Time To “Check Your Privilege”
[guest post by Dana]
On the heels of the excellent essay Patterico linked to earlier, White Male Student “Checks His Privilege”, and in keeping with the theme of privilege, Buzz Feed has a very scientific survey you can take to discover just how privileged you are.
I took the survey and was informed that I live with 60 out of 100 points of privilege. Oh boy!
Here is what that means,
You’re quite privileged. You’ve had a few struggles, but overall your life has been far easier than most. This is not a bad thing, nor is it something to be ashamed of. But you should be aware of your advantages and work to help others who don’t have them. Thank you for checking your privilege.
If you take the survey, remember, there is no shame.
–Dana
UPDATE BY PATTERICO: I got 55. What a stupid quiz. I’ll never get those five minutes back.
UPDATE BY DANA: Well, yes, it’s stupid. The give away was describing something in Buzz Feed as “very scientific”. As if.
Ding!
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 5/1/2014 @ 9:54 pmand, survey says, i’m underprivileged….
where do i apply for reparations?
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 5/1/2014 @ 9:55 pmOMG! I got a 75. But most of these “privileges” are simply consequences of self esteem, which everyone should get from a two parent family.
felipe (098e97) — 5/1/2014 @ 10:07 pm4. I’m sorry I’m too old to remember well enuf to test well in this instance. I decry the blatant youth preference.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 5/1/2014 @ 10:14 pmWhat a stupidass quiz
Otto Maddox (990b3b) — 5/1/2014 @ 10:25 pmthe only way to win is
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/1/2014 @ 10:26 pmSome of the questions where confusing. What is this question about?
What does that mean? Is it asking if you’re schizophrenic? Here’s my score.
Tanny O'Haley (c0a74e) — 5/1/2014 @ 10:27 pmThink about what Peter did when someone “fingered” him. He distanced himself from his identity as an apostle. “Distancing” is just a way of saying “lying”. an honest person is thereby privileged.
felipe (098e97) — 5/1/2014 @ 10:32 pmHa! Compared to Dana and Philipe, I am, at 56 of 100, underprivileged.
I had no idea what some of that meant… and are you harassed for the purposes of this quiz when engaging in the usual (at least back then) locker room banter and hijinks? Is it sexual harassment to put analgesic balm in someone’s jock strap?
And I formally protest the fact that this quiz was skewed towards youth.
Gramps, the original (944632) — 5/1/2014 @ 11:08 pmOK, that’s just silly. I have tried, at times, to educate some bosses, sometimes to good effect. I actually was honest in answering, but some (well, most) can be read to refer to events that were the result of isolated idiots. I suspect if I was a grievance collector … but every one I know has had those problems in one form or another growing up. Maybe that’s what is important — growing up. Or at least growing up in the 1950’s.
htom (412a17) — 5/1/2014 @ 11:25 pmI got a 33 and I have no idea why…
Gazzer (17a0f5) — 5/1/2014 @ 11:44 pmThis test is preposterous. How many ways can it ask if you are gay? It seems like 20 or 30 times. Going to college is privilege? Graduating from college is privilege? Or is it that it confers privilege? I guess privilege can be earned, then. Is that wrong?
Also: the same test could be about 15 questions and get the same results without being quite as creepy.
Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/2/2014 @ 12:25 amAlso. some of them are clearly written by people whose idea of ancient history is “before 1996”
Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/2/2014 @ 12:30 amAlso, 36: I am not privileged. I had to modify some of the stupider questions (e.g. sallie mae) in order to answer them.
Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/2/2014 @ 12:34 amI clocked in at 48. I feel oppressed because I am not gay.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 5/2/2014 @ 12:36 amWell, I scientifically checked white and male, ignored everything else since I felt those questions had no relationship to privilege (and it’s all about how I feel, isn’t it?)
White and male gives me 2. way under 🙂
mer (2d74b6) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:36 amGot a 35. Stupid test. I’m way more privileged than that.
LASue (865c76) — 5/2/2014 @ 3:20 amI got attacked once in Virginia and called me a Dago. And I’m thinking, “Thank God.” For once somebody got it right.
It stands out as opposed to all those other times I had a tan and the racists thought I was Mexican.
Which I will do. Still, it was nice.
