Check Your Privilege!

[Someone Depressing]

...42?

I live near my grandparents/people who tolerate me and/or have lots of money, I have a job, live in a house (I split the bills with someone, though) and although a lot of my life had simply been figuring out who the hell I am, I wouldn't say it's caused me that much of a crisis that I'm unprivelaged.

I am white and mostly hetereosexual, though. And I was honest with the questions.

Either it's a load of bull or everything around me is a hopeless, Stepford-esque facade.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

22/100 Underprivileged. Yet I'm still indifferent to the "injustices" surrounding me. I don't care for these surveys because I'm a firm believer in playing the hand you're dealt and making your own opportunities. Fuck how other people perceive you for extraneous bullshit, your own self-worth and perception is more valuable than other folk's opinion of you and showcasing your fortitude and value are important. In other words if you demonstrate your worth and someone judges you on your skin or gender or orientation, who the fuck cares? Go somewhere where you'll be appreciated and suffer not the ignorance of fools.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Privilege doesn't mean anything for how good your life is. Poor people can be miserable, rich people can be miserable, there's no correlation.

Uh, there's a pretty big correlation. A person is a lot more likely to be unhappy if they're dying of cancer and can't pay for treatment, or if they and their children are starving. Misery through chemical imbalance can affect anyone yes. And millionaires feeling bad about "relative poverty" compared to their neighbors happens. But to say that there's no difference in the likelihood of happiness between people who can't afford basic necessities like food and shelter and those who enjoy all the luxuries and material security in life is absurd.

So goes the rumor, but have you ever gone without basic necessities? Try it for a few days. You'll be surprised. You may even find yourself happier than before, like Buddha Gautama did.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Privilege doesn't mean anything for how good your life is. Poor people can be miserable, rich people can be miserable, there's no correlation.

There is a significant correlation - otherwise the privilege would be nonexistent - but this correlation is not perfect. Privilege of any kind only increases the likelihood of you having a good life, but this likelihood is not equal to 100%, i.e. you are not garanteed to have a good life.
I think/hope that that's what you meant. And that's what many people who believe privilege doesn't exist don't seem to understand. They don't realize that claiming that their life sucking even though they're white/straigh/male/etc disproves the existence of privilege is about as legit as some dude claiming that because he's shorter than most of the women he knows, women would be on average taller then men...

... indeed a "very doubtful" proposition, to cite my captcha.

What's missing in this equation is a definition of "a good life". What does that mean? Are we talking about a set list of criteria to impose, or the subject's view of their own life? Can you go through your life without realising that your life "sucked"? What if someone tells me my life is good and I disagree?

 

[The Lunatic]

So goes the rumor, but have you ever gone without basic necessities? Try it for a few days. You'll be surprised. You may even find yourself happier, like Buddha Gautama did.

But, according to this survey, being fat is "Underprivileged" too, so, technically, you could just do both and attain equal levels of privilege.

 

[Headsprouter]

68/100. Yup. Seems about right. Although, the religion area was a toughie.

 

[Talshere]

I immediately feel like this is a broken quiz.

#1 Are you white. Congratulations, ignoring all the other things Im about to ask you that usually coincide with racial discrimination, you immediately get one point. What, no thats not how this works. You immediately ask me if Ive ever been discriminated because of my skin colour. What if I answer yes to that (I personally have not but my mother has and she is white. An Indian store in Southhall, UK, tried to charge her extra until her Indian friend read them the riot act).

You cant just assigned me a flat value because Im white. Same for being a man. Qualitative questions about things typically sexual discrimination things yes. But just flat being a man. No. Its 2014. Come on. Many of the 20 somethings may never have a problem with sexual discrimination. No I dont earn more than my female counterparts and yes I have been catcalled. So why is this quiz penalizing me for being male.



