Monday, October 12, 2015

Men's Rights Memes Episode 24: Check Your Privilege

Hello and welcome to episode 24 of Men's Rights Memes, the show where I jump in front of an oncoming train. Well, no, I really just make rebuttals to the bullshit arguments that Men's Rights Activists make on a daily basis, but sometimes it feels like I'm killing myself. Without further ado, here is this episode's offending image.



Look, I agree that the actual phrase 'check your privilege' is often sanctimonious and unhelpful, but the principle is sound. Now, the person who made this meme seems to think that the aforementioned principle entails silencing dissenting opinions in order to further a narrative and create some kind of echo chamber in which you are always correct. This is a misunderstanding of the phrase, and a very simple one. I don't think you can fault the creator of the meme for not getting what this means, as this confuses a lot of people. It confused me at one point, too.

In order to illustrate my point, I'd like to take you on a little journey. A journey...of the mind. Let's say that there are two people. One of them is a layperson, confused about how open heart surgery works. He decides to ask the second person, a doctor, to explain it to him. Just as the doctor finishes up his explanation, a third person swoops in with a smug look on his face and proclaims that what the doctor said was wrong, and that he can accurately tell the first person how open heart surgery actually works. He is asked to prove his credentials as a cardiologist, and is unable to do so. In fact, he isn't a doctor at all.

So, the question remains. If a person who is not an open heart surgeon presumes to correct one who is, and both present their theories, which are you more likely to trust. If you said that you would place stock in the surgeon rather than the other person, you are a hundred percent correct. If you wouldn't trust a non-doctor to explain open heart surgery, why would you trust a non-marginalized person to talk about the experiences of marginalized people? Do you think that telling a non-surgeon to stop talking about how surgery works is akin to censorship? 

The bottom line is, only women can have true authority when they speak about women's issues, so listen to them. Think seriously about what they have to say, rather than dismissing them out of hand. Trust them.

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