What Privileges Do McCain and Palin Receive Because They're White
sweetpotato
Posts: 1,278
What Privileges Do McCain and Palin Receive Because They're White?
By Tim Wise, BuzzFlash
Posted on September 18, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/98915/
For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at 17 like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-size colleges, and then governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. senator, two-term state senator and constitutional law scholar means you're "untested."
White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office -- since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s -- while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school, requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do -- like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the eight-hour workday, or an end to child labor -- and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small-town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college -- you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.
White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women and made them give your party a "second look."
White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the United States is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good churchgoing Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then having people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
White privilege is being able to claim that your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a "light" burden.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising and the United States is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.
White privilege is, in short, the problem.
[size=-2]AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by its writers are their own.
Tim Wise is the author of White Like Me (Soft Skull, 2005, revised 2008) and of Speaking Treason Fluently, publishing this month, also by Soft Skull.
[/size]
By Tim Wise, BuzzFlash
Posted on September 18, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/98915/
For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at 17 like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-size colleges, and then governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. senator, two-term state senator and constitutional law scholar means you're "untested."
White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office -- since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s -- while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school, requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do -- like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the eight-hour workday, or an end to child labor -- and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small-town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college -- you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.
White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women and made them give your party a "second look."
White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the United States is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good churchgoing Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then having people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
White privilege is being able to claim that your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a "light" burden.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising and the United States is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.
White privilege is, in short, the problem.
[size=-2]AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by its writers are their own.
Tim Wise is the author of White Like Me (Soft Skull, 2005, revised 2008) and of Speaking Treason Fluently, publishing this month, also by Soft Skull.
[/size]
"Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, Barack Obama."
"Obama's main opponent in this election on November 4th (was) not John McCain, it (was) ignorance."~Michael Moore
"i'm feeling kinda righteous right now. with my badass motherfuckin' ukulele!"
~ed, 8/7
"Obama's main opponent in this election on November 4th (was) not John McCain, it (was) ignorance."~Michael Moore
"i'm feeling kinda righteous right now. with my badass motherfuckin' ukulele!"
~ed, 8/7
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
I also have to uncomfortably agree.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
99.9% of the above has nothing to do with pigmentation.
why the hell would anyone write an article about that. It serves no purpose.
Where is the article about applying ones self and struggling through adversity to achieve?
Bitching about what's wrong with the world, never accomplished a damn thing.
The majority of all of the above has more to do with culture than color. But hey, it's more fun to throw racism around. Examining culture would require people examining themselves.
Politics is bullshit. It's marketing. Everything is a double standard. It has nothing to do with making the world better it has everything to do with winning votes and gaining power and influence.
People that this article is railing against are full of shit. Of course they are hypocritical. Everyone is in persuasive speech and politics, they are merely focusing on that which will help them win.
This article is EXACTLY the same as it espouses. Hateful, divisive and hypocritical.
There are stupid ass people with ridiculous opinions in the world, none of that has anything to do with priveledge of skin pigmentation.
Culturally it has a ton to do with how things have shaken out over the centuries but you're going to tell me some white trash "rednecks" with a pregnant 15 year old and 4 kids by momma in a trailer with some rebel flag have some sort of priveledge because they are white? Give me a break. Being proud of being pathetic has become a badge of honor in our society. That's awful.
This is simply class/race warfare and it serves no good purpose.
The powerful have dominated the weaker since the beginning of time.
For the life of me I have no understanding of why people listen so much to polarizing opinion guy like say Sean Hannity. Oh yeah Sean clearly it's sexism. Or you're selling a POV. Just like the writers of this article.
Actually, provided it leads to further awareness, protest and action, it's accomplished a whole bunch of things.
I agree to a point, but color of skin does change how people view some of those issues.
Admittedly it's based on stereotypes, but the points about teen pregnancy, guns, and the redneck vs thug issue are viewed very differently by color.
The rest of the points in my opinion have nothing to do with color.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
pretending nothing is wrong with the world never accomplished anything either. that is the point. racism is not dead and gone. 40 years ago blacks were not allowed to use the same drinking fountains. we HAVE come a long way. but we're talking a whole generation that is still alive that was explicitly racist or lived under explicit racism. i know it seems like, centuries ago to the ADD generation that thinks last year's phone is anciently outdated, but segregation was not that long ago and attitudes die hard.
but many people like to point to the fact that jim crow has been outlawed as evidence that racism is over and we don't need to talk, think, or anything else about it anymore. it's a rush to not have to deal with the truly difficult parts of racism.
that is what this article is about... pointing out that racism is not just slavery or segregation. it is subtle and insidious and often unconscious. the way i know people in ohio that rant about mexicans and blacks making babies out of wedlock all the time, but palin's family is just a wholesome all-american one. neither is necessarily right or wrong, but it reveals a double standard. and we can't just ignore that away.
some may or may not be linked to skincolor...but more than anything, i believe it is linked to perceived class standing.....and culture. rightly or wrongly. however, some very valid points are made on what gets a pass or not.....and whatever the 'reason(s)'....they can and do happen, and it is evident here as well.
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow
Of course, any group of people is going to view things differently by what they know. There is an incredible amount of hypocracy and heads in the sand that goes into teen pregnancy in the social conservative realm. Thug is the new N word in many circles. I see no difference in TI owning a crap ton of guns than I do Billy Bob provided they don't bother anyone else with them. I don't care, none of my business.
If I wanted to point out white priveledge I'd focus on the drug war.
Cocaine easy prison time hell the NFL has a white WR who is still playing after being caught cutting up cocaine in his car in Arkansas over the summer. good thing it wasn't crack. This perspective is of course why there are so many slanted laws and injustices. It's not skin color that makes it that way though it's culture. Change it around, you'd have the same issues. Most people do not seek out opposing viewpoints or learn how the other half lives.
