Linked to this from a course forum (introductory sociology). Just yesterday (last class meeting of the semester), we had a fairly elaborate discussion about privilege. It seems to me that the point about the difficulty of recognizing privilege came across to some. Had I listened to it before class, this episode would have been very useful in providing context for the issue.

In my forum post, I mentioned that social scientists work on such difficult issues as the one at the core of this episode. To us, it can indeed be academic. And there’s a sort of coping mechanism involved in making issues academic. Not that we necessarily distance ourselves from it or that we become dispassionate about it. But, in some cases, looking at the broader context is a way to build tools to cope with these situations. And, eventually, to decrease the number of cases.

As a male feminist, I found this episode remarkable. Though I’m often shaken by this topic (and my Empathy Quotient is high enough that it hurts just hearing mentions of it), the discussion didn’t upset me. Not because it desensitized me in any way (the way some people talk about repeating the N-word). Far from it. And it’s about making it “clinical.” But it made it possible for me to think about the wonders of survival, resilience, and emotional strength.

In fact, the section of the post-show about PTSD was itself enabling. Whether or not someone has been diagnosed with PTSD, a careful attitude toward certain triggers may be underrated. And there’s indeed a lot to be said about specific contexts in which someone may be less receptive about a certain issue. Understanding this could avoid ourselves many communication breakdowns.

Speaking of which, maybe someone has some input on this old blogpost of mine about communication breakdowns: “How Flame Wars Get Started” – Linguistic Anthropology http://lar.me/hi
Though it relates to my sphere of expertise, it was written much more as a thought experiment. So any feedback might be useful.