White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun

rebornFixer wrote:

markin ball wrote:

Great stuff to think about however President Obama negates a wee bit of #24.

The one about music was kinda silly too ... The author must realize how much really bad hip hop and R&B is clogging up music store shelves these days ...

yeah i gotta ask, was this written in 1964? some of these seem true for every race nowadays.

edit: oh 1988. that explains it. OLD NEWS IS OLD

cajunkiwi

aerial wrote:

Any writings on
Beauty privileged
Blond Privileged
Born Rich privileged
Got connections privileged
Born a Minority privileged
Foreigner privileged
Male privileged ?


More on White privileged...........
There is an entire "white privilege" industry out there, populated by "critical studies" academics and agitators (of all races) who see racism where there is no actual evidence of racism.


"white privilege" really is just another useful tool for those who want to play the race card for political gain.


It is impossible to disprove "white privilege" because the concept does not rely on proof of discrimination in a particular situation. The absence of proof is proof.

And the concept, as most twisted concepts, starts from a kernel of truth. There is racism in society, as much as we may try to stamp it out. It's where one takes that kernel of truth, in a series of "therefores," which ends up with the caricature that is the White Privilege.

"white privilege" really is just another useful tool for those who want to play the race card for political gain.

The "white privilege" guilt-trip is all part of a well-orchestrated plan, if you believe Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn in "Prairie Fire," their "mission statement" of the Weather Underground. White privilege was foundational to all their "logic" and arguments for overthrowing America.



http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2 ... white.html

Yeah, because god knows, foreigners and other minorities are sooooo privileged here.

aerial

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

aerial wrote:

Any writings on
Beauty privileged
Blond Privileged
Born Rich privileged
Got connections privileged
Born a Minority privileged
Foreigner privileged
Male privileged ?


More on White privileged...........
There is an entire "white privilege" industry out there, populated by "critical studies" academics and agitators (of all races) who see racism where there is no actual evidence of racism.


"white privilege" really is just another useful tool for those who want to play the race card for political gain.


It is impossible to disprove "white privilege" because the concept does not rely on proof of discrimination in a particular situation. The absence of proof is proof.

And the concept, as most twisted concepts, starts from a kernel of truth. There is racism in society, as much as we may try to stamp it out. It's where one takes that kernel of truth, in a series of "therefores," which ends up with the caricature that is the White Privilege.

"white privilege" really is just another useful tool for those who want to play the race card for political gain.

The "white privilege" guilt-trip is all part of a well-orchestrated plan, if you believe Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn in "Prairie Fire," their "mission statement" of the Weather Underground. White privilege was foundational to all their "logic" and arguments for overthrowing America.



http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2 ... white.html

so are you, or more appropriately, the guy who wrote your post denying any kind of privilege? is it your contention that all of those privileges you listed above are figments of our imagination and that we are making it all up??

It seems that the person that wrote scb's post has an agenda or else they would have covered the others that are priviledge......I myself think that we are all human and most of us have a respect for all humans.....I don't think it's good to put people in there little groups......isn't that how we end up with Racisms in the first place?

gimmesometruth27

aerial wrote:

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

aerial wrote:

Any writings on
Beauty privileged
Blond Privileged
Born Rich privileged
Got connections privileged
Born a Minority privileged
Foreigner privileged
Male privileged ?


More on White privileged...........
There is an entire "white privilege" industry out there, populated by "critical studies" academics and agitators (of all races) who see racism where there is no actual evidence of racism.


"white privilege" really is just another useful tool for those who want to play the race card for political gain.


It is impossible to disprove "white privilege" because the concept does not rely on proof of discrimination in a particular situation. The absence of proof is proof.

And the concept, as most twisted concepts, starts from a kernel of truth. There is racism in society, as much as we may try to stamp it out. It's where one takes that kernel of truth, in a series of "therefores," which ends up with the caricature that is the White Privilege.

"white privilege" really is just another useful tool for those who want to play the race card for political gain.

The "white privilege" guilt-trip is all part of a well-orchestrated plan, if you believe Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn in "Prairie Fire," their "mission statement" of the Weather Underground. White privilege was foundational to all their "logic" and arguments for overthrowing America.



http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2 ... white.html

so are you, or more appropriately, the guy who wrote your post denying any kind of privilege? is it your contention that all of those privileges you listed above are figments of our imagination and that we are making it all up??

