Two stories. Story number one: My friend Wendy recently began collecting the “You Are Here” mugs at Starbucks. She told me about them the other week and asked me to buy a Cambridge one for her. That was the first time I had heard about them, but that day, walking back to my dorm from work, I happened to pass someone who was carrying a mug. Upon closer inspection, it was indeed the Starbucks Cambridge mug. What a coincidence.

Story number two: My UROP supervisor mentioned Tuesday that he would be gone Wednesday through Friday for a conference. That same day, my friend John told me about how he was registering for the American Control Conference taking place the next day at the Copley Marriott. Thursday morning, I woke up to an email from my supervisor, and realized that the conference he had mentioned was the American Control Conference. Another uncanny coincidence.

These stories may seem familiar. Perhaps you’ve had similar experiences in which you learn of a word, and all of a sudden see it everywhere, or enter a conversation in which people happen to be talking about a subject you had just read about. Such intriguing coincidences, right?

Not so: just science.

This is called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also known as “frequency illusion.” The phenomenon describes how after you learn about an obscure concept or thing, it seems to appear repeatedly in everyday life. This is because of our brain’s tendency to recognize patterns. We pay selective attention to things that we just learned about. Before, when they were unknown, they had slipped by unnoticed. Once we became aware of their existence, we noticed them more. In fact, we even began to look out for them.

And that brings me to a slightly more controversial topic: privilege.

Writing about privilege is tricky. Whenever the word is mentioned, people often jump to the defensive. They don’t want to be accused of being privileged, to be seen as the "bad guy." It becomes a blame game: “I’m not privileged because he/she/this other person is more privileged than I am.” Conversations about privilege are usually seen as attacks on the more privileged, but I hope this mindset changes. Throwing around the hot potato of privilege doesn’t level the playing field; it just beats around the bush.

So I want to clarify by saying that having privilege is not necessarily a negative thing. Chances are, if you are reading this article, you hold some sort of privilege: living in a first world country, with access to the internet, for one. Able to sit and read and type, for another. Privilege comes in all shapes and sizes. Just because you consider some people more privileged than you, doesn’t mean you don’t hold some kind yourself.

Having privilege does not automatically make you the bad guy. Having privilege, refusing to acknowledge it and acting as if you don’t have it, does. This comic about privilege has always resonated with me because it shows that not being aware of your privilege is dangerous. Going through life insisting that privilege is a myth leads you to ignore serious issues with the world: racism, sexism, other types of discrimination. By not recognizing that, as a member of a certain group, you do possess certain privileges, you are glossing over the suffering of underprivileged groups.

So where does the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon come into play?

Simple: once people recognize privilege exists, they are better equipped to notice instances in daily life during which privilege comes to play. Thus, they are better equipped to recognize injustices against those with less privilege.

Groups that typically hold more privilege in certain areas may be blind to the daily problems that the underprivileged face. As mentioned in my friend Rima’s article “Getting Into MIT Is Easier For Girls,” guys, for example, are less likely to notice incidents of sexism than girls are. In a study conducted by MIT, students were asked about specific experiences related to sexual harassment and sexism. In most of the categories, percentages of males and females who noticed the same experiences were similar. However, girls reported noticing significantly higher percentages in two cases: “made sexist remarks or jokes about women in your presence” and “suggested or implied women don't have to meet the same intellectual standards men do to get into MIT.” The discrepancy may be because guys’ brains haven’t been trained to perceive sexist comments against girls the same way that girls’ brains have. Thus, they slip under their radar. Perhaps once they realize that these subtle bouts of sexism do exist, they will be able to notice them more — and then prevent them.

In order for the world to change, we need to have a paradigm shift on how we address privilege. The playing field isn’t level, and the circumstances that you were born into can give you certain boosts. Let’s not be like Richard from the comic, who forgets how lucky he is to have opportunities fall into his lap, and looks down on people less fortunate. Yes, Richard might be hardworking: we can’t deny that. But so was Paula. Hard work doesn’t account for everything. It was hard work, some luck, knowing the right people and many other chains of events that led to Richard’s success.

So why am I writing this? I’m writing this because I come from a poor immigrant family. I’m writing this as a girl and as a minority, who has dealt with various kinds of discrimination. But mainly, I’m writing this because I go to MIT, ranked as one of the best universities in the world. No matter what disadvantages I may have been weighed down with beforehand, I made it here, and that is a privilege on its own. I’m writing this because I know that attending MIT will put me on the path to future success, and I do not want to become a Richard.

I’m writing this because we should never forget our roots. It is a privilege to attend MIT, and we shouldn’t take our privilege for granted. Privilege is a powerful weapon, and we should use it wisely. Recognizing that privilege exists is hard. But once we do, we are better equipped to help the world around us.