“You’re talking from your privilege!” was an ad hominem argument from an acquaintance of mine a year ago. It has become a dead-beat argument, just like “Nazi” or “Snowflake” or other ad hominem that have little to do with the issue, but are made to distract. Which gives me the idea to write up a post about common deflective and distractive pseudo-arguments. But that’s not important right now.
The truth is – it’s true. We all have privilege. Just being able to sit here and work on a computer, write things down, share them in my spare time (having spare time) is a huge privilege. And the deeper you go down the rabbit hole, the more privilege you will find, down to the most basic needs like having enough food and access to water to eat and drink whenever you feel like it. Remember the “Children in Africa are starving!” that our parents used to motivate us to eat? It’s true, too.
Perspective matters.
I believe it’s good to take an investigative look at one’s privileges from time to time. Not to feel guilt, but to put things into perspective. To get a good idea of how we’re standing in the world, in that particular moment. Being able to honestly assess that is a healthy mechanism to keep oneself in check, to neither waver too much towards the depressive side (my life is the worst!), nor towards the over-achievement side (I need more!). It can keep us nicely balanced.
The current strikes here are a good example. We have a lot of people being very angry and desperate because they’re not making any money, but will have to pay rent at the beginning of the month. But they have a business. Then there are those who can’t work, so they don’t get paid. But they have a job. And then there are those, and they are way too many, who don’t have either. And then there are those who must decide between using the little money for the school bus or food.
And so on…
One of the most important privileges I enjoy is the capacity to think ahead, brought to me by family (mom’s side, to be honest), culture (Germans, you know…) and education. I don’t have to worry about my business, I have Plan B – M, more or less. I can keep paying wages, help out friends, organize for my community, even though revenue is down around 60%. I can do so for several weeks, because I lived through many emergency situations in Ecuador and am well prepared for most (eruption of the nearby volcano not included).
But everybody could do that!
Sure. But you need the right base settings for that. You need to learn how to plan ahead. How to save up, manage emergency funds, be rational about it. Everybody could, but not everybody can. There are some privileges that come through coincidence – nationality, sex, skin color, monetary class, looks, and so on. Yet many others stem from upbringing, the values and attitudes we’re taught when young. And others come from formal education. If you’re not lucky enough to receive all that, it's quite difficult to obtain them afterwards.
It’s not a bad thing.
I remember the “discussion” that I mentioned in the beginning. The other person was herself very privileged, but hated it. I think she wanted to get rid of the stink of privilege to be like the rest. Make everyone equal takes away the privilege, removing her own privilege would solve that. Make her whole again. Make her coherent. Maybe that wasn’t the case, but I knew people thinking like that back in my university years. After arriving here in Ecuador, I learned something very important:
It’s not about the privilege itself, it’s about how you use it.
You can use it to keep people down, or to lift them up. You can use power for the well-being of many, or of yourself and a few. You can use knives to prepare food, or to kill. For a long time now, I’ve been using my privilege to bring people up to my level. Or at least trying. Yes, I cherry pick, as I can’t do it for everyone, so I choose those that are most likely to succeed and do the same. People within my community who will not benefit as single persons but understand the importance of community and will give back. Who won’t take the privilege and use it to suppress others, but just like me, will use it to elevate them.
Shame!
As a German, I learned early on that I don’t have to feel shame for something that is out of my control. I’m not ashamed for what my grandparents’ generation did. I can’t be, I wasn’t even there. I can only be aware of it, and hold myself responsible for not letting it happen again. Or trying to, as always, I mean, I’m not that powerful. Same goes for my privilege. Being aware of it, staying aware of it, reminding myself of it helps me to stay on the ground. Knowing that though I worked by butt of, a lot of my success is not just my effort, and that not everyone can just replicate it. That I can’t expect people to even try.
Checking my privilege from time to time also sets a better base line for my empathy. For my willingness to help. And one very important thing – it tells me how rich I am, how much I have, how incredibly awesome my life is and that even if something inconceivably bad happens, it would still be pretty good.
I guess I’m an optimist after all.
What are your thoughts about this topic? Please feel free to engage in any original way, including dropping links to your posts on similar topics. I'm happy to read (and curate) any quality content that is not created by LLM/AI, as well as read your own experience and point of view, I love to learn!
Some people need to ultimately reduce privilege to a basic, underlying fact. Being alive is a privilege, when so many people are not, or so many others are unable to sustain themselves (or others) due to ... reasons. Perhaps a lack of privilege is the reason for that, but the "fuck you I got mine" that tends to come from unprivileged people who fall into influence and power makes me lose faith in the altruism that humanity is supposed to have.
Having said that, some of the most generous people in the world are the poorest, and all they want to do is share some food with you and have a good conversation.
I wish the world was more like that.
I also wanted to pressure wash the roof in the first image, until I saw the cat. I don't want to disturb the kitty, so I won't be imagining that. I hope they do become a fast friend with the house owner, or find some delicious vermin to feast upon.
Some. In my experience, the older folks. The younger are under the thumb of social media, always wanting more, become an influencer.
I do cherish that quality a lot, and I've experienced it. Being invited to very simple homes for a celebration. A woman who has worked with me for years and then, when she fell ill, her daughters took over, financing their studies, she always invites me, she's like family to me and vice versa. I remember very well when she asked me for a loan to work off, and then, 2 weeks later, invited me for lunch to proudly show me how they finished the roof (!) above the kitchen, and even had some leftover to paint the walls a little. A fantastic person. Truly good. Way too rare these days.
And yes, taking care of tiles and roof or anything is a not a thing here. Everything looks old. The girls in the restaurant feed some cats, besides Nero, and one of them is a huge beast I call "The Thing". it's heavy, and all of them have broken quite a few bits of the roof below my apartment (my roof is a terrace, so no problem for me). It's been a year now, they're not thinking about replacing, just letting it leak. I gave up on reminding them.
It's a balancing act in matters of perspective between being privileged in certain aspects and not privileged enough in other aspects. I try to stay in the middle without getting too roped up with privileged aspects because I don't want to establish a framework that I have it better, which introduces complacency despite also, in its own way is a confidence booster.
Being able to think and plan ahead is underrated. One of the best abilities to have in this day and age, it's always useful in some regard or domain of one's life.
You're right, it's not something to be thinking of all the time. Just from time to time, a nudge, a re-balancing and orientation on where I stand - that helps.
And yes, planning ahead has given me so much advantage. Basically everything I have is because of that. Having always enough ingredients, budgeting for experiments and crisis, everything comes down to these moments where so many others go bust, but my business survives. And those crisis are more often than one might imagine...
2015 - big earthquake on the coast
2016 - gas shortage
2017 - water shortage
2019 - 3 week shutdown for strikes
2020 - pandemic
2021 - several small strikes
2022 - one big strike
2023 - several power outages
2024 - monthlong 8h/day power outages
2025 - 10 day strike (and counting)
And that's what I recall... there was probably more. The years might be off, it's been too long :-D
Oh wow, a thick skin has been developed through such unforeseeable events, zoomers of my generation lack this key element that will probably be useful to have in the coming years. Makes it less hard to adapt and adjust as situations change to keep surviving and also thrive.
Absolutely! It's important though to gather information to know what to expect, so one can plan accordingly. And that information is very confusing, as there's so much going on in the world at the same time, and all of it is interpreted in many different ways.
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