Privilege
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- Опубліковано 13 тра 2019
- According to the Theory of Privilege, everybody is born into different circumstances. And those circumstances make certain outcomes in life more likely relative to those born into different circumstances. Circumstances that render a higher likelihood of a fulfilling life are what's labeled 'Privileges.'
The Argument: This is a theory, nevertheless, a fair observation. Certain characteristics make certain outcomes more likely. However, many of the characteristics labeled 'Privileges' are conditional and many of them can be earned (if not already inherited). This is an abstract argument and should not be used to justify any assumptions about an individual.
Munk Debate: • Munk Debate on Politic...
Buzzfeed Experiment: • What Is Privilege?
Daily Show Debate: • The Daily Show - Bill ...
Fallen State Interview: • INSTITUTIONAL RACISM, ...
Late Show Interview: • DeRay Mckesson Helps S...
AJ+ Segment: • What Is White Privileg...
Dr. Phil Segment: • What Is 'White Privile...
David Webb Interviews Areva Martin: • Video
Tiffany Jana TEDx Talk: • The power of privilege...
Verywell Family Article: www.verywellfamily.com/childr...
Height & Human Mating: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Pew Research Center: www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/...
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Thanks for checking this video out. It took a lot of work and careful thinking to produce it. Unfortunately, it was manually demonetized by UA-cam shortly after being published.
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Sucks to see such a good video fall trap to copyright claims. Maybe you should add that to the bulletin board.
I never comment on videos, but I couldn't resist doing so here. It was totally amazing!! I got sad when I saw that you won't get paid by UA-cam for all your hardwork.
I don't know whether I'll be able to contribute, but keep the good work up.
Thanks for the video, btw.
Really glad to see you back. Money or no money, you're doing good for the world. Don't discount that.
Fully expected something about how most women of color prefer white males to even those of their own colour. Still awesome video, and good job correcting alot of the bs around this topic
One interesting thing to note, is that up until white privilege, all the accepted privileges granted direct advantages (i.e. options). However, your explanation for white privilege relies on the likelihood of having other privileges which would grant direct advantages.
This pushes your conclusion about applying averages to individuals one level up. The white baby may or may not have the other privileges.
the privilege of being born in a place that uses the metric system.....
The disprivilege of being born in a place that doesn't...
@@herolddesasozialennetzwerk1423 Yes, because most mass shootings arent done with handguns.
Imagine preaching about your tolerant atheist ways by being prejudiced against religious people.
Also, the idea that countries that ban guns are safer than countries that don't... just as wrong as thinking having privileges automatically makes you successful
Dorian Wiegelmann I thought you said you lived in an atheist household
It's not a privilege when you want to see a video and they use ft and Farenheit (thank god some channels use both but some don't)
Top 10 anime plot-twists:
"You have white previleges"
" *I'm black* "
Ya, they should repersent more black people...
Then again its much, much different in Asia with races as it is in Anerica, the very thought is alienating to some of them.🤔
Dragon Slayer ANERICA
@@liamkennedy7498 Ok lol, *America! XD
@100 subs before 202l Whats a libtard spray?
I mean, I'm not saying black people aren't at all repersented in cartoons, esspecially anime, thats absurd, like that chick from pokemon sword and sheild that I'm too lazy to look up.(although, as if she hasn't been through so much controversy enough.) Or Craig from the creek. It's a very cute cartoon, I highly recommend if you're looking for a slice of life cartoon with no overwhelming plot lines that don't add up, (like steven universe.)
This actually happened to David Webb. Was pretty funny. :-P
EDIT: Oh, should have watched video to the end before responding...
These “privileges” are pretty ethnocentric. Being white and Christian is a privilege in the USA, but certainly not in Japan or in Saudi Arabia.
im pretty sure counter arguments is based in the us so he probably wrote it with its societal privileges in mind but the fundamental principles apply across the word, just that the characteristics, of course, different. you are right tho
Marcos Mingucha I wasn’t disagreeing with CO; he’s just echoing what leftists are saying. I’m more disagreeing with/attacking those leftists whom he’s echoing. The far left always claims to be open minded and to hate ethnocentrism, while at the same time insisting that being white and Christian is automatically an inborn privilege. These two ideas are contradictory.
@@PockASqueenoI think few leftists would deny that cultural context shapes privilege. Some leftists may use shorthand of "this person is privileged" but the underlying assumption is that we are talking about the shared culture of the conversation's participants (or some other culture depending on the statement's context). Obviously, there are people who argue badly and don't make their point clear but I think few leftists believe that privilege is divorced from culture.
I think a lot of people forget that Christian's don't really, have any inherent advantages anymore.
How is being Christian an advantage? How is being white a privilege? It isn’t the skin color that matters, it’s the family your born into.
My biggest problem with this whole issue is when people try to exclude people from a conversation based on their privilege.
Same
That's stupid.
Just draw two cards
Exactly. It's like...reverse tyranny.
But even moreso, why would you EXCLUDE someone of privilege from a conversation?? They might be a potential ally to your cause!
But no, you're discriminating them based off your prejudices and assuming they're juuust like all the others like them.
How the hell did humanity come to this?
yeah, but in the country i'm from, there was a TV debate 2 years ago where they talked about sexism, and they invited 4 men. that's even more ridiculous than excluding them from the conversation.
they did apologize afterwards and remade the debate with 3+ women (i don't know if they actually overcorrected their initial mistake and invited 4, it's been some time and i can't find it quickly)
A privileged person had no more choice in their birth than an unprivileged person. Acknowledging that privilege should be done, but to demonize someone for having privilege is the same thing as demonizing someone for not having privilege
I agree with you, but often when we undermine privileges in our life we often become blind of the effect environment has on other people. There’s a trend with some people to just believe racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other kinds bigotry don’t exist anymore . But if we do fall into that mental trapping we ignore many issues that generally effect people that are less privileged. We shouldn’t be ashamed of privilege but we need to be mindful of it. If we are, we can work to give people in need more opportunity, try to fight against things that keep people down and understand more about other people.
@Kelly Obrien I don't see how that affects my point. There are people who go to the extreme in every community in the world. Does that mean we should throw out everything minorities have been saying just because a few of them go to the extreme?
And really, it can create unproductive solutions when start demonizing. I grew up in relative poverty, but I don't demonize rich people. In fact, I defend them. Why? Because it's unproductive. What is them admitting their privilege going to do? Other than it's saying their experience is different then mine, it really isn't going to do anything. So we might as well not even pretend that's a solution. Instead, we need to get into why I am poor and why he is rich. Then we might find a grouping of individual choices playing as much part in that difference as we do circumstances.
This is so true
True
This really feels like old school counter arguments. You walk through the logic step by step and you had me engaged all the way through. I hope to see more of this from you.
I only missed the post-credit scene where he ridicules the arguer with a clip from cheers or monty python or a remix because those were fricking amazing
This rhymed
Wait... Counter Arguments lost its thunder before?
His argument is definitely bullshit. You still need some privilege to earn more privileges. Some privileges are earned and others are birthright but they are not different in terms of raw material advantage, which is the power the privilege provides.
A man can earn a million dollars and another can inherit it:
Even Elon Musk has the birth privilege of his turbo-autismo brain that allows his to work that hard in the first place. However, even if one could train the mind to be as productive as musk, you'd still need privileges to even begin training at all and privileges to succeed.
Both require different privileges but you have to have _some_ unearned privilege to get to either position.
Kris *BUT HE DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING*
You see i had the unfortunate luck to be born a Gamer, now i am oppressed from every angle through no fault of my own.....
Are you sure you're oppressed because you're a gamer and not because you were born into the middle class?
@@no-lifenoah7861 Yes, there is no other explanation, there is no middle class, that is an illusion, if you dig deep enough you'll realise that the middle class is actually just Gamers, thats it, it goes Disney - lizard people - the upper class - the working class - human-animal hybrids and finally Gamers at the bottom
@@VS-Violet Its a truly disgusting system, in the name of the lizard people I am very sorry that you have to go through that
Guys. I think we didn't get the joke
Anyway nice satire!. I hope it's satire...
I think "privelege" has become such an umbrella term to the point it lost its meaning. The word has been tainted by its use undermine the plights of others to the point I am unsure we should even use it anymore.
I just got into an argument with someone on what I think about police brutality and how it's a human problem and not always racism. They went on to say that I'm so privileged that I deny racism based upon my skin color. I then told them that you shouldn't use such a broad term to talk down onto people and they replied with "You deny that white privilege exists." when that literally wasn't the point I'm going for.
