The Oft-Shirked Responsibility of the Privileged

People of privilege have a duty to appropriate their economic, political, and ideological power in the most socially responsible, progressive, and beneficial manner possible.

We must do so even to our own cost, to the extent of foregoing some of our own innumerable luxuries we oft take for granted.

We must do so because others less fortunate will be forced to foot the bill for the unpaid sum of our self-indulgence, apathy, and inhumanity, as represented in our choices of institutions.

You cannot separate a corporations' actions from their products. If you watch House, M.D., you support the slanted, sickening, system-preserving conservative infotainment that is Fox News. It simply is not possible.

I do not say that you are wrong for supporting that which is wrong. I only say that you are wrong if you know that what you do is wrong, and yet still do it for personal gain. And even then, being wrong is not so bad, if you can learn and change from it.

We, as our societies, are emergent. We make mistakes, learn from them, and emerge stronger, more perfect. This does not make us any less good, or lesser in worth. In fact, it makes our strikingly unique beings in that we have the capability to make ourselves more perfect, in an inherently imperfect universe.

Knowing this, it is our duty to fulfill that responsibility. We will always make mistakes; but we must also always learn from them, correct them, and thus emerge bettered. It is our obligation.