It seems that the person that wrote scb's post has an agenda or else they would have covered the others that are priviledge......I myself think that we are all human and most of us have a respect for all humans.....I don't think it's good to put people in there little groups......isn't that how we end up with Racisms in the first place?

that is very nice, but you didn't address anything i asked you.

aerial

There will always be those that are privileged it's all apart of life...those that adjust will be happy ....those that look for excuses will not

_

markin ball wrote:

Great stuff to think about however President Obama negates a wee bit of #24.

A person half of my race then?

_

rebornFixer wrote:

scb wrote:

I agree that everyone's experiences are different and I always keep that in mind. But I think the whole point of this article is that white people in this country are helped by this knapsack in some way, even if they don't realize it. Just because someone didn't find it to be helpful, doesn't mean it wasn't. I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to find a white person who has NEVER experienced any type of benefit from white privilege.

I guess my basic point was that white priviledge is not a powerful enough force to overcome the effects of social class and poverty... Poor whites might still benefit in some of the more subtle ways the author describes, but poor and oppressed is still poor and oppressed.

Yeah. I kind of try to avoid ranking which identities people are more oppressed because of (race, class, gender, etc.) since they're so intertwined. But if I had to do it, I think I'd have to say people are probably more oppressed based on class than anything - at least in these times in this nation.

TravisTheSky

The author's complaints seem very dated. We are much less white than we were 22 years ago.

It sounds like she had White Guilt. I think she would have benefited from moving out of the 'burbs and into the 'urbs. For example, the part of the city that I live in is majority Hispanic, about 18% Asian, about 9% black, and about 9% white. I really don't have to worry about being in a swarm of white people!

Hmm, who looks like me? I go to 3 local post offices with my eBay sales, and not one of the Post Office employees at any of the locations is white. The recycling centre where I sell my garbology treasures has four regular workers. None of them are white. The part-time helper who shows up occasionally IS white. There are some white tenants in my building. Not the woman next door. Not the woman across the hall. Not the man in the other of the four flats in my section.

This is in refreshing contrast to Chepachet, Rhode Island! When I was a child, everyone was white. Everyone was religious, working class or middle class, and was very ignorant of the wider world. (They didn't pronounce the letter R if it was on the end of a word because they simply did not know better.) Luckily the monotony made me a xenophile instead of a xenophobe. When other women drool over pigmentless men with yellow hair and blue eyes, I roll my eyes. Booooring.....

_

TravisTheSky wrote:

The author's complaints seem very dated. We are much less white than we were 22 years ago.

It sounds like she had White Guilt. I think she would have benefited from moving out of the 'burbs and into the 'urbs. For example, the part of the city that I live in is majority Hispanic, about 18% Asian, about 9% black, and about 9% white. I really don't have to worry about being in a swarm of white people!

Hmm, who looks like me? I go to 3 local post offices with my eBay sales, and not one of the Post Office employees at any of the locations is white. The recycling centre where I sell my garbology treasures has four regular workers. None of them are white. The part-time helper who shows up occasionally IS white. There are some white tenants in my building. Not the woman next door. Not the woman across the hall. Not the man in the other of the four flats in my section.

This is in refreshing contrast to Chepachet, Rhode Island! When I was a child, everyone was white. Everyone was religious, working class or middle class, and was very ignorant of the wider world. (They didn't pronounce the letter R if it was on the end of a word because they simply did not know better.) Luckily the monotony made me a xenophile instead of a xenophobe. When other women drool over pigmentless men with yellow hair and blue eyes, I roll my eyes. Booooring.....

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that you don't actually know all the places the author has lived and whether these places were urban or suburban, am I right? Regardless, I think you may be missing the point. She is talking about our society on a national level, not on a neighborhood level. And the white privilege that is systemic in our national society benefits those of us who are white whether we live in minority majority neighborhoods or not.