I honestly think at this point, everyone doesn't know what the words they throw around mean and how they have no meaning anymore. People are so misinformed and uneducated I swear.
It is literally just an appeal to authority argument... "You aren't a black trans woman born with no legs... Then your privilege is clearly preventing you from seeing that I was right all along... Despite having to resort to this nonsense to win the debate because I couldn't come up with a real argument..." It is a really dumb argument...
No doubt. Can the world stop judging actions based off of who did them and words by who said them?
@@ShankaDaWanka It would be nice. What is funny is some people don't understand critical thinking, reasoning, or logic and would imagine that judging an argument or action by who says or does them makes sense.
(looking a kid practicing math: Do you know who else thought 2 + 2 = 4? HITLER THAT'S WHO!!!")
Not all, but many of them, are legitimately suffering from the Dunning Kruger effect to the point of it becoming a mental disorder. It feeds into itself with the confirmation coming from all sides in their echo chamber. "Well that other guy said I was right so I must be, and he probably has some idea what is going on" says everyone with no idea what is going on ever...
I had to look it up but it is called "Mass psychogenic illness". It is when some group or echochambered collection of people becomes steadily more convinced their side is filled with experts and so they can just assume their side is right, despite having no idea what is going on and not bothering to apply logic, reason, or critical thinking. Also sometimes called mass hysteria or mass delusions... That is what the political polarization is. The two party system is becoming dueling echochambers of mass hysteria.
@@ssffe529
Some of us still had the privilege of receiving a decent education, I consider myself one of the lucky ones.
Thing is, it doesn't strike me as a rational approach to accuse people of being lucky.
Best not swear, there is too much name calling and swearing in these youtube comment sections already :)
Ah I love when this channel covers semi-controversial issues. You have such a Lawful Neutral way of explaining things that could potentially get very dicey in way that keeps things calm, logical, fair, and to the point. Keep it up.
Now I want the option to vote for Zim...
Yeah it’s a gift lol.
I love it
I love the DND alignment system. It's beautiful in its simplicity, even though in reality most people would fall under just a few of the 9 categories. The problem of evil and all that.
@@NobbsAndVagene Indeed. Everyone is good in their own eyes. Whenever I see someone play a lawful evil character in dnd they always tend to go more towards a psychopath when they should really be more like Tywin Lanister
You did a really good job at fairly assessing the theory and analyzing all of the aspects. The conclusions you came to are perfectly fair and make sense. Videos like this are why your channel is one I enjoy and trust.
You are everywhere, by the way big fan
senpai tiger0chan notice me
Huge fan of both channels.
Tell cody to make what if rome never existed part 3
You don't even need to trust him, not much
Every logical step is right there
So. Fucking. Stimulating.
You’re a blessing to this site mate.
I second you there bud
Fucken ray of sunshine. In this shit world.
Cheers
And when the world need him most, he vanished
To the world
Judging everyone as individuals is the only fair way, period.
very true
"Judging", yes. However, the only means we have of evaluating how society works, is collectivism. We can only turn to statistics to evaluate the success of our laws and policies, and our social behaviors, we can only find collective issues by analyzing them collectively. Pure individualism necessarily fails at building a society.
@@QuinnArgo he means individually. its unhealthy to judge people based on groups and race when they might not associate or live in the same conditions as that group on average
@@QuinnArgo using statistics does not require collectivism. It requires generalization. Collectivism is a philosophical, epistemological failure. Individualism is the view of entities as separate. Always. Collectivism is treating multiple entities as a single one based on certain characteristics. But it is done consistently. It's a world view. It's a philosophy. You can't be a collectivist and individualist at the same time. It's a conflicting ideology.
Generalization is not collectivism because you take a common trait and use it for approximation. It's never concrete and never taken as an absolute. Collectivism does take everything as concrete and an absolute. For example, individualists don't see race as a useful concept for humans outside of a visual descriptor or medical purposes. It is pointless in any other respect because individualism cannot make anything using that trait in terms of evaluating a human being. Collectivists, on the other hand, use race to determine plenty of the things and do a ton of pre-judgement, making race a far more relevant concept when they look at a human being.
If laws are made by individualists, they will be fair because they treat everyone, without exception, the same according to the law. Equality before the rule of law. A collectivist would make laws that apply to secondary and tertiary characteristics which would automatically lead to discrimination. Most vocal people you hear politically (especially at the time of writing this comment) are collectivists. It can be easily discerned by their speech and rhetoric. On the right, on the left, it doesn't matter. Laws need to be created according to an objective ethics. They are not supposed to work according to statistics. Statistics can inform how to go about laws in practice and some details of the law (like age of consent) but the main argument of the law needs to come from an objective ethics - objective in the objectivist sense, not the mainstream fallacy of the concept.
okay so let's say you were born in Somalia and you're very poor.
are you an evil guy for robbing cargo ships?
Another calm, collected and reason-based argument!
It is a *privilege* to listen to you, CA!
@BLAIR M Schirmer 14:44
It really is ... except for the invisible quality. I remember what it was like before I discovered this channel.
@BLAIR M Schirmer His list wasn't representative of his opinions. He criticized the majority of them, including the male one, as you can see at 14:44.
thank gold you used bold to indicate the joke, which would be lost on us otherwise
Badum tissssssssss!!!! 🥁
"Being tall is not a privilege while flying coach..."
PREACH
Its cool to see you here
We are not worthy of you gracing our humble comment section.
Get lost, we don't need your propaganda here
@@bremcurt9514 wtf
@@NobodyPablo That dude spreads right wing propaganda
2:10 Not all privileges are from birth.
2:50 Also stating that the country of birth matters implies that that list of privileges is on a global scale. I can tell you, being Christian is not internationally advantageous.
This and frankly, i think being a women is actually a privilege more often then not.
I've had this talk extensively. It always comes down to every demographic having their own set of advantages and disadvantages. It's apples and oranges. It's almost impossible to compare. The real question becomes, are my apples better or worse than your oranges.
GLaDOnOS I'm ugly AF man
He brings up your first point later in the video, and for your second point. Although not ALL places in the world are advantageous being christian. you will still find it true that if you are christian, you will be more "Likely" to have more or better advantages, even on a global scale.
it honestly depends where toure at if course if you live in Vatican city if your catholuc you probably get a job due to it being a Christian city . Bit if youblived in a city that Christianity was banned like north Korea that would be a horrible disadvantage to being hunted down and being in a labor camp or exicuted.
You forgot a big one, pointy elbows. As a trained ballet dancer that’s a huge disadvantage to having clean lines. However, in the event of a zombie apocalypse, I will be able to smash the glass case for the fire axe much easier than those round elbow dweebs.
Bro😂😂 pff you are privileged
You'll be completely debilitated by the funny bone. You could gouge some eyeballs in a fight though. Those are nice and soft.
ASHERUISE Excellent point, I will have to plan my combat strategy accordingly. Eyeballs, windpipes, and the squishy stomach are all fair game.
Wait... *checks my elbow* how does that even wo-
Oh jeez I have very pointy elbows and dance bellett and never noticed that 😶
Genuinely thought this was very balanced, clear and focused. Very enjoyable.
Totally Not Mark hey you were in the livestream
O hai mark
how are you here why are there so many UA-camrs in this comment section
Male but short
Why must you hurt me this way?
get fukt manlet
WigglyWoo he broke my heart too
Haha hilarious
It's ok, that leg room on the plane doesn't hurt you like it hurts us tallies
Are you short as a man? I think you know what I mean.
"tall privilege in dating" bruh im 6'5 and ive been single my entire life
must b ya cheese bref
@@kirawilkinson7186 Tha's a tad bit sad innit?
Me, a 6ft woman: what privilege?
@@putinsgaytwin4272 OBVIOUSLY, the privilege of... not being able to buy fitting pants and having to custom order shoes
@@wontonschannel not mention the privilege of having to hunch in small cars and desks and then suffer the lifelong back pain from said hunching.
Having an intact family doesn't mean married parents, it means parents who are together and love eachother
A liberal can appreciate this content. A conservative can appreciate this content. It's thought-provoking; not at all divisive. This channel is a bright star in the darkness that is much of UA-cam.
lololololol
@@b9brett Never change, Comments Section.
Lmao that's all you centrist libs care about. Not being "divisive" or rocking the boat too much.
Good point. I understand where your coming from but it's pretty bad that the state of things are so bad that people can not have an actual discussion without getting offended and closing up. I believe if you replaced "decisive" with "offensive" then that would be closer to the truth when it comes to the political left.
