'Check Your Privilege' Nonsense Infects College Campuses
By Gina Miller
RenewAmerica.com
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On Sunday, the Pundit Press published a brief report
about a flier campaign being waged by some leftist
college professors. In, "Univ.
of San Francisco: Straights, Whites Have
'Heterosexual,' Racist 'Privilege,'" you
can see photographs of the absurd fliers that are
intended to shame people into not speaking out
against the tyrannical Left's un-American agenda.
The message is further intended to indoctrinate
young minds with bold, despicable lies put forth by
feminists and other assorted malcontents who work to
undermine all that has made America great.
We have seen so many stories of how our college
campuses have been taken over by communist
sympathizers, 60s radicals and domestic terrorists
(but I repeat myself) who are teaching the most
outrageous, anti-American, anti-freedom,
pro-debauchery lessons to the impressionable, young
people who attend. We have allowed the schools to be
taken over by leftists, and now we have to deal with
the fallout of future leaders who believe that the
United States was founded as a purely unjust, wicked
place that needs to be cut down to size. Thank the
Lord that we do still have a remnant of good kids,
especially among those who have been Christian
home-schooled.
What of this "check your privilege" foolishness that
some kids are eating up like candy? The writer at
the Pundit Press, Aurelius, reports:
In a new campaign to reportedly raise awareness
of "privilege," the University of San Francisco is
handing out fliers telling anyone who is white,
straight, Christian, or "able-bodied" that they are
privileged and need to "check their privilege." The
campaign was put together by three professors at the
college and Student Life.
The fliers also claim that if you believe that your
gender identity and biological gender are the same
(that is, if you consider yourself a male and you
are biologically male), you are privileged as well.
No matter who you are, no matter what your situation
in life, if you have just one of these attributes,
you are privileged and need to "check" yourself.
Check yourself? What the heck does that mean? We can
guess. If you dare to speak against the Left's
agenda – whatever aspect of it – in the society of a
liberal college campus, this "check your privilege"
nonsense is meant to shut you up. I would bet that
it's fairly effective, because how can a young,
"white" kid easily defend himself against such an
nebulous, accusatory command? It's almost like the,
"have you stopped beating your wife?" approach. Any
reply appears defensive, and thus, "guilty."
This lunacy is not limited to the University of San
Francisco. It is apparently being spread like a
contagion to colleges all across America.
Thankfully, not all the kids are buying it. Tal
Fortgang, a clear-minded student at
Princeton, wrote an excellent piece on this topic
back in April. In, "Checking
My Privilege: Character as the Basis of Privilege,"
Mr. Fortgang obliterates the gossamer-thin
presumptions of the "check your privilege" rubbish.
In part, he writes:
There is a phrase that floats around college
campuses, Princeton being no exception, that
threatens to strike down opinions without regard for
their merits, but rather solely on the basis of the
person that voiced them. "Check your privilege," the
saying goes, and I have been reprimanded by it
several times this year. The phrase, handed down by
my moral superiors, descends recklessly, like an
Obama-sanctioned drone, and aims laser-like at my
pinkish-peach complexion, my maleness, and the nerve
I displayed in offering an opinion rooted in a
personal Weltanschauung. "Check your privilege,"
they tell me in a command that teeters between an
imposition to actually explore how I got where I am,
and a reminder that I ought to feel personally
apologetic because white males seem to pull most of
the strings in the world.
He then goes on to "check" through the "privilege"
of his past, from the awful time his Jewish
grandparents endured at the hands of the Nazis, to
the tireless work ethic of his father, to his
gratefulness for all he now has, a blessed
upbringing in the blessed United States. He writes:
That's the problem with calling someone out for
the "privilege" which you assume has defined their
narrative. You don't know what their struggles have
been, what they may have gone through to be where
they are. Assuming they've benefitted from "power
systems" or other conspiratorial imaginary
institutions denies them credit for all they've
done, things of which you may not even conceive. You
don't know whose father died defending your freedom.
You don't know whose mother escaped oppression. You
don't know who conquered their demons, or may still
[be] conquering them now.
As with all leftist arguments and ideas, this "check
your privilege" meme is nonsensical, but reasonable,
rational thought is not the point with leftists.
This is meant to squelch ideas that are contrary to
leftist doctrine, that defend the foundations of
America and support its history. It's meant to
divide us, to keep us at odds with each other, to
redefine the foundations and moral institutions that
made us the most free, most prosperous nation in the
history of the world. And whatever made that happen
must be destroyed. That means deconstructing and
rewriting our history and maligning the "white men"
(and their descendants) largely responsible for
building this nation.
How do we counter this poisonous speech stopper?
Naturally, we don't affirm the bogus premise. Since
we don't have a stronghold in our schools or
powerful influence in the "mainstream" media, we
must each work to persuade our own kids. Being aware
of the existence of such demented messages as "check
your privilege" is important so that they can be
refuted with truth and sensibility. The fact is that
leftists want everyone to be equally miserable, and
they despise that fact that people have different
levels of talent, drive, beauty, work ethic, and of
course, morality. Just as "affirmative action"
policies are wrong, so is trying to push down and
silence achievers by hurling the mindless, "check
your privilege."
By simply being born in the United States, we are
all greatly "privileged," no matter our race or any
other factor the Left uses to categorize and divide
us. What is labeled "privilege" should be rightly
viewed as what it truly is: God's blessings and
gifts He has generously given us, and we all have
them, whether we acknowledge the Lord or not. We can
do nothing to earn these gifts, and the Lord has
been unimaginably kind to us. Rather than look at
our blessings through the warped lens of false
shame, we should be ever-thankful to God Almighty,
from Whom all blessings flow.