Whether we acknowledge it or not, privilege and inequalities have been part of the world we live in ever since the first human being ran into the second human being. Privilege works to allow the people at the top of the hill to remain there while others from different sexes, races, economic conditions, geography, and religions struggle to remain equal with the status quo. Peggy McIntosh's 1988 essay, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack," presents the reader with specific details from her own life proving the stark reality that white privilege, and especially white male privilege, exists as much today as it did when she wrote her essay.
McIntosh works to explicitly reference examples of her own privilege in life and does this in order to explain that white people, and particularly white males, have been taught to use the examples of our privilege in a way that keeps these assets oblivious to us in our regular daily activities and decision making. McIntosh describes the distinctive intent of this obliviousness as a defense mechanism for individuals who might otherwise consider themselves to be fine, upstanding citizens. If these citizens, who happen to be white and sometimes also male, were actually aware that they possessed these powers and assets that raised their importance and position in society up and above others from outside of the white community, they would feel, or rather should feel, compelled to act immediately to fix this inequality that they are now consciously accountable. After all, most of us are taught that things like racism only have terribly negative aspects to it. In reality, there are also tremendously positive things associated with racism too if you are part of the majority or ruling class. McIntosh uses her own life experiences to list many of here privileges and inequalities as a tool to bring the reality of the situation out from a series of educational surveys and analyses and directly into th...