Thoughts about the Concept of Privilege
I know. What a thing to think about at the beginning of a year.
It's been something that has been on my mind ever since my social media was littered with the discussion back in 2020. Ah, 2020... such a chaotic year. At the time, I basically ignored it and was indifferent to it. I understand that it was a great issue to those who were dealing with what going on in terms of the discussion about privilege, but there was nothing really being done to truly take that conversation and turn it into action. Many surface level tributes and petitions were made, but nothing was truly changed on either a legal or societal level. Just a lot of noise with nothing substantial, as far as I was concerned.
Fast forward to 2021. Nothing much has really changed other than the intensity of the situation. A lot of what bothered people in 2020 began to die down. Much like every bit of controversy ever, it eventually dies to the wheels of time and entropy. Sure, there are still people who are champions to their causes, going with the causes until they either dissolve into nothing or find a profitable and acceptable conclusion. But those people were few and far between and did not contain the same rage and fire they held the year before. There were other things to consider in life during 2021 and other voices that needed to be heard.
Now I am here. It's early 2022, and now I am waiting to see what new voices decide to show up and scream about privilege and its various tangents. To be fair, I strayed away from most news media most of 2021 due to all the screaming and shouting, so I am not sure what specific topics or controversies happen. Nevertheless, the cycle always exists, and so I sense these controversies and topics have faded or will fade away.
As far as I am concerned, privilege is a social construct only held up by those who wish to have it. As someone who -by most standards- should be demanding different treatment for being a woman, being Hispanic and Latina (and there is a geographical difference between the two hence why I've mentioned both), and being within the millennial generation, I just don't care. For my personal needs, I only ask to be treated with the basic human rights given to me by my county gave me. I would like to speak my mind, be given privacy and equal legal rights concerning my societal identity and personal choices or preferences, to vote what laws and representatives I wish to give my consent to, and be given the proper, unaltered consequences if I were to ever commit a crime. Anything other than these are utterly useless to me.
The part of this that angers me are those who want more than just the basic rights to exist securely and privately. Those that wish to gain more "privilege" by protesting, waving flags, screaming to be heard, trying to pass petitions online, and generally trying to get attention from the news media that often looks down on them... I feel anger and disgust when I look at them. The ability to use protesting as a tool for change has now become meaningless. Using the internet to try and stir up change has lost its luster for the politicians that were voted for. The physical and verbal altercations are no longer inspiring; instead, they are laughable and shared online as jokes or memes.
Do you want things to be better? Do you want to be treated fairly?
Then live like you do. Show yourself to be an equal member of society compared to those you want to fight. Use your various outlets of influence in productive ways to affect change closer to your home. Make your home and your city a better place to live. Make your county and state a better place to live. Then your nation will be enticed to follow suit.
Deal with those who actively do harm to you, to others you care about, and to the environment around you. If you must get yourself in affairs that are not your own, learn what goes on from those who are involved in the problem themselves, not second-hand sources. Learn where your boundary and your limits are on these issues. If you wish to help those in need, do so with a clean heart and pure intentions, not for your own public or private benefit.
That is all I have to say on the matter for now. Please feel free to discuss this with me at any time, and be aware that this opinion of mine can change over time and with personal perspective.
Have a great day, and be well!
Love and Strength,
Animus