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Imagine, if you will, that a warrior named[br]Firion is seeking vengeance for losses suffered

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at the hands of an evil Emperor. But his friend[br]Leon comes from a much wealthier family, can

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afford much nicer weapons, and can hire out[br]a large army to support his mission. If Leon

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brags about slaying the Emperor before Firion[br]even gets the chance to set out on his quest—Firion

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might be tempted to tell Leon, ‘Dude, check[br]your privilege.’

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After all, Leon didn’t choose to be born[br]into wealth, but he is choosing how he relates

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to it — in this case, with little grace.

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According to existentialist Jean Paul Sartre,[br]who said people are like dice (in that) we’re

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thrown into the world as part of a particular[br]culture, religion, language, and socio-economic

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status without any say in the manner. These[br]are features of what Sartre calls our facticity—the

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individual parts of ourselves that we’re[br]born with.

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And although we have no control over our facticity—we[br]are always free to choose our relation to

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the world that we live in. This freedom is[br]just part of the human condition. We define

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our own existence by determining our purpose[br]in life—we make our life our own particular

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project—things have value only in the frame[br]of the project that we freely create.

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In his colossal work Being and Nothingness[br]Sartre uses several examples to illustrate

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humanity’s radical freedom.

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To Sartre, even a prisoner is radically free.[br]He can choose to attempt an escape, he can

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choose to restructure his purpose in life[br]given his incarceration, or he can choose

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to end his life—the fact that he’s locked[br]up isn’t what restricts his freedom, rather

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it’s his choice to believe, given his situation,[br]that he is un-free.

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Because the prisoner's own created goal in life resides outside the prison

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It's not the physical bars that cause him anguish. It's in his unwillingness to conform his goal in life to his current situation

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You see, freedom is only ever experienced[br]by each particular person in the context of

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their own project, their own ends, and their[br]own understanding of the world.

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Firion could compare his ragged armor and[br]motley crew versus Leon’s disciplined battalion

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and shining plate mail but it has nothing[br]to do with Firion’s goal for himself. Each

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person is their own free project with their[br]own situation—their own personal quest.

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Because Leon has more at his disposal than[br]Firion doesn’t mean that Leon is freer—both

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are free to construct their own ends. As such[br]there is no superior life situation because

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there is no metric to decide who has the best[br]way to make meaning in their lives. There

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isn’t a way to determine who has the best[br]life plan.

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For Sartre, it means that facticity, or a[br]person’s material situation doesn’t constitute

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privilege—we are all radically free to create[br]meaning. And that is what matters.

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But then again, should we really look to a[br]rich white man to be an authority on privilege?