Privilege redux

I saw someone complain about attractiveness now being described in the language of privilege.

I say, bring it on!  Because, to paraphrase The Incredibles, when everything is privilege, nothing is.

I am privileged to have good teeth.  My teeth came in straight, and I didn't need braces.  Now, having crooked teeth in the U.S. today is a marker of low socioeconomic status, and you might have people judge your intelligence negatively as a result.  And that's a real disadvantage.

But then ask yourself this question: when you're interviewing for a job, what's more important, straight teeth, or having a college degree?

Once every advantage and disadvantage is treated the same, people might just be able to make a reasonable analysis of their own advantages and disadvantages.  For example I would identify my own biggest advantages as intelligence (able to pass college and professional examinations without spending 16 hours a day on the task) and health (physically able to work, rarely getting sick).  My disadvantages are things like height, appearance, and athletic ability.

The subjects normally considered privilege, like skin color, are far less important.

One advantage of calling everything privilege is that someone might actually learn that privilege is bunk.  Imagine a classroom talking about privilege, and filling in the following sentence:

"In 2018, a person who is [    ] is effectively unable to work as [    ]."

In 2018, a person of average physical ability is effectively unable to work in athletics.
In 2018, a person of average height is effectively unable to work as a model.
In 2018, a person of average appearance is effectively unable to work as an actor or McKinsey consultant.
In 2018, a person with an introverted personality is effectively unable to work in sales.
In 2018, a person who is nonwhite is effectively unable to work as... what, now?