As a 49 year old Black guy who graduated from an unknown state school in the mid 90s, I can’t recall the term “privilege” ever being applied to me…

As a 29 year old Black guy who was born in a 3rd world country, I think people underestimate what counts as a privilege.

When you get stopped by the police going home to your own neighborhood in a city where only 4% of the people look like you, it doesn’t matter where you are from…

The world is vast: some people don't have the privilege of their next meal, a roof over their heads, their home even existing tomorrow. Getting stopped by cops in one of the many places where we're a minority doesn't really stack that high up on the scale of it all.

The reality is you probably are privileged, and so am I compared to my parents who grew up on mud floors and lost siblings to easily preventable conditions, and that's why it's pointless to go around Hacker News of all places and throw around the "you're privileged card"... like 99.9% of the people here aren't also just for having the time to be here.

Why are you trying to downplay his experience and tell him stupid platitudes that he already knows? Do you really think he doesn't know that someone somewhere has it worse than he does?

If you jump to "privilege" for someone saying "take the money instead of hoping to ride out a PIP at Amazon", you have in fact forgotten that people have it worse than you.

There's a difference between knowing something and remembering it.

When you get booted out of the country if you lose your job, it really doesn’t matter what neighborhood you lived in.

If you're reading this you're better off than half the world. If you're reading english on a computer and have food in your fridge, you're doing well.

> If you're reading this you're better off than half the world.

And you call that "privilege"?

Sadly, most people using "privilege" word see "being better than half of the world" as privilege, thus devaluing the word to almost nothing.

> to think that people ... have the luxury of turning down money now for vague promises of a possibly better payout later.

Just to point out, it seems to be fairly common for people in some South East Asian cultures to value job stability over pretty much everything else.

"It's your job as the breadwinner to provide stability for our family" type of thing.

For many of them, there is no way the wife would allow (!) their husband to quit their job when there is any other option on the table.

It’s my job to have a job not that job. My “stability” comes from always preparing for my job to be snatched from under me.

By preparation I mean always be networking, keep my reputation spotless, keep my resume updated, keep my skills current with the market and keep my “career document” updated.

My wife has seen how efficient I am with getting a job six times over the 12 years we have been married.

We were both laid off from the job we worked at when the company folded when we were still dating. I had a contract lined up the following Monday. When that contract was unexpectedly terminated, I had an offer four days later.

This time I had a contract lined up a week before my last day and a full time job three weeks later. The only thing special about me is my network

Sure. I'm just pointing out that different cultures have very different expectations / priorities. :)