Debunking White Privilege: The Economic Reality

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The point I think this video makes - the income inequalities in the US aren't about race.

OTOH one thing I might slightly differ with the speaker in the video on, if you've been saturated in an unhelpful environment it's not fully your fault either. So yes - there are problems in America that need to be solved, just that I doubt we'll help the situation of the urban and rural poor around the country by targeting race and racism as the primary culprit.

I am not going to watch the video just yet, but yeah income inequality is an issue...and plenty of white people as well as minorities suffer due to this. I mean there is a problem when some working people are struggling just to make rent and afford food let alone any luxuries like t.v or Internet. While corporate CEOs have millions upon millions of dollars enough to live comfortably for like 6 lifetimes.

But also authorities do use racial profiling and there is certainly unfair treatment of minorities, so that white people are also effected by economic inequality does not negate the fact that racial minorities suffer from racism. Both issues need to be addressed, its not just one or the other both are issues.

Another really awesome video though slightly different topic.

The city I live in and it's neighboring city of Seattle, have a lot of homeless people I have seen. And I mean a lot. And the vast majority I have seen are white.

Yeah and I am sure the right wingers care so much about them...

White privilege is a dumb social justice term that blankets people under one umbrella and puts the accuser in a "superior moral position"

I'm white and I am not privileged in any way

- My grandparents on my Dad's side were in WW2. Grandma escaped a death camp with her sister (rest of her family was killed) and my grandfather was in the Polish resistance. Poles have been oppressed many times in the past.
- I am also of Irish and Scottish descent, oppressed in the past as well.
- I have autism, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, depression, delayed sleep phase syndrome, high blood pressure, acid reflex, social anxiety, etc. My mom and dad have various medical conditions too.
- I am not rich by any means, neither is my family

If anyone tried to pull the white privilege card as an insult towards me, I'd honestly lose all respect for them.

Well I think right wingers are the ones who go to church and I know there's several churches here and in Seattle that feed the homeless, so idk.

I must admit I've never seen it used as an insult.

General, it's used as follows:

POC: I hate [racial issue X]
White person: I have never experienced [racial issue X], so I'm not sure whether it is a big deal.
POC: you have never experienced it because it only affects POC. You are addressing this from a position of white privilege.

It's not a moral judgement, it's not a criticism, it's not a suggestion that all white people are rich - it's just a way of saying that white people don't usually experience racism.

I remember a policeman stopping to ask why I was walking up and down main street every day. I told him I walked to work (1 mile). Yet another example of how I wasn't normal.

Last edited by BTDT on 25 Nov 2016, 9:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

I have seen it mostly used these and similar ways.

I think we should not assume the cop was guilty (of killing a black person)
Check your privilege

I think men are not inherently rapists
Check your privilege

You do not belong here, this a safe space.
This is a public area and I have right to say what I want
Leave now and check your privilege

White lives matter also.
You are a racist, check your privilege

The colored person (interrupted)
That is racist, check your privilege.

I am autistic/physically disabled and have been bullied and unemployed because of that so I am not privileged.
You are white/male/cisgendered, end of argument

While I believe expanding the definition of privilege to include what you are born with was very wrong that is a matter of legitimate opinion. IRL from what I have seen the new definition of privilege is mainly used to invalidate a person making an argument for the purpose of invalidating the point of view of the person making a claim.

I've never really felt "privileged" at all for being white, male, cisgendered, etc.

There were times, though, that I've gotten more of the benefit of the doubt when using the bathroom in a restaurant than maybe some person of a "minority" ethnicity.

Census figures indicate that Washington is over 80% white, under 5% black and under 13% hispanic.

Given this data, it should hardly be surprising that the vast majority of homeless people you see in vicinity of Seattle are white, but this in no way indicates something meaningful about the economic impact of skin color prejudice in the Seattle area.

If you are interested in the impact of skin color prejudice, look for instances in which individuals with different skin colors but otherwise similar circumstances interact with others. If the interactions are broadly similar then skin color prejudice is not a problem. If people with a particular skin color are regularly given preferential treatment or treated more harshly than others, this would indicate a problem.

Life doesn't conveniently supply well documented data sets isolated for one demographic variable, so most people approach this issue with bad data that is suggestive of an underlying problem and apply their inner ideological, religious, sectarian or psychological filters to come to some kind of conclusion about the issue.

A scrupulous approach would dictate that any conclusion was tentative and provisional, but political activity often leads people to claim certainty where none exists.

In general, an approach biased toward respecting the civil liberties and civil rights of all people will also protect those who may be subject to prejudice of various kinds, so I would suggest that a pro civil liberty/civil rights approach is superior to others in most situations.

I felt that racial dialog, in this country, is an example of creative destruction.

Radical Reconstruction and integration, at gunpoint:


If we really respected black people, we wouldn't be using them as bait dogs, to insult the majority demographic, or as wrecking balls, to commit insurance fraud. All corporate charity is a piggy bank, for the elite. Now let's help black people, because they can't do anything without us, and nothing they say stands on it's own merit, without some sjw ambassador.

Not from the U.S - but absolutely NO ONE on the spectrum is likely included in the white privilege category. That is only a certain type of white person who has everything going for them and meets all societal norms in my opinion. Those are the people that get ahead in life and it was it is.

The definition of White Privilege is about bieng born white, no other factor comes into it.
White Privilege - Wikipedia Article


EXPLAINING WHITE PRIVILEGE TO A BROKE WHITE PERSON...

That was an excellent article, thanks for sharing it. Privilege is not something anyone should feel guilty or ashamed for, it's a condition of your birth that you have no control over. It would be silly to feel bad about being born white just as it would be silly to feel bad for being born with red hair or freckles--it's not anything you accomplished, and it's not reflected in your character as a person. The only thing that people should feel responsible for is the choices they make, and what colour your skin is or what class you were born into is not something you choose.