06-05-2018, 12:29 PM
(06-05-2018, 11:55 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Having a privilege is not evil nor elitist.
Owning a car is a privilege, but it doesn't make you bad or good, it's what you choose to do with that privilege that matters. If you refuse to acknowledge it as an advantage, and act as though others who don't have that advantage don't exist, or are bad because of their actions that result from not having a car, that's not a good thing.
If you recognize that you have a privilege and seek to enable those who don't to enjoy some of the same benefits you enjoy because of your privilege, well that is a good thing.
And there are vast swaths of middle ground where we're all just people who live our lives and are neither good nor bad.
ijmorlan's example may have seemed slanted, but only because it challenges the idea that we should blame people who are taking a shortcut, when we enjoy the privilege of a transportation system that largely (and I say this as a pedestrian and cyclist, who is privileged to live downtown) works for us. Other's may not have that advantage and may find it harder to get where they need to go. I certainly feel this any time I leave the relatively pedestrian and transit friendly downtown cores.
When people get all defensive about their privileges being pointed out, it's an indicator that they feel guilty about them, which just isn't right...I feel no guilt about the many privileges I enjoy being a straight white male in North America, but it does open my eyes to the fact that other's don't have those advantages, and that I should seek to enable others who lack them to succeed as I am able to, partly through my own abilities, but also through the advantages I was born with.
Just to be clear, I have worked my ass off my whole life to attain what some people label privilege. I own a car, a truck, two motorcycles, as modes of transportation. I have never felt guilty about my achievements nor will I ever as I don't subscribe to much of the rhetoric about privilege. I do however volunteer a lot of hours back to my community, I have raised thousands of dollars towards various charities as an example of how people give back in different ways. Now on the part of public transportation, I have endorsed and advocated LRT right from the start including going to the first original workshops. I do it because I recognize it is for the good of our community at large and for the future of my children. I think everyone needs to get off their high horses and stop judging people period. Actions speak louder than words. I think ijmorlan's did a great job describing the realities of how people view public transportation, and I did not take exception to his choice of words because I looked at the bigger message he was trying to convey.. Anyways, just my thoughts on the matter... Good discussion guys...