Mohammed Hossain

Shamecca Harris

English

3-25-20

Privilege is a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group.For example, in this country education is your right, not privilege unlike in the countries where you have to pay for schools which make it a privilege. Money is privilege that many don’t have. This has to do with place they work at. I was born in middle class family so I dont have to to worry about having food on the table, cleaning up, having internet, new clothes to wear, etc. Not many people have that. Also, I have gotten many scholar ship offers for track that many who haven’t received because of me being better athlete then them.

I have been playing soccer since I can remember. Soccer is my like first love after my family. I was privileged enough to play soccer in high school team here. Growing up, I idolized Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo and Leonel Messi pretty much entered the pros at the same time. Since then, they have been the best player the history of the sport can offer. But till this day, no one one knows who better than who since they have pretty much similar achievements. This created separation between Ronaldo and Messi fans. This lead to people hating on each other. I have gotten into arguments about this topic with my soccer teammates where I have defended Ronaldo since I was his fan. Me being Ronaldo fan will make me look at this hashtag differently because this hashtag is basically created to bash on Ronaldo fans.

I have many privileges that sometimes I forget I am lucky to have. I was born a U.S citizen from a middle-class family, I always had a bed and my own room, healthy food on the table, access to education, the ability and financial support to go to college. I have the privilege of having open minded parents which is something I am truly grateful for and support from my parents to dream big and go for it not letting anyone get in the way of that dream. Family was an important and still is an important factor in my upbringing, but I feel like individuality almost topped that which might affect how I research my online community.

I originally was going to choose an online community on YouTube, but I have decided that Facebook is juicier, and it is much easier to observe and conduct field research. I am specifically going to study an anti-abortion page on Facebook. I think it will be really interesting to see who is active on the page and what are the demographics are. I have already read some of the comments under the anti-abortion page of their posts on Facebook and I can say that it is definitely passionate and that there are a lot of people who are pro-abortion really speaking their minds and serving the page some facts.

I am personally against anti-abortion for many different reasons which might affect how I see the online community and might make me bias towards certain opinions. I was raised in an anti-religious household; I was told that an education and career came before children.  I even have a promise with my father that I wouldn’t get married until I graduated college and a promise with my mother that I wouldn’t have children until I was thirty. I don’t have an exactly personal experience with abortions, but a couple of my friends do and couldn’t be more thankful for them.

I am hoping to gain a better understanding with the online community on their views on anti- abortion. I think there is many different aspects to it such as religion, science, financial support and culture that will play a role in their opinions.

I believe I have a couple of privileges, my parents are hardworking people. My mom works with the elderly while my dad is in charge of a department at the company he works for, bringing home a steady and reliable paycheck. I believe having a job is also a privilege because during these current times, a lot of people are not having the same luck. My parents have always told me that school comes first, being a privilege in itself that we all share, getting an education is something we might take for granted. Along with constantly reminding me about my education, they always let me know that if I ever wanted to leave my job, they would help support me financially which a lot of people around me wouldn’t be able to do. I learned this because during a past field research, I took a deeper dive into my coworkers lives and I learned a lot of deep emotional things about them. To me, my job was just a way of funding my hobbies but to them, missing a day of work meant light groceries or staying in until the next pay cycle. 

As cliche as it might sound, in the topic I want to research, being ‘born a woman’ and being in a relationship are privileges in two topics I chose. As someone who was assigned female at birth and maintained that identity, it is sometimes easy to forget that not everyone who identifies as a woman has the same privilege. Finding love and relationships of all calibers is difficult, and not being able to share the same experiences can affect my field of research. Going into a women’s bathroom is something I take for granted, while others have terrible and dangerous experiences doing so. In my other topic, being a woman and having a different perspective can easily cloud my judgements in regards to men thinking that women owe them intimacy and are to blame for the lack of it being provided. Although I do not agree, keeping an open mind can be difficult when all your senses are telling you to drop everything and run but one can try their absolute best to achieve great data.

When I reflect on my privileges, the one that instantly comes to mind is where I live: Lincoln Center. Whenever I, a hispanic female, tell anyone this there’s always shock & the typical “are you rich” (I’m not unfortunately haha). As a PoC who has many relatives & friends that are PoC, I know this is a rare living circumstance for minorities. My father works for the company that runs the building we live in, & by deciding to be the on-duty superintendent for the building we live in my apartment rent free. My father being in this profession allows my mother to stay at home by choice & me being occasionally spoiled and financially provided for, as I do financially depend on him. This doesn’t mean I don’t see my family struggle financially here & there, but overall we are always provided for.

