Objection to Privilege

With the news channels and social media buzzing with nepotism it seems like everyone objects to privilege in society. The star kids climbing up the success ladder faster than newcomers in Bollywood industry and getting "unfair" advantage because of their "fathers" or grandfathers is the primary objection of the masses.

However, if the star kids news and the nepotism hashtag was put aside for a moment then hypocrisy will be apparent at all levels when it comes to privilege, those enjoying them and those secretly wishing for it and yet not having the opportunity and finding it easier to point fingers at those who do. The same people who blame a young star for having an advantage over a newcomer because of a father or grandfather being well-established would have done the same if they had the opportunity. The bank loans, the investments, the extra work hours or a second and third job to secure a better future for children and future generations is a proof of that. Even those who claim to be self-made or truly are, in the next generation or two will face the same dilemma and blame of having privileges.

Privilege isn't just about belonging to a certain well-established, financially thriving group and having a great reputation in society or important circles. Privilege is also about belonging to a certain gender, age group, political or spiritual group, nationality or profession or culture and being entitled to certain benefits that may be fair or unfair, ethical or unethical to them or the majority.

Privilege, a word that can offend anyone at any time in any way, from the family to the boss, from friends to colleagues, from neighbours to social media friends and followers. The discussions on this topic always starts from injustices and inequality that exists in society and seems to head towards confessions and attacks on certain individuals or groups. It leads to hate speech and negativity through glaring headlines, viral hashtags and personal and professional harm to individuals and groups, guilty or sometimes even unrelated and innocent to the accusations hurled at them.

What's worse is that more groups and individuals take advantage of that one situation of privilege where it all started, making others feel sorry for themselves by cleverly bribing and getting their own clan, in cash or kind, by promising privileges that are delivered and many a times not. This leads to conflict between different groups thus affecting the peace in the country or world or leads to deviation from the core concerns at the start thus affecting the mental peace of the majority of the masses.

If we are to aim for a just society, we can't ignore or stay ignorant about the concept of privilege. Decoding privilege isn't easy at all, given the extremist views and groups that exist across the world to uphold their banner, ensuring the agenda isn't forgotten by the rest of the world, through social media campaigns, forcing government to support them and the masses to support them. The privilege can be about gender, age group, political or spiritual beliefs, nationality, culture or profession.

Privilege has so many types and forms, most of which have a common core problem that majority of the literate and illiterate population tends to ignore, deliberately or otherwise thus deviating to secondary and tertiary forms of privileges and objections around it that will never be addressed or resolved. If we truly wish for societies and nations that are just and that truly progress then we will have to make a conscious effort to dig deeper individually, scan all areas of our lives and identify how and why we enjoy certain benefits and privileges because of gender, age, profession or any other group or categories we belong to. When we make that effort at an individual level of balancing out and ensuring that others around us don't feel threatened and object to our unfair privileges only then do we have the right to object to privileges others have, in reel or real world.