Check Your Privilege!

[direkiller]

63/100
I added "and I was offended" to the end of most of them.
As we make fun of our own accent here, and who has not been called a fag on the internet.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

56/100, quite privileged.

Thought it would be higher. I wasn't sure how to answer the religious questions so I just assumed Atheist was a religious alignment for the sake of this quiz.

Still, I don't feel particularly disadvantaged so this result is weird to me. If I answered this 10 years ago I would have been much higher in score, what with not having several mental breakdowns and sinking into depression over my college years.

A few of those questions don't apply to non-americans, which might have skewed the results somewhat.

 

[generals3]

You aren't (or, at least, shouldn't be) being asked to rise up and take personal responsibility for apartheid. You are being asked to consider the ways in which you've benefited from the way things are, and how you might be able to share the wealth of your experience with those who have not so benefited.

What is this "wealth of your experience" precisely and how do you share it? Because if it comes down to "wealth" itself i already pay taxes (and a high percentage at that), isn't that enough?

 

[Tsun Tzu]

41/100? That can't be right...these questions seem wonky.

I'm a straight white male who, at one point in his life, wore a Fedora unironically because he liked how it looked as a hat.

I. AM. PRIVILEGE.

 

[SinisterGehe]

This doesn't work for me at all. The test has no option for Asexual (the discriminating bastards) or for the fact I been born and live in another country and culture (The discriminating...).

But if I compare mentally. I live in a country that is quite accepting, has extremely good social support and education, along with free healthcare.
I would rank quite high.

 

[McElroy]

78/100
Left some of the "only in America" -stuff unchecked (I wouldn't have had any use for a car in "high school", though my sister would check that one), no unpaid internships, and I have sizable man-boobs which I'm not exactly proud of.

 

[Something Amyss]

It means I can acknowledge that I have it easier than some people without getting super pissy because someone dared to point out that I might not face as many or the same challenges in society as someone of a different race/sexuality/religion/social status/disability etc.

Oh, just run with the joke. you were so reveling in it.

 

[Colour Scientist]

It means I can acknowledge that I have it easier than some people without getting super pissy because someone dared to point out that I might not face as many or the same challenges in society as someone of a different race/sexuality/religion/social status/disability etc.

Oh, just run with the joke. you were so reveling in it.

One must never joke about one's privilege.

Besides, you can't tell me what to do #16, you have to be #45 and above to address me directly.
I have #64 Privilege Clearence, don't you know?

 

[Scars Unseen]

What's the perspective. National?,Global?, Historical? Because on a historical scale, I could live in a dumpster and my life would still be in the top 50%.

True enough. I've been homeless, impoverished, currently live in a foreign country in a shit apartment I can barely afford, surrounded by people whose language I don't speak, am struggling with debt, and have almost no friends, yet I still rate 55 because I'm a white heterosexual male. Irony is that my fiercest competition for getting a better job consists primarily of women of varying races because of where I live(because military spouses get first crack at any government jobs overseas). So yeah... I guess I'm privileged compared to people who are living in third world countries and people whose basic identity makes close minded people uncomfortable, but I don't feel that privilege is doing much for me right now.

 

[Doclector]

47 out of 100.

Not privileged. So, not what I expected. I expected to be told I'm an evil fascist bastard because I'm a straight white dude.

Still, privilege is a term that desperately needs to fucking die. I've seen so many people use it to assume I have it easy, and any problems I have and any right to an opinion are null and void based solely on my race, gender, and sexuality.

You can't assume too much about someone's life based on solely that. You can't even do it if you had a thousand questions, not accurately. Of course some are better off than others, born into rich families, gifted with good genes, but shit still happens. You can't just assume someone's struggles don't matter based on such things. What I can assume that if you do so, you're not the sort of company I ever wish to keep.

 

[VaporWare]

You aren't (or, at least, shouldn't be) being asked to rise up and take personal responsibility for apartheid. You are being asked to consider the ways in which you've benefited from the way things are, and how you might be able to share the wealth of your experience with those who have not so benefited.

What is this "wealth of your experience" precisely and how do you share it? Because if it comes down to "wealth" itself i already pay taxes (and a high percentage at that), isn't that enough?

It might very well be enough.

What constitutes the wealth of one's experience is generally down to the individual...I can't evaluate how you, specifically, have benefited from the way the world is today, so I cannot suggest how you might share your particular fortune with others.

If work and pay your taxes, thus supporting government funded programs that help the disadvantaged, that may be all you can and/or should do. It may even be more than you feel is morally obligatory. It is, in any case, morally praiseworthy to the extent that you choose to endorse it.

As an example, in my case I am someone who is largely only disadvantaged in the context of being an American. I can evaluate my life and compare it to those who are both more and less privileged than myself and say that I should help those who are less fortunate.

Fiscally though, I don't often have a lot of leeway. But I do have other opportunities, opportunities to help educate others on how they might enrich themselves. So I spend a portion of my time teaching people how to fish, as it were. I'm not paid for this, but it costs me nothing and it seems to improve people's lives. I consider that a net win.

That's not true for everyone though. You might not be able to take the time out of your day, and it might be in that regard that you yourself could stand some relief. Individuals have to decide for themselves to what extent they are willing and able to give a hand up to higher ground, we can only ask each other to give careful and honest thought to the matter, while not to make too many assumptions about people who aren't in their position in life.

 

[Zanderinfal]

I got 65, which I sort of expected.
However, I feel the quiz is arguably using some kinda dumb things as "privileges." Again, it's arguable. Overall though not, far off in my case. Had some tough scrapes in life but I live in a good country and never really questioned my sexuality (although I am bi, I never greatly questioned it, when I realized I just sort of accepted it) and my mum was reasonably accepting of it. I haven't told my dad however, as me and my mother both agree that he'd likely pin it down to me being "young" or something. Doesn't bother me too much though.

