General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: When did pointing out privilege become a personal attack? [View all]The Straight Story
(48,121 posts)Is that there are many layers of privilege such as your economic class, handicaps, etc, that also affect in a negative way everyone (or that person) - that is to say what privilege you may in one area is dampened by offsetting lack in other areas.
The other point attached to that is they may well have suffered from being held back over one of these things and overcame that to achieve something but are then either told or have inferred that they didn't overcome anything.
Looking at top down those with the most privilege are the wealthy. Income distribution, old boy networks, power over a great many things that affect us all (the 99%) - so for the rest of us we all struggle against the privilege of the few.
Privilege exists for many people based on many factors - is there an larger, institutional overtone? Yes - blacks, gays, women, etc have had a broader issue on a bigger basis based on laws, societal norms, etc and so are - in a general sense - farther back on the starting line and have had balls and chains added to slow them down.
But sometimes when you look down the track to those ahead they have a ball and chain as well slowing them down while the most privileged are zipping round and round the track in race cars drinking champagne and laughing at us for finding fault in all the others on the track. And the more we fight and accuse each other of being 'bad' or 'not caring about someone else on the track enough' we are not moving ahead because we are not joining together.