system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
I think accusing people of white/male/straight privilege is nothing but an ad-hominem. CMV.

When anyone tells me I should check my privilege, I obediently do so. Sometimes for days in a row and the question never actually leaves me. "Am I being unsensitive"? That's a question that should always haunt every one of us.

But, from personal experience, the word privilege isn't used as much to make people think critically of their own positions, but mainly to delegitimize opinions. Against affirmative action? The sole reason is because of your white privilege. Against abortion? The sole reason is your male privilege. And I've heard too much in reddit's Christian subs that the only reason to interpret the Bible as against religious gay marriage is straight privilege. Like if literary and theological interpretation methods did not exist.

I respect people with opposing views, because life taught me the hard way I'm not the only person in the world with a brain. But many people use the word "privilege" simply to deny the discussion and go on with their self-righteous ways. CMV.

^(disclaimer: I'm for affirmative action)

**EDIT:** Ok, I failed to give a mainstream example of this happening. Here is it: "if men had wombs abortion would be a sacrament". In other words, "the only reason there are pro-life men is because they're not checking their privilege". That's a mainstream pro-choice slogan. I'm not trying to discuss abortion here, just saying social justice movement isn't careful about misusing the notion of "privilege". CMV!

**EDIT2:** OK. Unfortunately my view couldn't be changed. I see the main problem is that, despite, as I said before, the concept of privilege being useful and beneficial in conversations, using it to accuse people does no good to discussions. Actually it just radicalizes and pisses off everyone. OR make naive white males change their opinions out of guilt. I think, as some here said, my opinion is hardly going to change over this because *accusing* people of privilege as a strategy to win argument is nothing but cheap and low.
gpt
Invoking the idea of privilege doesn't necessarily delegitimize opinions, but it does seek to to contextualize them.  Consider:

A Christian and a Jew are discussing a Biblical passage from the Book of Ruth.  Is it not reasonable in this conversation for each participant to consider both their own faith and that of the other in the context of their approach to the text?  Is it an ad-hominem attack for one to say to the other, "I believe you are relying too heavily upon your personal religious tradition in your interpretation here." ?

That's all "check your privilege" is -- a shorthand, somewhat glib way of saying that you are giving too much weight to your own personal history and cultural context in how you consider an issue, and that you'd benefit from expanding your frame of reference.  It's identifying a fallacy on the other person's part; it's only delegitimizing to an opinion if *that is actually happening* in the first place.