I disagree that white privilege is being treated like a citizen with rights. To me, it means acknowledging that you have advantages that other people have not had. And therefore, you can't take full credit for whatever it is that you have accomplished, because you started with those advantages.
And I haven't heard that white privilege needs to be dismantled, so that no one has those rights. Rather, people with many disadvantages should have a more level playing field.
Thanks for reading, Laura! I'm surprised you haven't heard people talking about dismantling white privilege because I have, countless times. Although there was a time when I found the concept of privilege to be really important, I now have a couple concerns with it. One is how people are applying it in very strange ways (for example, I've heard people talk about being nice as a privilege) and attributing causation of everything under the sun solely to privilege. Secondly, the concept can be wielded in such a way that obscures or obfuscates material differences rather than addressing them. For example, in Victoria BC, the school board decided to get rid of the music program because not enough Indigenous kids were signing up. Music was framed as a privilege. Thankfully the parents of music program kids fought back and the decision was reversed. But this is just one example of making things equal by taking away services from everyone rather than figuring out what the barriers or obstacles are for a marginalized group so you can remove them. I think there are still contexts in which the concept of privilege is useful, but it does feel that it's a word that's been overused and abused to the point of nearly losing its meaning.
Thank you for this excellent article. I’m glad that you have a diagnosis and that you are hopefully working with your health care providers to get the best quality of life possible in your situation.
As a former health care worker, I want to mention that alternative or complementary therapies are not without downsides. First, stating the obvious, there’s the cost in both time and money. Second, there’s the fact that people may delay getting help from an evidence based healthcare practitioner while they explore ineffective alternatives. Third, there’s the possibility that the alternative therapy may have an adverse impact on the person’s health, potentially compounding the issues they already have or giving them altogether new health issues. (Some alternative therapies are far from innocuous.) Fourth, it’s possible that some of the therapies are sourced unethically, as is the case with rhino horn or shark fin, for instance.
People who raise the possibility that an ineffective therapy could at the very least offer a placebo effect miss all of these critical points.
I’m sad that for profit healthcare systems still exist in wealthy countries and I agree that this needs to be the focus of the fight for better health care. Meanwhile, countries with public healthcare systems need citizens who work to protect and even expand them, while supporting the people who do the work.
“Conceiving of healthcare as a privilege obscures the fact that it is a human right. Privilege discourse implies that there will always be two groups: the haves and the have-nots. It also creates hostility and competition between people who could band together and insist on a universal public system. Arguing about who deserves healthcare is fool’s errand because it’s a trick question. Everyone deserves healthcare.”
The division is the point, as it is with all discussions of privilege in a social justice context. Framing things in terms of privilege also implies that the privilege could be taken away. It suggests an authoritarian parent-child relationship.
“White privilege” is being treated like a citizen with rights. This isn’t a privilege, it’s a right. By framing it in terms of white privilege to be “dismantled” instead of rights to be gained for minorities, you are priming for a solution that involves removing rights and freedoms from rights rather than gaining them for society as a whole. Everyone loses.
You better behave, or mommy will take away your cellphone privileges!
I enjoyed the article. Great writing.
I disagree that white privilege is being treated like a citizen with rights. To me, it means acknowledging that you have advantages that other people have not had. And therefore, you can't take full credit for whatever it is that you have accomplished, because you started with those advantages.
And I haven't heard that white privilege needs to be dismantled, so that no one has those rights. Rather, people with many disadvantages should have a more level playing field.
Thanks for reading, Laura! I'm surprised you haven't heard people talking about dismantling white privilege because I have, countless times. Although there was a time when I found the concept of privilege to be really important, I now have a couple concerns with it. One is how people are applying it in very strange ways (for example, I've heard people talk about being nice as a privilege) and attributing causation of everything under the sun solely to privilege. Secondly, the concept can be wielded in such a way that obscures or obfuscates material differences rather than addressing them. For example, in Victoria BC, the school board decided to get rid of the music program because not enough Indigenous kids were signing up. Music was framed as a privilege. Thankfully the parents of music program kids fought back and the decision was reversed. But this is just one example of making things equal by taking away services from everyone rather than figuring out what the barriers or obstacles are for a marginalized group so you can remove them. I think there are still contexts in which the concept of privilege is useful, but it does feel that it's a word that's been overused and abused to the point of nearly losing its meaning.
Thank you for this excellent article. I’m glad that you have a diagnosis and that you are hopefully working with your health care providers to get the best quality of life possible in your situation.
As a former health care worker, I want to mention that alternative or complementary therapies are not without downsides. First, stating the obvious, there’s the cost in both time and money. Second, there’s the fact that people may delay getting help from an evidence based healthcare practitioner while they explore ineffective alternatives. Third, there’s the possibility that the alternative therapy may have an adverse impact on the person’s health, potentially compounding the issues they already have or giving them altogether new health issues. (Some alternative therapies are far from innocuous.) Fourth, it’s possible that some of the therapies are sourced unethically, as is the case with rhino horn or shark fin, for instance.
People who raise the possibility that an ineffective therapy could at the very least offer a placebo effect miss all of these critical points.
I’m sad that for profit healthcare systems still exist in wealthy countries and I agree that this needs to be the focus of the fight for better health care. Meanwhile, countries with public healthcare systems need citizens who work to protect and even expand them, while supporting the people who do the work.
Thanks for laying out the risks of alternative therapies in more detail! You are right that they are not always as innocuous as they seem.
“Conceiving of healthcare as a privilege obscures the fact that it is a human right. Privilege discourse implies that there will always be two groups: the haves and the have-nots. It also creates hostility and competition between people who could band together and insist on a universal public system. Arguing about who deserves healthcare is fool’s errand because it’s a trick question. Everyone deserves healthcare.”
The division is the point, as it is with all discussions of privilege in a social justice context. Framing things in terms of privilege also implies that the privilege could be taken away. It suggests an authoritarian parent-child relationship.
“White privilege” is being treated like a citizen with rights. This isn’t a privilege, it’s a right. By framing it in terms of white privilege to be “dismantled” instead of rights to be gained for minorities, you are priming for a solution that involves removing rights and freedoms from rights rather than gaining them for society as a whole. Everyone loses.
You better behave, or mommy will take away your cellphone privileges!
Very well said! We discussed your comment on our newest episode: https://kier.substack.com/p/ep-4-why-are-canadas-drug-prices