PPD2

Privilege, Oppression, and Difference was certainly one of the more eye opening pieces we’ve read. His thesis, while long, in itself offers a new point. “Talking openly about power and privilege isn’t easy, which is why people rarely do. The reason for this seems to be a fear of anything that might make dominant groups uncomfortable or “pit groups against each other,” even through groups already pitted against one another by the structures of privelige that organize society as a whole. The fear keeps us from looking at what’s going on and makes it impossible to do anything about the reality that lies deeper down.”

The obvious first item of interest is the Diversity Wheel on page 15. The ability to look over who one is and begin to see where we are on the wheel is fun but in itself is racist as well. While I understand his point in using it what he does is reinforces the ideas that there is one social group over another. While he is bringing the various issues to light it almost feels like he is saying this is how life is. When he talks about how life would change if one of these things were changed like waking up the opposite sex or another race he does so in a way that suggests that there are better traits for a person to have and that there are undesirable ones as well. He does this primarily when he says “what changes would you experience in switching from white to African American, from Asian or Latina/o to Anglo.”

What I most liked about this piece though is the section What Privilege Looks Like In Everyday Life.AND This section is so powerful because it shows subtleties of our culture that often go unnoticed. That whites can be successful and no one will be surprised, whites can assume national heros will be white, heterosexals can feel fee to voice their sexuality when they want, and nondisabled people can can assume they won’t be treated like children and taken seriously. Now finally this again is, for me, the most interesting part of the piece and can wow first time readers.