The online community I have decided to observe is the Animal Crossing fanbase on Twitter because I’ve been a part of that fanbase since it’s first game & it has been all I have been seeing on my Twitter feed. Due to this assignment’s task being that we have to observe an online community, a privilege I’ve come to acknowledge is having internet access in my house. Another is my family’s financial situation and the luxuries I receive from it; Being I have been spoiled all my life I was able to instantly join this community from the start, as my father was able to splurge on getting me the console its first game was released on. This leads to potential bias within the community I may not even fully be aware of yet. My family’s financial situation also comes to play as another privilege, as I have the console the new Animal Crossing game was released on.

By definition, privilege is an advantage or special right that someone has. Different people have different privileges based on their situation such as race, age, gender, social class, or even where you live. All of these factors plays a part in someones life. Most come from our parents but there are that we can make for ourselves. I have a few privileges myself. I have two houses that I can stay at (my mother’s house and at my father’s house), financial aid for college, an education, supportive family and friends, freedom of speech, the right to vote, growing up in a Hispanic household giving me the privilege of being bilingual, and parents who provide me with the things I need even though they are both lower-middle class-middle class and are not together so that I can focus on getting an education. Although these all seem small or what some people might not consider as privileges, they have helped me grow and continue to succeed in life. 

The reason I chose my online community is that I am apart of that community myself and never really thought about how some of the things like inside jokes or behaviors might be weird or unusual to others. The fact that I even have the privilege of having a phone and social media to access it plays a role in the reason why I chose it. Many people that are apart of this online community buy a lot of albums, merch, and concert tickets. Most don’t have a lot of money to afford good concert tickets or tickets in general since they are very very expensive (I would know, I’ve always ended up in the nosebleed section) or fan meetings. Since I am apart of this community most of the behaviors that I will be exploring aren’t new to me but since I am an insider I have to try and make outsiders understand some of the language and behaviors. Due to the fact that the fanbase is made up of different races and people from all over the world I will also be analyzing the language barrier and the difference between international fans and Korean fans.

For my fieldwork I chose a group of Satanists in a book club Facebook chat, I don’t know why I chose that group, but I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of Satanism because they don’t worship Satan rather they fight for secularism. Satanists get a bad name in the media, being seen as witches who practice magic, and yes this was the case before 2013, but they are rebranding themselves as something different. Alas, due to this initial introduction they are still seen as bad and evil because of their old practices in the dark arts, and even things such as Tarot Cards being seen as an introduction into Satanism to my Hispanic family. This new age of Satanism though is reintroducing new ideas, and even the books which are spoken about in the Facebook chat are ridiculed if they mention magic in any way since that isn’t what the group supports anymore. I have noticed many privileges in joining this chat, when I first saw the books they were speaking about I was immediately drawn to go to Barnes and Noble to buy a book, but when I went none of those books were there. Instead, shelves lined with the bible covered the religion section of the store, this is where I noticed my first privilege. While I am an atheist myself, I come from a catholic family so if I wanted to know what my family believes in and what they stand for I can simply go to the religion section, pick up one of the myriads of bibles (containing the same words with different shells; hardcover or paperback or even leather). Another thing I can do is simply say I’m an atheist, and people won’t look at me funny but when I mentioned Satanism to my friends they all wished me luck, and were surprised when I said that the group was actually full of nice people. I don’t really have any fixed positions, I’m a pretty neutral go with the flow kind of person, I like to look at both sides before making a decision so I doubt that my views will conflict with their; especially since I share some viewpoints with the group (i.e reproductive rights, atheism/non-theism). For life history and personal experience, I will be talking about how I went to church, and I live by a church, but there aren’t really many churches for Satanists to come gather as a group to discuss their opinions. This all isn’t to say that this group is struggling, they have tax-exemption from the government like all other Christian Churches so they still continue to thrive in that area.

Social privilege is defined as the advantage or immunity given to a particular group of people or an individual. Privilege can be but is not limited to a person’s class, age, education, mobility, race, religion, and gender. To a certain extent, almost everyone has some sort of privilege– some more than others. The online community I chose to focus on was the Beyhive. It’s a large online fanbase for Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter.