For example, I have lived most of my life in places where white people are the minority and I know I have still benefited from being white. Even when I lived on an Indian Reservation, where probably less than 1% of the population is white and there were only about 20 white families in all of the surrounding towns, I experienced white privilege. Were my neighbors white? No. Were the Post Office employees white? No. But if I were at school and asked to speak to the person in charge, he was white. If I visited a friend in the hospital and asked to speak to his doctor, he was white. If my boyfriend was murdered and I asked to speak to the head of the investigation, he was white. Also, the majority of the music we listened to was by white people. The language we spoke was the language of white people. The food we ate was primarily the food of white people. Even the history we learned was mostly the history of white people. I wasn't in the company of people of my race most of the time, but that's not what the article said. It said I could probably arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time, which was true. And then, of course, as soon as we stepped off the reservation - which is impossible to avoid - many/most of the other examples in the article took effect. For instance, if we wanted to go to the mall, my friends were followed in the stores as if they were going to steal something and I wasn't. I could go on and on, but I won't.

I will comment about one last thing though: I don't think denigrating the appearance of any race is appropriate, even if that race is the one in power.

TravisTheSky

scb wrote:

I don't think denigrating the appearance of any race is appropriate, even if that race is the one in power.

Calling white skin boring is denigrating? It just got so old for me living in a white world. The town was white, the school was white, the stores were white, the churches were white. Half my relatives are Scandinavian. When they made children, every single one of them chose a white partner and had a white baby. I DO find the lack of variety boring.

Your boyfriend was murdered?!?!?

_

TravisTheSky wrote:

scb wrote:

I don't think denigrating the appearance of any race is appropriate, even if that race is the one in power.

Calling white skin boring is denigrating? It just got so old for me living in a white world. The town was white, the school was white, the stores were white, the churches were white. Half my relatives are Scandinavian. When they made children, every single one of them chose a white partner and had a white baby. I DO find the lack of variety boring.

Your boyfriend was murdered?!?!?

It was more the eye-rolling than the boring part that caught my attention.

Yes, though he was my ex-boyfriend by then.

rebornFixer

TravisTheSky wrote:

scb wrote:

I don't think denigrating the appearance of any race is appropriate, even if that race is the one in power.

Calling white skin boring is denigrating? It just got so old for me living in a white world. The town was white, the school was white, the stores were white, the churches were white. Half my relatives are Scandinavian. When they made children, every single one of them chose a white partner and had a white baby. I DO find the lack of variety boring.

Your boyfriend was murdered?!?!?

Thinking that any group of people are all the same due to something as unimportant as skin is denigrating and ignorant.

aerial

rebornFixer wrote:

TravisTheSky wrote:

scb wrote:

I don't think denigrating the appearance of any race is appropriate, even if that race is the one in power.

Calling white skin boring is denigrating? It just got so old for me living in a white world. The town was white, the school was white, the stores were white, the churches were white. Half my relatives are Scandinavian. When they made children, every single one of them chose a white partner and had a white baby. I DO find the lack of variety boring.

Your boyfriend was murdered?!?!?

Thinking that any group of people are all the same due to something as unimportant as skin is denigrating and ignorant.

You got that right!

TravisTheSky

aerial wrote:

rebornFixer wrote:

Thinking that any group of people are all the same due to something as unimportant as skin is denigrating and ignorant.

You got that right!

The people in my town were all the same because they really were all the same: The same socioeconomic status, the same accent, the same religion, AND the same colour. It's not ignorant for me to point that out, it's true. I can type about it because I was one of them. I'm including myself- I lived there for 18 years. If everyone in Chepachet in the 1970s/80s had been 5 foot 6, I could type, "Ugh! How droll! Everyone was the same height." I could then explain how that sameness eventually bored me to tears and attracted me to people of shorter and taller statures. Such an opinion would be no denigration of the 5' 6" folks, would it?

I was 17 and getting ready to graduate high school when I realised that none of my teachers had ever taught me to pronounce the letter R at the end of a word. I decided to start using Rs. I was not denigrating my teachers by doing so.

If I'm racist I must be sexist too: The huge majority of my relatives were female. All of the children on my street who were close to my age happened to be girls. When I was 9 and in fifth grade, I lamented to my sister that I wished I could someday have a male teacher. Every single one of my preschool, kindergarten, and 1-5 grade teachers were women. I wasn't denigrating women by wanting to finally have a male teacher. I was just fed up with the monotony. It's bog-standard psychology 101 to understand why, since my teenage years, I have preferred having male friends, teammates, classmates, castmates, co-workers, etc. My childhood was a world of females.