I also think this is also tailored to the US. We dont have taxes here the same way. My tax is auto calculated and taken monthly. Work provides all relavant details to HMRC. Ive been called a fag, youd be hard pressed to find a British kid who hasnt. This was before anyone in my age group could have possibly know what it ment. Ive also been called a fairy. Again, if it was designed as a sexual insult then the context was way off. Something here can be airy fairy and not be a gay insult. I also have long hair (I am male). I have had people ask to touch it... I fail to see what this has to do with my being privileged or discriminated against. Im also not comfortable with overt PDA. This is principally a social upbringing thing. Its well studied. Nothing to do with privilege. I have no religion, the ostracised by religion question cannot be answered truthfully. Left blank or ticked. I cant have been thrown out of nor accepted by something Ive never had. I also feel the international travel one is weird as a Brit... France and Holland are right there. You can take a weekend in Amsterdam for £75. I had to google Sallie Mae but we have the goverment backed Student Loans Company here so....6 of one. Afford medication... Go Go free medical care. NHS I love you.

I digress.

48 out of 100.

You?re not privileged at all. You grew up with an intersectional, complicated identity, and life never let you forget it. You?ve had your fair share of struggles, and you?ve worked hard to overcome them. We do not live in an ideal world and you had to learn that the hard way. 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.

I disagree with the bit in bold.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

31%
Silly quiz was silly.

 

[viscomica]

I've scored 81/100 How did that happen? Oh well, cool, I suppose!
The quizz lacks a box: "I speak more than two languages"

 

[Weaver]

What if I've never heard the term ?You have been randomly selected for secondary passport control.? because I haven't been in an American airport since they went fucking crazy?

Also, I'm not American and a few of those questions were very obviously written assuming all student debt is $250,000.

You live with 42 out of 100 points of privilege.
You?re not privileged at all.
You're not privileged at all. You grew up with an intersectional, complicated identity, and life never let you forget it.

Uh, no I didn't. I just grew up poor and went to a shit school full of drugs. I had no identity complications and it's not up to "life to make me forget it" it's up to me to make me forget it you dickface survey.

I mean I don't know what I expected from a buzzfeed article but according to their question selection you could be a white cis quadriplegic in a nursing home and you'd score super privileged compared to a 22 year old furry who has some student loans.

 

[Ratty]

Privilege doesn't mean anything for how good your life is. Poor people can be miserable, rich people can be miserable, there's no correlation.

Uh, there's a pretty big correlation. A person is a lot more likely to be unhappy if they're dying of cancer and can't pay for treatment, or if they and their children are starving. Misery through chemical imbalance can affect anyone yes. And millionaires feeling bad about "relative poverty" compared to their neighbors happens. But to say that there's no difference in the likelihood of happiness between people who can't afford basic necessities like food and shelter and those who enjoy all the luxuries and material security in life is absurd.

So goes the rumor, but have you ever gone without basic necessities? Try it for a few days. You'll be surprised. You may even find yourself happier than before, like Buddha Gautama did.

I have gone without what most in the US would consider basic necessities before. Living without electricity in the dead of winter in a drafty house with poor insulation while it's below 18 degrees is not fun. Cooking food on a kerosine heater isn't fun. Not having running water (much less air conditioning) in sweltering summer heat isn't fun. And not being able to afford health insurance in case you get sick sucks.

I am familiar with the teachings of the Buddha and I respect them. But I could never follow them. I'm not an ascetic, I'm closer to a hedonist. I think it's a terrible waste to go through the only life you're going to have denying yourself all desire and pleasure so it won't hurt when painful things happen. Which is an oversimplification, but basically what the Buddha taught when you strip away later supernatural additions put in place to "religify" his message.

 

[The Lunatic]

22 year old furry who has some student loans.

I scored quite highly, actually.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

39 out of 100, white American heterosexual male who grew up wealthy. Now, granted, this is a Buzzfeed quiz, so one shouldn't be taking it too seriously in the first place, but it shows just how arbitrary and absurd the idea of 'privilege' is, since it can't really be quantified or measured.

