Voting & ‘Privilege.’

Part of the toxic discourse around this election has been the use, and the misuse, of the word privilege.

I do not own the rights to this fantastic image. However, I want to uplift the fact that this cartoon can apply to far more people than just cis white men.

Vote for whoever you want. I’m not in the business of telling anyone how to vote, nor am I interested in shaming anyone for their decision. I hope that everyone that reads this votes in November and beyond. If you choose not to, I can’t entirely agree with that choice, but I respect your choice. Nothing positive will come from me shaming any voter, so I don’t waste my time shaming anyone’s choice. We can debate the pros and cons until Covid-19 finally ends, but I refuse to shame anyone for who they choose to vote for, or if they even plan on voting at all. I’ve written about voter shaming and alternatives to it recently, but I want to discuss a specific voter shaming tactic — the attack of privilege.

For any of us to have a choice of whether to vote or not to vote, we need to have the right to vote. Millions of people in this country do not have that right; therefore, everyone who can vote in America has privilege on some level. Many of us have the right to vote today because of the decades-long and, in some cases, centuries-long, activism and organizing of determined freedom fighters before us. If you can vote, then you’re privileged. However, someone disagreeing with you on who to vote for does not automatically mean their decision is rooted in privilege.