@@keyboardstalker4784 I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not
Conclusion: privilege is an abstract argument, but the issue is that its being used concretely
That's my thought on the matter
Privilege is being introduced into higher forms of argumentation because it is an abstract argument. what you can derive from it is an emotional conclusion where favoritism should be shown to those proven to be less fortunate rather those factors played a role in their well being or not
As with everything in post-modernism, the subtlety and nuance is completely lost on them.
Or the issue is that people don't understand how probabilities work. If you're white, you're more likely to be successful. If you're successful, it's more likely that you're white. Thinking that all successful people are white is as silly as thinking that all white people are successful.
Then again, if she *was* misinformed by her team, she wasn't making an assumption but instead was going on what she had been assured, incorrectly, was a fact.
I dont see what the purpose of the concept is?
“Man, I wonder how privileged I am...”
*fits at least 16/18 of the list of examples* “oh ok”
Exactly the same. Im not Christian nor am I American...
me over here at 12... Not straight, not christian, not cisgender, not mentally healthy, etc etc
Do you consider a mom dying when her child is 12 a healthy intact family?
Oh with an ignoring father ..
Mentally healthy, beautiful, intact family and well raised were blurry for me.
However do you consider fleeing a war to another country "living in peace" ?
Remember don’t feel bad about it !
The fact that you said "at least" made me giggle, mah mans fits in so many categories that he stopped counting XD
"To recognize your disadvantages while making use of your advantages." A wonderful way to look at this particular theory, and I'm glad you proposed it. I wished more people thought about privilege the same way... Now, why is it that activism, even university-based activism (where people are supposed to have learned the theory and thus be capable of dealing with the nuances you mention here), so often falls into the fallacy you describe (making the abstract concrete)?
That's honestly a good question, yeah you are right. How did we come here?
No joke, this is probably the best and most eloquent I've ever seen anyone tackle this subject anywhere. Your videos are on another level man. You deserve a million subscribers.
Stereotypes are utilized as facts by basically all portions of the political spectrum. How they are selected for usage is a different matter. The left tends to use care based morality for their selection method and the right tends to use justice based morality for their selection method. That's why the left uses the oppression narrative against the right and the right uses a behavioral narrative against the left using statistics. They state things in group format and then people apply those group formatted statements to every individual in the group. That is bigotry driven by two separate morality frameworks.
See, it IS actually possible to discus 'previlege' productively.
It's possible to discuss anything productively when it's just you talking to a camera for 20 minutes. Give it a few days and see what's become of the comment section to see how productive this ends up being.
Monologues are not discussions.
@@Luftgitarrenprofi But they are means to start one at times
Privilege is stupid
Yeah it’s easy to state your argument when you’re not being constantly interrupted.
Wow! Such an honor to be included in this video! Thank you so much, and thanks to everyone who checked out the full talk after. So grateful! I have my own channel now, come on over and visit!
Was it an "honor" or a "privilege"?
@@jeffreycallen4145 it is earnt, so it's not a privilege.
this comments needs to be higher
In short, something people tend to forget nowadays is that life is always unfair, look how you may, be who you are. No one should feel bad because their parents are still married, or because their mental health is well. Yet, nowadays, people are forced to apologize for even those things.
It's cultural Marxism at work.
They can only pull people down instead of lifting them up.
And we should try to make life less unfair to the extent that we can.
"Ladies and gentlemen, before I begin the speech I would first like to apologize for the fact that I am a white, straight male with a stable family and income. I hope not to have offended anyone." FROM THE BACK: "F*** YOU, YOU PRIVILEGED PIECE OF S---!"
Life is unfair. Pronatalism is child abuse.
@@marcus_johnson Do we really? Personally, I agree with you to an extent, but many other people won't and that's the interesting thing about social philosophy and in essence about the social contract we enter by agreeing to live in a society. Can we really make life less unfair for everyone?
My favorite privileges:
-Voting for representatives at the city, county, state and national levels.
-Being able to buy food, along with a machine which keeps it cold.
-Indoor plumbing.
2:50 "And living in a country that is in no internal conflict and at relative peace"
Americans in Mid-2020: Well that's gonna change soon
bogaloo with me my fellow Irish?
Oh man, so much has happened in the last 3 weeks. I think we are in civil war and just in denial about it at this point.
It's funny that you made the "red car" argument...I used the exact same argument in a video of mine wihout having watched this one before :D
I feel like conversations would go a lot farther if it wasn't called privilege, but opportunity.
Agreed, the term privilege implies the person has some form of mal-intent unintended or otherwise any argument that automatically alienates people is automatically going to start shit before the first insult gets thrown
This gets to the actual point, but isn't a privilege the reason why you have some opportunities, or rather the lack thereof the reason why you don't?
No you wouldn't because you'd have to prove that someone has that opportunity and someone doesn't. You need to use "privilege" because it's a vague term that's used wrong in order to explain ones own inferiority. That way, nobody can call you out. It's like when SJW say whiteness when they mean white people.
Check your opportunity.
@@mr.thongsong8473 Nah, you're mistaken in thinking some terms are too vague. To address your example, Whiteness and white people are not the same thing. White people, roughly understood as people with fair skin, existed for millennia before any concept of a "White race" was introduced. "Whiteness" is an inherently racial concept. And if you believe "race" is only a sociopolitical invention, then so is "Whiteness".
"Whiteness" can carry cultural or political notions of trans-ethnic unity, shared history, hierarchy, biological destiny, fraternity, etc. which don't at all need to overlap with a person with white skin. In a racialised society, or de-racialising society, the two will unavoidably overlap, with white people being forced to operate within "Whiteness". But it doesn't need to be that way. Hence critique of "Whiteness" as a residue political identity or social structure.
I sometimes disagree with your content but this video has changed my perception. I was prepared to be disappointed but left completely understanding with a greater awareness of the issue, thanks!
Copy pasta?
:D
Seriously, what can you disagree with this guy about? He's based as fuck.
@@purpp-esque1711 Sometimes he's a bit off with his logic, even if he does get the general message right.
@@maxkho00 how so?
Everybody keeps ignoring the greatest X factor in this conversation: who is in front of you? What does that person stand for?
If the person who is in front of you doesn't care about the fact that you are tall, white, christian, hetero etc etc. Then... All these thing about privilege go nowhere. If the person in front of me is, let's say, a muslim, and he is "powerful" (meaning he has the ability to damage me) and hates me because i am a cristian, then that "privilege" of being christian only damaged me, so at that point it is no longer a privilege. If a black kid is raised in a class of only whites he is likely to be moked for being black (bullies try to hit you in every weack spot you might have), if a white kid is raised in a class of only black people, that priviledge of being white now becomes a disadvantage, because he will probably be bullied for being white.
So instead of thinking as "most powerful group = privilege",
we should start thinking "who has power at that MOMENT? And is he/she going to use it to damage someone? If so ... WHY?"
Facts. Too many people ignore situations when discussing this and that is pretty much everything when measuring privilege.
Of course in individual situations, privilege can basically be pushed aside because of power dynamics like you said, but like our friend said in this video, we're simply discussing privilege as it relates to society as a whole and how much easier your life ends up being as a result of involuntary traits :)
@@colorsinmyhead Every situation is just a bunch of individual situations put toghether, you can give a "in general" statement, but it usually ends up not solving any situation whatsoever and sometimes it just puts more gas on the fier. Once you stop looking at the group, wich is usually a very superficial and politicized look, and start looking deeper, you realize there is no "society as a whole". Everytime someone sees racism, the situation is usually far, far more complicated than that, but people do not have time or do not want to dig into that shade of gray, because the harsh truth is that in 99% of the times the outcome would have been the esact same if the skin colour of that person would have been different. After years of people just trowing around the word racism at every occasion possible the media is slowly turning into a "if in doubt it's racism" machine for clickbait and nothing gets addressed beyond that, nobody tries to find solutions to problems that affect everybody and just pushes these "anti-racism" training that are going to do absolutely nothing.
That's what he was trying to say
I'm not going to respond to the main point, but I think it's funny that you think white kids are ever bullied for being lighter skinned
It's far too easy in most of these "privileges" to be considered static - once you're labelled as X, you are always and forever-more known as having / being X. The argument here, then, says that if you are "permanently" able-bodied and have never experienced being confined to a wheelchair, you will never understand the plights and hardships of those that are constrained.
But there is one glaring and obvious flaw to this logic - accidents, mishaps, unlucky incidents. An able-bodied white man of sound mind and coming from a wealthy, happily married two-storied home may have witnessed the family's wealth diminishing, the breakup of the family unit, gone into the military and had a leg blown off, and come back home shell-shocked.