Additionally, some of the questions are sort of bizarre:
-'Have you traveled internationally?" If you live on the border of Mexico or Canada, you can easily "travel internationally". That doesn't make you rich or privileged.
-"I have never had an addiction". So not doing drugs is a privilege?
-"I have never felt overweight or underweight or ?too skinny." Professional athletes sometimes think they are over or under weight, that doesn't make them less privileged.
-"I work in a salaried job". I've worked both salaried and by-the-hour jobs, and I'd take a by-the-hour job over a salaried job any day of the week. Salaried job usually just translates to "now we can make you work overtime and don't have to pay you extra"

 

[Ratty]

You'll be happy to know then that the Buddha, after spending some time as an ascetic, realized that being an ascetic is fucking stupid and began advocating a more moderate [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_way] approach to life. Buddhists are supposed to strive for detaching themselves from this world through meditation and the acquisition of merit (basically doing good deeds), not by starving themselves and dying prematurely.

Yeah I already knew all of that that, I took a few classes on Buddhism in school. His philosophy was very distinct from Jainism. I was using ascetic for the sake of brevity, just like I oversimplified his message. Which is as I said essentially to deny yourself ("detach yourself from") all desire and pleasure in order to decrease your "dukkha", which is basically another word for suffering. i.e. "I'm sad my friend died but that is only because of my desire that he/she was still alive. I must break away from this desire to decrease my dukkha." "I'm sad I don't have a significant other but that's because I desire one."

Most people who identify as Buddhists just try to accumulate good deeds and hope for a better reincarnation yes, but that's because of later reinterpretations, alterations and additions to the Buddha's teachings. The Buddha Gautama did not apparently concentrate on the possibilities of the afterlife or supernatural, because such things are superfluous (and therefore concentrating on them is harmful) to the quest for the cessation of dukkha.

But far from worrying about reincarnation the original "advanced" teachings of the Buddha state that we don't even exist. At least not in the sense that we think we do. A person is merely a series of related events. You're not the same person you were when you were a child, you're not even the same person from second to second. We now know this is technically true in a literal, microscopic sense. A person is likened to a flame, the same but not the same from second to second. Nirvana literally means "blown out" like a fire, because you are trying to free yourself from the illusion of your existence, desire and dukkha are the fuel for that flame. You have desires because you wish for stability in a constantly changing world because you want to convince yourself you exist as a single, stable being when you don't.

A lot of Buddhists (probably most) would vehemently disagree with me and say that the supernatural elements are crucial. And that's ok, it's to be expected with any interpretations or questions about religious doctrine. But said supernatural elements (or at least the emphasis on them) are apparently later inventions and counter to the core message of Gautama's philosophy.

 

[Something Amyss]

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?

Yes, but remember, the minorities are asking for special privileges, so by that very nature the lower numbers indicate higher rights. I mean, it's a well-known fact that the most oppressed minority in my home country of America is the straight, white, cismale. So don't cross me, majority-type-person!

 

[Icehearted]

You live with 13 out of 100 points of privilege.

You?re underprivileged. The world is not a fair or ideal place and you know that because you grew up with several identities that the world is not kind to. You had a lot of challenges to overcome simply to get on a level playing field with most people in the world. It is not your job to educate the world about its injustices, but if you choose to, go ahead and send them this quiz. Hopefully it will help.

I don't even..

Curious how this doesn't seem to take biracial issues into account more. each of my family's ethnic sides have had issue with me for one reason or another, specifically because of my differing racial traits. I know how it feels to have my gender and my race held against me, to a point that when I've brought it up on rare occasion here that other users have reacted with shock.

That said, I think the whole concept is silly, but then people are by and large impulsive animals given to fear and reactionary behavior and thinking. I'd like to think we're above this sort of thing, that we can take it all subjectively and with open minds, but then I see America regularly rally behind one gender over another, or one race in favor of another. We are, as an enlightened species, shamefully backward.

 

[Saltyk]

61/100

Somehow using this test to evaluate your "privilege" feels like using Yahtzee to evaluate how good a game is. So many of these questions made no sense or just seemed really odd.

