What Happens Next: A Gallimaufry

melancholic romantic comic cynic. bi & genderqueer. fantasy writer. sysrae on ao3.

A Note On Privilege

So, OK. I have privilege. I’m white, I’m cis, I’m straight, I’m able-bodied, I’m middle-class. That means I fuck up along those axes with regularity, because good intentions aren’t a magical panacea for growing up oblivious and privileged in a culture that’s both saturated with and built on a bedrock of fail. So even though I both want to be called on my fuckery and acknowledge it as inevitable, I also don’t want to fuck up at all, which means I feel anxious a lot of the time about whether or not I’m being gross and faily. And as a result, I have these occasional brainspasms where part of me thinks, AUGH, can’t I just SAY WORDS and get on with it? Why do I have to analyse EVERYTHING?

And that, right there? THAT IS MY PRIVILEGE TALKING, and my privilege is an asshole. Because in those moments where I resent having to worry about hurting people, I am basically saying that having less empathy - that being crueller and more callous - would simplify my life. And that is fucking TERRIFYING: it’s the exact polar opposite of what I believe to be right, and it’s in my head anyway, because privilege has told me my life should be easy in certain ways; that I am entitled to be oblivious if it makes me happy, because my happiness is the more important thing. Even though I logically know how broken this part of culture is, I’ve still been influenced by it, and so my lazy, uncritical brainparts are constantly pushing me to just go with it, because it works - or could work - for me

That’s what privilege is: the ability to opt out of compassion without guilt, because your comfort is more important than a stranger’s right to feel safe and respected. And it’s sickening.    

  1. killerzebras reblogged this from fozmeadows and added:
    This. I feel this.
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  13. fractalindigo reblogged this from thatonepanel and added:
    A complete and perfect explanation.
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  17. bunstrousfur said: This may be the best, briefest explanation of why politicians can be so fucked I’ve ever encountered…
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