Once in awhile I'll be perusing through the web and someone says something that I think is so wrong, I feel compelled to thoroughly comment in reply, explaining to them why they are wrong. Since I'm lazy and I always feel a bit dissatisfied with just leaving the comment on the site to languish, I thought might as well post it and let everyone read it. So here is the first ever Raymond Responds.
Source: http://www.michigandaily.com/opinion/04viewpoint-when-privilege-blinds-us11
Comment:
I am in agreement that Miss Suzy Lee’s bitterness is over-the-top. She not seems to understand that hearing “be yourself and you’ll do fine” from her peers and believing it constantly makes it ridiculous that she would play Monday morning quarterback upon rejection.
Having said that, to chastise others as somehow overcome by whiteness or blinded by their own privilege for believing that their seemingly flawless resume ought to get them into their dream college is quite disconcerting. The notion that people like Suzy Lee are “riddled with unearned privilege and completely unaware of it” completely oversimplifies how complex a journey it can be to overcome privilege. I am just as “disheartened by these realities” as you, and have participated in 2-3 programs during my time here at Umich that have exposed me very harshly to them. I regularly came home overwhelmed, even crying.
But. The uneasy feelings that arise from being privileged when few others around you are is never a reason to resign oneself to simply “having a million reasons to be thankful.” It seems many with this attitude are blissfully ignoring their own potential because they dont want to feel bad for those with fewer reasons to be thankful. Like it or not, most of the potential you have to succeed in college and beyond is the result of your privilege, and you should not believe that those with less privilege are rooting against you or want you reduced to "their level".
So. It is nice that you have undertaken conscious efforts to come to terms with your own privilege and have found fulfillment by exposing directly yourself to those dealing with these very unfortunate problems. But Suzy Lee’s bitterness and your suggestion that privileged individuals' first reaction when facing hardship should be some sort of "complacency masked as humility" are equally poor ways to react to good fortune. That is why I do not think your “disgusted” attitude is relatable to 95% of those who come from privileged backgrounds.
(I've decided I'm not going to post people's names in case for some reason people agree with me and then consider that as the greenlight to lambast the individual. I know people could simply just go back to the article, but I'd rather them put the extra work into finding it then helping them troll someone unnecessarily. That being said, don't feel restricted from commenting on the articles or event responding to the comments yourself if you feel you have something constructive to say.)
My Response:
Interesting that you choose to evoke "others" when the author is clearly chastising Suzy for her comments, which implied that she thought she didn't get in for a host of reasons, one of them specifically being the fact that she wasn't a minority. You on the other hand undermine the egregious nature of the article, referring to it as merely "over-the-top". Such a designation implies that there is a more tame version of this article that can exist. A tame version of this article (that maintained all the of the points Suzy made (i.e. instead of calling out Elizabeth Warren, just focusing on her lack of diversity) would still be an act of unrecognized privilege. Furthermore, one doesn't overcome privilege. One accepts it. I accept that as a man I am endowed with certain privileges and in that acceptance I make an effort to fight against normative implications of a patriarchal society. Also, you generalize those who accept privilege as "[people] blissfully ignoring their own potential because they don't want to feel bad for those wither fewer reasons to be thankful." This language is unrepresentative of how privilege actually functions. When you refer to those from a targeted identity as having "fewer reasons to be thankful" you create the image of all people being in a surplus of blessings, with some groups being blessed more. Those from a targeted identity can see it in the exact opposite framework. It's most groups being in a deficit (i.e. institutional barriers), while some either breaking even (no barriers) or record a positive gain (institutional privilege). When we work from my framework, the likelihood becomes that the author isn't ignoring her privilege in an attempt to let those without it feel better, but instead is most likely using that privilege and her own hard work to help better the lives of those without it (or people in general). So, no the author isn't suggesting that those of privilege put things in perspective, but instead is making a very specific appeal to someone who evoked an ignorant position that is clearly not cognizant of its own privilege. (note: unedited written at 3 am, but if you want to criticize my grammar/spelling/coherency go ahead
Source: http://www.michigandaily.com/opinion/04viewpoint-when-privilege-blinds-us11
Comment:
I am in agreement that Miss Suzy Lee’s bitterness is over-the-top. She not seems to understand that hearing “be yourself and you’ll do fine” from her peers and believing it constantly makes it ridiculous that she would play Monday morning quarterback upon rejection.
Having said that, to chastise others as somehow overcome by whiteness or blinded by their own privilege for believing that their seemingly flawless resume ought to get them into their dream college is quite disconcerting. The notion that people like Suzy Lee are “riddled with unearned privilege and completely unaware of it” completely oversimplifies how complex a journey it can be to overcome privilege. I am just as “disheartened by these realities” as you, and have participated in 2-3 programs during my time here at Umich that have exposed me very harshly to them. I regularly came home overwhelmed, even crying.
But. The uneasy feelings that arise from being privileged when few others around you are is never a reason to resign oneself to simply “having a million reasons to be thankful.” It seems many with this attitude are blissfully ignoring their own potential because they dont want to feel bad for those with fewer reasons to be thankful. Like it or not, most of the potential you have to succeed in college and beyond is the result of your privilege, and you should not believe that those with less privilege are rooting against you or want you reduced to "their level".
So. It is nice that you have undertaken conscious efforts to come to terms with your own privilege and have found fulfillment by exposing directly yourself to those dealing with these very unfortunate problems. But Suzy Lee’s bitterness and your suggestion that privileged individuals' first reaction when facing hardship should be some sort of "complacency masked as humility" are equally poor ways to react to good fortune. That is why I do not think your “disgusted” attitude is relatable to 95% of those who come from privileged backgrounds.
(I've decided I'm not going to post people's names in case for some reason people agree with me and then consider that as the greenlight to lambast the individual. I know people could simply just go back to the article, but I'd rather them put the extra work into finding it then helping them troll someone unnecessarily. That being said, don't feel restricted from commenting on the articles or event responding to the comments yourself if you feel you have something constructive to say.)
My Response:
Interesting that you choose to evoke "others" when the author is clearly chastising Suzy for her comments, which implied that she thought she didn't get in for a host of reasons, one of them specifically being the fact that she wasn't a minority. You on the other hand undermine the egregious nature of the article, referring to it as merely "over-the-top". Such a designation implies that there is a more tame version of this article that can exist. A tame version of this article (that maintained all the of the points Suzy made (i.e. instead of calling out Elizabeth Warren, just focusing on her lack of diversity) would still be an act of unrecognized privilege. Furthermore, one doesn't overcome privilege. One accepts it. I accept that as a man I am endowed with certain privileges and in that acceptance I make an effort to fight against normative implications of a patriarchal society. Also, you generalize those who accept privilege as "[people] blissfully ignoring their own potential because they don't want to feel bad for those wither fewer reasons to be thankful." This language is unrepresentative of how privilege actually functions. When you refer to those from a targeted identity as having "fewer reasons to be thankful" you create the image of all people being in a surplus of blessings, with some groups being blessed more. Those from a targeted identity can see it in the exact opposite framework. It's most groups being in a deficit (i.e. institutional barriers), while some either breaking even (no barriers) or record a positive gain (institutional privilege). When we work from my framework, the likelihood becomes that the author isn't ignoring her privilege in an attempt to let those without it feel better, but instead is most likely using that privilege and her own hard work to help better the lives of those without it (or people in general). So, no the author isn't suggesting that those of privilege put things in perspective, but instead is making a very specific appeal to someone who evoked an ignorant position that is clearly not cognizant of its own privilege. (note: unedited written at 3 am, but if you want to criticize my grammar/spelling/coherency go ahead
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