That was a good takedown. It’s so obvious to anyone who’s read about anything from timekeeping at sea to the Uncertainty Principle that ‘white privilege’ is complete hokum. Yeah, people want our autographs – duh! No they don’t flock to people who think a doorknob is a puzzle. The idea that I’m somehow keeping anyone from doing anything is pretty nuts or that breezing through life shaking money trees as I skate around Bali on my motorcycle or run up a live volcano on a lark is due the very air around me favoring me.
Oh, I don’t know. As a white man, I certainly feel privileged in that if I break the law, I actually have to face my crime without being able to resort to the color of my skin or my gender. Same with work, I feel grateful that when I work, my efforts are judged only on their merits, I won’t get a passing grade because I tried. I also feel greatly aloof from the rest of men in that if I have children, the woman (usually a wife), “courts”, public opinion, and such, require that I pay for not only the child or children but the woman’s living and lifestyle to boot. There are many more privileges that go with being white, I’m just listing a few. So, say what you will, I feel quite privileged on the easy white man’s way! (ymmv)
I think this is one key “advantage”, in that persons in this category don’t have an easy excuse for every failure and disappointment. Basically, if you screw up, it was probably your own fault, and you should look at yourself to see how you can improve/change to do better next time. This requirement to analyze yourself critically, and not just blame prejudice, is a big, big help.
It is not an advantage as such is being toted. Our “advantage” is simply the way it should be, and it is a lot more difficult than most have it. It is a mockery of the image of “being advantaged”. I wouldn’t have it any other way, but I would make it so that it was universal. That would end all notions of “white man’s advantage” faster than you can say “You’re fired”! Of course, it would eventually clear a lot of already empty desks out of corporate America (and one would hope out of government offices as well). Unfortunately, with quotas and the “EEOC” and such, it isn’t even legal, yet. Inequality is currently enforced by the federal and state governments.
Go Vox. For some rich white guy to comment on how easy or hard life is for others who happen to share his race and sex is out of bounds. Plus, as vox points out, his analogy fails on its own terms.
A better gaming analogy for American life is that there are a small minority of power brokers (mostly but not all white, mostly but not all male) who got ahold of the cheat codes to the game, and are able to jump levels, as well as steal money and items from the rest of us.
Best comment on the linked site: “For F’s Sake… what kind of a retard does it take to wander through life and not realize that attractive females are so privileged in life that they are effectively playing an entirely different game?”
That was a good takedown. It’s so obvious to anyone who’s read about anything from timekeeping at sea to the Uncertainty Principle that ‘white privilege’ is complete hokum. Yeah, people want our autographs – duh! No they don’t flock to people who think a doorknob is a puzzle. The idea that I’m somehow keeping anyone from doing anything is pretty nuts or that breezing through life shaking money trees as I skate around Bali on my motorcycle or run up a live volcano on a lark is due the very air around me favoring me.
Oh, I don’t know. As a white man, I certainly feel privileged in that if I break the law, I actually have to face my crime without being able to resort to the color of my skin or my gender. Same with work, I feel grateful that when I work, my efforts are judged only on their merits, I won’t get a passing grade because I tried. I also feel greatly aloof from the rest of men in that if I have children, the woman (usually a wife), “courts”, public opinion, and such, require that I pay for not only the child or children but the woman’s living and lifestyle to boot. There are many more privileges that go with being white, I’m just listing a few. So, say what you will, I feel quite privileged on the easy white man’s way! (ymmv)
I think this is one key “advantage”, in that persons in this category don’t have an easy excuse for every failure and disappointment. Basically, if you screw up, it was probably your own fault, and you should look at yourself to see how you can improve/change to do better next time. This requirement to analyze yourself critically, and not just blame prejudice, is a big, big help.
It is not an advantage as such is being toted. Our “advantage” is simply the way it should be, and it is a lot more difficult than most have it. It is a mockery of the image of “being advantaged”. I wouldn’t have it any other way, but I would make it so that it was universal. That would end all notions of “white man’s advantage” faster than you can say “You’re fired”! Of course, it would eventually clear a lot of already empty desks out of corporate America (and one would hope out of government offices as well). Unfortunately, with quotas and the “EEOC” and such, it isn’t even legal, yet. Inequality is currently enforced by the federal and state governments.
Go Vox. For some rich white guy to comment on how easy or hard life is for others who happen to share his race and sex is out of bounds. Plus, as vox points out, his analogy fails on its own terms.
A better gaming analogy for American life is that there are a small minority of power brokers (mostly but not all white, mostly but not all male) who got ahold of the cheat codes to the game, and are able to jump levels, as well as steal money and items from the rest of us.
Best comment on the linked site: “For F’s Sake… what kind of a retard does it take to wander through life and not realize that attractive females are so privileged in life that they are effectively playing an entirely different game?”