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Comment by railsdude | Hacker News Reader

> that privilege doesn't exist because you haven't been on the wrong side does no good to yourself or society.

Know who is on the wrong side? Poor people born in 3rd world countries, with no food, jobs, infrastructure, nothing. On the top of that, a lot of them live in a freaking civil war.

People born in the USA, man or woman, who is middle-class+, is privileged beyond any dream of the majority of the world population.

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Maybe that was true 40 years ago. Nowadays a median middle class natural-born U.S. citizen is a fat type with an old SUV, living in a cardboard house and getting maybe $60k a year. Such a quality of life is within easy reach of every person in the world except maybe totalitarian societies like DPRK (which are very rare) and extremely dilapidated sub-Saharan Africa countries, given he has some brains and will to work hard. We live in a global world.

I don't even tell many people in places like Eastern Europe enjoy better quality of life right now, with maybe somewhat less cash - in safe, walkable, well-designed cities, with better food and environment and less spoiled societies with a strong demand of democracy (nobody wishes to return to Soviet era and every government looking like doing so will be thrown out quickly).

I think this is very true, but no one questions the privilege of being born in America. However, people do doubt the average benefit that being male has on professional conversations within the developed world.

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