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Might as well call it "female privilege". Females are far less likely to get shot by a police officer than white males. The same is true of elderly people. So there is elderly privilege. Female privilege. Elderly Asian females score the maximum point on this definition of your "white privilege". They basically never get shot.
This whole thing is just silly. When every Joe Schmoe is accused of being privileged, benefiting from the oppression of others, people have gone off the deep end.
Once again, this is not exactly what it means.
Not at all.
One must compare people of a similar demographic. As in white women and black women (cisgender, heterosexual) would be compared... not young white men to elderly black women, for example.
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For all of this white privilege, there have been threads in this very forum where black people have been asked if they encounter racism and they have stated they have not.
You know who made this up? Some white liberal who probably doesn't even live in an area where black people live, and thinking it had merit, it was taken up by some black folks.
That some of you suffer from white guilt is a shame, but don't put that on the rest of us who refuse to admit there is something like white privilege.
You cannot have a handful or less of black people tell you X and apply it to ALL black people. Same for white people.
You cannot have a handful of liberals say X and apply it to ALL liberals.
It just does not work that way.
I have zero guilt over being white. I was born this way and this is who I am. It is my behavior that leads me not to feel guilty because I treat all people with respect and dignity.
Unfortunately, there are racists and bigots in the world who do not.
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That's not even what the subtle concept of "white privilege" actually means, so I'm not sure why you're introducing it here.
So you deny that you spend stolen money and are in a privileged position because of the actions of your ancestors? Dont be defensive.
Actually when people are introduced with the idea that one ethnic group is responsible for the situation of another ethnic group, division and antagonism is created. The concept of "white privilege" is of course meant to foster that adversarial approach to social issues. Thats why the corporate media love talking about it, while passionately defending the class war being waged against ordinary Americans of all skin colors.
Let's just call it what it actually is... Advantages. We all have them. Those that try to beat someone over the head about their advantages typically ignore and neglect their own. And at the end of the day your job is to make the most of what you got, and whining about someone else's advantages not how you sucessfully compete. You're training people to be whiny losers that have little initiative because they believe their success is always dependent on someone else. So you're essentially betraying yourself.
I think "advantages" is a better term, but at the end of the day, the whole process is more about acknowledging them and attempting to be fair (if you're not fair already) so that there's a reasonably level playing field as relates to things out of a person's control, such as the color of their skin.
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So you deny that you spend stolen money and are in a privileged position because of the actions of your ancestors? Dont be defensive.
Actually when people are introduced with the idea that one ethnic group is responsible for the situation of another ethnic group, division and antagonism is created. The concept of "white privilege" is of course meant to foster that adversarial approach to social issues. Thats why the corporate media love talking about it, while passionately defending the class war being waged against ordinary Americans of all skin colors.
Come again? Whose money did my ancestors steal?
Anyway... I think that if more people would simply acknowledge the existence of white privilege, white advantage, whatever... and move FORWARD and all try to do better, it would be the best outcome.
Divisiveness is undesirable, and I don't support that sort of thing.
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One must compare people of a similar demographic. As in white women and black women (cisgender, heterosexual) would be compared... not young white men to elderly black women, for example.
One must? Who creates these rules? You just make up stuff as you go along. Who is benefiting from privilege in police encounters if not elderly Asian females? Or young Asian females? Or females compared to males. Or Asians. Elderly vs young. Its clear that white males are clearly not the most privileged group when it comes to getting shot by the police considering that 500 white males are shot and killed by the police every year while the number of elderly Asian women is probably not even 1 in a single year.
Anyway... I think that if more people would simply acknowledge the existence of white privilege, white advantage, whatever... and move FORWARD and all try to do better, it would be the best outcome.
Divisiveness is undesirable, and I don't support that sort of thing.
Your white ancestors. Who are your white ancestors and do you acknowledge that you benefit from it, and spend stolen money, while acting innocent? What should you be the price that you pay?
You are aware that plenty of people who are the most vocal about "white privilege" in America, also strongly support the extermination of white people in South Africa, right?
Thats what "white privilege" is meant to foster. Division and hatred. We saw it in the genocide in Rwanda, with the vicious talk about Tutsi privilege. Its highly destructive.
I was reading an article for one of my graduate courses and thought some of you might find it interesting. It's brief.
Here's a really concise quote.... based on this quote, how would you answer the poll?
"It’s important to note that privilege does not guarantee good outcomes for the privileged group or bad outcomes for everyone else. A white person, for example, can work hard and have little to show for it, can be mistreated by the police without cause, be denied a job they’re qualified for. What privilege does is load the odds one way or the other so that the chance of bad things happening to white people as a category of people is much lower than for everyone else, and the chance of good things happening is much higher. Privilege is not something a person can have, like a possession, as in “Where’s mine?” Instead, it is a characteristic of the social system—like a rule in a game—in which everyone participates."
So... what's your opinion, based on the definition offered above?
All social systems have such characteristics.