Steve57 (525198) — 5/2/2014 @ 3:51 am*I got attacked once in Virginia and the skinheads called me a Dago.*
Steve57 (525198) — 5/2/2014 @ 3:53 amI’ve practically advertised it. For all the good it did me.
Steve57 (525198) — 5/2/2014 @ 4:00 amNot being a victim of sexual crimes isn’t a privilege – this survey is about on par with “Which Wizard of Oz character are you?”
JWB (c1c08f) — 5/2/2014 @ 4:19 amIt ain’t no big thing, but those 4 Hawaiian mokes who scuffed me up pretty good in a Waikiki parking lot back in ’66 made sure I paid full price for the privilege of being white.
ropelight (031e3e) — 5/2/2014 @ 4:43 amGlad to hear it ropelight.
Steve57 (525198) — 5/2/2014 @ 5:03 amOk, if I’m so privileged as a white male, how come everbody is just going to assume I’m a child molester? This thought occurred to me as I was studying the survey. To be accused is to be convicted.
Or. Or. Wait for it. Remember the DC sniper? I fit the profile. Some privilege.
Steve57 (525198) — 5/2/2014 @ 5:09 amBut most of these “privileges” are simply consequences of self esteem, which everyone should get from a two parent family.
Yup. I didn’t even click the “test”. But I get the idea from the comments. I consider my life blessed and damn proud of it.
nk (9faaca) — 5/2/2014 @ 5:15 amhttp://www.ehow.com/facts_5541615_chevy-crossfire-injection.htmlC
Cross Fire Fuel Injection. The best idea Chevy ever came up with. It guaranteed that, for one year at least, the Corvette would not be a collector’s item.
Steve57 (525198) — 5/2/2014 @ 5:23 amHeh, 44 of 100.
That test isn’t written for the likes of me though. I am not terribly conventional (in any direction) so I tend to answer questions the opposite of what would be expected by those who wrote the test.
eg:
I am what would be considered mainstreamish in religious beliefs for the USA, but I didn’t grow up in the USA, and as a result I was subjected to mild religious persecution including threats of violence.
Likewise for racial slurs, etc. I was white in many non-white exlusive situations. I was asked if my white-blonde hair could be touched, etc.
I am going to enjoy using this result though. Throwing it in the faces of the cult of diversity and non-privilege will be a new pleasure.
Dan S (00fc90) — 5/2/2014 @ 6:03 amAfter reading all the comments I have to wonder if the test is designed so nearly everyone is underprivileged. Or are the commentors self selecting to crow about their underprivileged results? 🙂
Or are we mostly underprivileged because Nannygov has turned us all into child citizens whose privileges are mostly reserved to the state?
Dan S (00fc90) — 5/2/2014 @ 6:11 amI liked Kipling’s take on First World Privilege better;
“Take up the White Man’s burden–
C. S. P. Schofield (e8b801) — 5/2/2014 @ 6:38 amSend forth the best ye breed–
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need;”
Well the internet drug my score down I’m sure. Who hasn’t been called a fag or terrorist on the internet? Am I right!? 60/100
Dejectedhead (06f486) — 5/2/2014 @ 6:56 amKipling knew his privilege.
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/2711
I am so privileged!
Steve57 (525198) — 5/2/2014 @ 7:01 amNot privileged. But I carry the burden of needing to educate those that are…
steveg (794291) — 5/2/2014 @ 7:07 amAlso am one of the wicked witches winged monkeys in the Wizard of Oz quiz which is nice
I got a 40. Not Privileged. Some of those questions were like an uncomfortable therapy session though. Luckily “having frequent flyer miles” didn’t tip me over the top into having to check my privilege.
carlitos (e7c734) — 5/2/2014 @ 7:16 amVery scientific scoring though. I think “have you been raped” counts the same as “have you traveled internationally.”
carlitos (e7c734) — 5/2/2014 @ 7:17 amI dunno. Sounds like maybe sane people should just avoid the Buzzfeed website and not take the stupid quiz??? 🙂 They’re tracking your IP address for future use, you know.
elissa (dc627d) — 5/2/2014 @ 7:31 amNope, I’m a white male heterosexual.
Not “having frequent flyer miles” isn’t because of lack of privilege, it’s because I don’t like the hassle of flying and I don’t have more than two credit cards which I pay off every month. Yet I scored 33.