The "initial privileges" that we assign people at birth mean *NOTHING* when circumstances forever-more change the way you are.
Also, as a permanently disabled person, I have said that the difference between being disabled and being a member of some other minority group is that anyone can become disabled.
True. Both my parents were Catholic and then decided that they, personally, didn't see any value in being religious. As a result, I've had the benefit of choosing my own beliefs, a freedom I wish many others could enjoy. I also agree that since people change, so do privileges. We went from having a stable income to a variable one where certain weeks were stable then others were just barely enough.
Another problem with the way the theory is being used in society is that people seem to think that having any form of privilege is a bad thing and they play this game of listing every possible way in which they can't be privileged.
It's ok to have any form of privilege, in fact, it's a good thing in my opinion. Our goal should be to make everyone more privileged and not to take them all away.
It’s not ok, it’s inevitable, just because it’s inevitable does not make it ok, just because mice exist it does not mean that this is good, it is just what it is, if we believe we should be attempting to make life better for all, then yes I agree we should help to increase the privileges of all people, or as many as possible, so if some people are unfortunate that their town is being overrun with mice and it becomes an emergency, I do believe the government should step in to help them out since they are not privileged in that area, but many people who are privileged will blame them for it being their own fault for having a mice infestation and refuse to give them aid, since they are privileged not to have such a problem
I don't think privilege is good necessarily. For instance, I'm male and good looking, but short and black. I also have the privilege of going to college without debt, and living in a somewhat wealthy family right now. In addition I have most of the things I want. As a result, I struggle with a lack of fulfillment and mild depression (i.e. mental illness). Even some of my privileges have drawbacks. Without the struggles that others go through, I sometimes find life quite boring and have trouble dealing with failure. Just like being tall, most privileges aren't advantageous all the time. Context matters.
Stirgid Lanathiel
You see the reason affirmative action is based on say race and not socioeconomic class is because a black CEO will make less then a white CEO so yes it is good to invest in the poor but this also needs to be coupled with affirmative action
Privilege means an *advantage* over everyone else, not having good things. Giving more people good things would get rid of privilege, not give everybody privilege.
Well... if everyone is privileged, nobody is.
You should have listed the privilege of being able to enjoy your content.
Seiden Labs Actually, yeah he should have. Access to internet is a big one
Aww, how sweet
Seiden Labs The privilege of being able to critically think
Acces to internet is largely if not solely based on the level of wealth that an individual has.
Jonas Strzyz Most people have access in the internet, even how backwatered your area that you’re living in.
You've validated a lot of my intuitions on the subject that I have not yet been able to verbalize.
It's so hard to speak of these things because everyone just REACTS. They automatically assume if you're questioning privilege, you're alt-right, racist, etc.
Thank you.
Although, I’m highly appreciative for this video being made; it’s ridiculous that it was needed. Heaven help us.
Yes.
lol
Wow. A nuanced take on privilege in just over 20 minutes. I am genuinely and pleasantly surprised.
the way he laughed when he said “male, but short” .... ouch😂
I'm average height where am I?
@@bearholdensharkslux4791 5'11 is considered borderline tall
@@puppy3908 not to most girls
World average is short than us average
@bearholdensharks LUX: Apparently. It's been demonstrated that Women think 70% of men are "below average" . . .
As a black woman I have found a paradox when discussing privileges with my white friend. I always remembered interrupting myself and contesting that I to have privilege. So this video helped me put my jumbled thoughts into one argument. Some of me always knew that privilege was abstract I just never really knew what to do with that information. It saddened me to hear the privileges that I have over others because I wish I could grant them with it but it also saddened me to hear the privileges people had over me. What I concluded from this video is that no matter what someone will always have it better then me and someone will always have it worse on varying scales. And while I still think it is important to have discourse on privilege I will not be focusing on it as I enter the workforce and become successful.
"Male privilege" notion is extremely problematic, especially outside of US, especially not in a good environment.
Able-bodied and peace privilege was mentioned me by my mother every time I mention about my childhood traumas. At this point it's even more depressing to know, you have one, but couldn't do anything with it.
And just remember
Correlation doesn't always equal causation.
Right, when he went through the averages that being born white had, it was more that each other part, being wealthy, educated, and loved, was a privilege rather than being white itself. You could argue that it becomes a privilege by virtue of being more likely to have the others, but the existence of poor, uneducated, unloved white people means it doesn't cause those privileges, only correlating with them with very, very specific statistics. If we looked at it another way, making white people the base and seeing where they fall economically, rather than seeing which race successful people are, you see that they fall very evenly across the entire area.
So being white somewhat correlated to good families, wealth, and education, but doesn't cause them itself and therefore is not itself a privilege.
@@BLaRgXrvbX I'd would argue that some arbitrary characteristic becomes a "privilege" the moment you defined it as such. As we can see in the video, most of the listed "privileges" don't strictly adhere to the definition but were claimed as such nonetheless. Furthermore, many of the "privileges" listed in the video may not be considered advantageous in other social settings apart from the US. For example, in the middle ages being overweight was a sign of wealth since most people didn't have enough food.
This is why Privilege Theory is not objective, neither useful. It needs subjective opinions on perceived advantages injected into a specific social setting just to be mildly accurate. It cannot predict success, nor explain why some people are successful while other people are not.
@@kevinnio this sounds like a logical fallacy. You're wanting throw out the entire concept of unearned advantages by saying some things that people describe as privilege don't apply in every setting. You're throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Wealth can be earned, but regardless of whether you've had it since birth, it offers monumental advantages across the board. I would never have described being thin as a privilege. Having a high metabolism to be naturally and effortlessly skinny might be, but it comes with other health disadvantages. In this way, wealth is a privilege and thinness is not.
I don't put much stock in privilege theory, but saying that the entire concept of privilege is useless is simply ignorant and hasty.
@@BLaRgXrvbX The problem is that there are some genuine issues that minorities tend to face more often due to past and present racism, that can lead to those other priveleges not being as much of an option for them. For example, black people are much more likely to be arrested for smoking weed than white people, even if they smoke weed at about the same rate. This leads to a higher incarceration rate and criminal record, leading to more poverty, family disruption, etc. which all contribute to them being un-priveleged.
Contrapoints did a great video on this subject:
ua-cam.com/video/GWwiUIVpmNY/v-deo.html
@@Jacob-yg7lz that sounds more like being black is a disadvantage, rather than white being an advantage. If being white was the advantage, the same benefit would not extend to Asian tones, and would extend to most Hispanics. Instead, the exact nature of the disadvantage changes every 5 years in a range of various black and dark Hispanic tones. This also says nothing of any advantages they may have or disadvantages of being light-colored.
I stand by the statement that it's a correlation with other advantages, rather than simply being one in and of itself.
A whole video to realize that privilege is statistical, multidimensional, and nuanced. It was intersectionalism all along.
+
Doesn't intersectionality in sociology mean that, for example, a black woman will not experience the same type of discrimination a black man or a white woman might and not something that could be described by "adding" the discrimination the latter two experience, but something more or less unique to black women?
useless* FTFY
@@ler6118 The thesis of intersectionality is not about discrimination or any other necessarily negative attribute but rather about the disparity of _experiences_ among combinations of demographics. Straight, white, men have their own set of problems in addition to their unique set of privileges.
@@hangukhiphop well yes and the thesis of communism is that workers tend to not have as much control as the managers. It goes wrong in the solution.
Real privilege: Being born in a stable country in a stable economy.
I have lately started to hate any conversation about this stuff, just because it's either, you have privilege you "insert insult", or "insert adjective" privilege doesn't exist.
Instead what i got here is a lengthy and thorough video about the idea itself and how it is applied.
Thanks a lot for making this video and bringing actually new and interesting ideas and concepts to the table.
Keep up the good work!
I have gamer privilege
you gamergater, metoo!
Gamers rise up
GANG WEED
We gamers have no privilege. We are the most oppressed group of people alive.
I wish I had non-kekistinian privilege. every day Kekistinians like me are constantly oppressed
The biggest problem with privilege theory is the claim that if you have not experienced it, then it cannot be explained to you, you simply cannot understand it. This flies in the face of rationality. If an argument cannot be explained to you, then maybe you cannot understand it, or maybe it is just bunk. And this is the most important part, because privilege is almost always brought up in discussions as an excuse to avoid having to explain a point, claiming that since you are unable to understand your own privilege, then you also cannot understand whatever point is being discussed. And since privilege is defined as cognitively invisible, then by definition you can never understand it, and any argument against it can be waved off as 'uninformed'. It is simply a new way of saying "Believe what I say and do not question it"
Nah, I think that there are some things that can only be understood by first-hand or at least second-hand experience. We couldn't say f.e. how a homeless person sees the world and we could only think about their daily struggles in abstraction. Some of their problems are even unknown to us. This doesn't mean that a homeless person couldn't possibly convince me of their hardships, but I couldn't infer from that what to do.
