"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
7 January 2008Privilege has its ranknessI've seen this at I See Invisible People and at The Motley Oklahoman, and I figure I'd give it a shot.
Premise: bold each of the statements that applies.
Original source: The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright. So acknowledged. Here we go: Father went to college Notes: Most of my college costs were covered by a scholarship; there were five kids, so a room to one's own was something that existed only in dreams; I was the oldest, so there were no hand-me-downs available; I once calculated the volume of the oil drum out back, but I never looked into the price of filling it up. Update, 8 pm: The estimable John Scalzi sees a problem with the methodology in use here:
[F]or probably any person, there are things on this list meant to signify privilege that don't, or are meant to exclude privilege that could be signs of substantial privilege — just ask the boarding school student driving dad's old Beemer to the vacation house by the shore while his middle-class friends are stuck in an SAT review session. For nearly all of the "privilege markers" in this exercise, one can come up with excellent reasons why they are not an issue of privilege or class at all.
Which means that for the purposes of this exercise — showing indicators of privilege and class — this list is not actually useful, and indeed counter-productive. In this exercise, it's entirely possible for someone of a lower social class to appear more "privileged" than someone who is of the "rich and snooty" class. This doesn't create awareness of privilege; it does, however, create awareness of the essential lameness of this particular exercise. "Privilege" itself is a buzzword these days, and should be approached warily in any event. Maybe I should say simply that I was damn lucky to get what I did when I did. Posted at 7:53 AM to Screaming MemesTrackBack: 3:19 PM, 7 January 2008 » Growing Up on the Meme Streets from The McGehee Zone As usual, when I do a meme, I get it from Dustbury. Today's example: Premise: bold each of the statements that applies. Original source: The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Hu......[read more] TrackBack: 5:25 PM, 7 January 2008 » Home of the over-privileged child? from Rene's Apple The idea is that you "bold" the ones that apply, to see how "privileged" a childhood you had. From Daily Troll, via Dustbury. Father went to college - Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts....[read more] TrackBack: 11:47 AM, 8 January 2008 » The Privilege Meme from Trusted.MD Network Via Dustbury, I See Invisible People, and The Motley Oklahoman This exercise was developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you part...[read more] TrackBack: 9:12 PM, 8 January 2008 » Born With A Lead Spoon In My Mouth from Musings from Brian J. Noggle Are you a child of privilege? Apparently, it's all the latest rage for college professors to gin up something to prove that everyone of the appropriate need for guilt feel guilty about their privileges. Over at Dustbury, he's run his own numbers, and t......[read more] TrackBack: 7:40 PM, 9 January 2008 » Another meme seen over at Dustbury from Anywhere But Here Premise: bold each of the statements that applies to you. Original source: The list is based on an exercise developed by......[read more] TrackBack: 2:51 PM, 10 January 2008 » Point of Privilege from it comes in pints? So last week I saw this piece by John Scalzi shredding some perfesserdude's concept of "privilege". Now, it seems to have been turned into a meme, which I am hereby stealing (but without a cool title like McGehee and Dustbury......[read more] TrackBack: 11:19 PM, 10 January 2008 » Meme to an end? from Not Exactly Rocket Science Ok, it was the only cool title I could think of. This one seems to be going around, and I thought it was interesting enough to do. Evidently the idea is to explore "privilege" (whatever that is) and see what......[read more]
We did in fact have oil heat in our last South Carolina home. (No A/C, though.) Posted by: CGHill at 11:17 AM on 7 January 2008On going through that list and mentally ticking off everything on it I "had" (no credit card at age 18, though), I have to admit I'm feeling a mixture of gratitude and embarrassment. (I will say I did not get my own phone before I moved out of the house, no matter how hard I lobbied for one. And I tend to think TVs in bedrooms are a bad idea for pretty much anyone, let alone teenagers (and no, I didn't have one). Posted by: fillyjonk at 12:04 PM on 7 January 2008I had about the same (limited) number of bolds as you did, Chaz. Posted by: John Salmon at 1:36 PM on 7 January 2008Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers I must have come from an unusually class-unconscious background, because when I first saw this one I wondered how it would be possible to take, say, a senior class in math from a sophomore. Posted by: McGehee at 2:55 PM on 7 January 2008I ticked off but 5. I paid my own way to camp a couple of years and I paid for my violin lessons by working for the money, otherwise it would have been 3. Crap. But I always thought we were doing just great when I was a kid. I wish my parents had known about this list before they started their family. Posted by: Jeff Shaw at 4:52 PM on 7 January 2008I got six. Am I winning the prize for most grittily authentic? Posted by: Brian J. at 5:04 PM on 7 January 2008I ended up with 9. I installed the phone jack in my room myself after buying a $9 phone from a gas station with fillup. I think that phone lasted about a month before it died. My mother did not attend college and I don't know if my dad did. My first car was given to me (by someone outside the family) provided I fixed it and didn't sell it. You and I matched on everything else. Posted by: unimpressed at 5:52 PM on 7 January 2008Why "Priviledge" at the Motley? That's offputting. Posted by: ben acton at 7:28 PM on 7 January 2008I got 3. Does this mean I can pop the tops off of beer bottles with my teeth while chasing jailbait now? Posted by: Akaky at 3:14 PM on 8 January 2008I don't get it. Why bold? Is some secret pattern supposed to be revealed? Or is it a test of dexterity to see if you can highlight a single line correctly? I ran into this once before, and it made no sense then either. Surely there is some kind of ready made form available for tests like this that would do away with this stupid bolding business. Or maybe I am just revealing how I have neglected my mouse maintenance. Charles, it's because the original idea was for college students to take a step forward if they were "privileged". That doesn't work well in a blog post. And in case the real one doesn't show up, here's a Manual Trackback™. Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at 2:59 PM on 10 January 2008It did show up. However, they all fall into the moderation queue, inasmuch as 97 percent of the ones I get are, as Jonathan Winters used to say, "nasty gar-BAHJ." Posted by: CGHill at 3:27 PM on 10 January 2008 |