Princeton Freshman Sick Of Being Told To 'Check Your Privilege'

[NewRightLibertarian]

Its not a guilt trip; its an insult. It's meant to imply that you didn't get where you are due to hard work, merit, or inherent abilities. ie: you didn't build that.

Yep, and that you need to pay up what you've worked for to government in order to make things 'fair.'

 

[tommyrp12]

I just don't know anymore, everything is offensive to everyone. HATE SPEECH!



Better watch it quick as I was posting this YT took that copy down.

 

[BamaAla]

If somebody ever told me to "check your privilege" I'm not quite sure how I would respond. It'd be tough to come up with a friendly response; which is perhaps the point. To upset and troll you. I'm gonna have to think about that so I have something prepared in case the day arrives.

I don't think people actually say that to your face; it seems to be an online phenomenon.

I just don't know anymore, everything is offensive to everyone. HATE SPEECH!


Better watch it quick as I was posting this YT took that copy down.

WTF? What did the sign say? That was just, I don't know, disturbing...sad, I have no words.

 

[Antischism]

I don't like the phrase because it creates a lot of misunderstanding and some people use it maliciously, but I guess that's the case for a lot of things, especially when context is involved. The phrase isn't meant to shame anyone (though it can be used in that way, context is always important) rather, it's kind of like a nudge to make sure you understand your position when making certain statements. For example, a straight male going on about how homosexuals don't really have it bad and just need to suck it up would be speaking from a point of privilege, or rather, a lack of a specific disadvantage or disadvantages faced by specific people. Since they haven't faced these specific disadvantages, they can more easily brush it off or speak down on it because it hasn't affected their life in any way.

It's not about shame, it's simply the acknowledgement that being male/straight or whatever it is, keeps you from having to face certain disadvantages, like how people of color are profiled by police much more often. So in that case, being white means the chances of being profiled by the cops in America are significantly lower than if you had been born with darker skin. Think U.S. post 9-11 and how a lot of people who looked middle eastern were being profiled as terrorists at airports. Not resembling that "mold" of what terrorists are apparently supposed to look like meant you had a specific "privilege" or lack of disadvantage.

Again, this is why that phrase is terrible. It's much more productive to explain why a person's opinion is misguided with a solid counter-argument than yelling CHECK YOUR PRIVILEGE as some sort of end-all rebuttal.


Edit: Also, LOL @ that YouTube video. Jesus, that is one weird, grating sound the person was producing. I'm really curious what the sign said. Wait, just saw a higher quality video. Sign says: :WARNING: Masturbators, Thieves, Liars, Drunkards, Fornicators, and Homosexuals :JUDGMENT DAY:

 

[MRK]

Ex-lacrosse player here.

Upon first reaction of hearing someone say "Check your privilege," I immediately think of cracking someone in the face with a metal pole.

Just my first synapse response.

 

[MRK]

Being Latino only granted you an automatic exemption from privilege checks before George Zimmerman. Now, in any conflict, skin pigment levels must be compared to determine who is in need of a check.

Coming to a TSA Rapescan center near you:

Meet SCiO. It is the world's first affordable molecular sensor that fits in the palm of your hand. SCiO is a tiny spectrometer and allows you to get instant relevant information about the chemical make-up of just about anything around you, sent directly to your smartphone.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/903107259/scio-your-sixth-sense-a-pocket-molecular-sensor-fo

 

[FloralScent]

I don't understand. Why hasn't he killed himself?

Because he doesn't consider himself white.

 

[amy31416]

Coming to a TSA Rapescan center near you:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/903107259/scio-your-sixth-sense-a-pocket-molecular-sensor-fo

I need that.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Cultural Marxism.

 

[BamaAla]

I don't like the phrase because it creates a lot of misunderstanding and some people use it maliciously, but I guess that's the case for a lot of things, especially when context is involved. The phrase isn't meant to shame anyone (though it can be used in that way, context is always important) rather, it's kind of like a nudge to make sure you understand your position when making certain statements. For example, a straight male going on about how homosexuals don't really have it bad and just need to suck it up would be speaking from a point of privilege, or rather, a lack of a specific disadvantage or disadvantages faced by specific people. Since they haven't faced these specific disadvantages, they can more easily brush it off or speak down on it because it hasn't affected their life in any way.

It's not about shame, it's simply the acknowledgement that being male/straight or whatever it is, keeps you from having to face certain disadvantages, like how people of color are profiled by police much more often. So in that case, being white means the chances of being profiled by the cops in America are significantly lower than if you had been born with darker skin. Think U.S. post 9-11 and how a lot of people who looked middle eastern were being profiled as terrorists at airports. Not resembling that "mold" of what terrorists are apparently supposed to look like meant you had a specific "privilege" or lack of disadvantage.

Again, this is why that phrase is terrible. It's much more productive to explain why a person's opinion is misguided with a solid counter-argument than yelling CHECK YOUR PRIVILEGE as some sort of end-all rebuttal.