Does being harassed for being a heterosexual count? Or a Christian?
Seems kind of odd to be harassed for being a Christian when the Supreme Court has said that the United States is a Christian nation.
Shouldn’t the test give more weight to being white and heterosexual? Isn’t that the very definition of privilege? For that matter, if you check those options, shouldn’t the test stop a berate you for being privileged and the cause of all ills in the world?
This test is silly.
Tanny O'Haley (c0a74e) — 5/2/2014 @ 7:35 amYou’ve been harassed for being heterosexual and for being Christian? Do tell.
But yes, the test is silly.
carlitos (e7c734) — 5/2/2014 @ 7:40 amI quit halfway through. What a stupid quiz. I will wear the dunce cap for the rest of class.
Ipso Fatso (10964d) — 5/2/2014 @ 7:44 amFor those saying what a stupid quiz, well, yeah. Your clue was using “very scientific” and “Buzzfeed” in the same sentence! Of course, that it appears white males seem to be complaining the most is revealing, too!
Dana (40f6af) — 5/2/2014 @ 8:36 amThis quiz is up there with “if u were are sport what would u be?”
–carlito is “cross country,” which is pretty funny, given that I ran cross country.
carlitos (e7c734) — 5/2/2014 @ 8:49 amHa! 42/100 and I’m a (mostly) grown, straight white male!
BEHOLD MY PRIVILEGE, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR
JP (66ce26) — 5/2/2014 @ 12:05 pmOzymandias be mansplaining.
carlitos (e7c734) — 5/2/2014 @ 12:28 pmThere’s always a certain percentage of any population with the conviction that society is a conspiracy to deny them their rights. The right to be totally ignorant of any useful knowledge seems to be the basic one. Most societies can carry the burden of these drones—along with the criminal and idiot classes—as mere minority problems. Of course, they still regard any material advantages possessed by the productive as flagrant evidence of discrimination.
nk (9faaca) — 5/2/2014 @ 12:41 pm— Keith Laumer
I’ve been to Japan, so I’ve been discriminated against for being white.
On one of many trips to the UK, I was apparently someone’s first Irish-person. He came up and started talking about the IRA and if I agreed with it. I think he also thought I was Catholic, so I score there, too. All on the basis of my last name, which, after 7 or 8 generations in America, doesn’t mean all that much.
Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:04 pmAlso, I’m part Cherokee, but who isn’t? Especially considering that people of all races joined the Cherokee.
Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:06 pmThat is not a survey of “privilege.”
It is a survey of possible problems, with a heavy focus on sexual orientation, and worries (or the need to be concerned about) money, and whether you have the benefit of such things as never having to do your own taxes..
It is geared entirely to young people.
There’s one every man would check off, and probably no woman: ✓ I have never felt unsafe because of my gender.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:25 pm44. Comment by Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:04 pm
I’ve been to Japan, so I’ve been discriminated against for being white.
And maybe the only person of your race in a room.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:27 pmthus proving, once again, how little you know of the real world.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:40 pmThese three things give you “privilege” because apparently most people are not so fortunate:
✓ I feel comfortable in the gender I was born as.
✓ I still identify as the gender I was born in.
✓ I have never tried to change my gender.
More rare privilege:
✓ My parents are heterosexual.
How about:
✓ I am not in the hospital.
✓ I am not in jail.
✓ I have never gone without water for two days.
Or
✓ I am still alive. (it was estimated in 1981 that 91% of the people who have ever lived are not.)
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/06/science/9-percent-of-everyone-who-ever-lived-is-alive-now.html
Or:
✓ I have both my legs.
No they got that one already:
✓ I do not have any physical disabilities.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:46 pmComment by Kevin M (b357ee) — 5/2/2014 @ 12:30 am
some of them are clearly written by people whose idea of ancient history is “before 1996″
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:49 pmThese are interesting:
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:51 pmYa know, I took another look at the test because of the “this rest is for young people” comments. I just realized how correct that assertion is. My client demographic is heavily populated in the 4 years to 13 years-old. So I am steeped, daily, in the mindset of that youthful group, so all those questions about parents did not even register as unusual. You want to be young? spend a LOT of time working with/among the young.
felipe (098e97) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:51 pm48. You could be right.
