Privilege isn’t only a ‘rich white man’ thing
“The ability to have a choice in what you do is a privilege,” as quoted from late American actor Anton Yelchin.
I think the sentence itself is already pretty self-explanatory. To a lot of people, ‘privilege’ is being a part of a certain group of people. It’s not wrong to think so, the word ‘privilege’ itself is defined as,
Unearned access to resources (social power) that are only readily available to some people because of their social group membership; an advantage, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by one societal group above and beyond the common advantage of all other groups. Privilege is often invisible to those who have it.
By that definition, there are many kinds of privilege: white privilege, socio-economic privilege, and male privilege, to name three. But, is ‘privilege’ really just for people who fit society’s standards, belong to the majority population, or those who have greater amount of money than the rest of the population? Well, I don’t think so.
Growing up, I’ve never really thought of myself as a ‘privileged’ individual – that was until my school organised a programme with teachers from ‘remote’ areas.
Having several people talk about the restrictions they had back in their area was eye-opening for me. The things I took for granted are the same things they dread to have access to. Clean water supply, books, internet – things I thought weren’t ‘special enough’ to be considered privileges.
Privilege is, indeed, invisible to those who have it.
Surely enough, every individual (or group) has different sets of privileges, and not all of them can be compared to one another. For example, the sets of privileges that royal family members have may not be applicable to ones of the working class population and vice versa.
Regardless of your socio-economic status, ethnic background, or any other form of diversity, I trust that you have access to the privilege of having technology – which is why I’d like for you to utilise that particular privilege well; starting off with simple actions such as respecting someone else’s privacy on the internet or not spreading hoaxes.