Edit: Also, LOL @ that YouTube video. Jesus, that is one weird, grating sound the person was producing. I'm really curious what the sign said. Wait, just saw a higher quality video. Sign says: :WARNING: Masturbators, Thieves, Liars, Drunkards, Fornicators, and Homosexuals :JUDGMENT DAY:

That's sort of what everyone was getting at. It probably isn't used to shame often, but it is certainly used to discount someone's arguments/views/ideals/opinions wholesale based on their sex and/or race. It's a tool of the hard left to look down their nose, over their glasses at white men and deride their very existence without even having to worry about the content of their message. Well, the hard left and libertarian superstars like Cathy Reisenwitz...

 

[specsaregood]

If the person who is telling you to "check your privilege" gives you your grades, you really can't come up with a nice retort.

In such a case I would take it as a clue that I shouldn't be paying for that person to give me anything. I'd probably lodge an official complaint of racism and discrimination/bias. Maybe even consider suing them for a refund tuition paid.

 

[Antischism]

That's sort of what everyone was getting at. It probably isn't used to shame often, but it is certainly used to discount someone's arguments/views/ideals/opinions wholesale based on their sex and/or race. It's a tool of the hard left to look down their nose, over their glasses at white men and deride their very existence without even having to worry about the content of their message. Well, the hard left and libertarian superstars like Cathy Reisenwitz...

Well, it ultimately depends on what the argument is. To use homosexuality as an example, I certainly can't pretend to know what it's like being one or how it feels to deal with the disadvantages that come with it seeing as I'm straight. One can try to understand it and empathize, but once you start pretending to know or downplaying the disadvantages of others, it's likely you'll be called out for speaking from a position of privilege. Granted, I agree that it's a lazy counter-argument and it's used unfairly/insultingly by some people, which is unfortunate. I certainly cringe when I hear it since often it's used to quickly dismiss an argument/opinion without making the effort to explain a position more clearly and have a proper debate.

 

[Danke]

 

[parocks]

In such a case I would take it as a clue that I shouldn't be paying for that person to give me anything. I'd probably lodge an official complaint of racism and discrimination/bias. Maybe even consider suing them for a refund tuition paid.

Seems time consuming and expensive.

 

[specsaregood]

Seems time consuming and expensive.

So is Princeton.

 

[parocks]

So is Princeton.

And that's just extra time consuming. I'm long out of school, but even then, there was PC, and you basically just had to deal with it. All evidence is that it's worse today. If Princeton is bad, you can transfer to Yale? Is that going to be better? No.

 

[Jingles]

Whoops double posts

 

[Jingles]

I absolutely abhore the people that use this statement. It just goes to show you collectivism leads to racism/discrimination no matter what and individualism/liberty leads to peace and equality.

Like there is a total difference between equality and what these people do ("EQUALITY MEANS BEING EXACTLY LIKE US! WE'RE SO OPENED MINDED WE'LL MAKE YOU SO AS WELL AT BARRELS OF THE GUNS OF THE STATE" Rather than, you know, all people have equal rights because every individual owns themselves and has the right to property and the fruit of their labor and to be free from aggression against them). These are the kind of people that view being homophobic as "Not enjoying to have male bits wiggling about in your face and not enjoying to watch gay sex/finding it beautiful" as opposed to its actual definition. Everything is about race/gender/sexual orientation to these people. Which is why I hate these people because we really don't care about race/whatever because we believe all people have equal rights/liberties because they own themselves/are individuals. To them equality is meeting some poorly constructed statistic based on race/gender/etc... rather than equality of rights.

I guess I'll just post some of my favorite pictures on this topic.

And your rights really do end where their feelings begin (in their minds).

 

[Lucille]

Check Your Argument
http://www.libertylawsite.org/2014/05/05/check-your-argument/

...Fortgang writes with passion, but his piece does not get to the root of what is wrong with the phrase nor does it show how it reflects more generally the pernicious norms that infect many of our universities. (I consider the norms of society as well as the law of the state a fit subject for this blog). Even if his family’s name had been Rockefeller or Frick, this kind of attack should not be welcome in intellectual discourse.

“Checking your privilege” does not impugn the logic or evidence behind any argument, but calls attention to the identity of the speaker. It is a variation on a classic fallacy–the ad hominem argument. Plato’s contentions in The Republic are not in need of reformulation because he was an aristocrat. Rousseau’s claims are not refuted because he treated his lovers and children badly.
[...]
This ubiquity of “check your privilege” suggests that political correctness is now entering a second generation and gaining a second wind. While political correctness previously concentrated on race and gender, the new focus on inequality seems to have emboldened the campus left to put class back on the list of identity politics. Of course, using the phrase “check your privilege” to cut off debate on campus is not nearly as destructive as what communists did to people who were from the “wrong” class. Many children of privilege then were sent to reeducation camps to reflect or were even silenced never to speak again. But it stems from the same impulse to replace reason with power.

This new form of an old disorder also shows that despite the orthodoxy on many campuses many left-liberals remain very afraid of classical liberal and conservative dissent. Just as students who protested Condi Rice’s prospective graduation speech at Rutgers showed strength in numbers but weakness in intellectual confidence, so do those who parrot this new campus slogan. If your underlying argument is flawed, you do need a force other than logic and evidence to sustain your position. Political correctness is an admission of intellectual frailty.

h/t VD: Political correctness is vital to the Left, because disqualification is the only form of argument they have left to them

 

[Teenager For Ron Paul]

Become a Buddhist. Privilege does not exist.

Bonus: Liberals don't insult Buddhists either. You're in the clear from this bullshit.