Take that liberals/feminists! A Princeton Students response after being told to "check his privilege"

[Iamme73]

Originally Posted by southbel

Yet, you were arguing that white privilege exists today. Yes, the codified discrimination existed. Yes, that belongs in our history courses. However, to say white privilege exists today is based, not on verifiable facts, but on the feelings of the people who believe it still exists. Do you think white privilege exists today? If so, what is that based on? Because you cannot reasonably say that because something once existed, it must exist today. Circumstances, people, and the law have all changed since the days of Jim Crow. In current times, perceived white privilege is in the same camp as white guilt - both about how one or more groups feel vice verifiable fact.

I didn't argue that white privilege exists today in the context of a comparison to white guilt, only that it existed which is a historical fact. So therefore classes studying white privilege a real thing are legit.

White guilt is make believe by comparison.

The rest of your post is arguing over a point I didn't make in the context of comparing it to white guilt.

[Lucario]

Originally Posted by Feltdesigner

A 20 year old Princeton Freshman.. interesting.

He's called Palestinians "cowards" who are worse than Hitler and complained that he'd like to punch opponents of George Zimmerman in their "fat idiot faces."

LOL...

That is funny. As someone who lives in that area, I'd love to give the poor, pitiful discriminated against white kid a chance to indulge his fantasy.

[Spatula City]

Remember when the news used to consist of a little more than a single idiot giving his opinion on something he hasn't even taken the time to understand?

Those were the days, let me tell ya kids!

The headline might as well read 'Random guy has an opinion that we agree with!'.

[jmqueen]

Originally Posted by southbel

Yet, you were arguing that white privilege exists today. Yes, the codified discrimination existed. Yes, that belongs in our history courses. However, to say white privilege exists today is based, not on verifiable facts, but on the feelings of the people who believe it still exists. Do you think white privilege exists today? If so, what is that based on? Because you cannot reasonably say that because something once existed, it must exist today. Circumstances, people, and the law have all changed since the days of Jim Crow. In current times, perceived white privilege is in the same camp as white guilt - both about how one or more groups feel vice verifiable fact.

Let me ask you, do you believe white privilege has been completely wiped out as of today, 2014?

Do you believe racism has been completely wiped out, as of today?

On what do you base your beliefs?

[Ih2puo]

Originally Posted by Odo

Remember when the news used to consist of a little more than a single idiot giving his opinion on something he hasn't even taken the time to understand?

Those were the days, let me tell ya kids!

The headline might as well read 'Random privileged guy has an opinion that we agree with!'.

fyp

[southbel]

Originally Posted by Iamme73

I didn't argue that white privilege exists today in the context of a comparison to white guilt, only that it existed which is a historical fact. So therefore classes studying white privilege a real thing are legit.

White guilt is make believe by comparison.

The rest of your post is arguing over a point I didn't make in the context of comparing it to white guilt.

Historical context, yes, I absolutely agree with. I must have misunderstood you. If that is the case, then I apologize. Which leads me to my next point....

Originally Posted by jmqueen

Let me ask you, do you believe white privilege has been completely wiped out as of today, 2014?

Do you believe racism has been completely wiped out, as of today?

On what do you base your beliefs?

I think white privilege, as existed in history, is no longer a factor. Instead, it has been replaced with class. Being poor has a greater discrimination factor in this country than the color of one's skin. Wealth affords the best education, the best social circles, etc, etc. On top of that, wealth begets wealth. I've seen this time and again even when there is no huge trust fund or inheritance that helps kick start a career of the children. It's the network, the educational background, and an understanding of how to be successful that drives success.

I do not think racism has been wiped out completely but I also do not believe it is as rampant as some want to believe in this day and age. Overt racism, as we saw with people like the Clipper's owner, is shocking and rare enough that it makes huge headlines. However, I do think racism from the underclass is more rampant but I think this derives from envy because they somehow think if you're black, doors are opened to you, but if you're poor and white, you are the last in line. I think this stems from envy because they never want to look inward at their own choices but want someone to blame. This has also led to wealth envy from the underclass - there seems this belief from that class of people that everyone got there by 'luck'.

