In response to the article by Allan G. Johnson "Privilege, Power and Difference"

     The first thing I noticed when reading this article were how many a-ha moments there were.  I knew about most of these issues going in but didn't realize everything that goes along with them.  There are so many things happening in our society currently pertaining to who has the upper hand and why.  This article enlightened me as to the "why's".
     I enjoyed reading how the author practices what he preaches, as he is a sociologist who designs and teaches courses based on  issues in privilege and differences within our society.  From his tone in writing, I gather he has spent much time in his life thinking about these issues although he claims to be from a privileged background being a heterosexual male.  This was something he managed to write a few times within the article.  Each time he stated why he is privileged I thought how ludicrous it sounded that people would be judged on what ethnicity, gender,  or sexual orientation they are and not for who they are as a unique individual.  
      The beginning of  Chapter one was very engaging and brought me into the article as a reader ready to be enlightened.  He describes the Rodney King incident and quotes the often times parodied phrase "can't we all  just get along".  It seems like a reasonable quote in which many people could get behind.  I respect Johnson for blatantly writing that at this point in society the answer to that question is no.  There is too much that has to be changed in our way of thinking for such a thing to take place.  I think I enjoyed this article so much because that is the underlying tone of this article, that much has to change.
      Another area of this article I found to be useful in thinking about privileges and differences is how the author is against sugar coating that the media and other institutions finds acceptable.  It seems so simple to most of us if we can't talk about what is really going on how will we ever move forward and change things.  If people think things, shouldn't they be able to say them, this is a free country right? We have to acknowledge the pink elephant in the room in order to do anything about it.  Johnson says it well when he claims, "if we can't talk about it we can't do anything about it".
      Johnson brings up an interesting point when he claims we don't have to love or even like each other.  I think that as humans we should tolerate each other but it has to go beyond that, we must respect and learn from each other's "differences".  If Johnson is right and we are innately social beings, then with all this hostility and hatred of things that are different from ourselves are we working against a basic principle that is biological.  I have never seen a young child at a playground shun another child for looking different.  So it must be learned right? I have heard some people say children are not prejudice because their brains aren't fully developed and these traits develop later in life.  As there is no set scientific proof for that statement, I am not buying it.
     There is quite a bit of text dedicated to gender inequality.  There is quite a double standard in our society that has become the rule book for common practices in the home, workplace, and how society views things in general.  Johnson referred to this as "conferred dominance".  Calling someone a mama's boy is an insult while calling another daddy's princess has no negative undertone in meaning.  There should be equal meaning in both statements, not a negative for one and a neutral meaning for the other.
      The bullet list at the bottom of the article summarizes many things he discusses in the main article while adding new ones.  The author describes privilege, power and difference within the realm of gender, ethnicity, social class and sexual orientation.  It's as if he states the issues we have as a way to say this is what is wrong and this is what we need to change.  All of us.  Whether you are the one in privilege or the one being denied it, this affects all of us.  Perhaps instead of the focus being what we have in differences, maybe we as humans should find all we have in common.