For The Privileged, The "Others" Do Not Deserve Justice. [View all]

[MineralMan]

Mitt Romney's high school assault of one of the people he thought was an "Other" is good evidence of this. Romney, attending a private high school for the wealthy and privileged, thought it was just fine to assault another student who was an "Other." The "Otherness" involved some hair bleach and a slightly rebellious hairstyle. It happened in 1965. I remember 1965. Lots of kids were starting to experiment with "Other" looks and behaviors.

But, for Romney, this fellow student's hair marked him as an "Other," so being assaulted by a group of students, with Romney in the lead, was OK. We aren't hearing about any disciplinary action by the school. We aren't hearing about an arrest for assault and battery. That's because the entire school and community treated this as a non-event. After all, one of the privileged, the son of a wealthy, powerful man and a "leader" in his school, had only exercised his privilege, and the victim was obviously an "Other."

And so it goes throughout much of our society. Those with privilege have a free pass to belittle, insult, and harm "Others." People let them get by with it, because they are the privileged, and should not be condemned for what privileged people do. So, such attacks are written off as "youthful pranks," or forgiven because, well, the "Others" don't really matter, and why should the privileged be punished for what the privileged have always done?

That is it, in a nutshell. If you are a person of privilege, you may do as you please. If you are an "Other," you must expect such behavior from the privileged, and not complain about it or attempt to prosecute. It is your lot. You are an "Other."