Scratching the Privilege Itch

When people start using the meaningless word "privilege" in a political context, they soon slip into the depths of ridiculousness without ever noticing it. They start publishing endless posts and articles that attempt to construct profoundly weird hierarchies of privilege without ever stopping to question the validity of the word they use more often than an indefinite article.

Who is more privileged, a fat Asian transgendered heterosexual male or a thin white visibly disabled gay woman? A cisgendered working-class able-bodied Latina or an upper-class white gay transgendered invisibly disabled man? Protracted debates around these questions occupy so much time of the pseudo-progressive privilege-pushers that no real political activism takes place.

The reason why I write so much about my annoyance with the privilege-analyzing folks is twofold. For one, this small minority of jargony pseudo-Liberals make the entire progressive movement look ridiculous. If a reasonable, progressively minded individual reads a post like this one, how likely are they to take anything coming out of the Liberal camp seriously? The answer is obvious. Another reason why this masturbation around privilege bothers me is that it occupies the space where meaningful political discussions and genuine activism could take place. It creates an illusion that people are doing something important while in reality nothing other than a senseless parsing of a meaningless concept occurs. 

The self-righteousness that the privilege-pushers unanimously possess comes from their deep conviction that by owning up to something as non-existent as privilege they have confessed their deepest sin and can now receive the absolution from the Liberal community and rest on their laurels. After that feat is accomplished, they start policing those of their progressive brethren who have managed to resist the allure of scratching their self-aggrandizing privilege itch.

P.S. Now, whether you agree with the ideas I expressed here or not, wouldn't you say that this is a very well-written post? I kind of think it is. I need to go and examine my privilege of somebody who writes well.