General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: If you are the member of a privileged group AND call yourself progressive [View all]MellowDem
(5,018 posts)It's the black and white framing and defining of "privilege" and the patronizing/condescending tone.
Everyone is part of a privileged group of some sort, so to say that "members of a privileged group" (the implication is obvious here) shouldn't do such and such seems to ignore this basic reality and pretend that there are "privileged" and "non-privileged" groups, and you belong to one or the other, but not both. That's why people are asking the OP to define privilege, because it includes everyone, but the tone of the post was clearly not aimed at everyone.
Then to go on and lecture this now implied group not to be dismissive is condescending and implies that people without privilege in a certain context never or rarely are dismissive or even that it's alright if they're dismissive, because they're not privileged, which makes no sense.
The idea that a person shouldn't be dismissive of other's opinions is extremely obvious. It's like saying, "don't be an asshole". So if I were to tell a defined group, "don't be an asshole", the implication is that they already are assholes, or have more assholes relative to others, and that other groups are not or even cannot be such, or that if they are, it's really not a problem worth addressing in their case because it's so few.
If the OP thought some DUers were being dismissive of other's opinions, this was entirely the wrong way to go about it. If the OP thought that being privileged in a subject makes you more likely to be dismissive, or something to that effect, they should have said so. The way they wrote it was incredibly poor. DUers of all sorts, belonging to all kinds of privileged and non-privileged groups, are dismissive all the time. I see it all the time. I'm dismissive of certain opinions at times, which probably isn't right, but it does depend on the context. When it comes to certain right-wing talking points I've seen over and over, for example, and that have been debunked over and over, I can be dismissive. It's an emotional reaction, and it should be addressed, but to single out a group as the main offender is a pretty poor way to go about it.