--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: there is nothing arrogant about…" description: "\"“there is nothing arrogant about mentioning ordinary people’s material concerns: the poor have the right to do it, and to talk about a readiness for gr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/slavoj-i-ek-1738_privileged_there-is-nothing-arrogant-about-mentioni_1290741.jpg" --- # there is nothing arrogant about mentioning ordinary… ![“there is nothing arrogant about mentioning ordinary people’s material concerns: the poor have the right to do it, and to talk about a readiness for great sacrifices, or suffering ‘whatever the price’, is as a rule the ideology of the privileged, who are quite content to let the people suffer for…” quote by Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/slavoj-i-ek-1738_privileged_there-is-nothing-arrogant-about-mentioni_1290741.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/slavoj-i-ek-1738_privileged_there-is-nothing-arrogant-about-mentioni_1290741.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7d/slavoj-i-ek-1738_privileged_there-is-nothing-arrogant-about-mentioni_1290741.jpg) > ““there is nothing arrogant about mentioning ordinary people’s material concerns: the poor have the right to do it, and to talk about a readiness for great sacrifices, or suffering ‘whatever the price’, is as a rule the ideology of the privileged, who are quite content to let the people suffer for them.”” [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The privileged claim moral superiority while ignoring the material struggles of ordinary people, whose sacrifices are often exploited. **In simple terms:** The rich ignore the poor's hardships while claiming moral high ground. Key Takeaway Recognize and amplify the voices of those suffering. Themes social justice class ideology ethics Mood critical empathetic Type political philosophical When to use this quote - activism - policy advocacy - community organizing - media representation Key Concepts Marxism critical theory power dynamics Questions to Reflect On - How can we ensure aid doesn't become a tool for control? - What responsibilities do the privileged have toward the poor? A Different Perspective The privileged may argue they are merely providing aid, not exploiting. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet ## Related quotes > [None of us can think we are exempt from concerns for the poor and for social justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/none-of-us-can-think-we-are-exempt-from-concerns-for-the-poor-and-for/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [It is this obsession with GDP and FDI growth and a facile belief that this growth in the GDP would trickle down to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prashant-bhushan/it-is-this-obsession-with-gdp-and-fdi-growth-and-a-facile-belief-that/) [Prashant Bhushan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prashant-bhushan/) > [I was told that the privileged and the people formed two nations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/i-was-told-that-the-privileged-and-the-people-formed-two-nations/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [I've loved every moment and feel privileged to have enjoyed the career I have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green/i-ve-loved-every-moment-and-feel-privileged-to-have-enjoyed-the/) [Robert Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green/) > [Wimbledon is a special place for me in so many ways and I feel privileged to have been such a big part of it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-barker/wimbledon-is-a-special-place-for-me-in-so-many-ways-and-i-feel/) [Sue Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-barker/) > [People from my sort of background needed grammar schools to compete with children from privileged homes like Shirley Williams and Anthony Wedgwood Benn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-thatcher/people-from-my-sort-of-background-needed-grammar-schools-to-compete/) [Margaret Thatcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-thatcher/) > [I feel very privileged to get to read and write and not to have to do things that I don't like, and I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/i-feel-very-privileged-to-get-to-read-and-write-and-not-to-have-to-do/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [Anarchism is a definite intellectual current in the life of our times, whose adherents advocate the abolition of economic monopolies and of all political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-rocker/anarchism-is-a-definite-intellectual-current-in-the-life-of-our-times/) [Rudolf Rocker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-rocker/) > [Architects mostly work for privileged people, people who have money and power, Power and money are invisible, so people hire us to visualize their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shigeru-ban/architects-mostly-work-for-privileged-people-people-who-have-money/) [Shigeru Ban](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shigeru-ban/) > [“I get why he's lashing out. 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First we manufacture indigent and superfluous people by legal monopolies in land, money…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurance-labadie/the-health-education-and-welfare-section-of-government-is-another/) [Laurance Labadie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurance-labadie/) > [I want my kids to go and see the world and understand they are privileged, but it doesn't mean they don't have the right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-kompany/i-want-my-kids-to-go-and-see-the-world-and-understand-they-are/) [Vincent Kompany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-kompany/) ## More by Slavoj Žižek > [The ultimate goal of radical politics is gradually to displace the limit of social exclusions, empowering the excluded agents (sexual and ethnic minorities) by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/the-ultimate-goal-of-radical-politics-is-gradually-to-displace-the/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“In Kant’s description, ethical duty functions like a foreign traumatic intruder that from the outside disturbs the subject’s homeostatic balance, its unbearable pressure forcing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/in-kant-s-description-ethical-duty-functions-like-a-foreign-traumatic/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [I think Kafka was right when he said that for a modern, secular, nonreligious man, state bureaucracy is the only remaining contact with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/i-think-kafka-was-right-when-he-said-that-for-a-modern-secular/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“The cliche about prison life is that I am actually integrated into it, ruined by it, when my accommodation to it is so overwhelming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/the-cliche-about-prison-life-is-that-i-am-actually-integrated-into-it/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“In our quest for entertainment and instant gratification, we have become detached from the real world and its problems, contributing to the erosion of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/in-our-quest-for-entertainment-and-instant-gratification-we-have/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [The problem for us is not are our desires satisfied or not. The problem is how do we know what we desire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/the-problem-for-us-is-not-are-our-desires-satisfied-or-not-the/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“Ultimately,we hear things because we cannot see everything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/ultimately-we-hear-things-because-we-cannot-see-everything/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“In contrast to the situation in 1945, the world does not need the US; it is the US that needs the rest of the world”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/in-contrast-to-the-situation-in-1945-the-world-does-not-need-the-us/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [Humanity is OK, but 99% of people are boring idiots.