There are circumstances where a woman would not be attacked, but a man would feel unsafe. (from bullies, haters and robbers)
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:53 pmAlso, the “identities” questions did not seem strange since this is a topic of frequent discussion among my clients.
felipe (098e97) — 5/2/2014 @ 1:56 pmSpeaking of identities, this is popular among today’s yutes.
Sponebob loses his identity
felipe (098e97) — 5/2/2014 @ 2:11 pmOk. I’ve got to stand up for the Japanese here.
When I moved to Japan was I discriminated against? Yes. At first. But once it became clear to them I was going to learn the language whether they liked it or not, things changed.
There was this sushi place I used to go to in Yokohama where I’d park out front and the chefs would race out to park my car. And when I was ready to leave, they’d go get it and pull it out in front. They barely even charged me for the victuals.
I ruined it because I brought a Japanese friend there. I told him it was not only good but cheap. We walked in and he said, “Steve, I don’t think this place is cheap. It looks really nice.”
Turns out he was right. They felt compelled to drop the charade and charge me the going rate.
Point being Japan can be difficult. And, yes, they will make fun of the gaijin. But if you tough it out and get to know the place it ain’t all that bad. The next thing you know, they are your friends for life.
Steve57 (525198) — 5/2/2014 @ 2:18 pmI recall being at a ceremony when a JMSDF destroyer was departing for the IO to support us. The Japanese made me form up with them. “We are allies.”
Then the ship pulled out, and as far as I could tell no one on the bridge was even looking where it was going.
I was kind of horrified, but apparently they do that all the time.
It’s a good thing these people are our allies. They’re dangerous.
Steve57 (525198) — 5/2/2014 @ 2:24 pmanother privilege you can check: deciding where you want to travel overseas…(assuming you can afford to travel, of course)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-02/friday-humor-you-cant-make-stuff
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 5/2/2014 @ 3:44 pmif i had to w*rk with today’s “utes” on a regular basis, it would be a race between liver failure and acute alcohol poisoning as to what the cause of death was.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 5/2/2014 @ 4:13 pmSo… does this mean I’m eligible for affirmative action?
Seriously? Do you never go out in public?
Rob Crawford (45d991) — 5/2/2014 @ 5:34 pmI’m a straight, white, heterosexual male. I was born in 1961, and have been supported most of my adult life by there fact that my Grandfather was smart enough to get the hell out of the stock market in September of 1929. Both of my parents were college graduates, and my Father had a PhD. I have no college loan debts. If I’m not Privileged, at least by the definition used by the Western Intellectual Twits who are so goddamned fond of throwing the term around, nobody is.
I scored 32. Mostly, I suspect, because I have been the only member of my ethnicity in a room, I have been taunted for my (hetero)sexuality, I have been subjected to the kind of bigotry that Leftist Twits don’t believe happens to WASPS.
Hell, anybody who lives in the United States and has a stable enough life to have a mailing address for more than six months at a time, lives in unimaginable luxury compared to, say any of the Crowned Heads of Europe circa 1300.
We are privileged. Rather than indulge in self-flagellation over it, we should be trying to encourage other peoples to walk the path that we did, which made us so rich; industrialization, scientific farming, and recognizing the Right to Property.
My hope for the 21st Century is that Juan, and Chang, and M’boto see through the white nitwits who want them to turn their backs on Capitalism, Industrialism, the Green Revolution (look it up; the Greenies HATE it), and all the other paths out of poverty, and boot them to the side of the road on their way to prosperity.
C. S. P. Schofield (e8b801) — 5/2/2014 @ 5:38 pm28
I guess growing up white and lower middle class in predominantly hispanic south Texas finally got me something.
BradnSA (9104fd) — 5/2/2014 @ 5:51 pmI scored 36. Stop picking on me you haters.
Seriously, I scored low because I grew up pretty much like everybody else. However, I’m a lot older than the intended audience of this this stupid poll.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 5/2/2014 @ 7:21 pmSpeaking of white privilege, in just over a month one of the very same C-47s that flew over the beach on D-Day will be repeating the deed to celebrate the 70th anniversary.
