Privilege, Memes, and Facebook: a Necessary Conversation

On January 25th at 9:12 pm, sophomore student Matthew Feinberg (’19) posted to the IMSA Lost and Found page regarding spending at senior auction. The post reads “I lost some money at senior auction if found please return asap so I can buy [Sarpino’s] to eat my sorrows away.”

Soon thereafter, junior Tyson Kelly (’18) responded to the post. His response reads “My brothers first car was 500$ and that’s all we could afford, it’s supposed to be my first car too. You blew what, 600$+ in 1 hour? disgusting and pitiful.”

Immediately, IMSA students rushed to defend Feinberg or Kelly. They argued Feinberg has a right to spend his money as wanted, or Kelly’s point was valid and should be free from personal attack. Though the ensuing conversations mainly focused on whether Matthew or Tyson’s comment was more warranted, such conversations disregard the original issue: privilege. More importantly, why we are only able to have such conversations hidden behind jokes and memes on a social media platform?

One of my application essays for IMSA asked me about the importance of diversity, and I wrote about how different experiences allow for different perspectives. Here at IMSA, we all look different, as demonstrated by the ongoing “Faces of IMSA” exhibit.

Diversity, however, is more than just physical appearance, and IMSA is an overwhelmingly liberal community with largely like-minded students. Though like-mindedness can foster a positive community, different perspectives are just as important. Therefore, it is understandable that a conversation about privilege among like-minded students with similar perspectives does not go anywhere. That’s a problem. Conversations about issues such as privilege deserve a larger spotlight than a Facebook post and they deserve to continue long after.

Why social media? Why is it easier to talk about privilege behind a joking front? Both of these questions have obvious answers: social media is a screen that enables users to act without the same thought and care that they would use when talking to an actual person. Similarly, social media allows for important issues such a privilege to be turned into fodder for Facebook likes.

As capable, intelligent, and motivated teenagers, it is our responsibility to continue this conversation. In order to initiate these important conversations, I talked to both Matthew Feinberg(’19) and Tyson Kelly(’18) about how privilege has both affected them and their outlook on the world. Matthew said, “I haven’t seen the other side of it. I haven’t lived in it. It’s impacted the way that I treat other people. I definitely think that privilege has a big impact on the way you hold yourself and the opportunities you get.”

Regarding whose responsibility it is to hold such conversations, Feinberg said, “It’s not IMSA’s job to do that: it falls into our own hands.” While Tyson agreed that privilege affects every aspect of a person’s life, he also believed that privilege is just that, a privilege, and must be wielded for the benefit of the greater good. “Privilege has its benefits and its disadvantages,” Kelly said, “Being privileged is good when you use your privilege to help others. With privilege, you can do good things with the privilege you have. With that, privilege is bad when the intentions are for pleasure and not for a good cause.”