"The fact that women are excelling at every endeavor they collectively attempt and are only ‘under-represented’ (for the most part) in jobs and roles that they do not seek is irrelevant. The fact that black and brown immigrant groups arrive in the U.S. and generally excel according to every social and financial and educational metric within decades is suppressed."
I think about this a lot, and I think the privilege confessional is due to their deep guilt and inability to direct that guilt and desire to help the vulnerable elsewhere, so it becomes firing squad. Henderson also influenced my thinking in this regard. You might also read that essay I linked mine by Liam Kofi Bright; you'd enjoy it.
I think guilt and misplaced empathy is certainly a big part. I think a feeling of inauthenticity is also part of it (which your comment alludes to I think). They're against white privilege... while enjoying white privilege. They're against CO2 emissions... while maintaining huge carbon footprints. They're radical egalitarians... while fighting for money and status.
I think people who grow up soft are just kind of afraid of failure and consequences in a way that a lot of us aren't. OF COURSE such a person wouldn't stick up for their cancelled colleague or publish that awkward data! Think of what might happen!
The TRUE sign of a coward isn't just a timid person. It's someone who resents and hates courageous people. It's much easier to conceptualize oneself as a warrior for justice than as a coward who's hiding inside a crowd of other cowards. If I was in that position, I'd probably adopt the same beliefs... but I don't fear loss of status or unemployment or embarrassment. If someone tried to pressure me into saying something I strongly disagreed with my anger would outweigh everything else and I'd happily burn my career to the ground in order to make my stand. What's the worst that could happen? End up a manager at Chipotle? That's better than 90% of the jobs I've had.
If only these people could see that (1) life is complicated/you don't know everything and (2) there's little to fear, as long as you adopt the right attitude.
I wish I could write under my own name, but fear of losing everything I've ever worked for stops me. Agreed, though, that most people I meet in general seem soft in this way. Most people I meet these days don't like me because I won't say the catechism.
Thanks James- Yes, we have definitely been force fed a line of thinking along the sex/race/orientation identity game that takes no account for the other infinite ways we could choose to group ourselves. I am glad to see more and more folks mentioning the "two parent" privilege, as that particular statistic becomes more widely recognized.
In the arts, I constantly see calls for submissions or auditions that invite: LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and Latino artists for exhibition opportunities. It may be fun for them to type out all the letters, but it really boils down to no straight, white males. Funny way to discriminate- just celebrate everyone BUT one group.
BIPOC, of course, is an attempt to build a coalition of non-whites, as if they have anything to do with each other. But how much does a lesbian have in common with a trans person at this point?
It is interesting among the believers that all that is normal is essentially, bad. And all that is marginal ought to be normalized. Is normalization therefore good or bad, according to them?
Great article! But just to be clear, that quote at the top is from Rob Henderson's memoir "Troubled." I'm sorry if I didn't make the attribution clear before.
Thanks! I'll edit. You probably did... I just read your comment and wrote this hastily, to systematize some of the things I've been considering about the way we use the work 'privilege' now.
"The fact that women are excelling at every endeavor they collectively attempt and are only ‘under-represented’ (for the most part) in jobs and roles that they do not seek is irrelevant. The fact that black and brown immigrant groups arrive in the U.S. and generally excel according to every social and financial and educational metric within decades is suppressed."
I think about this a lot, and I think the privilege confessional is due to their deep guilt and inability to direct that guilt and desire to help the vulnerable elsewhere, so it becomes firing squad. Henderson also influenced my thinking in this regard. You might also read that essay I linked mine by Liam Kofi Bright; you'd enjoy it.
I think guilt and misplaced empathy is certainly a big part. I think a feeling of inauthenticity is also part of it (which your comment alludes to I think). They're against white privilege... while enjoying white privilege. They're against CO2 emissions... while maintaining huge carbon footprints. They're radical egalitarians... while fighting for money and status.
I think people who grow up soft are just kind of afraid of failure and consequences in a way that a lot of us aren't. OF COURSE such a person wouldn't stick up for their cancelled colleague or publish that awkward data! Think of what might happen!
The TRUE sign of a coward isn't just a timid person. It's someone who resents and hates courageous people. It's much easier to conceptualize oneself as a warrior for justice than as a coward who's hiding inside a crowd of other cowards. If I was in that position, I'd probably adopt the same beliefs... but I don't fear loss of status or unemployment or embarrassment. If someone tried to pressure me into saying something I strongly disagreed with my anger would outweigh everything else and I'd happily burn my career to the ground in order to make my stand. What's the worst that could happen? End up a manager at Chipotle? That's better than 90% of the jobs I've had.
If only these people could see that (1) life is complicated/you don't know everything and (2) there's little to fear, as long as you adopt the right attitude.
I wish I could write under my own name, but fear of losing everything I've ever worked for stops me. Agreed, though, that most people I meet in general seem soft in this way. Most people I meet these days don't like me because I won't say the catechism.
Thanks James- Yes, we have definitely been force fed a line of thinking along the sex/race/orientation identity game that takes no account for the other infinite ways we could choose to group ourselves. I am glad to see more and more folks mentioning the "two parent" privilege, as that particular statistic becomes more widely recognized.
In the arts, I constantly see calls for submissions or auditions that invite: LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and Latino artists for exhibition opportunities. It may be fun for them to type out all the letters, but it really boils down to no straight, white males. Funny way to discriminate- just celebrate everyone BUT one group.
BIPOC, of course, is an attempt to build a coalition of non-whites, as if they have anything to do with each other. But how much does a lesbian have in common with a trans person at this point?
It is interesting among the believers that all that is normal is essentially, bad. And all that is marginal ought to be normalized. Is normalization therefore good or bad, according to them?
Nice piece, James.
Great article! But just to be clear, that quote at the top is from Rob Henderson's memoir "Troubled." I'm sorry if I didn't make the attribution clear before.
Thanks! I'll edit. You probably did... I just read your comment and wrote this hastily, to systematize some of the things I've been considering about the way we use the work 'privilege' now.