I thought it will be nice to share another great post by our fellow @mrdobalina This Teacher Taught His Class A Powerful Lesson About Privilege I believe we all have privilege some how some way. Don't forget to help those less fortunate people, maybe a smile, a hint, an encourage will make people feel little happier and better in this journey we all in together.
My response to that article - while a good article - is for the kids in the back of the room to find ways to move themselves up to the front of the room. This is the most important part of that lesson he/she missed. I think it is a given that the privileged advocate for the less privileged kids in the back row....look at how many wealthy Countries, wealthy people - all over the world - give of their time and money to help/advocate for the less privileged. Many, many privileged folks don't announce how much advocating they do.
And how many wealthy people less vocally take steps to keep the proles in their place? Noblesse oblige isn't a new concept. Wanting the great unwashed to have better lives isn't the same as wanting them to have the same standard as you, which is why social mobility is so important and why its great that Australia is (supposedly if you trust OECD rankings) top 5 in the world for it. I think Warren Buffett sums this up incredibly well with his concept of the "Ovarian Lottery". Apologies for the bad quality, but in my opinion its well worth a watch.
I like this post in the comments. I am all for a good safety net in our society, which is the governments responsibility, but I can't stand when people complain without trying to make a change themselves.
How do you know those who are complaining aren't trying to make a change themselves? Consider women. For generations women were considered less intellectually capable by many. Here in Australia, many women who got married had to give up their jobs due to a combination of social mores and rules. As a result, women did not enter a range of occupations despite what they may have wished. This was a structural problem not a problem of ability. Of course some women succeeded (often in horrible circumstances - I heard one woman's memoir about having parts thrown at her when she attended dissection classes in medical school, in the eighties women were subject to abuse in engineering classes etc). Even today women end up taking on much more of the responsibility for the family home (cooking, cleaning etc) and this has been measured by the ABS - in addition to holding down jobs and often looking after aging parents too. (Not to mention the family violence statistics). Look at the statistics for women on boards and female pay rates compared to male for equivalent work. Then tell a woman that if she'd just moved her chair forward 20 years ago she'd have succeeded. I use the example of women, because we all know a woman. We don't all know an underprivileged person, so it's easy to judge. The narrative of blame is a comfortable blanket for the privileged.
This poster is not blaming anyone for anything. I read it to say that there are people who will complain about their situation without attempting to make any changes themselves. I too cant stand that. On the other hand I have plenty of admiration for those who would pick up their chair and carry it to the front of the room so they can get close to the basket. I trust "The narrative of blame is a comfortable blanket for the privileged" is a general observation or statement rather than assuming we automatically go out blaming other people for their situations.
This is no longer a valid point for the argument, because we now see women in the highest positions in the Land, CEO's etc - and possibly Hillary soon as the USA Pres. Female pay rates are in most industries exactly the same as their male colleagues - the problem is due to which jobs women gravitate towards, and how many hours they are prepared to work. One of the main reasons we don't see as many women in the highest offices is due to their choice...extra responsibility of time when there are families to be looked after; is a big one. For eg; my wife has a Masters in Nursing. She could have chosen to climb the ladder and be in an Admin position earning well over $100k per year..but she likes to be a nurse, and she is a devoted mother as well; she has chosen to work part time and remain active "on the floor" so she can achieve both of her goals. The result is an income of only around the $60k range for her chosen hours of work.. I am sure there are millions of women who are the same.
And the victim mentality and attitude is the narrative of those who perceive themselves as less privileged..
