Aye, telling someone that they are “privileged” when they live in a shithole trailer park with no job and no prospects only makes them hate you. I know — been there, done that. Lived in a shithole trailer park, that is.

Do not tell me, or them, that they are “privileged.” Yes, it is better to be poor and white than poor and black, and better to be a poor white man than a poor white woman, but people who are in pain do not react well to some smug, upper-middle-class jerk telling them they are privileged when their lives are clearly terrible.

I don’t think they most people who live in those situations think their lives are terrible. Hedonic adjustment and all that. But people in those situations know for sure they are not getting a fair shake. Pretending that they have some sort of great privilege because they are a sliver better off than someone who has also gotten the shaft in life just doesn’t help anything at all — other than to make some smug liberal asshole feel better.