to private school until 7th grade because the local elementary schools were crappy. However, we were allowed to use the special services at the public school like when one of my kids needed speech therapy. I never minded paying the taxes.

[Chicken lady]

Alan, I like your definition.

I wasn’t really advocating that particular remedy, just trying to follow a thought path on what “raising the bottom to the norm” might look like in that instance. Probably too far, because my children’s education was “above the norm” due to my priorities and resources (as is the education of the children of most who have the opportunity to make policy decisions)

LDAHL, I disagree that opting into an alternative education system has benefits for society at large. One might argue that the individuals leaving that alternative system are more productive and contribute more to society, but my view is that students with resources are likely to do well in any educational system and the net effect of more resources (your tax money, time and energy) for the other students instead would be greater. I do not, however, think it is somehow “wrong” for you to prioritize your own offspring.

[JaneV2.0]

I think real privilege is the ability to force your idea of social equity on others.

Like civil rights for all and stuff. Got it.

[BikingLady]

Definition: thinking my ability, access, freedom of being able to, area of safe living(hopefully) to go for a hike this morning before the sun was up. That is a privilege that many for any of those reasons could not do.

[Alan]

Like civil rights for all and stuff. Got it.

Yes, living in a Democracy can be messy without the controlling force of a Republic to temper it's citizens imposition of privilege. It took a long time for Republican principles to overcome those Democratic tendencies to reserve civil rights to a preferred tribe. But there's still much room for improvement, not so much on the civil rights side of the equation but on the personal liberty side. These days it's not the governing principles of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness that's at risk, but rather the personal liberties of conscience, religious freedom and association that Democratic group think tries to eliminate from the social order. Using government as a force to impose those restrictions is a terrible use of privilege that must be resisted at every turn.

[JaneV2.0]

As much as I hate to agree with you, I must in this instance (and others): https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/wond...-it/vi-BBEXt3R

Now take your Soma, like a good citizen...

[Alan]

“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.”
―

Aldous Huxley

, Brave New World

[JaneV2.0]

“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