Shagittarius wrote on 2025-07-02, 14:40:
Being Intelligent, capable, and motivated is not a privilege. All men are created equal, its what you do with your time after that which separates us.
I agree with that (assume equal means equal under law, not equal in ability or opportunity), the word 'privilege' in this context has no meaning without some authority to grant it, or some groups that enable it. Innate characteristics are not privilege (otherwise we start saying the fastest Cheetah is 'privileged') they are really just advantages or disadvantages in relation to some context
Privilege is one of those words the meaning of which as spread to capture things like innate characteristics and to cast people who don't have disadvantages as being privileged, which removes attention from the disadvantage and makes the subject of 'privilege' appear as if they are just lucky or favoured by some abstract 'authority' and hence might be in some debt or obligation to others as a result.
vvbee wrote on 2025-07-02, 20:22:
Simply being a median earner in Europe makes you extremely privileged. It's also crazy to see after a long spell of unemployment how easily the money comes in when it's coming in. You get paid thousands a month for a questionable amount of contribution on your part, plus the various benefits, rights and pension. Then if you become unemployed again even your welfare check is at minimum twice the worse off guy's, and you still have your savings, gear, etc.
Indeed, being a median earner in most of the world these days means you can sidestep immediate threats to survival, subsistence living or desperate absolute poverty. In north america, europe, and large parts of se asia, Australia etc it does indeed mean a life or relative abundance, safety and welfare. If we, who have jobs in these countries, were to swap over to a factory job in a poor nation - the kind that supply dollar stores with goods - or a life in one of the places where there is war, famine and actual poverty we'd come back much more appreciative i think. That said we cannot go around in a blissful state of gratitude with shadows of guilt just because of the fact of being in one country or another, and it's fine to note that making your hobby a job has its downside, for instance.
