Luckily the Internet Remembers

[eumelia]

I read the Shrub Blog, which is a fascinating feminist geek blog which I urge all of you to read (if you're a geek and interested in social construct and change) and I came across a blog post I had somehow missed at the time:
Check my What?

...What you need to realize is that we all have privilege to some degree: white privilege, male privilege, heterosexual privilege, etc. The hardest thing is to do is to get over your instinct to fight and say, “But I’m not like that!”...

It's an dynamic post, constantly updating and changing, fixing broken links etc. And because of that there is always a discussion going there, and people like me who discover it link it to their own blogs, so you can check out the other people who linked this post.

Now I'm off to start my day.

Comments

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

What an amazing post! Thanks for the link - I've added this blog to my reader now.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Ms. Rubenstien is one of my fave bolggers.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

I think the issue a lot of people have is they seem to equate privilege with being a subjugating douche. How society functions =! how you the individual treat others and your personal morals.

But you can't just ignore the fact that society's given you a leg up because of it. I can't.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

As an Israeli it took me a really long time to actually get how privileged I am, because I had been doing so much "othering" of my own, I was really blind to the fact that as a White Jewish person (we'll forsake the woman and queer thing for now) I had practically everything going for me, in comparison to say non-white Jewish people, or Israeli Arabs not to mention Palestinians.

So I'm very aware of the privilege I have and I do my best to own it and act accordingly.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

And you know, it's really funny how privilege can shift depending on what society you're in. Culturally, America is very Christian, and while I live in the New York metropolitan area (very diverse, very Jew-friendly, very EVERYBODY friendly, really), it's not as much in other areas.

Funny, related story: my college terrorism professor spent a year teaching at the University of Alabama. For non-Americans: Alabama is considered one of those very homogenous parts of the country where many people voted for Bush, and it has a bad stereotype of being home to lots of ignorant backwoods people.

The first question Professor Yordan is asked by his class is: what's your name? The second: where do you go to church?

Now, Professor Yordan is Puerto Rican, white, with a distinct accent, and was born Catholic but isn't practicing. But to calm the water, he says he's Catholic.

His class is SHOCKED (everyone in the area is Protestant). Then: "Well, at least he reads the Bible! I mean, he could've been Jewish." I think Muslim would've been completely off their radar.

Also, had a few friends teach English in China, and even in China white skin is considered desirable. There are really awful skin bleach products on the market that promise to whiten a Chinese girl's skin, but the effects are so bad for your health. And apparently they're still popular!

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

When I lived in America for six months a couple of years ago, it was the first time I felt out of place culturally and religiously (despite being a secular heretic ;). I think it was that experience that really opened my eyes to how privileged I am at home.

White as in "Western" or pigment? (not that the two are mutually exclusive obviously).

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

I think the look is Western, not just color. Yes, color's good, but apparently it's also big to get eye surgery to remove the Asian "flap" that gives Asian eyes their distinctive shape, thereby giving you big Western eyes.

Also, apparently if you want to sell something in China or Japan, you use Western actors. One of my friends noticed a lot of billboards for clothes, bras, drinks, whatever depicting white girls dolled up and partying (and white girls supposedly are party animals. Thanks, Hollywood!).

I got the impression from all these stories that it's not just the skin color but the addition of wealth that Western society is reputed to have, which is why the emphasis is on America and not, say, Romania.

[aesiron.livejournal.com]

The Romanovs! Eee! :D

Do you know if that blog's syndicated or has an RSS feed? I'm a lazy blogger and if I can't access all my journals, blogs, etc from on central location, I tend to forget that other ones besides livejournal exist but that looks interesting and worth reading.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

It is.
shrub_blog.

[aesiron.livejournal.com]

Neat. Thanks, doll. :)

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Is that objectification I'm seeing?

;P

[aesiron.livejournal.com]

Hm. Yeah. That probably wasn't the best time to call you that for the first time but it's just a simple term of affection for my favorite female friends. :)

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Haha, no prob, as you know I rarely take real offense, especially when I know it's a term of affection from a good friend. :)

[talibah-nazahah.livejournal.com]

by the way... if i remember correctly, your parents are from russia and you are israeli, how is your english so amazingly perfect? i've even seen you use slang.

off topic, sorry :) just very impressed.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Ah, common Internet misunderstanding.

My roots are Litvak (Latvia, Lithuania, East Poland, West Russia), my great-grandparents and grandparents migrated from there between the two World Wars to South Africa (English in the Lingo ;).
My parents then migrated to Israel where I was born, I'm a total bilingual in English and Hebrew.

[talibah-nazahah.livejournal.com]

ah.. ok... that's cleared up :) that's interesting about South Africa... i saw a documentary on ISR/PAL called Encounter Point and the woman (jewish) who it was mainly about had started an Israeli-Palestinian bereavement group for parents of the kids killed in the conflict. she was born in south africa and her dad was nelson mandella's attorney.

still impressive. i wish i had learned another language when i was young. trying to learn when you are older is tough. there is a neurological reason for it. the part of the brain that learns language takes a ton of calories to function so as you get older and no longer need it like you did when you were a baby, it dies (in colloquial terms). if you still had it, you wouldnt be able to function because it would use all your food :) (from what i understand).

[antongarou.livejournal.com]

Totally OT, but do you have papers and/or academic books you can point me toward that show it?I'm very much interested in neurolinguistics.I know about the so-called "critical age" but wasn't aware that there was evidence it was shut down due to calorie intake choke and/or the area was found.