The first time she carried elements of the 2nd Battalion 508th PIR, piloted by 1st Lt. James R. Hamilton, co-piloted by 2nd Lt. Ernest R Scott. Her radio operator was SGT Aaron M. Womack Jr. and her crew chief was Sgt. Henry H. Gardner.
Steve57 (525198) — 5/2/2014 @ 8:45 pmSadly the USS Satterlee will not be taking part as she is no longer with us.
The Rangers remember her, though.
http://darbysrangers.tripod.com/id110.htm
Blackfive wrote about her helmsman a while back.
Steve57 (525198) — 5/2/2014 @ 9:03 pmCheck _MY_ Privilege ????
Hey, nobody subsidizes *MY* rent.
I don’t get “free money” tossed onto a debit card every month for *MY* grocery shopping.
The crummy old cell phone I have is one *I* pay for each month.
What’s this “privilege” thing they’re talking about?
(Oh, yeah, I remember: I have the privilege of paying taxes so that OTHER people can lounge through life without worrying about keeping a job. Excuse the “senior moment” there.)
A_Nonny_Mouse (9bef29) — 5/2/2014 @ 9:09 pmI’m wondering if all these “low scores” of other commenters means that maybe I have great deal to be thankful for – just as NK has much to be thankful for. I remember one particular day in a class I took in Catholic high school when we had a polish priest speak to us about his survival of a concentration camp.
I can’t accurately spell his name, but it sounded like “shvee-deck”. Anyway, I could tell that he took great care with the words that he used as he described such a horrific event. We truly could not understand how such a thing could be permitted.
The exercise given to the class after our guest had left (to speak to another class) was to give examples out of our own life of injustice. it seemed that each person had an experience to share except for me. I could not for the life of me find an episode of an injustice done to me. I don’t believe I have ever used the phrase “It’s not fair” in reference to a disappointment I have had.
No one would believe me. I was asked if any of a myriad of strange (to me) things had happened to me. The suggestion was that maybe I did not recognize injustice. Their efforts proved fruitless, especially when I suggested that they were now trying to manipulate my thinking. It finally ended when the teacher asked me what I would say to a stranger if that stranger were to ask me “what are you”?. I answered immediately without thinking much about the question; “a freshman”. I remember the look on my teacher’s face, a look of shock and then epiphany. He finally said “You are part of a new generation”.
Was I a “special snowflake”? No. I had all the hardships I could handle. My interpretation of those hardships did not include a sense that I had lost something that was due me. Isn’t that how personal injustice is perceived; being denied that which belongs to you?
felipe (098e97) — 5/2/2014 @ 10:13 pmPoint being Japan can be difficult. And, yes, they will make fun of the gaijin.
FWIW, I’ve seen a documentary about foreigners living in Japan and even Americans of Japanese descent who’ve moved to Japan say there’s a social divide, and ensuing discrimination, that exists between them and the natives. But, as is true of people everywhere, a lot depends on context, such as whether a person is in a big city or a small rural community.
Japan has sometimes been criticized for having a culture that is overly conformist, too much like the US decades ago (eg, where single, pregnant woman and the households they create are frowned upon). But against the framework of America in 2014, I find such traditional conformity to be a relief, a moment of sanity, a sense of reassuring stability.
That’s why Japan also is an increasingly anomalous society in the industrialized world, at least for the moment. So far, it hasn’t become totally broken down from modern-day liberalism, where non-conformity for non-conformity’s sake — which runs in close tandem with compassion for compassion’s sake — has become a new state religion.
Mark (59e5be) — 5/2/2014 @ 10:38 pmOk, Mark. I give up. Tell me about Japan.
Steve57 (525198) — 5/2/2014 @ 11:30 pmWhat does”intersectional, complicated identity” mean?
Jeanette Victoria (348266) — 5/3/2014 @ 5:53 amI’d guess its a euphemism for “father missing/unknown patrimony”
felipe (098e97) — 5/3/2014 @ 11:21 am==Japan has sometimes been criticized for having a culture that is overly conformist, too much like the US decades ago (eg, where single, pregnant woman and the households they create are frowned upon). But against the framework of America in 2014, I find such traditional conformity to be a relief, a moment of sanity, a sense of reassuring stability.==
Interesting. Are you thinking of moving to Japan, Mark? Do you think you’d be happier there?
elissa (49d595) — 5/3/2014 @ 11:30 am