Privilege And Blame

I encountered a bit the other day that began with the speaker acknowledging various “privileges” she enjoyed as a person of various “identities.” Among them was “thin privilege,” a term I hadn’t heard before and one that made me face-palm so hard I had to take a moment and let the dizziness subside.

In processing that newest-to-me example of woke-preening masquerading as humility, I realized that the speaker was asserting thinness as an externality, as something that happened to her.

Yes, it’s true that some people are more prone to thinness than others, but barring rare-enough-to-ignore examples of people with actual hormonal imbalances, a person’s weight is something that he or she controls. The fact that weight control (i.e. dietary discipline) is difficult for many (including yours truly) does not change this reality. Ultimately, it is you, not someone else putting the fork in your mouth.

Acknowledging this can be difficult, because it requires acknowledging personal responsibility rather than blaming third parties and external forces. Much easier to say “it’s Big Food’s fault” or “I didn’t realize that eating the way I do would make me fat.”

I recall a comedian talking about this some time back. He noted that his father was the same weight and waist size his whole life. When the comedian realized this as an adult, he asked what the secret was. The dad’s reply? “When my pants got tight, I ate less.” So much truth in such a short sentence.

Today more than ever, we witness people all around us choosing to externalize agency for things under their control, because it’s easier to blame someone else. This is, of course, encouraged by the same people peddling socialism, which is the abdication of personal responsibility (h/t David Mamet) in favor of someone else managing their lives.

Externalizing blame is also abetted by depersonalizing it. Rather than saying advertising executive Joe keeps telling me that the fast food his client sells is really, really tasty, it’s pitched as a vague “Big Food” or “Corporate America” conspiring to make us fat. The reality that all they’re doing is trying to make a buck, just like you, me, and everyone else out there, is too mundane and insufficiently blaming. The reality that you can eat fast food without gaining weight is also too mundane and insufficiently blaming.

Again, this is the same behavior we see in the broader context. Your life isn’t exactly what you want it to be, but rather than say “I’m going to put more effort into making it so,” you blame others’ greed or evil intent.

Take note that the people who insist that government force be used to take from others to benefit them or their pet causes are often the least happy people out there. There is little to no satisfaction gained from being handed something, while there is enormous good feeling garnered from putting effort into a difficult endeavor and succeeding.

Externalizing everything leaves you a hollow person, one lacking agency or the confidence born of individual achievement. Expanding this across a society makes that society ill. Americans’ long history of work ethic and individualistic striving for excellence is not just a quirk - it is at the heart of the nation’s growth to global wealth and dominance. Societies that push equality of outcome are societies that stagnate, because the individuals who would otherwise strive and achieve and outperform are scolded rather than encouraged. The externalizing of blame goes hand-in-hand with the breaking of individual spirit.

This is the truth behind performative “acknowledgments” such as “thin privilege.” It’s also the truth behind things like land acknowledgments. If you’re unfamiliar, that’s when some preening wokester humbly declares that he or she or zhe is standing on land “stolen” from indigenous peoples. The great irony is that calling them peoples acknowledges the real truth - that there have been over 800 distinct tribes and nations in the Americas’ history, and that these nations fought with each other, conquered each others’ lands, and enslaved each other for centuries before the Europeans arrived... and engaged in the exact same behavior. Their paler skin color and their greater acumen at such behavior does not translate to illegitimacy - it was the global norm for most of humanity’s existence.

At the heart of this blame-shifting is the same human desire to control one’s own destiny. The blamers are taking the false but easy path of offloading responsibility onto others, and they are encouraged to do so by people who see such encouragement as the path to power. Convince others that they need to cede control over their lives to you, and you own them. Convince them that they are righteous for doing so, and you own them forever.