People Are Still Privilege-Checking

They just don't call it privilege anymore--now, they call it "out of touch."

One of the now-whimsical vestiges of the 2010s was the idea of “checking your privilege,” the required atonement required of anyone higher up on the oppression ladder before speaking. Technically, it meant that you should consider all the unfair advantages you have which might have colored your lived experience, before “talking over” more marginalized voices. But really, it meant that you needed to shut the fuck up.

At this point, it’s hard to imagine anyone saying “you need to check your privilege” unironically, much the same way I can’t remember the last time I heard anyone on the Right earnestly talk about “owning the libs.” But people still demand that privilege be checked, they just don’t call it “privilege.” This behavior isn’t even a woke thing anymore, nor is it exclusive to the Left. Instead, people from all across the political spectrum have taken to accusing anyone—including both people widely known to be rich and famous, or people who are totally middle class—of being “out of touch” as the new way to demand privilege be checked.