This is an excellent explanation of privilege.

It’s not excellent at encouraging healthy reactions. I think healthy reactions are gratitude and humility for privileges we enjoy; and compassion and generosity for those without. I think unhealthy reactions are feeling shame or shaming others (or citing books with purported supernatural origins to empower that an agenda).

I also found it very telling that even when race and gender weren’t used in the demonstration, their association with privilege was quickly and clearly observable.

https://www.facebook.com/thenorthstar/videos/1014990085308007/UzpfSTYzMjA0OTQ4MjoxMDE1NTc5MTQ5NDg1NDQ4Mw/

If you believe that people deserve to suffer, what do you deserve for believing that, according to your beliefs?

See the problem?

Attacking bad ideas instead of bad people is how bad people become good people.

There are things which aren’t your fault but which are your responsibility, and there are things which are your fault but which aren’t your responsibility. These may be the exceptions, but allowing for them is useful in correcting corrosive irresponsibility and destructive fault-finding, both in others and yourself.

• Reader response: So that I have a better understanding of what you’re talking about, can you give me an example or two?

• My response: Sure. Here’s a simple one. I started a new job recently. The problems I inherited aren’t my fault, but many of them are my responsibility. Similarly, I left my previous job. Some of the problems there are my fault, but they are no longer my responsibility.

• My additional response: The overall point is to detach fault and responsibility from one another. Sometimes they go together. Sometimes they don’t. I think we have a natural tendency to fuse them in several cases where they are in fact separate.

Most people who value “you” actually value your usefulness to THEM. Someone who truly values YOU values YOUR wants, needs, hopes, satisfaction, happiness, etc. This is an important distinction to make when choosing who to allow into your circle of trust and friendship, and where to invest your affection and energy. Unfortunately, making this distinction in the real world, and acting on it, are far more difficult than reading or writing this simple rhetoric.

Holding hands has pros and cons. Not holding hands has pros and cons. But holding out an unclasped hand is just exhausting.

This is useful to know. I’d still advocate not picking your nose publicly out of consideration for others, however. Nobody wants to watch you eat your snot. Some time ago I started teaching my kids that it’s in the same category as masturbation. Nothing to be ashamed of. Not harmful. Certainly not “bad”. But something to keep private from people who don’t want to watch.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/05/05/eating-bogies-good-teeth-overall-health-scientists-conclude/

“I never said it would be easy. I never said it would be worth it, either. I may not have said a single thing attributed to me.

“But history does suggest that I died on a cross for making supernatural claims, along with several others who made similar claims around that same time frame. It was wrong of us to lie, but it was also wrong of them to torture and kill us for it.

“We should have reasoned through it with honest conversations and a lot more compassion.

“Hopefully people won’t overreact to these unfortunate incidents, and will do better in the future.”

– Jesus of Nazareth

If the quick and easy way is the right way, do it the right way. If the slow and difficult way is the right way, do it the right way.

My rational mind thinks it’s in charge, but I suspect it’s just rationalizing my emotions.