I read a remarkable set of tweets sometime back on the subject of privilege by @eveewing. She rightly pointed out that it is fairly easy to acknowledge privilege, but reparations are far more difficult. Writing about it, by that measure, is the easiest thing to do, but be that as it may….
I had written about privilege a while back, and used the framework from Breaking Smart – socio economic, cultural and cognitive kinds. The tweets I’d mentioned above are related mostly to the first kind – socio economic – and this is indeed the most visible around. But a recent experience made me think of it a little beyond that.
When we were walking around Essaouira, at the City Walls, there were a couple of painters on the pavement. It was amazing to watch them paint. Minimal strokes, but fantastic results – landscapes, people, cultural symbols and so on. The prices, on a relative scale, were reasonable. As we paid them, I thought about the work I do as a marketing professional, and what I get paid for it. Broadly, what I do is science, and what they do is art. Arguably, they could be taught to do what I do, but the reverse is not true. And yet, there is an imbalance right there.
Yes, art is subjective to a large extent, and a lot many artists earn more than marketing folks do, but the point is actually more about the value we ascribe to things, and the price we are willing to pay for it. Even cultural privilege is subject to the same currencies. So too, I realised, is cognitive privilege. While I had written about how the path to cognitive privilege through a growth mindset has changed my outlook and behaviour in many ways, a recent incident showed me how much the currency still has a hold on me.
D pointed me to a well written FB note on empowering domestic help. The cost of helping our maid/cook with a health insurance/pension is half of a dine out, and yet I watched myself having to wrestle with my resistance! Despite my constant checks in our life to ensure we separate needs from wants, and despite keeping lifestyle upgrades to a minimum, I realise that human wants are indeed infinite. When we pair that with a currency that is finite, it doesn’t really matter if I’m more focused on cognitive privilege, I’ll always face a stiff resistance because though privilege might still be something I could sacrifice, its currency would still hold me hostage. The escape hatch, it has to be around somewhere!
