Here's What To Say When Someone Tells You To 'Check Your Privilege'
Anybody from the United States of America who tells another American to “Check their privilege,” should immediately go take a long look in the mirror and give thanks for their own privilege. No matter what race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation, we all have one powerful privilege in common: American privilege.
The Privilege of Free Speech
Our First Amendment right to freedom of speech boosts our country far above the rest of the modern world. Whether you appreciate the likes of Alex Jones or not, we can all be thankful we live in a nation where we can express ourselves without fear.
Sure, Jones was de-platformed on Facebook, YouTube and other social media sites, but at least he wasn’t arrested by our government and imprisoned for his speech. As a matter of fact, Jones can still be seen on YouTube doing recent interviews about our First Amendment that should put YouTube overlords to shame … assuming they still have any ability to feel shame.
Many Americans take their First Amendment right for granted but they do so at their own peril. It’s almost certain that Tommy Robinson in the United Kingdom, Brigitte Bardot in France and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands would give almost anything for the countries they love to possess the same freedom of speech rights that we in the U.S. enjoy every single day.
The Privilege of Self Defense
In the United States, a well trained 90-year-old grandmother with a 9 mm handgun can legally defend herself using lethal force against three powerfully built male assailants who could have otherwise raped, robbed and killed her. How sad it is that there are forces in the United States today who want to strip us all of the ability to defend ourselves against attackers, terrorists and tyrants.
The fact that so many Americans carry concealed weapons and have firearms handy behind locked doors helps to protect every citizen who chooses not to own any weapons at all. Even the mere possibility of someone having a gun at their disposal causes potential criminals to think twice before attacking anyone. Unfortunately, that’s not true in many countries around the world.
The Privilege of Opportunity
People from as far away as Asia and Africa work tirelessly, scrimp and save their money in hopes of gaining legal citizenship in our unprecedented land of opportunity. They see what is possible for everyone here in America to achieve, and it’s their life goal is to come to the United States to pursue the American Dream.
How tragic it is then that there are politicians, political parties and community leaders here in the U.S. whose own greedy self-interests cause them to knowingly blind their own constituents to the many blessings and opportunities that are available for us all.
No matter what anyone has been told, the American Dream is available to every woman, person of color, legal immigrant, and every other physically and cognitively-able person in our society who cares to work hard and use their God-given potential to achieve success.
Universities and employers throughout America truly desire to employ a diverse workforce and there is a place for everyone in it. So please, encourage everyone to work hard and dream big. The only thing they have to lose are their excuses, and the trust and respect they once felt for the false “leaders” they once admired.
The Privilege of Freedom
What could possibly be sweeter than the privilege of freedom?
Women in America are free to attend schools, to dress as they please, to work if they so desire and to leave their homes all by themselves. Those freedoms we often take for granted aren’t available to many women in other parts of the world.
Gays and lesbians in America are able to live a life of love and even get married now without the threat of being thrown off of a rooftop if anyone discovers their given lifestyle. That’s not true everywhere.
We are able to choose our own professions, associate with whoever we choose, live wherever we can afford and seek out as much happiness as we can legally attain for ourselves. Most people throughout the world are just fighting to survive, while we here in America are continuously creating more and more ways for us all to thrive.
American Privilege
The greatest privilege of all is American Privilege. The Founding Fathers of our country might not have been perfect but they certainly did succeed in creating the freest, most powerful and prosperous nation our world has ever known. We would have to be the most ungrateful people on earth not to be thankful for the many blessings, opportunities, rights and freedoms that we possess.
We need to stay forever vigilant because these freedoms have never been free for any of us. These freedoms have been fought for and earned by the brave Americans who came before us and also by all of our fellow citizens who are still fighting the good fight to preserve our most enviable way of life.
Always remember that you don’t need to be a member of our fine military in order to fight for our country. Just stay informed and vote responsibly because, as many of us learned in 2016, that too can make extraordinary heroes out of everyday Americans.
So, if anybody ever makes the mistake of telling you to “Check your privilege,” be sure to tell them, “Thank you. I already have checked my privilege … and it feels great!”
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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