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/humanity-is-ok-but-99-of-people-are-boring-idiots/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [We need useless theory more than ever today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/we-need-useless-theory-more-than-ever-today/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [Those who were still able to write beautiful melodies were kitsch composers like Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky approaches true art not in his numerous beautiful melodies,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/those-who-were-still-able-to-write-beautiful-melodies-were-kitsch/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“as in Heinrich Heine’s (a contemporary of Kierkegaard’s) well-known saying that one should value above everything else ‘freedom, equality and crab soup’. ‘Crab soup’…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/as-in-heinrich-heine-s-a-contemporary-of-kierkegaard-s-well-known/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“The “pursuit of happiness” is such a key element of the “American (ideological) dream” that one tends to forget the contingent origin of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/the-pursuit-of-happiness-is-such-a-key-element-of-the-american/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [A spectre is haunting Western academia (...), the spectre of the Cartesian subject.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/a-spectre-is-haunting-western-academia-the-spectre-of-the-cartesian/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“...A friend has to be outside my reach, beyond my grasp. And there can be no friendship with someone whom I am not ready…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/a-friend-has-to-be-outside-my-reach-beyond-my-grasp-and-there-can-be/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) [Explore all 206 Slavoj Žižek quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) ## More Privileged quotes > [I want my kids to go and see the world and understand they are privileged, but it doesn't mean they don't have the right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-kompany/i-want-my-kids-to-go-and-see-the-world-and-understand-they-are/) [Vincent Kompany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-kompany/) > [The "health, education, and welfare" section of government is another boondoggle. First we manufacture indigent and superfluous people by legal monopolies in land, money…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurance-labadie/the-health-education-and-welfare-section-of-government-is-another/) [Laurance Labadie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurance-labadie/) > [Leslie Stein's comics give readers privileged access to a complete and wholly original world of gently skewed wonders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-woodring/leslie-stein-s-comics-give-readers-privileged-access-to-a-complete/) [Jim Woodring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-woodring/) > [I'm about as privileged as you can get. I'm a white, male, heterosexual front man of a rock band.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-reynolds/i-m-about-as-privileged-as-you-can-get-i-m-a-white-male-heterosexual/) [Dan Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-reynolds/) > [“Yeah, and there’s this constant refrain from privileged people; it’s like they’re all racing to prove how miserable they used to be. Every single…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/k-archura/yeah-and-there-s-this-constant-refrain-from-privileged-people-it-s/) K. Archura > [“I get why he's lashing out. As a privileged white dude, he's used to being able to buy whatever he wants. He lives in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-steven/i-get-why-he-s-lashing-out-as-a-privileged-white-dude-he-s-used-to/) [Laura Steven](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-steven/) > [Architects mostly work for privileged people, people who have money and power, Power and money are invisible, so people hire us to visualize their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shigeru-ban/architects-mostly-work-for-privileged-people-people-who-have-money/) [Shigeru Ban](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shigeru-ban/) > [Anarchism is a definite intellectual current in the life of our times, whose adherents advocate the abolition of economic monopolies and of all political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-rocker/anarchism-is-a-definite-intellectual-current-in-the-life-of-our-times/) [Rudolf Rocker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-rocker/) > [I feel very privileged to get to read and write and not to have to do things that I don't like, and I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/i-feel-very-privileged-to-get-to-read-and-write-and-not-to-have-to-do/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [People from my sort of background needed grammar schools to compete with children from privileged homes like Shirley Williams and Anthony Wedgwood Benn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-thatcher/people-from-my-sort-of-background-needed-grammar-schools-to-compete/) [Margaret Thatcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-thatcher/) > [Wimbledon is a special place for me in so many ways and I feel privileged to have been such a big part of it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-barker/wimbledon-is-a-special-place-for-me-in-so-many-ways-and-i-feel/) [Sue Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-barker/) > [I've loved every moment and feel privileged to have enjoyed the career I have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green/i-ve-loved-every-moment-and-feel-privileged-to-have-enjoyed-the/) [Robert Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green/) > [I was told that the privileged and the people formed two nations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/i-was-told-that-the-privileged-and-the-people-formed-two-nations/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [The world of rumor and gossip is like a privileged world with which a social scientist or an anthropologist can take the temperature of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-c-scott/the-world-of-rumor-and-gossip-is-like-a-privileged-world-with-which-a/) [James C. 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