@Inebriatd Sure, I don't think that this epistemological claim is aimed at that strive or sentiment. I think it is used whenever someone states that something isn't real because he doesn't experience it. (The usual example would be like saying "There is no poverty in country X", only because you don't know anybody who's poor or saying "Racism is over" because you don't experience it.) Of course, most human beings are capable of being empathetic to one another even if they aren't in the same situation but sometimes the way how people see the world is quite limited by a variety of factors, among them socio-economical ones, while it is easy to think that everybody has the same experience as oneself.) As for the racism example, it could be possible that the same person that is nice to you - let's say the cashier at the bakery - is racist to next person while you wouldn't even know. That's were different experiences come in to play. Of course, general data is important, otherwise incidents could be highly anecdotal or being misinterpreted.
@Inebriatd That's a totally valid strategy if the circumstances of your misery can be changed 100%ly by yourself. However, in cases where you don't have full control over your circumstances (as with racism) it should be reasonable to also listen to people who claim to experience it just as we'll listen to people that will tell us that those nasty things are over and people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps. As it is often the case, not everything can be changed via a change of attitude. Often times, a change of attitude might itself be almost impossible if you have dysfunctioning thought patterns due to shitty circumstances. I'm not denying that the individual ought to do as best as possible, but we certainly aren't in control of everything all the time.
@Inebriatd I can't speak for the country you live in but in the country where I live social mobility is not very high. A lot of wealth is inherited. There are only certain periods of technological innovation where newbies have a decent chance of starting something new from the ground. Welfare characteristics such as potentially depreciable cheap college loans or free college as well as union power provide a lot more wealth to people than entrepreneurial mentality. Another point is that not every person is capable of starting their own business. First off, in order for some businesses to make profit, a lot of people have to consume instead of investing or saving their money. This system wouldn't work if everybody became an entrepreneur, since the entrepreneurial mindset is antithetical to the mindset of consumption. If you don't have any demand, supply will be low too. Secondly, it requires also certain cognitive capabilites to make it as a self-made man. Not everybody can pull this off. By those assumptions, the "everybody can make it" mindset is only true, if not all the people follow it. Depriving people of welfare will one increase wealth disparities and since you need a certain amount of capital to even start the whole thing, it will become even more difficult to start a business after that political measurement.
Of course everybody is different. That's what I'm aruging. The system works because of that fact.
@Inebriatd And therefore, we ought to reduce welfare since losers shouldn't feel entitled? This might work in a Calvinist country like the U.S., but in most parts of the world this is a recipe for social unrest and maybe even revolution.
what about minority privilege? like higher acceptance rates into certain fields, scholarships, the social "right" to attack someones characteristics, the privilege to not be accused of being a bad person for having privilege.
There are many different types of privilege. You are right that minorities may have an advantage in certain narrowly defined areas, but don't lose sight of the larger context, whereby in society as a whole they still have less wealth and political representation than white people.
@@tomtimelord7876 (on average). Also correlation is different to causation, the assumption that being white causes wealth is ignorant, on average white people are born in to intact families in comparison to lets say african-americans, this is caused by the sort of communities black people generally grow up in which in a way encourages seperation, this leads to low income because the mother can not work and provide for her children. If you ignore this fact you don't care about solving the real issues for minorities. If you disagree I would like you to give me a specific, repeatable example of when a white person in the same context (wealth, where they live, qualifications, etc...) as a minority has advantage of doing something or getting into something.
@@rpaleg "the assumption that being white causes wealth is ignorant" - Um, who's making that assumption? No one I know, certainly. This is a bit of a strawman. There are many ways that being black means you have been denied access to wealth, however. The Homestead Act is a good example. All that free land west of the Mississippi went to white people, almost exclusively. It's been estimated that this alone, even though it was over a century ago, is responsible for 30% of the white wealth in the area. Another example would be housing. I'm sure you're familiar with redlining. Also the inequities of the GI Bill.
"If you ignore this fact you don't care about solving the real issues for minorities." - No one is ignoring this fact. But let me ask you, to what do you attribute this fact? Why are there so many broken homes in the black community?
I think one flaw in your thinking is that you are framing privilege as advantages that accrue to a person based on their race. A better way to think about it would be disadvantages that fail to accrue to a person because of their race. White privilege is more the absence of headwinds, rather than the presence of tailwinds. A clear example would be applying for a job. People with ethnic sounding names are less likely to get a call back about a job, even when their qualifications are identical. They've even done studies where they send out identical resumes, but give one resume a name like Brad or Stacy, and the identical resumes names like Lashawnda or Lebron. The resumes with white sounding names get more call backs, even when they are identical resumes!
cos.gatech.edu/facultyres/Diversity_Studies/Bertrand_LakishaJamal.pdf
hbswk.hbs.edu/item/minorities-who-whiten-job-resumes-get-more-interviews
Yep
Yeah, there's definitely minority privilege in some contexts. Honestly just about anything can be a privilege when put in the right situations.
Being mentally healthy is such a huge privilege people don’t realize they have
Red cars are more involved in accidents because "they go fasta"
40K Jokes aside, an excelent video, as usual.
@Wapfy No ya git! Yellow iz da shootiest kolour 'cause yellow gunz are da splodiest an 'cause teef are yellow an moar teef means moar dakka!
Cantankerous Tank Blue iz fer luck
@Wapfy Planetside reference?
@@FactoryofRedstone
Warhammer40K
Orks have an interesting trait:
they are not very intelligent, but if enough of them believes in something - it becomes true
They believe that red cars go faster and yellow grenades explode more because someone told them that some time ago. That was a lie back then, but is true now, because they believe in it.
Interestingly enough, red cars are more likely to be pulled over than other colors. Of course, you can choose what color car to get so nobody better make a "non-red privilege" argument
Great video, very fair. Two notes:
1. Wealth privilege is far and away the most important factor when determining relative privilege, as it has a massive impact on opportunity and overrides negative factors (for example, if you are physically or mentally ill but wealthy, you can use that privilege to get treatment that other sick people could not).
2. The theory of privilege is perfectly sound until it's used as an excuse to punch down, such as a rich black woman demanding deference from a homeless white man and citing "white privilege" as the reason she is owed deference.
I'd largely agree with your first point, but I would specify that it's no excuse to politically ignore the other factors. On your second point, I agree with the premise, but I find your example pretty extreme. I guess it could have happened a few times, but I don't think it's a good example to drive home your point.
@@juliezwick8930 You're right that it's not a great example of punching down. Just what I came up with quickly. The point is that invoking someone's "privilege" when you are in fact in a more privileged position is punching down, and thus misunderstanding the concept of privilege.
I think a better example of privilege punching down was that famous cat-calling video that got a lot of attention a few years ago. It depicted a white woman walking through New York City being cat-called repeatedly by black men. Later it turned out all of the white male cat-callers had been cut out. A lot of white women focus on misogyny from black men in a way that is totally racist.
What it this a thoughtful conversation of two opposing sides? On UA-cam? Whaaaa..?
Privilege is always contextual because it depends the values of the society youre in. Discussions of privilege are important but should not be used as ad hominems against a debate opponent. Thats the real problem there imo
I love how logical you are. I’ve watch a few videos and just subscribed. You don’t care about your own personal emotions but rather about EVERYONES individual experiences and emotions. You cover both sides of an argument logically and seem to say exactly what I tell people in arguments...just that it is better organized and sounds better. I can appreciate this so much because I agree with you and it’s nice to hear the truth rather than this crap I hear on the news or politics. Everyone has got it wrong most of the time.
I am 6'1 male, and I argue that true privilege is being between 5'9 and 5'11 for a man. The majority of machinery is designed for men of average height. Average height is not the mode for height in mathematical terms. Most men are not the average height for a man. If you are the average height for a man then you get all the benefits of being short, such as not bumping your head on things all the time, not intimidating people by accident, and amazonian women looking for short guys might still be into you. On the flip side, the number of women shorter than that average height is vast,(so it doesn't harm your dating chances) your still tall enough to reach most high objects, and your still big enough to intentionally intimidate people. Average height privilege is stronger than tall or short privelage. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
I think it should be pointed out that "Tall-Privilege" is never invisible. Everyone was short at one point in their life.
i came out of the womb 6 foot 2
Well, not necessarily. People are born taller or shorter on average than people their age. I am a female and 5’10”. This makes me, on average, taller than most other women. As a kid I was taller than girls my age. I was always taller than girls my age. It all depends on what you use as your reference point, I suppose. But it is a fact that I don’t know what it is like to be shorter than kids my age.
