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




Let the night air cool you off
@Slappydavis

Do you think there is a better way to frame the conversation of "white privilege" so that it doesn't come off as accusatory? The term clearly isn't as dramatic as the "n-word for white people", because there obviously is no such term. However, just because it isn't as bad as that, there is some point where when you tell people "you have an unearned advantage because of how you were born" that it's reasonable they will get huffy over it. It can come off like you are challenging their accomplishments or trivializing their struggles. Is the onus entirely on them to recognize what you are saying is not that at all, or do you think there is another way to approach the topic in a broad way that will at least make the conversation less inflammatory than it generally seems to be?



@Slappydavis

Do you think there is a better way to frame the conversation of "white privilege" so that it doesn't come off as accusatory? The term clearly isn't as dramatic as the "n-word for white people", because there obviously is no such term. However, just because it isn't as bad as that, there is some point where when you tell people "you have an unearned advantage because of how you were born" that it's reasonable they will get huffy over it. It can come off like you are challenging their accomplishments or trivializing their struggles. Is the onus entirely on them to recognize what you are saying is not that at all, or do you think there is another way to approach the topic in a broad way that will at least make the conversation less inflammatory than it generally seems to be?
I'd rather the idea of privilege not be seen as something that detracts from worth in general.


It reminds of of that Obama speech that I loved but that got negative attention, the "You didn't build that" speech. I loved the sentiment, it's just that it should have been "If you've got a business – you didn't build that alone".


I'd hope that taking an advantage and building into something that benefits a lot of people is seen as a good thing. But, IMO, we focus too much on individual accomplishment to the detriment of society's influence on our lives.


Take pride in what you've done and make sure you keep yourself healthy. Take pride in what society has done, and make sure you keep society healthy.



Oh, and just realized part of your question is probably asking if I think there's some people that use the concept to silence discussion.

And yes, that exists, there are plenty of people using it that way and it's frustrating to me, but it can (and more often is afaik) be used in a productive way.



Let the night air cool you off
@Slappydavis thanks for all of the responses to my questions. I'm not sure if I have anything else I want to respond to or ask you. You are right when you say these conversations are fatiguing. You've been great, but they are pretty heavy and can weigh on you. I just don't want that weight on me for the rest of the day. Maybe I'll think of something for a later time, but for now, just enjoy your day, man.



'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.

Once there was white privilege decades ago, today it's used as excuse to explain why many minorities remain poor and disadvantaged. The advantage today in America for college applications and jobs goes to minorities and women as a result of institutionalized affirmation action programs.

The correct phrase to use today is 'Economic Privilege', people born to families of wealth (regardless of their skin color) have a higher chance of going to college and of landing great jobs and buying a house and having the means to live financially secure. Meanwhile those born to improvised families have a hard time bettering their own lives. That holds true regardless of skin color.

A poor white person like myself couldn't afford to go to college, so I'm in the working poor category. Not middle class, I'm the working poor... Let me tell you all, the term 'white privilege' as it applies today in America is a hateful term...and if we don't start embracing the idea that we are all one people on one big planet, then we're doomed to hate each other based on skin pigments.
yes.. I agree.. White Privilege is a degrading word in today's society. I wasn't raised white privilege. I didn't have the best education or college or anything. My parents couldn't afford it.

My mother worked part-time on and off during her life for Sears & Roebuck. She stopped working to take care of 5 children. Only after my youngest sister was in 4th grade did my mom go back to work. My father worked for General Motor's here in Kansas City. His check for 1 week was $350 bring home but understand this was during the 1970s. My parents didn't give us the best but we had a roof over our head and food on the table.

And I have to work a full-time job to get by.

My honest opinion of "White Privilege"? "F**k White Privilege, your sh*t still stinks too!"



