What is this all about?

The College Conservative reports.

What in the World is “Privilege”?

This article is the first in a three-part series that will discuss issues of privilege, society, and public policy. Please check back in next week with TCC for part two!

If you are white; if you are male; if you are a Christian; if you have a college degree (or merely a high school degree where I currently live); if you were born in, were educated on, or currently live on the west coast or the northeast; if you come from a middle-class or upper-class family; if you have two parents; or if your first language is English; then there is a safe bet you have been asked to “check your privilege” at some point.

What does that even mean? Really, check my “privilege”?

Privilege, according to good old Webster, means:

A right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others.

Honestly, this doesn’t really help. Our laws are fairly clear: You cannot give someone a right or a benefit because of their race, their sex, their religion, their educational background, their state of origin, or any other qualifier unless the state meets several burdens that are extremely difficult to meet.

But maybe activists are talking about a group privilege. The idea of an Illuminati-eque group of old, white, guys should be coming to mind. Nevertheless, this image of a secret group thought isn’t really the idea behind privilege. Group privilege attaches itself to groups (Tautology!), and our friends at MSNBC have made it clear that this isn’t an issue of group versus group.