Privilege, from my perspective

I like to follow the goings on of the atheist movement and, with the addition of atheism+,  some new terms began to pop up in blog posts and YouTube videos

 

One term I have heard used over and over is privilege.

 

It seems that most people who find themselves in the minority will complain about the privilege of the majority. Women complain of the glass ceiling, blacks complain about police harassment, homosexuals complain about being denied marriage rights, poor people complain about being marginalized by rich people, the list goes on and on.

 

However, privilege does have another side.  Ask any first born child how it feels when baby number 2 comes home, and you can see how privilege cuts back.

 

Privilege is being an only child and not having to worry about sharing the spoils. To be privileged is to be free to use your resources to the fullest extent you wish without regards to anyone else

 

I feel privileged to have a high functioning mind, to have the ability to contemplate everything from the vastness of the universe down to the subatomic. I use my mental resources to the fullest extent I can and I avoid dumbing myself down for the sake of others. So anyone who automatically says all privilege is bad must also live below the poverty line and use only single syllable words or they would be using their privilege of financial resources and intelligence (something not everyone has), unless they have no problem with being a hypocrite

 

However, I can understand privilege from the other side as well.

 

When a Christian gets angry with me with not keeping “the Christ in Christmas”, that is an example of Christian privilege. Christianity had the majority in North America for so long, that the Christian way and the American way have almost combined.

 

The Christian’s of North America were an only child for decades, but now with the rise of atheism,  They suddenly need to learn to share and play nice where they never had to before.

 

So now I find myself in conflict. On one hand, I agree that it is good for my country and humanity as a whole for religious privilege to be reduced, especially where religion and government are tightly linked. However, I’m not so convinced that forcing all the rich people in the world to give away money until we are all equal is a good idea. It seems like every time that has been tried in the past, it never ends well.

 

So how do we square this circle? Perhaps not all privilege is created equal, but who has the right to decide?

 

Does the privileged class get to declare their privilege good and proper, or should the majority always bend to the will of the minority?

 

Perhaps someday I will have the answer, but not today.