White Privilege is a myth perpetuated by liberals. Take most countries from Asia and their average household income in America is higher than whites. The average Nigerian household in America makes more than the average white household, and the reason is that they go to and graduate from college at a high rate. American born blacks are behind whites, yes, but that's because of the extremely high rate of single mother families, and the very poor high school graduation rate. These two factors directly result in more crime and poverty. You can't say one group is privileged being ahead of another group when that group has massive shortcomings that need to be improved.



Survivor 5s #2 Bitch
I'm not ashamed to be white. And even as a Bernie/Stein supporter I do think PC culture can go too far. See: Drag queens being roasted and harrassed for offensive humour, cultural appropriation in a lot of cases etc.

That being said, as privileged as I am to be in an advanced country, I really am not proud to be British because of our history with commonwealth countries and the like. It kinda confuses me when I see people over here heralding the empire like it was some sort of utopia we should go back to.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
I'm not ashamed to be white. And even as a Bernie/Stein supporter I do think PC culture can go too far. See: Drag queens being roasted and harrassed for offensive humour, cultural appropriation in a lot of cases etc.

That being said, as privileged as I am to be in an advanced country, I really am not proud to be British because of our history with commonwealth countries and the like. It kinda confuses me when I see people over here heralding the empire like it was some sort of utopia we should go back to.
Meh, I'm proud to be Canadian despite their treatment and supposed continued treatment of aboriginal people.
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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews



A system of cells interlinked
Well, Devil's Advocate, but respect isn't exactly binary. Presumably we all have some blind spots that stop us from being better people, even if we're "good" by most standards. And obviously by definition you won't have any idea what specifically it might achieve (if anything), because if you did it would no longer be necessary to achieve it.

It's kinda like asking someone if they're right about everything (we'd all say no), and asking them what specific thing they're wrong about (we wouldn't be able to come up with anything, because if we knew it was wrong we wouldn't believe it any more).
Agreed. I want to clarify that I am not claiming that I have no more personal growth to achieve, as I work every single day to expand and grow both physically and mentally, with better results some days than others. I also understand that I could and probably do have weaknesses in certain areas. I just don't think basing personal growth around concepts of race/skin color is the best possible path.

I decided long ago to accept that some people have it easier than others, and that each person must just buckle down and work to overcome any obstacles they may face. I certainly understand that some folks face obstacles imposed on them due to certain aspects that perhaps shouldn't create obstacles in the first place. The disconnect for me arises when I try to quantify how me admitting I have privilege will somehow change that for the other person, when i already strive to treat them equally and with the respect every human deserves. I speak to them equally, if they came to my place of business looking for work, I would consider hiring them equally etc. Actually, if they spoke another language, like Spanish or Portuguese, they would probably get the job over someone who didn't, as that would help our business greatly at them moment.

My point being, is that I tend to always look at each person as an individual, judging them on merit, achievement, and conduct, with stuff like skin color not really registering, because I was raised to not judge people by their race or gender. Further disconnect arises when I consider that my mother was (but is now no longer) a liberal, as were most of my teachers, and at the time, all these people on the left frowned upon judging people by their skin color. This seems to have almost completely reversed now, with the left constantly putting identity politics and other more superficial qualities over everything else. It seems hypocritical to me, and is part of the reason myself and others I know that were left-leaning long ago have slowly tilted over to the center-right.
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell



You can't say one group is privileged being ahead of another group when that group has massive shortcomings that need to be improved.
Obviously, you can. And I think you know that.

Even along the spectrum you were talking about (wealth) you can find shortcomings to being born into a very wealthy household (pressure of expectations, media attention, etc.), but is the locating of drawbacks the same as saying there's no overall advantage? I don't think so.

That's not an argument against white privilege, that's an argument against the concept of privilege altogether.

Again, if you deny that concept, you're going to miss out on opportunities to have a more accurate picture of yourself. And that has actual consequences as success without reflection on the factors of that success seems to overwhelmingly cause the successful person to attribute the factors to themselves entirely. Which, objectively, isn't true (and is an example of facts over feelings, by the way).



Edit:
And to your point about the different groups, that's an example of the sort of reflection I'm talking about. It's a sort of dialogue you can have.