Social Conservatives are really who this article is raging against. There are far better methods to illustrate that hypocracy than to simply focus on skin pigmentation. That's as racist as it is the other way around.
We need to have leaders with worldly viewpoints able to see issues from a variety of perspectives but I can't imagine them getting elected.
If Barack Obama were a white guy named Barry O'Sullivan, he would be owning this presidential race.
It just appears he's making points of reality and the way things are in this country. To me this not deciding issues just points we may have to look at from Obama's point of view.
One of the reasons he won't get my vote is because I'd like to see him be more aggressive on attacks or be on the offensive instead of this reserved style he seems to have. However it appears he has to tread lightly as how this might appear to many potential voters.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Everything stated there is completely subjective and misconstrued.
There are too many issues to name them all, but here's one of the first you come across:
To make those comments about the boyfriend of the daughter is to do the VERY THING the author accuses WOULD HAPPEN if the candidate was black. I use "would happen" because the fact is there not happening.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
that's flat out wrong. the boyfriend has said these things and we giggle about it and say they're all-american. a rapper talks about being a nigga and popping caps and gettin respect and he's a thug. same statements, completely different labels and reactions from mainstream america.
I totally agree with you.
As individual fingers we can easily be broken, but together we make a mighty fist ~ Sitting Bull
Was the writer giggling about it or was the author slamming the kid for it?
Furthermore, who is this "we" that are giggling? When I hear people talk like that I think they're idiots and it has nothing to do with their race.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
good stuff...
people have to admit this is pretty much true...
can't agree with you on this. i'd prefer to call the person a "fuckin' dumbass", not an idiot.
~D.K.S.
I think it is black privelage that affirmative actiopn lets people into college and jobs because of there skin color rather then the work they have done, but that is for actions that no one under 30 (probably older) controled.
98 CAA
00 Virginia Beach;Camden I; Jones Beach III
05 Borgata Night I; Wachovia Center
06 Letterman Show; Webcast (guy in blue shirt), Camden I; DC
08 Camden I; Camden II; DC
09 Phillie III
10 MSG II
13 Wrigley Field
16 Phillie II
Of course, most of the other white people I work with are voting for Obama, judging from the sea of bumper stickers in the parking lot. But, still. Here's a person who isn't voting for Obama based on flat out fear.
I suppose there have to be areas of the country where some people might be afraid to vote for the "white guy," but traditionally, that's been the choice offered. Not so true nowdays--there's more parity. Black people have voted for white people for a long time for high offices. Voting for a Black guy for the same thing is a first. It seems to me there are bound to be a few jitters. The first time for anything makes some people a little nervous.
98 CAA
00 Virginia Beach;Camden I; Jones Beach III
05 Borgata Night I; Wachovia Center
06 Letterman Show; Webcast (guy in blue shirt), Camden I; DC
08 Camden I; Camden II; DC
09 Phillie III
10 MSG II
13 Wrigley Field
16 Phillie II
Maybe so (I should say that I think many black voters will be drawn to Obama because he could be the first black president)...but when you realize that probably about 75% of the electorate will be white, and a significant number of them, particularly in the swing states, may vote against Obama because he is black. You tell me which is the more significant problem.
doesn't matter. voting for someone based on their skin color alone is retarded.
~D.K.S.
Thank you my point excatlly. My only problem is it has been brought against McCain supporters only. Being questioned for supporting McCain because he is white ticks me off.
98 CAA
00 Virginia Beach;Camden I; Jones Beach III
05 Borgata Night I; Wachovia Center
06 Letterman Show; Webcast (guy in blue shirt), Camden I; DC
08 Camden I; Camden II; DC
09 Phillie III
10 MSG II
13 Wrigley Field
16 Phillie II
That's IF a significant number of blacks even get the opportunity to vote in some states. With all the many stipulations in getting a Driver's license to show an ID to vote. Some blacks in inner cities don't drive and therefore face many difficulties in getting a DL.
Take a look at the thread 2008 Election Could See Unprecedented Attempts to Bar African American Voters
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Fair enough. If Obama loses because a sizable chunk of that electorate was unwilling to vote for a black man I'll probably think differently.
I often hear concern and anger from conservative commentators about black men and women voting for Obama due to his skin color. As I said before, this is different for few reasons...
1) As I said before, the majority of the electorate is white, and they will be deciding the election. If there's going to be a race-based voting bloc that decides the election, it will be in that part of the electorate. So for all those acting "ah, racism is racism is racism", you're right, that's true; but only one of these forms of racism looks like it may actually have a chance of deciding this election. That's the one that concerns me.
2) Again, racism is racism is racism. Got it. But, let me understand this...
Black voters = voting for Obama because for the first time there is a chance that an African-American has the chance to be the leader of our country. It is a moment of pride.
Prejudiced white voters = Voting for McCain because, due to their racism, they will not elect a black man into the office of the Presidency.
Yes, racism is wrong and all that, and they're both wrong in this case, but does anyone really consider these cases equally morally reprehensible?
if i had one of each of those voters in front of me and they told me those were the reasons they voted the way they did, i'd be equally disgusted by both. i mean, think about it. they probably don't normally vote to begin with (both examples), but with this election they'll go out to make damn sure the person with the same skin color as them will win. that just pisses me off. doesn't it you?
~D.K.S.
He did release one that was on the offensive and if you see the thread about it in here...he caught heat for it...possibly even more than McCain did for his ad.
Obama has to tread lightly because of the double standard that exists between what republicans and Democrats can do and not get slammed for. (I hope that made sense lol)
I really hope thats not the sole thing you're basing your vote on (based on other posts I've seen from you I doubt it is) ...ok he's not on the offensive as much, but do you agree with his stance on stuff?