Essay fixed with some details

Darius Heggins

Paper # 3 Thesis ( 1st Draft)

2/29/16

Privilege is not a reality; it is created by the ideas that one man is better than the other, leading to a power struggle that inevitably leads to both sides having casualties.

In the movie “Even the rain” the government is charging the indigenous people of Cochabamba, Bolivia excessive fees for water. Danial, a native and actor for the film they are creating, slowly becomes the people’s voice against the oppressive conditions that are forced upon them. The idea of having privilege is first presented to us when the film crew arrives to the country, they had little to no idea of the oppression the native peoples were under nor did they care, their only concern was making their movie, having no regard and only seeing the natives as cheap labor. The idea of privilege is thrust upon us in this film first by the film crew, then learning of the government using their privilege by taxing the natives for all water. This abuse of power that is single handedly creating the people’s oppression, lead’s to the natives feeling that in order to create a better quality of life, and having no other choice, they must retaliate, by peaceful demonstrations at the capitol building, which inevitably transitions to force. In the people’s eyes they were fighting for their basic human privilege, the privilege to be treated with dignity and respect and to be seen as equals.

The concept between Privilege and power looks quite different in the book “My Enemy, My Friend” Yoram the author of the book, decided to conduct an experiment of posing as an Arab, “penetrating deeply into Jewish prejudices and Arab fears “of Gaza. Yoram’s undertaking shows him an integral view of how each side feels about the other. When disguised As an Arab, Yoram was constantly berated, treated as less than nothing by the Jewish boss’s he worked for. Even being told he should change his name so his boss could better remember it. This man felt entitled to treat Yoram any way he wished because with his privilege, there would be no repercussion for his actions. Yorum could not picket in front of the man’s shop stating “equal rights now” for if he did, his life would be over in a matter of minutes do to the ongoing conflict between the Jewish views of Arabs. And unlike the natives of “even the rain” trying to take his rights by force would also end his life. Because of his Jewish boss’s over whelming privilege, Yoram was left with nothing to do but take his abuse and continue to work.

In both the book and the movie, we see that there is a grand difference between Power and Privilege. Privilege is what people feel when they are above someone, when they are a part of the status quo; some use this privilege and power as a means to oppress, as is the case with Danial and his people under the hand of the government. Yoram was under a different hand, the hand of war, the finger of hate. When one has privilege, it is easy to confuse privilege with power. The two are very similar in the sense that both can be used to uplift, and both can also be abused. The difference is what side you are on, for Power and privilege, both come with responsibility, and it is the responsibility for all who have it, to use it wisely