"You can afford a therapist."
Well, yeah. I have insurance through my company. Not sure how good it is anymore since my out of pocket medical expenses went up 500%, but I have it. And I know mental health is part of it.

"There is a place of worship for my religion in my town."
Well, I identify as agnostic, but frankly couldn't care less about the whole religious/atheist debate. What would be considered a place of worship for me? Barnes and Noble? A bar? Gamestop? A Motel 6?

"I have never heard the phrase: 'You have been randomly selected for secondary passport control.'"
Well, no, but I've also never flown anywhere, much less out of the country. I don't exactly make enough money to fly whenever and wherever I want. Which brings me to...

"I have never felt poor."
"I have never had to worry about making rent."
I made contradictory answers here. You see, I don't have infinite money and can't afford everything I want. But I don't try to buy what I can't afford. So feeling poor is something I can say I can relate to. On the other hand, I haven't really worried about paying rent, ever.

When I had roommates in the past, I was the one who had enough money to cover their share of the rent if it was ever needed. Because I kept my stuff in order and always had a cushion. Worry about making the rent? No, but that's because I'm responsible, not "privileged".

When it came to the various disabilities, I can say that I don't have any diagnosed. But there was one...

"I do not have any learning disabilities."
You see, if you knew me, you would understand why this is a bit complicated. When I was a kid, I was diagnosed with epilepsy (its actually more complicated than it sounds). As a result, I took several medications for it. Which slowed me mentally. I was placed in Learning Disabled and even Severely Learning Disabled classes.

I can literally remember looking up at a poster of a circle representing a human head with ears made from "d" and "b" which was explaining the difference. And not getting it. It just didn't click. I remember getting ouster crackers in class. I can probably find the rooms if I ever went back to that school.

But I was taken out of it after my mom took me off the medicine against doctor's orders (haven't had any seizures or anything). Even placed in honors classes in the following years. But I can say that this had a long term affect.

I also was in Speech Therapy due to an ear infection I had as a baby that seems to have screwed up my speech. Imagine saying "Stop" as "Sop" and having trouble with "R" words. I swear I still have trouble with words like "roar", but I've been told it's perfectly fine. Don't think it was bad? My sister was regularly called into my classes to "translate". Yeah, Spanish was fun.

So, where do I stand on that? I put that I don't have a disability, for the record.

I don't know. This feels deeply flawed. But maybe I'm just too privileged.

 

[II2]

"My parents are heterosexual"

Well, at least the once. Funny sounding question.

"I've used prescription drugs recreationally"

Isn't exactly a sign of privilege. Unless you're "anything-will-do" "just-one-fix" addicted, every junkie I know prefers shooting pills to street smack. Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) is about 2&1/2 the chemical potency of the purest heroin and there's just more of it on the streets, owing to user demand and government sanctioned chemical manufactories sythesis without any poppy opium precursor. That's just one example chemical, but there's a lot of synthetic narcotics that are more popular in the whole spectrum from million dollar neighborhoods to blighted high density urban communities. Pills are too ubiquitous to be considered a status symbol (not that they should be).

36 / 100, anyway.

 

[JMac85]

M'kay, privilege checked. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Now what? I'm a broke son of a *****, but I'm a hetero white cis male, and probably like a dozen other made up labels that denotes me as one of "the oppressors". Am I supposed to dedicate my life to helping people who have it worse than me or something?

"Don't step on people you feel are beneath you" has always been my mantra. I know I tend to be an ignorant bastard at times, but even if I think you're a freaking weirdo, I'm not about to deny your rights to life, liberty, or your pursuit of whatever floats your boat. I won't shy away from expressing my distaste for it, however.

 

[RevRaptor]

39 out of 100, Well fuck looks like my life sucks.
I kinda feel like this quiz is too USA centric. Sure it's just for fun buy why would anyone outside of the US know what the hell sallie may is?
And what's up with all the religious questions, I don't think religion is a good measure of privilege for someone that has no religion and there was no option to skip them. Of course I've never been persecuted for my religion I don't have one for people to make fun of.