As a fan of Beyonce’s music, I could have a bias toward the Beyhive.  Growing up I had the privilege of having access to music through digital platforms from a young age. I have been a big fan of Beyoncé’s music for a very long time– additionally, as an activist, I appreciate her using her platform to speak out about issues. My opinions can influence the way I do my field research and how I observe any behaviors within the community. As a woman of color, I think that my race and identifiers will allow me to connect with other women of color in the online community. My age, however, might be an identifier that may make it harder for me to access and understand other members of the community. Since I am doing field research on a specific artist and fan base, as a fan I might find it harder to view the community as an outsider. As an artist, she has a very diverse and global fan community which brings diverse thoughts and opinions to the community.

         I’m very privileged to have two parents in my home. To have a free education which a lot of people don’t have in my home country. Living in New York City is a privilege I’m thankful for, its diversity has taught me a lot. It’s a privilege to have been born in a country that was not torn up by war. When it comes to myself, I’m privileged to not have to struggle with my identity much. Things like my sexual orientation, culture and economic class have never been a problem in my life. To live in the U.S which allows me to practice my religion freely, speak, and not be limited by my gender is a huge blessing.
For my online community, I chose an Instagram page called “Shaderoom”. I chose this page because it interested me how it uplifts black people, their business and their struggles but also can destroy people with the things they post. Although this page was meant to be gossip/ celebrity news it shines a light on the black community it’s positives and negatives. It has built a strong community of very opinionated followers. The comment sections to this page is a window into the minds of their loyal followers.
Although I’ve lived in America for most of my life, I come from a west African Country where the values and culture are very different. And with this page, they usually cater to their content for African American culture and struggles, and I feel like my biases from my birth culture will carry over into the research of this page.
Even though African Americans came from Africa, the time we’ve been forced to spend apart has drastically changed our cultures and values. In a way, it feels very strange to study culture that’s very close to home racially but very different in everything else.

Asadullah Bin Amir 

Prof. Shamecca Harris 

English 

Blog Post #4 

03/25/20 

Every human is born into a specific situation, which tends to determine their output on certain life. For example, being born into a rich well settled family you are provided everything that you ask for since you come out the womb therefore the word struggle has no relevance in your life but for someone born into a middle class family, watching your parents struggle daily in order to make ends meet, you tend to have a higher value for smaller things in life. In my case, I can’t say I don’t value things or take things for granted but it would also be wrong of me to say that my parents haven’t provided me with everything I’ve laid my eyes on. In my specific field of research in the NBA community, I feel privilege plays a pivotal role. As the NBA does not discriminate against any minority, it allows everybody to access almost every event, emphasis on every. NBA has a thing called league pass, this allows people who pay for it to access every game that is ever played, but some people can not afford this, I personally have paid for league pass every year since I was 8, therefore I have a better perspective on the community than the ones that aren’t able to watch. I choose the community of basketball, because of my passion for the game. I believe that I have an exponential knowledge in the matter and that makes me an insider and an outsider for the sake of this research. I think the fact that I am an insider may affect my position on this debate. The subjective positions that I drag into this research is favoritism to certain players and an inside perspective on certain matters.

 Privileges are and can be entitlements that direct your position in society. Due to your race, age, and gender you might be favored for a job position, group, or community. I believe that most of our privileges come from our parents but of course you can change that theory by working and focusing on yourself. By focusing on yourself privileges such as scholarships, business deals, or job opportunities will arise. 

In my case most of my privileges come from my parents. Being born into a middle class family and not having to worry about paying for school is great! They also pay for the rent to my apartment and my food/clothing, so I never have anything to worry about except school.  So far these privileges make me look like a spoiled human being but that’s not true… or i hope it isn’t true. Still they are the major benefactors in my life. Don’t get me wrong I do work on myself as well, to create my own privileges. When I got my first job the reason I got it was because I am bilingual and brought racial diversity to the kitchen (I worked in a restaurant).  

In analyzing my own privileges and the ones my parents gave me I am unsure how it will affect my field research. The main reason I chose my online community was because of how much time I have on my hands which in result is due to my parents. My online community is based on a specific artist and her fan-base. With all the time I have I am able to listen to all of the artists music. Also due to my fixed position I relate and am a part of the online community. This is due to the community having a large number of  minorities. In researching the community I plan on carrying with me the personal experiences that make me a minority and what it does for others. I will have strong willed opinions for certain aspects but hopefully I can push those aside to observe the larger picture.