Amerika

One of the favorite presumptions of the left is that we should all be equal, therefore (magically) those with more than the average owe it to the rest of the herd.

A cynical observer might call this simply, “guilt.” It serves no purpose except to allow the person with less to demand a free subsidy from the person with more.

In doing so, the lesser people reveals themselves as inferior. No decent and useful person would ever demand a subsidy. They might ask for a loan, or a grant to do something, but it would be on the basis of what they would achieve, not their failure to achieve.

David Greenberg over at The College Conservative attempts to address this point:

Without first stopping to consider what is actually being charged, the person being accused of possessing a privilege can lose an opportunity to gain a better understanding about themselves and the opportunities that have been afforded to them.

The first step requires empathy. It requires you to look at the situation from that second person’s perspective and see what they mean when they are calling you privileged. If you are having trouble making this deduction on you own, ask them. Hopefully, they will give you a clear answer. (If they do not, then it may be simply a defense mechanism.)

You may come to the conclusion that the idea they are arguing is, in fact, true. Some privilege exists simply because we are different people. A world without privilege is a world where everyone is literally the same.

David writes well and is too polite to say what must be said here:

When should you check your privilege?

Never.

If you have “privilege,” it is because either you or your ancestors were more useful than the person asking about privilege. If it was your ancestors, you have most likely inherited those traits. If it was you, then these people are merely parasites who want to share your good fortune without having done a thing to achieve it, thus in the time-honored tradition of human herds dissolving the wealth and destroying the interest, then moving on to something else to parasitize.

Those who are more competent deserve more power, money and recognition for a simple reason: they have shown they can use it. Much like you graduate from school, and have more power than when you did not, or get promoted at a job, those who have shown aptitude are given a chance to use that aptitude for other means. We all benefit from well-run businesses, quality professional advice, and strong leadership. That is not privilege; it is service.

Inevitably, the inferior will complain about “un-earned wealth” and start talking about Paris Hilton when this argument is brought up. You can quickly brush that aside: those people are a minority of those with wealth and, if we believe they are a problem, the logical way to fix that is to stop allowing fools to become wealthy. Somehow you never hear the privilege-checkers talking about that.

The standard Crowdist attack, like all good cons, begins by finding common ground. We all agree that life should be fair, and we all want to have empathy. So why do you have more than others? It must be because you are bad (when in fact the converse is true: the bad have less because they are less good). The real empathy and fairness consists in giving more to the good and less to the bad, because that way we all play by the same rules. The privilege-checkers want to make an end-run around that and be given wealth just for being pitiable.

“Check your privilege” is one of those guilt-attacks that will not go down in history. Like every other political motivation, it departs from truth and becomes a mere seizure of power and wealthy by those who are too corrupt to generate it by other means. The correct response to it is not to, as most conservatives attempt, assess each request to see if it has merit. Deny them all. Never check your privilege. The whole thing is nonsense and the type of scam you find in circus yards. When someone starts talking about privilege, you know they are lying, and the correct response is to call them and a liar and depart before you give credence to their ideas with your attendance.

Tags: crowdism, empathy, guilt, pandering, privilege