You need look no further than sub-Saharan Africa to see that.
The British, French, Germans, Italians and Portuguese who colonized Africa generally pitted one ethnic group -- in this case tribes or tribal groups -- against the others. These were often the smallest tribes (in terms of population), and the Colonial Powers selected the best of the best from those tribes return to the host-nation to train at their best universities.
After being educated, the members of those tribes returned to their home colony to function as civil servants in government at various levels.
After the Colonial Powers were forced to abandon their colonies, these European-trained government employees retained power in most of the former colonies and they selected members of their own tribe to fill vacancies in government.
Members of those tribal groups still hold most of the power in those governments today, and still heavily discriminate against other tribal groups when selecting civil servants, which is the cause of a lot of tension, if not outright conflict, between tribal groups.
China is another example.
There are more than 100 tribal or ethnic groups in China (I think there are 112 to be exact) and the Han Chinese are the overwhelming majority.
The Han Chinese dominate all levels of government and business, continuing to heavily discriminate against non-Han Chinese, and it's been that way for centuries.
You don't see it in Japan or Korea, because they are in and of themselves an ethnic group, but Japanese and Koreans heavily discriminate against other Asian groups, including the Chinese and each other.
You see this in most South Pacific Island, especially the Philippines, where the main tribal group dominates government and business and discriminates against the other tribal groups, and also in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Prior to colonization of the Americas, the Native Americans in North America practiced discrimination with extreme prejudice, to the point where a number of tribal groups were exterminated through genocide, as well as engaging in slavery. For example, in a massive battle that spans a 30-acre site between Fort Smith, Arkansas and Hot Springs, Arkansas, several Native American tribes completely annihilated the Hopewell Tribe, so that it ceased to exist.
Slavery was so bad that when the French first arrived at Detroit, the constant warfare between Native American tribes raiding each other to obtain slaves interfered with the fur trade, and forced the French to step in to stop it. The French attempted to do so diplomatically, by holding negotiations between tribal groups, and when that didn't work, the French took sides with several tribes in conflict with other stop it.
What I have observed over the last 17 years or so here locally, is extreme prejudice and discrimination between the real African-Americans and American Blacks. I saw it in the classroom as a student and teacher; I saw it on campus; I saw it in the work-place when I supervised a 2nd-shift crew of Ghanians, Senegalese, American Blacks and Whites; I see it on the bus; and I see it on the streets.
Even before that, growing up and in high school, we used to refer to Hamilton, a city in neighboring Butler County north of us as "Hamil-tucky" since nearly everyone living there was from Bell County or Harlan County, Kentucky, and Midwesterners generally look down upon Appalachian Americans.
So, if "privilege" exists, it is not unique to America, and certainly not unique to Caucasians in general, nor is necessarily Race-based, as ethnic groups within a given Race engage in the same practices.
If people want to rant about "privilege", that's fine provided they recognize the reality that such "privilege" is an historical part of Race and Ethnicity existing for millennium.
I was reading an article for one of my graduate courses and thought some of you might find it interesting. It's brief.
Here's a really concise quote.... based on this quote, how would you answer the poll?
"It’s important to note that privilege does not guarantee good outcomes for the privileged group or bad outcomes for everyone else. A white person, for example, can work hard and have little to show for it, can be mistreated by the police without cause, be denied a job they’re qualified for. What privilege does is load the odds one way or the other so that the chance of bad things happening to white people as a category of people is much lower than for everyone else, and the chance of good things happening is much higher. Privilege is not something a person can have, like a possession, as in “Where’s mine?” Instead, it is a characteristic of the social system—like a rule in a game—in which everyone participates."
So... what's your opinion, based on the definition offered above?
Poster. With all due respect, as a selection, you should have listed "It Does Exist" before listing, "I Think It Exists."
As an example, allow me to offer the following:
A Caucasian Co-worker and I (Non-white) were recently swapping Navy Sea Stories from our days as BT's on our former LPD's (i.e., BT = Boiler Techs; LPD = Amphibious Transport Dock) from 30 years ago. The stuff he claimed to have gotten away with would have easily gotten me a Dishonorable Discharge at the time.. Yet, according to him, his Superior Officers looked the other way each time he committed these offenses. After he shared a few stories, I expressed the results of similar behavior had I committed the same. His response? "Well. Yeah. I guess. I could see that."
I think "advantages" is a better term, but at the end of the day, the whole process is more about acknowledging them and attempting to be fair (if you're not fair already) so that there's a reasonably level playing field as relates to things out of a person's control, such as the color of their skin.
How do you make things fair other than making the rules fair? How do you legislate fairness beyond the rules? Because what you seem to be describing is pure chaos and madness. Who is the score keeper in that world? The orphaned homeless white girl vs. a rich Mexican boy, vs. a sexually abused Chinese immigrant vs. a wealthy Saudi Arabian? What are we talking about here?
You're literally making an argument to stereotype everyone you see. There is no other way for that to work!
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