Here's a couple very simplified examples

1) Certain Asian groups seem to do economically well, let's reflect on that.
2) It seems like those Asian groups tend to go to college at higher rates.
3) Perhaps college is the dominant factor in their success.

Let's just say this is true. Then not only do you figure out that it's not by the virtue of being Asian that causes their success, you find out that college is a factor in success that you can now apply to others.

Reflection on white privilege also allows you to find out what ISN'T white privilege as well. It's about an honest attempt to isolate the contributing factors to your life. If you enter reflection about it, and honestly find that overall you didn't benefit, then that's good learning. I should also say that if a white person enters reflection and finds nothing but advantages or a black person enters reflection and finds nothing but advantages, that strikes me as unlikely; whether those factors, in net, add up to an overall advantage is a different story.

I'll note here that I see a lot of people perfectly willing to talk about the barriers in their life and not the help they got. And I want to be clear, you shouldn't ignore the barriers either, you should acknowledge BOTH.



Obviously, you can. And I think you know that.

Even along the spectrum you were talking about (wealth) you can find shortcomings to being born into a very wealthy household (pressure of expectations, media attention, etc.), but is the locating of drawbacks the same as saying there's no overall advantage? I don't think so.

That's not an argument against white privilege, that's an argument against the concept of privilege altogether.

Again, if you deny that concept, you're going to miss out on opportunities to have a more accurate picture of yourself. And that has actual consequences as success without reflection on the factors of that success seems to overwhelmingly cause the successful person to attribute the factors to themselves entirely. Which, objectively, isn't true (and is an example of facts over feelings, by the way).



Edit:
And to your point about the different groups, that's an example of the sort of reflection I'm talking about. It's a sort of dialogue you can have.

Here's a couple very simplified examples

1) Certain Asian groups seem to do economically well, let's reflect on that.
2) It seems like those Asian groups tend to go to college at higher rates.
3) Perhaps college is the dominant factor in their success.

Let's just say this is true. Then not only do you figure out that it's not by the virtue of being Asian that causes their success, you find out that college is a factor in success that you can now apply to others.

Reflection on white privilege also allows you to find out what ISN'T white privilege as well. It's about an honest attempt to isolate the contributing factors to your life. If you enter reflection about it, and honestly find that overall you didn't benefit, then that's good learning. I should also say that if a white person enters reflection and finds nothing but advantages or a black person enters reflection and finds nothing but advantages, that strikes me as unlikely; whether those factors, in net, add up to an overall advantage is a different story.

I'll note here that I see a lot of people perfectly willing to talk about the barriers in their life and not the help they got. And I want to be clear, you shouldn't ignore the barriers either, you should acknowledge BOTH.
I like how you put things, but I don't see an argument that there is such a thing as white privilege, if you were trying to make one. Obviously there are people of all races that have privilege that has nothing to do with their skin color.



I've been thinking about the phrase 'white privilege'. And I think, in part, this concept/phrase stems from: privileged liberal college kids who know they didn't earn their privileged life, and they feel guilty about having so much when so many others have so little...

So instead of taking responsibility for their own guilt and dealing with it, they choose to collectively blame the entire white race for their own guilt. Blaming others for one's own privileged guilt is wrong.


And it serves no purpose in making the world a better place for all. What it does is polarize races and further drive a wedge into race relations. Don't believe me, go up to a black person today and tell them you admit your white privilege and see what happens? You'll piss off the black person who will likely think you're a uppity little white person and rightly so. How does that make things better? It doesn't.

Then find a homeless white person and remind them of their white privilege. They'd probably tell you to go to hell. How does that make things better? It doesn't.

People need to think of the real world ramifications of going around telling everyone they have white privilege.



I just f'n hate it when people bring up skin color at all.
Completely with you bruh, I've got absolutely no time for bulimic cannibals either



I just f'n hate it when people bring up skin color at all.
I feel the same way.

Split us all open, we are the same inside.