But there is a significant difference between life as a child and life as an adult. How can you know the experience of being a short adult if you've never been one?
As a tall person i don't truly understand what it's like to be short. Perhaps that's just me and other tall people can better assess the difference, but at the very least i am a counterexample to disprove your "never"
But your comment provides an interesting observation. From what I've seen tall people seem to be mostly neutral about height. In contrast short people tend to wish they were taller. Perhaps the perspective of having been both is what causes indifference?
"How's the weather up there?"
"Hey can you get that for me please?"
"Carful not to hit your head on your way in."
I get these a lot.
Firaro you’re not expecting you’re future life as a short adult as a child at that point... you’re expecting a childhood as a taller kid, and that does have some privileges.
Physical attractiveness is the most unfairly influential privilege in life, and one which rarely gets discussed in public forums. I think this needs to change
MostlyLoveOfMusic especially for female
This is the most incelly comment thread on this video.
@@guestusersomething4340 i think just ask an acid-attack victim before and after and see what a tragic difference it would have made to their lives
MostlyLoveOfMusic that’s absolutely absurd. I obviously wasn’t talking about someone being disfigured because of an attack or an accident. I’m talking about individuals that were born ugly and feel like they have some huge disadvantage in any area besides dating and act like the most oppressed people on earth. Which is what incels tend to do. Being ugly isn’t a handicap if you actually have other things going for you.
Edit: Typo
@@guestusersomething4340 tbf, any handicap is a handicap and that's essentially what privilege (or a lack of it) is all about... but there are different extremes of it i agree
I just found your channel and I wanted to say that I really enjoy how you present issues in a non partisan way and allow people to make up their own minds about things. The internet needs more people like you.
man getting bullied in highschool for being christian was a privilege
if you've ever faked a hate crime then got acquitted of 16 felonies please step forward a thousand steps
Lark Macallan arguably, being a minority could be considered a privilege in today’s political climate.
@@theoreticallyharmony6752 Not arguably. Factually.
@@theoreticallyharmony6752 amen
@@larkmacallan4257 Some questions, just to make things clear: A minority across what axis? Political affiliation? Race? Theological beliefs?
Next Question: What numerical definition of 'minority' are we using? As in, 'less than half of the total population'? if so, what group constitutes 'the total'? If not, what fraction size constitutes a 'minority'?
After defining 'minority' explicitly, I'd be interested to see what the evidence for your claim is. Are members of such groups more likely than average to hold high wages? or be less subject to violence? What beneficial metric statistically tends to be higher within such groups?
@@rmbee5412 I would guess he is talking specificly about a racial minority, and is likely defining a minority group as any group which is generally considered to be a minority by the total population of the US.
With this in mind, there are definitely a lot of privileges that come as a direct result of being a minority in the US. Their are charities dedicated to assisting poor minority families because they are poor minorities, their are minority only college scholarships, and in general there are large segments of society which will hold you in higher regard because you are a minority which they view as being oppressed (however admittedly whether or not this last one is a privilege or an insult depends on who you are as a person).
Compared to this, at least in the United States, I would argue that minority groups do not have any more or less privilege then white people do (which I think we can both agree is the majority group based on the previously stated criteria). My reasoning being that all of the privileges that statistically corelate with being white, wealthiness, a stable family, a safe neighborhood, etc. are not in any way caused by their whiteness. Basically the fact that they are white does not give these advantages it's just that more people who have these advantages just so happen to be white, the relation is entirely correlation without a hint of causation.The previously mentioned advantages of being a minority however are a direct result of their minority status, and as such leave the trait of minority as one that on the whole grants some small amount of privilege in the US. This is of course not to say that all minorities are inherently more privileged then they are disadvantaged, just to say that the fact that they are a minority not only doesn't cause that disadvantage in and of itself, but in some situation might do a little to counteract that disadvantage.
"Im male, but I'm ugly,
I'm poor, but I'm kind,
I'm short, but I'm healthy yeah!
I'm thin, but I'm hungry
I'm white, but I'm super gay
I'm tired, but I'm hopeful, baby!
And, what it all comes down to
Is that everything's gonna be quite all right,
Cuz I've got one hand in my pocket,
and the other one is giving a high five"
@MeinLuciFuhrer I wanna go back in time...
As a poor ugly disabled trans old asexual lesbian, I'm offended.
Since when does my being thin be a privilege. I'm not a chick and am only thin because I was raised poor and wasn't fed enough. My parents got more money later on so my younger brother is taller and weighs a lot more than me.
I like how being white is a bad thing according to you
Being born in the 21st century is a privilege you dolt. the past was not better
My might be my favorite video of yours. I regularly see myself coming back to this video. Its so good and explained really well
THIS should be taught at school, this is prime content, this is why I subscribed
The idea of privilege should only ever be used as a guidepost in discussion. It should ALWAYS be open to debate, and never settled in a concrete way.
The main issue, as I see it, is the application of statistics. If something is true for most people with a certain combination of characteristics, that doesn't mean that it's true for an instance of that group e.g. "Steve". Making judgements based on a person's immutable characteristics, is some sort of bigotry.
Quotas is a great example of this. "Steve" can't help being what he is, but companies and politicians are increasingly implementing discriminatory practices to offset perceived privileges without realizing their bigotry.
No bigotry is an intolerance of someone else's beliefs.
@@speedy2490 I may have used the wrong term. English is not my native language. I meant, a generalized kind of hatred commonly associated with racism and sexism.
@@speedy2490 Not necessarily. A bigot is generally someone that discriminates against a group as defined by Merriam-Webster. It's a catch-all term for the many -ists.
Well yes, but how else would you conduct research into possible discrimination without the use of statistics? Moreover, there are plenty of historical and sociological explanations for the disparity in averages between white and black people. Yes, you cannot be sure that it has nothing to do with actual discrimination, but it's highly likely.
@@quincy8093 I'm not questioning the validity of statistics overall. People have a bad habit of using statistics to confirm their biases, often proving a disparity and crying fowl, before actually doing the work and figuring out why there is a disparity. Then they proudly discriminate in the perceived opposing direction, as if two wrongs makes a right.
In the now infamous case of the pink tax, all the feminists needed was two price tags, to prove that women were being treated unfairly for sexist reasons. Little did they care, that there were several good reasons, adequately explaining the disparity.
Simply the meaning of "With great power comes great responsibility"
Some of the “privileges” are people just being jealous of what others got without looking at their hard work to get to that place.
Yes but the problem comes with the next generation. Let's say you worked harder than an other guy with same "privileges" and are now wealthier. Now you both have kids. If you look at them purly as people and not your kids, one is clearly more privileged than the other. With education and inteligence it's the same. If you have educated and intelligent parents, you will have less trouble in school and due to better education will earn more. Everybody clearly has certain disadvantages and advantages but it's important to recognise both and not generalise too much.
Another issue with the subject of privilege is the conflation of 'unearned' with 'undeserved'. When someone is told they have a privilege that is unearned, they hear undeserved, and the implication is that they should have had a worse life. And even the woman on the Dr. Phil clip said "white people have privilege they don't deserve". It puts people on the defensive. I myself am fairly privileged, and I go into these arguments with the attitude of "I am privileged, and I refuse to apologize for it." Maybe it's not fair that I was able to receive expensive treatment for a rare disability, but I wouldn't go back and refuse treatment to achieve some ideal of fairness. Particularly since my receiving that treatment did not prevent anyone else from receiving similar treatment
A very important part of the discussion that gets left out a lot. Just because you didn't earn something, doesn't mean you don't deserve it. People born with conventionally attractive facial features don't have to work for them, but they are still entitled to them. If you have an above average IQ, you have the right to use it to your advantage.
@@gabrielfraser2109 Your statement "Using ones intelligence to ones advantage is acceptable" seems interesting to me.
It somehow feels to me, that being put into this position of power one should use ones inteligence in everyones best interest, not just in selfinterest.
Am I misrepresenting you here / you were speaking only in legal rights, or what would be your arguement for it being morally permissible to use this resource in purely egoistic ways?
And woule that be something specific to intelligence, or do you believe this for every resource?
