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Old 05-02-2012, 11:53 AM   #67
Versus
 
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 3,812
This is just me. JUST. ME. <--- This statement is important, and I'll come back to it.

First, try and understand what your privilege makes you ignorant of.

As an example, there is a video on youtube that is my favorite to explain this point because it's where I first saw something about part of my privilege. It is about how men have the privilege to not understand the **** culture we live in. A man in front of a classroom of 13 men and 9 women asks what they do to avoid ****. The men say "I don't do anything," and the women give this huge list of what they do. And then it hit me for the first time, because I had never even imagined it before: We don't have to think about ****, we don't have to avoid it, we don't have to see it. At all.

And that's just an example specific to women in an oppressive culture. It is so hard for people to understand their privilege because we have never been without it. I've never been a woman. I've never been Asian. I've never been disabled. I've never been anything but an American. I've never beens can go on forever. It's like BREATHING. You don't even notice it, think about it, KNOW about it, until somebody or something brings it to the front of your attention, assuming that you actually stop to really think about it instead of dismissing that you already know everything about it, and that doesn't even happen all that often. It's sad, but we can't just think about it until we understand it. We have to learn about our privilege from people without it.

Once you acknowledge what your privileges are, you have to understand what that means to you. Being privileged is not something you can cast aside and get rid of, it's not something to feel guilty or ashamed of, it's not something that makes you better or worse, it's just a part of you that other people notice. It's just breathing. Once you accept it about yourself, it's easier to talk about. It's easier to live with. It's easier to understand. When the veil begins to be lifted, you can start to see. You'll start to look at things differently. You'll see them closer to as they are, rather then what you have distorted them to be. You'll notice this shit everywhere when it's on your mind.

That being said, you can never completely understand. While you can briefly hold your breath, you can never go without breathing. And that is why what you can do is limited. When people talk about their experience with sexism, or racism, or whatever the fuck; SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN. LISTEN! LISTEEEEEENNNNN. It'll help you understand even more, or if you don't get it, at least you can be an empathetic and caring person and acknowledge the sort of things that hurt people. It is NOT your place to interject because you have absolutely NO FUCKING CLUE where they are coming from. You have NOTHING to contribute. That's not to say that you can't ever talk about it. Go ahead and call people out on their bullshit. Bring shit up. Talk about it. But understand when you don't have anything to say. Cool?

So I mentioned earlier that this is just me talking. I say that because, like Despanan, you might hear two conflicting things. A woman says Occupy is sexist. Another woman says it is not. Picking sides is not what you do. Shut the fuck up and listen is what you do. Be supportive. Be helpful. But don't get into something that you don't have a fucking clue about. When Occupy says "This is what our consensus has decided," it is COMPLETE. FUCKING. BULLLSHHHIIIITTTTT. It is just WRONG for so many people without this perspective and understanding to be involved in something that is invisible to them.

I hope this makes sense.
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Woke up with fifty enemies plottin' my death
All fifty seein' visions of me shot in the chest
Couldn't rest, nah nigga I was stressed
Had me creepin' 'round corners, homie sleepin' in my vest.


-Breathin, Tupac.
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