The Perils of Confusing ‘Privilege’ and ‘Victimhood’

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks with reporters in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 23, 2022. Jeff Louderback/The Epoch Times

Commentary

Given the left’s recent push to redefine concepts such as “privilege” and “victimhood,” let’s take a moment to examine the lives of two very different Americans.

Consider Shelby Steele, whose paternal grandfather was born a slave. His father was a truck driver with a third-grade education, and his mother was a social worker.

Steele began his life in the era of segregation, but he worked his way through a bachelor of arts degree at Coe College, a master of arts degree from Southern Illinois University, and a doctoral degree from the University of Utah. He finally became an award-winning author, a university professor, and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

In his youth, Steele was a 1960s militant with an Afro haircut. He was moved to travel to Africa and learn more about the liberationist regimes that were celebrating the defeat of European colonialism.

He mixed with Marxist revolutionary leaders and activists, but somehow, most of them fell short of his expectations. He judged them to be out of touch with reality. Their status as victims of colonial oppression had led them to conclude that they were superior to other people. He returned home unimpressed by the romantic socialist ideologues who were accomplishing very little for their people.

Unlike most leftist intellectuals, Steele had the capacity to reexamine his anti-American prejudices. With a degree of humility seldom found in academics, Steele fondly recalled something that his father had told him:

“You know, you shouldn’t underestimate America,” his dad said. “This is a strong country ... strong enough to change. You can’t imagine the amount of change I’ve seen in a lifetime.”

Steele took his father’s advice.

Now take the case of Pete Buttigieg, a clever, upper-middle-class young man from South Bend, Indiana. His parents were university professors. He attended Harvard and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study among Fabian British elites at the University of Oxford.

On his return to America, Buttigieg was elected mayor of his hometown, served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, worked for the prestigious McKinsey & Company, and became a Democratic Party candidate for president.

Despite Buttigieg leading a privileged student life followed by rapid career advancements, the left insists on including Buttigieg in a unique new class of “victims.” He’s lauded for overcoming unfair obstacles and becoming the first openly gay secretary of transportation.

Redefining Privilege and Victimhood

“Woke” elites have invented a self-interested form of repentant liberalism. Disingenuous appeals to “social justice” appear to be rewarding privileged progressives with special treatment, career advancement, financial subsidies, and a host of other benefits. College loan forgiveness anyone?

Patriotic black Americans who have overcome real obstacles but refuse to regard themselves as perpetual victims are regularly portrayed by the left as traitors to their race—black faces of white privilege.

In his 2016 book “Shame: How America’s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country,” Steele said the claim that white men continue to oppress people of color is one of the most influential but least accurate ideas of our age.

Steele contends that allegations of white privilege are lame excuses for political activists to defend their self-esteem and pursue power.

The woke have redefined oppression to suit their own interests. Under the banner of “intersectionality,” LGBTQ activists, self-serving Black Lives Matter leaders, climate change radicals, upper-crust Antifa warriors, and progressive politicians all form self-serving alliances in the name of victimhood.

The Downside for America

The downside to all of this is enormous. America is reverting to a patrimonial-based society that favors political families, tribal ideologies, and party affiliations over qualifications and merit. Self-interested actors are reimagining victimhood to reward friends and punish enemies.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is becoming a poster child for identity-based appointees who simply can’t do their jobs.

Consider the perils for America. In 2021, while cargo ships were stuck off the coast of California and a supply chain interruption was sending prices soaring across North America, Buttigieg remained on extended paternity leave. Ordinary citizens became the real victims.

Early in February, a horrific train wreck and chemical burn occurred in the predominantly white, lower-income, working-class town of East Palestine, Ohio. The Biden administration and legacy media were slow to acknowledge the catastrophe. It took Buttigieg close to three weeks before he found time to briefly visit the site.

Ten days into the Ohio crisis, Buttigieg addressed the 2023 conference of the National Association of Counties. He failed to mention the Norfolk Southern train derailment and stuck firmly to his standard script on privilege and victimhood.

The secretary of transportation insinuated that construction sites aren’t employing people of color and are deliberately outsourcing jobs to white workers. Speaking in 2021, Buttigieg claimed that “there is racism physically built into some of our highways.” Citizens in Ohio were left scratching their heads over what all this had to do with their predicament.

Serious American thinkers predict that the nation will pay dearly for tolerating self-interested leaders who seek permanent power in the name of past victimization and other delusional ideas.

The residents of East Palestine would probably concur.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.