@@XyntXII I think you should have the right to use your power however you desire. No one else has any right to tell you what to do with your privilege i.e. intelligence. I also think that fundamentally you should use your position for everyones best interest BUT you should primarily focus on yourself. No one has any right whatsoever to your skills or talent and the most effective way to help others is to help yourself first. By using your intelligence for your own advantage you can become more intelligent, more educated, become wealthy and have more power, and from this enhanced position you can help far more people.
For example, look at Bill Gates. He clearly was a genius, and if he was told to use his genius for ONLY helping others I would argue that he would have accomplished far less than he has now. First of all, by starting a huge company and becoming rich he helped himself yes, but he also made personal computing accessible to the entire world, employed hundreds of thousands of people and now that he is rich he is using his wealth as a source of good. His charities have helped millions get access to clean water, he is basically single-handedly turning the tide of the fight against malaria and fighting other diseases and causes. If for example he saw that he was a genius, he had intelligence privilege and was told to use it ONLY for helping others he could have (for example) worked at/started a non-profit aiming to solve malaria. How much impact would he have in that venture? Without his billions of dollars and influence? I'm sure he could make a difference but it would be a lot smaller, let alone all the positives he contributed to our society in the process of growing microsoft (technology, jobs, economy etc). You can apply this same logic to every resource or privilege earned, you can only maximally help others by first helping yourself. So not only is it morally reprehensible to imply that society or anyone else "deserves" the fruits of your privilege any more than you do, it is BETTER for society if we allow those who have privilege and the desire to do good with it to grow their influence and become maximally competent.
@@Liamb2179 I think you are conflating two distinct arguments, where it is not helpful to do so.
The one is the question if we have a duty to not only strive for our own best interests, but also for the interest of others and the different question how to best achieve that.
Your answer to the second one makes the first one less relevant, but if you imagine a world in which it is not as clear cut as you imagine in your answer to the second question answering the first question becomes important.
Now a bit to your Randian bit, though I am no expert in this:
By your logic, that the best way to act is in self interest would say it is wrong of Bill Gates to use the power he has to help People through the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, because that is not in his interest.
Also you picked a billionaire who not only made his money in tech instead for example in weapons and also is now investing into humanity. Why not pick one who uses his capital to strenghthen his influence in politics to keep weapon exports to saudi arabia going, so he makes more profit? I don't see how that could ever be in the best interest of society.
Nonprofits do not always have to be the best way to have a positive impact on the world, but your statement that the best way to help everyone is just to act as selfish as possible seems like a great claim needing great evidence.
@@XyntXII Even if you use your intelligence for the well being of the society, you need to use it and not apologize for it and shut it in a cupboard.
Ah, was just revisiting your twelve angry men analysis. Good to see another video.
If there's one thing I always like about your videos, its that you always ALWAYS leave the sources. You're a one of a kind good sir
I love the way that you make your points while being respectful, in a way not to offend anyone.
Your argument is well thought of and you obviously effort into your work, I have nothing but admiration for you, keep up the good work!
I really wish "privilege" was framed as "disadvantage". I don't have X privilege, you are disadvantaged because of X.
Plus it has the added benefit of not pointing at a group. Black people are "privileged" on a sunny beach, sure, but it's more helpful to say east Asians are disadvantaged on the same sunny beach. Why even include black people in the conversation?
I'm (a white guy and am) much more likely to want to help a person disadvantaged because of their race, but if you tell me I have white privilege and should feel ashamed that helps nobody.
I know exactly what you mean. Saying someone has a disadvantage creates sympathy and would be much more likely to cause people to help each other. Saying someone has privilege is nothing more than an Ad Hominem at this point that does nothing but cut the conversation short by discrediting one's arguments based on irrelevant circumstances.
You’re probably right. “Disadvantage” has better optics to it than “privilege,” and it would make having conversations about it easier since there’s less likely to be a personalized “poisoning of the well” effect from the start. At the same time though, I run in leftist circles and I’ve never once heard someone say you should feel “ashamed” if you have white privilege - it seems like many people hear that as a knee jerk response when that’s not actually what’s being said.
NOBODY IS SAYING YOU SHOULD FEEL ASHAMED.
The reason the conversation is framed as 'group x is privileged' rather than 'group y is disadvantaged' is because it recognises that group x has more power to change the status quo than group y does. As the group with more influence, more onus is on them to be aware of their ability to make a difference.
@@yousexythang208 It sure feels like a shaming technique. Forcing people to "admit their privilege" doesn't seem like a charitable way to have a conversation.
And even if it isn't, that really seems like a super racist/homophobic/sexist thing for you to say. Like, you don't believe black/gay/women folk can achieve on their own. That's shameful dude.
If we framed the argument "yousexythings are disadvantaged and need assistance", I'd jump to help. If you frame it as "Andy Lords are privileged" I'm much more likely to feel slighted and be less willing to help.
If disadvantaged group needs help, then picking an unnecessary fight with the group they want help from seems (if I'm generous) counterproductive.
Andy Lord so based on the wording your more likely to help damn that sounds like privilege “maybe if you were nicer I would help you disadvantaged people”
The problem here is individual vs societal. From an individual perspective we have varying privileges and can make the most of it to attempt to build a prosperous and happy life. However from a macro point of view, a pattern emerge that show a particular group having historically disadvantaged, We must acknowledge that something must be done to bring that group to an equilibrium.
The question is though, what situations need to be equal? Not everyone needs to be, and in some cases shouldn't, be wealthy.
@@michaeldorsey9231
Hmm. Not everyone should be wealthy. Interesting concept. Can you explain why?
@@juniormynos9457
Because some people don't work as hard as others, or some tasks are more skilled and more deserving of higher pay.
@@michaeldorsey9231
Make sense. So focus should be on equity rather than equality
@@michaeldorsey9231
Cool
3:00 I feel like more than 1/3 of those privledges depending on a person and situation can as well be a curse to the individual.
Yea this sort of stuff is super individual. It doesn't really help that most people use this theory in a super general and ,as CA pointed out himself, 'fuzzy and uninformative' way
You will always be more privileged than me for you are in my glorious presence.
That's how I feel too. My presence is a present.
Let's be in each others presence, then we can both be equally privileged.
This could be even funnier if you use the royal we.
Weeb
Wasn’t sure what I would think about this, but this was an incredibly fair video. And frankly I agree with what you said for the most part. Excellent job.
If there was one thing I could take issue with, it's the fact that he didn't look into the interlinking between those privileges. To what extent are black people less well off purely because of their skin colour, and to what extent is it because decades upon decades of slavery and Jim Crow have made their economic situation worse than that of white people, meaning they have less *wealth* privilege. Maybe it's their lack of wealth privilege which leads to their higher rates of disfunctional families, crime etc. and their poorer education and incomes
@@ghostdukevladamir5101 Wealth privilege can be considered to be largely the same seeing as the poor are more likely to commit crime, less likely to get a good education (particularly in the US) and less likely to find adequate employment (which feeds into crime).
@@ghostdukevladamir5101 have you looked at Coleman Hughes' articles or videos? He's thought provoking about some of the potential stuff you raised
@@Dilmahkana I'll have a look
I think the idea of it being invisible is that you are never sure if that privilege is having a deciding effect on your situation. Did the black guy not get the job because, another candidate was legitimately better suited for the role or was racism involved. It would be impossible to know for sure.
By not being certain that you have a good outcome to a situation because, of your legitimate hard work or without, some kind of privilege that same amount of hard work wouldn’t of gotten you the reward you were working for. That privilege then becomes invisible since, you don’t know if it changed the outcome.
I’m not an expert that’s just how I thought of the invisibility of privilege.
It doesn't work as well when you apply it to things like being in a country at peace. Like : Hmmm I wonder if that guy lost his leg because of a bomb? Like, you can ask him, and you'll know. With your definition of invisibility, that is definitely not invisible. Same can be said for wealth or education, for example (indeed, that guy didn't get the job as an engineer.... because he doesn't have a degree in engineering, dammit!).
@@Mercure250 this argument makes literally no sense but ok
@@harrylane4 How so?
That use of "Everything you know is wrong" was masterful, my good man.
The moralizing that too often follows these discussions makes them harmful. The mislabeling of advantage as privilege is also harmful. Privileges are granted. Advantages are inherent. It's a privilege to play in the NBA; it's an advantage to be tall in the NBA. It's a privilege to go to college; it's an advantage to be smart in college. It's a privilege to earn a living as a model; it's an advantage to be beautiful to work in that industry.
Condemning a person for their immutable traits such as height, intelligence, beauty, or race is immoral. These traits often result in advantage. It just is.
When I taught English in Japan, I was at a disadvantage because of my poor Japanese skills. Those who were fluent in English and Japanese had an advantage over me. Those who grew up in Japan had a deeper understanding of Japanese culture than I. Those were advantages not privileges. It just was.