I came to my conclusions through a variety of ways. First, is my own personal experience. My Dad's side of the family is black. I appear more white though - you could say that I 'pass'. I've been able to easily move among both black and white social circles. It's been enlightening because many of the times, when I've been around white people, they never knew I had a family who is mixed. I've not seen racism behind closed doors or out in the open. People genuinely do not care about the color of one's skin. Neither my family nor myself have experienced racism either but I do come from a very well to do family. Boarding schools, social clubs, etc have all been open to us. As a result, I've had plenty of doors open to me and so has my family (both the black and white sides). Yes, well to do people generally look down upon the poor, both black and white. That's the thing. It's not about race. It's about class.

I recognize this is getting long, so I will try to be brief. My second reason is through education and understanding of the world around us. When I study the socioeconomic status of people, I see, time and again, that class and not race are the primary driving predictors of success. Having lived in the South most of my life, I would be in a unique location to see, firsthand, this racism if it existed as widely as some want us to believe, I would have seen it. However, I do not. It always goes back to class. People look down upon what they call 'scum' or 'trash' equally - they do not care if that person is white, black, or purple. They genuinely do not care for the what they consider 'lazy' people. Do I get some surprised looks when they meet my Dad? Yes. However, I don't consider that racism. I think people genuinely do not know that some children of mixed heritage can look quite white.

Ultimately, that was a very long way of saying, it's no longer about race in this country. It's class. We have far too many poor blacks in this country, yes, and so perhaps that's why it may 'appear' disdain is heaped upon people because of the color of their skin. However, I submit it's not the color of their skin but their class that is causing this.

[RogersParkGuy]

Originally Posted by VTHokieFan

Going Viral: Princeton University Student

Liberals/Democrats hatred for the while male knows no bounds. I am glad to see one of us throw it back in their faces. I hope one day I can show you liberals how white males live in Southwest Virginia or in rural Oregon so you can tell me how privileged they all are.

What rubbish.

This guy doesn't even understand the concept he's criticizing. Saying someone enjoys white privilege doesn't mean they don't work hard, or that they haven't earned what at they have. It just means they did so without having to clear some of the hurdles that non-white people might have to clear to reach the same goals. That's it. And that's just a fact. It shouldn't even be controversial.

[kidkaos2]

Originally Posted by jmqueen

Let me ask you, do you believe white privilege has been completely wiped out as of today, 2014?

In the dictionary sense, no. But in that sense, black privilege exists too. Society will accept a black person saying things that a white person cannot. That's black privilege. But in the sense of the common usage where you will get preference for jobs, promotions, school entrance, home loans, etc based on being white, yes it has been wiped out.

Do you believe racism has been completely wiped out, as of today?

No. But then, belief that the Earth is flat hasn't been completely wiped out either. Pick anything you want and there will be someone somewhere out on the fringe that believes it. Doesn't make it a societal issue.

On what do you base your beliefs?

On the lack of any evidence that institutionalized racism exists. When someone is complaining about "racist code words" and "disparate impacts" it seems to me that is a good indication that racism is not a serious problem. If it were, then solid obvious examples which are unquestionable should be plentiful. I put it in the same category as UFOs. If UFOs do exist, then why isn't there any hard evidence of them? I've seen the photos of lynched black people, of signs saying "no coloreds", of Klansmen marching up main street like they own the place, etc from the 1960s. Where's the evidence of that for today?

The burden of proof here isn't on me. Given the existence of the equal rights act, the voting rights act, affirmative action, the President of the United States being black, etc it's on the person who wants to claim that racism is a serious problem. UFOs don't exist unless I can prove they don't. They don't unless you can prove they do.

[Mr. Opinionated]

"I've seen the photos of lynched black people, of signs saying "no coloreds", of Klansmen marching up main street like they own the place, etc from the 1960s. Where's the evidence of that for today?"

This is like saying that if we cannot physically see with things like gravity, thought or wind with our optical eyesight, they cannot exist. Someone like you will never be able you to see things in America that work against black people like racism, discrimination or the mentality that inspires them because you apparently refuse to by the fact that you argue against their existence. As if a man could deny that pregnancy is painful, you attempt to diffuse the notion that there is an advantage to being white in America that can instrumentally result in disadvantages for others merely because like so many whites, you are also uncomfortable with it personally. That is never a valid reason to refute anything. It is an emotional response over a logical one.