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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCould somebody explain to me again how there is no such thing as white privilege?
I had all the talking points memorized, but they don't seem to make sense any more.
Silent3
(15,178 posts)At least in any significant numbers? I'm sure you can find a troll post that says almost anything, but I don't seen much denial of the existence of white privilege going on.
boston bean
(36,220 posts)and fight at every corner, to show their angst at anyone who uses the term. Lecturing African American members here how wrong they are to use the term. I can take them telling white people, but the chutzpah to lecture black persons, is really something to behold.
But you're right, mostly they say it exists. But just go on to lecture everyone how wrong it is to use the term and derail any conversation. Nice little gig they got going on there.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)Back of the bus for those guys.....no water from the good fountain.
I think the post was touched with a wee sarcasm.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)more for outrage and misunderstanding turned digital word battle games than humor.
A shame.
"White privilege" is now a phrase that gets the folks backs up instantly, I see it with my own two eyes.
There has to be a better phrase to explain it, like "boots on the ground" has lost all meaning, "white privilege" is also being eroded of meaning that can be the focus of reasoned and accurate debate.
I suggest something like "white entitlement". Hits it right on the head with no apologies.
Entitlements people understand, privileges not so much.
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)Maybe not "significant numbers" of posters...but enough. And they're persistent.
I replied to someone just yesterday who said that white privilege isn't real.
Here's a nonscientific DU poll from a while back. This doesn't really mean anything, of course, but it's an example.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024581118
redqueen
(115,103 posts)And lots of complaints about the term in other threads as well.
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)ismnotwasm
(41,971 posts)riqster
(13,986 posts)dawg
(10,622 posts)I worked really hard for it, so white privilege still doesn't exist.
riqster
(13,986 posts)Besides, I deserve a unicorn because of my continental origin.
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)1) Black disadvantage does not equal white privilege. It is undeniable that Black people are routinely harassed and killed by police whereas white people are not. However, the police do not routinely harass or kill Korean or Chinese or Indian people either. Presumably them, one does not avoid being shot because one is white. One avoids being shot because one is not Black.
2) The fact that one is not routinely beaten up by police or shot in the street or refused service in shops is not really what one would regard as a "privilege". Most people would regard that as an entitlement, or a right instead of a privilege. "White privilege" implies that the problem lies in whites being afforded an unfair advantage, and that the problem could be rectified by the police beating up or shooting the occasional white person from time to time. In reality, the problem is not that whites have it so good, but that black people have it so bad.
By extension, a Japanese person living in Japan is generally not beaten up by the police or refused service in shops. Does that mean that they have Japanese privilege? Going further, a white person living in Japan can expect to see the normal courtesies extended to them just as they would be in America. Does that mean that white privilege exists in Japan, even though there are hardly any white people in positions of power over there?
3) The theory of white privilege posits that white people have an advantage over "people of colour" (ie everyone else). This is largely* nonsense. The primary division is not between whites and "people of colour". Rather the real distinction is between Blacks (and Latinos to some extent) and everyone else. The typical Asian-American experience, for example, is far closer to the typical white experience than the typical Black experience (or even better, in many respects, as Asians exceed whites in many social indicators). In particular, studies of aversive racism have demonstrated that whilst people are quite averse to being approached by a Black person in the street, people have no qualms about speaking to Asians. On the other hand, anti-Black prejudice is held just as much by Asians as it is by whites.
* - but not completely. The assumption of western cultural hegemony and cultural normativity is probably the one aspect in which I would agree that "white privilege" does exist, but that is beyond the scope of this reply.
I love sarcasm in the morning.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Now I feel much better about our militarized police force terrorizing those people. Plus I was worried that I needed to instruct my male children to avoid the police at all costs and to be very careful where they are after dark and how they are dressed.
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)I would say that the most important thing would be to combat the obvious scourge of anti-black racism (which is perfectly undeniable on the face of it) rather than to get too upset over the terminology.
Plus, I think its good for white people to realise that they're not that important, which is a danger if you let them believe that they're single-handedly responsible for everything. They start to develop messianic complexes, and quite frankly we've all seen how that ends up too many times before.
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)... do not have privilege .... the rest of us are simply disadvantaged.
Word games do not change anything
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)"Class privilege" is a tautology - class *is* the expression of privilege. Whereas any privilege that attaches to being white is going to be dependent on social context - its not just something that magically attaches to having white skin.
Which is something you're going to have to think through, particularly over the course of the next half-century when you can expect China and India to eclipse the Western countries in terms of economic and geopolitical significance.
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)I guess I used a poor example to illustrate semantic games in the description of privilege. It does not, however, negate the spitirt of my thought. regarding privilege and disadvantage
boston bean
(36,220 posts)some would say....
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)the topic of "privilege" certainly raises some hackles .... in order to preserve their delicate sensibilities, I will not be offended if they need to describe privilege in terms of others DISADVANTAGE ... I am so sick of the semantic gymnastics some are compelled to use.
ismnotwasm
(41,971 posts)It's a a matter of what and how much.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)i often find though, that people do not understand the term at all.
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)Generally that's what we refer to as "special pleading".
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)social science.
ismnotwasm
(41,971 posts)You are using religion/faith to compare a common and destructive social occurrence?
Or are you saying that white privilege is a faith-based belief system?
Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)there can never be white privilege.
onecaliberal
(32,811 posts)Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,500 posts)gollygee
(22,336 posts)you're probably right.