As a minority in Japan, I had a tougher time. My employment options were more limited. My cultural understanding was limited. My useful skills were limited. It just was.
Members of a majority culture have an easier time within the culture. That's simply an advantage. Members of a minority culture must adapt to the majority culture to be successful in the majority culture.
It would have been absurd for me to have demanded that Japanese culture adapt to my American culture. As the minority, it was up to me to adapt my behavior, thought, forms of communication, and attitudes to the culture I was in.
Should the Japanese have felt guilt for their being Japanese while I was not? Should they have felt guilt for having advantages over me? Ridiculous. Should white people feel guilt for being members of a majority culture, of having the advantage of not having to adapt to a second culture? Equally ridiculous.
White people should call out racism and actively fight against it, but whites should never feel ashamed of their immutable traits or advantages. They just are.
Saying whites are privileged is the very definition of racism.
Go Sensei!
I might be the only one here, but I've always wondered why 'straight' is the privilege when it comes to sexuality, in discussion like these? Being bisexual is clearly superior. You have twice the potential market and the stigma, if present at all, is also mostly avoidable.
Because the "default" in society is being straight, and being gay or bisexual is frowned upon by many people still. Yeah, the stigma might be "avoidable", but only if one hides the fact that they're bisexual which is in itself a problem that comes from prejudice. Hell, I'd argue that people that are openly bisexual are even more stigmatized than homosexuals, because straight bigots will treat them either as plain gay or "in a phase", and many homosexuals will treat them as "undediced" or as "afraid of assuming their homosexuality". They get punched from both sides.
So yeah, they have more options in the, uh, "market", but there's also more bigotry against them I'd argue.
true but if you are bi sexual you will get slack from family, friends, religious groups, and flat out hate groups. if you are straight, you won’t.
There’s probably less stigma than if you’re just gay, but it’s definitely still there. It depends on where you live, as well. In most of the south, it’s still heavily frowned upon.
Unfortunately, being attracted to the same sex, whether bi or full on gay, a lot of people are still gonna give you hate for it. A lot of the world is still homophobic. Go to russia and tell people you like to have sex with men as well as women, and chances are you'll have stuff thrown at you in the streets, or a police officer brings up the most stretched out excuse to detain you.
Also, even where it's commonly accepted, there's still the frustrating feeling of being the outlier in any given room. When you don't want to make a big fuss about your sexual orientation, some well-meaning but annoying straight people will say "so, who's the giver and who's the taker/ who's the man and who's the woman huehuehue" which are jokes that straight people don't have to deal with.
I always kind of thought being asexual was the most privileged. Way less complicated if you don't have to think about it at all.
I love this channel because it seems to be one of the only “”true”” unpartisan or Centrist sources on hot topics. Other channels and sources almost always feel like someone leaning one way or the other calling their position the “center” to try and make themselves seem more correct
"Intelligent, but ugly. Physically healthy, but mentally unhealthy. Male, but short."
I feel personally attacked.
@split haven bro maybe he is like 5'4, maybe its over, who knows.
When I was in college we were discussing race and white privilege and I remember getting VERY upset. I actually tried to bring up a lot of the points made in this video, but Counter Arguments did it more eloquently than I did.
Well part of the problem is you got upset lol. Try to be calm and make your point
@@markdouglas1601 You were not there You also don't know me.
@@justarandomgal2683 ok? You said you were upset..I didn't extrapolate from that or make any assumptions. Its hard to make an argument when you have to use mental energy on calming down
@@markdouglas1601 Again, you were not there and you were not in my head during that time. You don't know the entire situation.
@@markdouglas1601 It is easy to say don't get upset. Do you think she made the decision to get upset? I think it's more likely that she just couldn't help it. Asking an emotional person to stay calm is similar to asking a tall person to stay low. My emotions get in my way of explaining myself as well. There is no clear-cut solution for avoiding getting upset without causing new mental issues.
A lot of things are also dependable on how the person views their situation. When I was growing up I was bombarded with stories about how amazing the West (Western Europe mainly) is, the opportunities there, the culture and much more. And I believe that and was kinda envious about it. But now, having lived in the West for a year I can see, that despite most of the things being true, my culture gave me enough and even in some aspects way more assets (in term of way of thinking) to enjoy life than a lot of the people I am surrounded by right now.
Shout out to all the manlets out there. We gotta stay strong.
I once had a professor in my community college (which was in a predominantly black neighborhood) who was a member of the NAACP try to guilt me for what my supposed ancestors did to oppress blacks and for living full of “white privilege”. Pretty much all my class mates also did the same and assumed I was white just because I have pale skin and blue eyes. Well, at the end I told them to stop assuming my privilege without knowing the background and told the professor to practice what he preached, since he made an ass out of himself by assuming I’m white. The look on everyone’s face when I revealed to them that I’m Mexican and their constant attempts to apologize and welcome me as a “fellow minority’s members” were priceless.
That's...sad.
I really enjoyed this and you did really well with this. I love the examples you used and explanations for everything.
18:09 - Did you know that the color of a car has actually affected insurance premiums?
Congo Kael more
@@IdiotBoxProductionsTV I haven't checked it recently, but I had a maroon car one time and the insurance company said, "Is it red, or is it maroon?"... I was like, "What difference does it make?" They said, "Red cars are statistically more likely to be in an accident, so the premiums are higher". I have police friends that say they are more likely to get a ticket too...
Congo Kael how interesting
@@congokael8087 i saw a video on that
Yup, I used to hear all the time that red cars have higher insurance, then people said it was a myth. When I started dealing cars I found out it was true. Police have said to me, the red color receives more focus and sticks out more in the crowd. But that was also before the other wild colors which stick out just as much.
Wow. You managed this topic really well! I was kind of holding my breath and waiting for the cringe-moment. It never came! Thank you very much for this video!
Haha me too. Props to CA for an excellent video on such a conflated topic.
18:01 Was pretty cringeworthy ngl
I appreciate the attempt to keep things academic and factual. The reason arguments of "privilege" always get personal is because they are designed to do so. They are accusatory in nature and designed to silence the person arguing rather than debunk the argument.
This is most rational and thoughtful discussion of this highly contentious topic I have seen. Many thanks for posting it.
*Standing ovation* Thank you CA, this has been an amazing take on a very complicated subject
I'm 6'2" and I have had problems with my knees since I first hit puberty. I'm not even 30 yet, and I have arthritis in my right knee.
Sure, I can reach higher things. But it's far more difficult for me to reach lower things. I can't crouch or kneel without hurting myself.
A family friend is 6'11" and he's basically been falling apart at the joints for a decade now.
Other tall people I know are that way because of a medical condition which inevitably lowers their life expectancy.
Yes, I would hate being short. But height is definitely not a privilege. It hasn't given me advantages in life shorter people are unable to get. Height has, however, negatively affected my body and the bodies of even taller people I know.
If someone told me I was privileged because of my height, I would just laugh and walk away.
Your height is a privilege when you need to get something from the top shelf, and a disadvantage when you need to get something from the bottom shelf.
I think you've made a wonderful summation of privilege theory right there.
Having lots of money is a privilege in a society where things cost money. But, if you have lots of money in a society where most people are going hungry, then it becomes a disadvantage when they eat you.. So, food stamps are an investment xD
Edit: if you have enough cash, you can pay for enough fancy guns/ammo that you don't need to worry about being eaten when the have-nots run out of food.. so maybe pure privilege is a thing when it comes to having money within a money-based system?
@@curioussoul6059 Basically, having more resources in a system where resources are scarce is a privilege. Whether that resource be money, food, or ammunition.
@@curioussoul6059
I fail to see how money is relevant to height.
I wouldn't blame you if you'd punch them instead of just laughing.
I'm white, 19, short, thin, male, straight ig, single, not mentally healthy, no intact family, no job and poor. *MY JEEP HAS NO FLOOR LOL.* My privilege--> Going to college cuz Tenneessee pays for two years free, living in peace, and I got sundrop lol. *sundrop is soda*
That kinda rhymed *LMAO*
I love “Everything you know is wrong” playing in the back at around 17:00
I'm not even going to argue with people on this subject, I'm just going to link them this video.
Most won't watch, unfortunately.
Great video, man. I can see that you're really putting effort into focusing on the argument, and not the people.
This is the best explaination of privilege I've ever heard, it's unbiased, states the necessary data and there isn't a hidden agenda saying it does exisit or doesn't exisit. I love it! Well done!
I dunno why, but I've researched the Daily Show debates three times now.
They're just that good.