I get where you're coming from. "Privilege" ends up being a contentious word, partly because it's treated as a marker of tribal identity in the culture wars, partly because it may insinuate that a "privilege" is somehow not earned. On the other hand, it's standard to call a driver's license a privilege, not a right, and it is earned: I d…
I get where you're coming from. "Privilege" ends up being a contentious word, partly because it's treated as a marker of tribal identity in the culture wars, partly because it may insinuate that a "privilege" is somehow not earned. On the other hand, it's standard to call a driver's license a privilege, not a right, and it is earned: I don't think the case that "privilege" denotes what's unearned is particularly strong. Even so, when people want to distinguish between earned and unearned advantages, they may use "privilege" for the latter: having distinct words for distinct ideas is handy.
Depending on who I'm talking to, I might use "privilege" or "advantage" or even "blessing" to lower the temperature. Among Bulwark subscribers, I think "privilege" is OK. The Bulwark stakes out a space where being conservative means not having to be anti-"woke" all the time, where it's possible to engage the "woke" on their own terms, and "privilege" is now famous as a "woke" word.
On a personal note, I was lucky to be born with a body like mine into a well-educated, upper-middle-class family. I was born with a tissue defect that's physically easy to detect, but still often not tested for (I wasn't tested till my 30s, after I'd had kids), even with the best medical care. It's not terrible, at least not in my case, but it does tend to cause unexplained, uncomfortable weirdness at an early age. Which in turn may result in fun stuff like medical debt, wrongful institutionalization, painkiller dependency... That I got my degree, got out of medical debt, never got hooked on narcotics, eventually got a diagnosis, and now can at least fake it (most of the time) as a semi-respectable suburban mom is all pretty lucky. Sure, it took effort and tough choices, but it was definitely made easier by other unearned advantages I just lucked into. Under any definition of "privilege", "privilege" seems to describe the good luck in my life pretty well.
Well, thanks for getting back to me on this. And I think you're right in everything you said. Especially the relationship of the meaning of privilege as it relates to luck. I've been rather privileged in that way for a few reasons myself.
Semantics can be choppy waters to navigate sometimes. But while I'm by no means a language expert of any kind, I've always been interested in language and words and how they serve as the main medium for our communication with each other, and I often find the nuances of that communication of particular interest, and like to get perspectives from people that, because of their own life experiences, may see something I take to be correct about this subject differently from me.
You noted that you may choose different words to convey the same idea, depending upon whom you're talking to. I often do the same, in the interest of trying to make a point without generating any unnecessary and distracting heat, whether it involves posting a comment or speaking to someone IRL. There are a few other places where I post comments that I often write a bit differently than I do here for a couple of reasons, so your point about that is well taken.
Thanks again for your response. I find it quite useful in my thinking on this. BTW...interesting what you said about reading Inferno using a verso translation. Have never had that kind of experience, since my only language skills are of the English variety. I'm of Italian descent, my father being 1st generation from a large Italian family in Philly. He spoke and understood Italian, but never passed that skill on to me. Wasn't much call for it in the small central Kentucky town where I was born and raised, being as ours was the only Italian name in the phone book. Which not only covered the town but the whole county. ;-)
I get where you're coming from. "Privilege" ends up being a contentious word, partly because it's treated as a marker of tribal identity in the culture wars, partly because it may insinuate that a "privilege" is somehow not earned. On the other hand, it's standard to call a driver's license a privilege, not a right, and it is earned: I don't think the case that "privilege" denotes what's unearned is particularly strong. Even so, when people want to distinguish between earned and unearned advantages, they may use "privilege" for the latter: having distinct words for distinct ideas is handy.
Depending on who I'm talking to, I might use "privilege" or "advantage" or even "blessing" to lower the temperature. Among Bulwark subscribers, I think "privilege" is OK. The Bulwark stakes out a space where being conservative means not having to be anti-"woke" all the time, where it's possible to engage the "woke" on their own terms, and "privilege" is now famous as a "woke" word.
On a personal note, I was lucky to be born with a body like mine into a well-educated, upper-middle-class family. I was born with a tissue defect that's physically easy to detect, but still often not tested for (I wasn't tested till my 30s, after I'd had kids), even with the best medical care. It's not terrible, at least not in my case, but it does tend to cause unexplained, uncomfortable weirdness at an early age. Which in turn may result in fun stuff like medical debt, wrongful institutionalization, painkiller dependency... That I got my degree, got out of medical debt, never got hooked on narcotics, eventually got a diagnosis, and now can at least fake it (most of the time) as a semi-respectable suburban mom is all pretty lucky. Sure, it took effort and tough choices, but it was definitely made easier by other unearned advantages I just lucked into. Under any definition of "privilege", "privilege" seems to describe the good luck in my life pretty well.
Well, thanks for getting back to me on this. And I think you're right in everything you said. Especially the relationship of the meaning of privilege as it relates to luck. I've been rather privileged in that way for a few reasons myself.
Semantics can be choppy waters to navigate sometimes. But while I'm by no means a language expert of any kind, I've always been interested in language and words and how they serve as the main medium for our communication with each other, and I often find the nuances of that communication of particular interest, and like to get perspectives from people that, because of their own life experiences, may see something I take to be correct about this subject differently from me.
You noted that you may choose different words to convey the same idea, depending upon whom you're talking to. I often do the same, in the interest of trying to make a point without generating any unnecessary and distracting heat, whether it involves posting a comment or speaking to someone IRL. There are a few other places where I post comments that I often write a bit differently than I do here for a couple of reasons, so your point about that is well taken.
Thanks again for your response. I find it quite useful in my thinking on this. BTW...interesting what you said about reading Inferno using a verso translation. Have never had that kind of experience, since my only language skills are of the English variety. I'm of Italian descent, my father being 1st generation from a large Italian family in Philly. He spoke and understood Italian, but never passed that skill on to me. Wasn't much call for it in the small central Kentucky town where I was born and raised, being as ours was the only Italian name in the phone book. Which not only covered the town but the whole county. ;-)