“There’s Samantha, heading off to New York for the third time this year, flying first class, of course. No doubt staying in a 5-Star hotel, again. Jeez, she’s so privileged.” That kind of talk isn’t uncommon nowadays. I’m sure you’ve heard a similar incident yourself.
A question I’ve been asking myself recently is, is privilege earned or granted? It’s such a common buzzword today that I thought it deserved a little investigating. I did a little delving from both sides to get a closer look, as to whether privilege is earned or granted.
Are there more people than we think who are privileged? Are the people who throw the word around in fact more privileged than those they accuse of being ‘privileged’? These are among a few questions I wanted to clear up, to help make the word more understandable.
If you simply look up the meaning of the word privilege, you’re greeted with words such a ‘grant’ or ‘granted’. Looking at it from a literary point of view, privilege is indeed granted. Alas, it’s not that simple. Privilege is used in many different contexts which can change it’s meaning.
There are some left-wing people who use the word to invoke a sense of guilt in whoever they are arguing or disagreeing with. On the other hand, there are people on the right side of the spectrum who don’t believe privilege is a real thing, and that everything is earned through hard work. Both ideas, I feel, are ridiculous. Why should people feel guilty for something they didn’t choose, nor is hard work simply a gateway to becoming successful.
A great deal of people who use the word in an insulting manner are from the first world, which in their view makes one privileged, so are they themselves not privileged? Are they so blinded by their own views and beliefs they cannot see that they themselves, are also quite ‘privileged’?
What do you consider a privilege? Food, water, a roof over your head? Well if you consider all those things a privilege, then that means the majority of the world is indeed privileged. Of course, there are people who have access to cleaner water, better quality food and a larger roof, but the others are, by that definition still privileged. If one looks at privilege from the point of view that it’s the idea of having something that others don’t, then it seems like the majority of our planet are privileged.
However, we both know that there are serious divides in wealth and resources in the world, how then can those who live in poverty in Brazil be privileged just because they have access to more food and water than those living in Algeria, even though they themselves also live in poverty? So should we mainly reserve the word for people from first world countries, despite the many underprivileged people living there also?
So how do you feel about the word? Do you think the majority of people are privileged, even many living in the third world, or do you think there’s a minimum requirement to be accused of being privileged?
Personally I feel that because there’s so much ambiguity around its meaning that I will take the dictionary meaning. If that is what it has always meant, then why should it be changed to suit the need of someone who has a different opinion?
-Conor Horgan, head writer
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