 

[Robert Marrs]

What I find strange about this test is that it seems to think just not being discriminated against is a privilege. Seems like a bit of a leap but whatever. Even stranger is I scored a 35/100. I was always told that being born a straight, white male made me the most privileged human being on the planet. Its just been drilled into me for so long that my skin color and sexual oreintation is the sole determiner in how doubleplus wonderful my life has been and that I am not allowed to have an opinion on social or political issues because I have just had it to good throughout my life. That my problems don't matter and I need to "shut the fuck up and check my privilege" because me being a white, straight male means you are allowed to stereotype and categorize everything about me and still have it be socially acceptable. Test must be broken or something.

 

[Yuno Gasai]

I got 42/100.

Honestly, I was expecting something much higher. Guess the deciding factors were related to gender.

I'm quite surprised, but I guess this just goes to show "privilege" is not secret Tumblr code for "bias against straight white dudes."

Not just dudes. Girls can be "cishet scum" as well.

Tumblr can be awfully creative when it wants to be.

 

[Phantom Kat]

Apparently this straight, white, cis, male got a 42/100. The quiz seems...somewhat off the mark, but like all of this social justice bullshit, it's incredibly American-centric.

 

[Dwarfman]

I only have one thing to say about the person who came up with this quiz. Fuck you. I got 40/100 and mostly because I didn't understand the questions. Just what the heck did they mean by 'my identities' or 'unpaid internship'. And now I do know who Sally Mae is and guess what? It has no relevance to me cause I'm Australian! And what is all this frivolous crap like me going not going to schoolies somehow means I am less privilaged? Oooo I can or I can't afford a therapist! What ever happened to taking a teaspoon of cement and hardening the fuck up. And guess what I've worked salary all my life. Including when I did my chef's apprentiship at $5.40 an hour for my first year when I was 22.

I also love the snide condescending paragraph that seemingly in no way shape or form describes my life in any way shape or form. And then ends off as if patting my head like I'm some puppy needing to be taken care of. '...It is not your responsibility to educate those with more advantages than you, but if you decide you want to, go ahead and send them this quiz. Hopefully it will help.' Like I give a flying fuck about people who are richer than me. If they are, good for them, they get to make the first shout down at the pub.

 

[Charli]

37, but this seems really...skewed toward American eyes, and people who actually have a religion. I didn't know how to answer that because...well there's no 'place of worship' for Agnostics. Sure I get told I'm going to hell by bible thumping pricks, but who gives a shit?

Plus my past is highly complicated. It says I'm 'not privileged' yet I'm white, have traveled outside my country of origin, have a computer, and meals most of the time, and constantly told that because that is so then I must be privileged, no exceptions on the likes of places like tumblr. Plus I feel like I've experienced alot in my life, I'm thankful for all I went through good or bad.

I've had alot of downs, but alot of good times too, and this 'quiz' doesn't account for alot.

This 'check your privilege' nonsense, is just an avenue for getting you down about your life, when you could be just trying to enjoy it. Sure, some people had a kickstart at the start line and some of us tripped over a rope, but you only get one life, spending it trying to pick out all the ways you're disadvantaged compared to others really is kinda petty.
And frankly, depressing. I'd rather not spend my life being depressed about something I can't help.

 

[Eamar]

54. I feel it would probably be a lot higher if the quiz was more localised, due to my very middle class upbringing (class is still a big deal here in the UK, I get the impression it's different elsewhere).

On a very basic level though, if you were to just tick off the number of privileged "categories" I fit into, giving them all an equal weighting, I guess somewhere around the halfway mark is about right.

Simplistic breakdown of my privilege:

white, middle class, able-bodied, cisgendered
vs
female, bisexual (often read as a lesbian these days), mentally ill (bipolar disorder)

I'm also an atheist, but that can go either way depending on context and location.

 

[generals3]

It might very well be enough.

What constitutes the wealth of one's experience is generally down to the individual...I can't evaluate how you, specifically, have benefited from the way the world is today, so I cannot suggest how you might share your particular fortune with others.

If work and pay your taxes, thus supporting government funded programs that help the disadvantaged, that may be all you can and/or should do. It may even be more than you feel is morally obligatory. It is, in any case, morally praiseworthy to the extent that you choose to endorse it.

Well ideologically i fully endorse it, pragmatically speaking that's an other question. (If i favor a reduction in taxation it's not so much because i don't want to help the less fortunate but because seeing companies move away, lay off people and outsource production due to the cost of labor makes me think it's causing more harm than good)

To put it in other words: if i'm running for prime minister it would be as a right winger (to our standards, which is still pretty much hardcore socialism to the eyes of american conservatives) but if i was running for "God" it would be as a left winger. (Because than i could overlook the reality of things because i would be the one determining reality)

That's not true for everyone though. You might not be able to take the time out of your day, and it might be in that regard that you yourself could stand some relief. Individuals have to decide for themselves to what extent they are willing and able to give a hand up to higher ground, we can only ask each other to give careful and honest thought to the matter, while not to make too many assumptions about people who aren't in their position in life.

Well I could take the time out of my day. After all as my Drill instructor used to say "No, it's not that you didn't have the time, you didn't take the time!". But at the same time i want my free time and since my taxes help funding organization and people for whom helping others is their paying job I think it's better to leave it to them. Otherwise i'd be just trading in my happiness for the one of the less fortunate (by having to sacrifice activities i'd like to do more) and in the grand scheme of things there would be no real gain becoming more miserable for others to be less, as it doesn't create an increase of net happiness, which ultimately what i stand behind.