The purveyors of privilege

A random Tweet I saw wondered why people who talk about social justice talk about demographic issues (race, sex) rather than social class.

As I've said before, the ultimate privilege is being the person who says who is privileged and who is in need of social justice.  And since social class is one place where these arbiters are advantaged, they want to make the discussion about something other than social class.

Let's talk more about the typical purveyor of privilege, the kind seen on college campuses.

You can tell they're of a high socioeconomic class because they devote hours to social justice.  They don't spend their hours working in the campus cafeteria and tutoring on the side to make enough money to barely cover their living expenses.

They're privileged to get into the university from which they hold court, often one of the best universities in the world.

They don't need to spend long hours studying.  Only people who are smart enough to pass with minimal studying can spend this much time on social justice issues.

When they speak, they do so with a support network of allies, both student and faculty.  They have a platform, often one sanctioned by the university.

The ultimate social class advantage is they don't have to worry about the things they say in college being the first thing employers find when they search their name on Google.  They have the family wealth not to care, or the connections to help them land one of those jobs where having a viral video is a positive, not a negative.