What Privilege?

Jezebel.com turned me towards this hilarious tumblr blog called “Privilege Denying Dude.” This blog is full of submitted messages about privilege on the image of a smug 20-something white hipster.

The blog satirically handles privilege of all kinds; race, gender, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, ability, etc.Whoever created the blog, gives this tongue-in-cheek explanation: “Look, I wasn't around when all that bad stuff happened. All I know is I got to where I am solely by hard work. Discrimination? I'm not going to listen to this. You obviously can't hear me: my reality is the only reality.”

All of the pictures are from the same template, so any one with a humorous caption of privilege is welcome to submit one.

The majority of the posts are hilarious and will give you the giggles, but a few are just priceless:
- “I can’t be a homophobe – I love lesbian porn!”
- “My neighbor is black, and she seems nice enough, so I can’t be racist.”
- “Why do women complain about being approached on the streets ? – I’m a man, and would love to be harassed on the streets by random women.”
- “If racism still exists – How come the President is black?”
- “Poor people are just lazy – my dad worked hard to pay for my college education.”
- “Deep down we’re all bisexual – especially lesbians.”
- “I wore black-face on Halloween – We live in a post-racial society.”
- “I can’t be ableist – I was on crutches for 3 months.”

This is a perfect teaching tool to have (privileged) people who deny or have never questioned their own privilege to really think about not only their privilege, but those who have unearned disadvantage because of that privilege. It’s a good teaching tool, and it’s so simple!