Privilege Needs to be Eradicated From Those Who Have It

Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Privilege Needs to be Eradicated From Those Who Have It
In the current capitalist world, profits have become a global priority, which coerces individuals into softening their political commitments. As such, the assumptions of superiority over humans and animals perpetuate structural and physical violence. That is the reason why industries hesitate to adopt renewable or green energy programs since they argue that their profits will decline. In that case, manufacturers pretend that climate change does not exist, and if it does, other producers are as well contributing to it. That way, people keep looking at each other, waiting to see who will take the first step to sacrifice all the benefits associated with using fossil fuels by adopting renewable energy sources. Similarly, despite the increase in animal aggression, individuals are doing nothing to make the situation better. Instead, people continue encroaching forests and cutting trees massively. Capitalism should be the one to blame for global warming and rising aggression between humans and animals such as elephants. With this in mind, Naomi Klein, Charles Siebert, and Anand Giridharadas speak about the necessity of the redistribution of wealth, privilege, and power to restructure the world in a more just way. People with privileges should not be allowed to leverage them since they have failed to do it in the past. As such, privileges should be eradicated from those who have them to make the world a better place. For example, the government should allow the participation of all people when enacting policies to conserve the environment. Participants should be selected randomly, and their ideas and opinions need to be highly valued regardless of their social statuses. When that happens, the primary focus will be on eliminating climate change, poaching, the use of fossil fuel, and reclaiming natural habitats, which would create a habitable planet for both humans and animals.
The privileged individuals use their money and power to manipulate everything in their favor so that they can continue amassing more wealth while the majority of people suffer. Privileges refer to the benefits, advantages, immunities, or special rights granted to a specific group of people based on their social statuses or cultural backgrounds. The most significant thing that one should understand is that these benefits are unavailable for the majority of people. On the contrary, rights are irrevocable and inherent entitlements that all humans should enjoy from the moment they are born. For example, the constitution grants everyone the right to freedom of speech, life, and property ownership. No one can strip off the rights that the constitution has given to people. When it comes to the elites, they have privileges that are not extended to ordinary individuals. These people own numerous properties and continue to accumulate more wealth, which makes them untouchable. They form the lobbyist group that significantly influences the decisions made by the government. Since the elites have money, they bribe the government by donating money to various projects. In return, their ideas and opinions are highly valued, and they operate businesses without any disruption from the state. In that light, Giridharadas seems to believe that privileged individuals can do charity work to change the world that disproportionately benefits them at the expense of the majority of people. At some point, he says, “The kinds of changes favored by the public in an age of inequality, as reflected from time to time in some electoral platforms, are usually unacceptable to elites” (Giridharadas 120). At this point, Giridharadas shows that wealthy people are against any ideas that come from ordinary people regardless of how constructive they might appear. Instead, they favor any change coming from them since they have a hidden agenda. In most cases, wealthy people cannot start projects to help humanity without them benefiting in one way or another. If these are the individuals expected to redistribute privileges, power, and wealth, then the world must be blinded. Andrew Zolli, the PopTech’s curator, says, “The problems were perhaps here to stay, and it was more important, he argued, to teach people to cope” (Giridharadas 89). Since Zolli represents the elites, it is evident that these individuals want the situation to remain the way it is so that they can continue benefiting from it. Members of the elites do not want the state to focus on the root causes of various problems since they know that their activities and businesses are significant contributors. Giridharadas suggests that thought leadership is the only way to solve various issues in society. However, the primary thing he seems to forget is that thought leaders are congenial to plutocrats who are the ones sponsoring their intellectual production. Consequently, believing that members of the elites will redistribute their wealth, privileges, and power to restructure the world is ill-fated, and such a thing is not going to happen anytime soon or in the upcoming years.
The highly privileged people have manipulated the world by using their wealth and power to discourage positive changes that can benefit everyone, which is the reason why such privileges need to be eradicated to have a better world for all individuals. Although Klein believes that cutting consumption levels is the solution to climate change, many countries such as the United States and China are not ready to collaborate. Specifically, nations and organizati...