Are You SORRY You're WHITE?

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Are You SORRY You're White?
6.12%
3 votes
Yes
87.76%
43 votes
No
6.12%
3 votes
Maybe
49 votes. You may not vote on this poll




ew, no it's not. the backlash white people are currently experiencing is NOT on the same scale, spectrum, universe as ACTUAL LASHES BLACK PEOPLE WERE GIVEN TO THEIR NAKED SKIN FROM RACIST WHITE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT THEM AFTER THEY WERE TORN FROM THEIR MOTHER COUNTRY

so just stop it.
So millions of white people sold to slavery and torn from their mother countries don't matter? Or the fact that African slave trade was largely ran by Muslims? Why only black suffering matters and why only white crime matters?



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So millions of white people sold to slavery and torn from their mother countries don't matter? Or the fact that African slave trade was largely ran by Muslims? Why only black suffering matters and why only white crime matters?
not sure how you got all that from what i said, but yeah, sure, we can go with that.
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ew, no it's not. the backlash white people are currently experiencing is NOT on the same scale, spectrum, universe as ACTUAL LASHES BLACK PEOPLE WERE GIVEN TO THEIR NAKED SKIN FROM RACIST WHITE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT THEM AFTER THEY WERE TORN FROM THEIR MOTHER COUNTRY

so just stop it.
Sadly, the slave trade was thriving in Africa for centuries before America even existed. When the Portuguese invented the caravel and finally were able to navigate around certain areas of the continent, Enrique Infante (Henry the Navigator) and Vasco De Gama discovered a massive slave trade already in existence. Exactly zero of the people involved in the slave trade at that time were white. The Portuguese immediately altered their previous search for gold and other riches, and loaded up their ships with slaves and returned home with their newly acquired acquisition.

"As the Portuguese explored the coastlines of Africa, they left behind a series of padrões, stone crosses enscribed with the Portuguese coat of arms marking their claims,[21] and built forts and trading posts. From these bases, the Portuguese engaged profitably in the slave and gold trades. Portugal enjoyed a virtual monopoly of the Atlantic slave trade for over a century, exporting around 800 slaves annually. Most were brought to the Portuguese capital Lisbon, where it is estimated black Africans came to constitute 10 per cent of the population." Source Here

Not to mention the thriving Arab slave trade that had been going on for centuries. I just want to clarify that America certainly didn't create the slave trade, and neither did white people. History will show that they were certainly at the forefront of abolishing slavery, though. That had to start somewhere. I'd like to claim it started in America, but if I recall, it started in England.
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I am a fair skinned person in a country ( India ) where many people are brown skinned . Admittedly my fair skin gives me an advantage of being upper caste ( upper caste people are more fair skinned ) and in my younger days girls used to consider me a goodlooking guy based on my fairer colour . No , I am not sorry for being fair skinned .



I am a fair skinned person in a country ( India ) where many people are brown skinned . Admittedly my fair skin gives me an advantage of being upper caste ( upper caste people are more fair skinned ) and in my younger days girls used to consider me a goodlooking guy based on my fairer colour . No , I am not sorry for being fair skinned .
Hey ash, I wanted to ask you - do you know the whole origin of the "Aryan" thing? Because they say it stems out of India (strange place for something that eventually turned into a Caucasoid supremacist eugenics thing to begin) - something to do with lighter-skinned Indians in Asia? I've never understood it.



Hey ash, I wanted to ask you - do you know the whole origin of the "Aryan" thing? Because they say it stems out of India (strange place for something that eventually turned into a Caucasoid supremacist eugenics thing to begin) - something to do with lighter-skinned Indians in Asia? I've never understood it.
the people who form upper castes in india probably came from southern russia/caucasius and migrated to india . they defeated and conquered a dark skinned people called dravidians . unlike africans who were primitive hunters/gatherers , the dark skinned dravidians of india were a evolved people with a civilization of their own . but did not have the military ferocity of the white skinned invaders .

later the white skinned people started calling themselves as aryans and adopted the swastika as the symbol of the religion they formed in india---hinduism . they intermarried into the dravidians and a mixed race called indo aryans was formed . but the upper castes to which i belong were dominated by the fair skinned aryans and they relegated the dark skinned dravidians to lower caste status . the lower castes had to clean excreta ( a task done by the mahar and mang castes ) and burn dead bodies ( done by the chandal caste ) .
the upper castes were priests and warriors .



'White privilege' as applied to today's world is a politically incorrect phrase. All anyone has to do is to read the verbose, indignant replies on this thread, to see that the term 'white privilege' to white people is akin to racial slurs to minorities. It's deeply offensive...As it's racism to blame an entire race for past privileges by some members of that same race.
Damn. Thinking white privilege is proportional to racial slurs is one of the best examples of white privilege I can think of.


I'm not saying that to be cute, it literally is.



yeah, cause that's the kind of horror history that racial slurs remind minorities of. there is no such comparison in the phrase 'white privilege'; it doesn't conjur up any image or remind white people about how they were stolen and dehumanized and tortured and raped and whatever else. honestly if you're into pointing out incorrect comparisons i'm kinda wondering why you didn't say that to CR.
I said I thought your argument was reasonable, but that's not quite the same thing as saying the thing it was arguing against was "incorrect." It's probably missing important perspective and implying an equivalence in degree that isn't there, but "incorrect" means something false on a more basic level than that, at least to me.

I'd have to think more about how much (and in what way) I disagree with his original comparison, but I find it less obviously wrong than you, I suppose, for one simple reason: I don't think that it's better to be called a monster than to be the victim of one. Describing the horrors of slavery does a good job of explaining why being reminded that your ancestors were victimized by it could feel particularly horrific, but it doubles as an explanation as to why someone might be deeply upset by being similarly linked to the perpetrators.



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A question for people who believe white privilege is real and significant: does black privilege exist? what about Latin privilege? Asian privilege? etc., or do only white people have privilege?



Also, it'd be great if people could stop auditing whether I've replied to their "side" once more than the other side. Sometimes I have less to say about certain things even if I disagree with them. Sometimes my disagreement with something is more fundamental and easier to articulate than another. Sometimes I just get distracted by a work thing. Sometimes <whatever>. If you're assigning me some kind of quota and bristling if it's not even at a given moment in time, then I'm afraid we have very different ideas on how to approach arguments.



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for one simple reason: I don't think that it's better to be called a monster than to be the victim of one. Describing the horrors of slavery does a good job of explaining why being reminded that your ancestors were victimized by it could feel particularly horrific, but it doubles as an explanation as to why someone might be deeply upset by being similarly linked to the perpetrators.
ugh, this is the problem. white people being told to acknowledge they have privilege act like they are being told they are monsters. that's why this whole 'feel bad, apologize for being white!" thing is dumb. and anyway, i didn't link his behavior to that of a slaveholder, i pointed out that using their ancestors petnames (the slur) for their captives doesn't compare to telling someone to realize their whiteness gives them certain advantages (white privilege).



A question for people who believe white privilege is real and significant: does black privilege exist? what about Latin privilege? Asian privilege? etc., or do only white people have privilege?
Yup, it exists. You can point to all sorts of examples (I think a lot of us have watched The Act Of Killing).

Am I (or you) living in a place where it exists on the same scale? Empirically, emphatically, no.

Should those people that have the various privileges acknowledge them? Yes. Just the way that whites should.

Were you expecting something else?



Damn. Thinking white privilege is proportional to racial slurs is one of the best examples of white privilege I can think of.

I'm not saying that to be cute, it literally is.
Being accused of white privilege because my skin is white, is deeply offensive to me. As is collectively blaming me for past sins caused by long dead white people. I didn't do anything wrong, I wasn't around in the slave days. I don't deserve to be labeled, (I don't mean you personally, I'm not saying you did, I mean labeled by society)

Can I ask you some personal questions? If not just ignore.

I assume you're young and from an affluent white family who was able to send you to college where you could earn a degree and set yourself on the path to financially security? I assume also you're a caring person who's aware of past racial injustices and you have empathy, and you think about all the advantages your family was able to give you and you feel guilty about those minorities who are living in abject poverty with little hope? Is that close to your personal truth?

If so I suggest you have 'white guilt' and you're not 'white privilege' but you are 'economically privilege'.



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Also, it'd be great if people could stop auditing whether I've replied to their "side" once more than the other side. Sometimes I have less to say about certain things even if I disagree with them. Sometimes my disagreement with something is more fundamental and easier to articulate than another. Sometimes I just get distracted by a work thing. Sometimes <whatever>. If you're assigning me some kind of quota and bristling if it's not even at a given moment in time, then I'm afraid we have very different ideas on how to approach arguments.
ha, i've seen you tell people to do very similar. you are definitely concerned with making sure everyone is being as fair and unbiased as is possible, but of course, you're biased, too. we all are in fact. it's literally impossible for people not to show bias. so you should probably stop expecting it from others and you might not hear it from them as much. though, you're Top Mod, so probably not, but yeah... just the 2 cents from a random forum goer.



Let the night air cool you off
i pointed out that using their ancestors petnames (the slur) for their captives doesn't compare to telling someone to realize their whiteness gives them certain advantages (white privilege).
You're right. Using the term white privilege is far from using the n-word. That's a fair and considerable example of a white privilege. We don't have a term that can be used against us that is as powerful as that one.



ugh, this is the problem. white people being told to acknowledge they have privilege act like they are being told they are monsters.
I think that makes more sense if someone believes that "white privilege" is actually more like what's described in the OP: being told you should be "sorry" for it. I certainly don't think that's inherent to the concept, and I don't think that's what you mean by it, either, but to some it has that connotation.

Also worth noting that even if someone isn't taking that tack, it's hard to avoid some version of guilt when you're essentially told you have an unfair advantage. The inevitable implication is that you didn't necessarily earn what you have, and that what you have should by rights maybe be someone else's. So while there are more or less militant/insulting conceptions of this idea, even the most thoughtful version is still partially an accusation.



Let the night air cool you off
Yup, it exists. You can point to all sorts of examples (I think a lot of us have watched The Act Of Killing).

Am I (or you) living in a place where it exists on the same scale? Empirically, emphatically, no.

Should those people that have the various privileges acknowledge them? Yes. Just the way that whites should.

Were you expecting something else?
No, in fact, I was hoping for this response.