# Buzzfeed's 17 Deplorable Examples of White Privilege **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 31, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700 "2013-10-31T00:00:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/21 "2013-10-31T02:48:30Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > Clarence Thomas is an extension of White Privilege, yes, but let’s not wander down that road. Of course not; “wandering down that road” demonstrates how flawed the whole argument is. > [@Honesty](#): > > The problem is that white privilege isn’t something that most white males can handle. They don’t like being told that they are worthless evil subhumans for something they never did, no. Which is what slamming people with a label like “privileged” is doing. It’s just a snooty version of “worthless parasite”, the left wing equivalent of calling someone a “taker, not a maker”. ---
**Author:** ![NonaSequitur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f1d935/32.png) [@NonaSequitur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NonaSequitur)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/22 "2013-10-31T02:57:00Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Of course not; “wandering down that road” demonstrates how flawed the whole argument is. > > They don’t like being told that they are worthless evil subhumans for something they never did, no. Which is what slamming people with a label like “privileged” is doing. It’s just a snooty version of “worthless parasite”, the left wing equivalent of calling someone a “taker, not a maker”. That’s not what privilege is… Maybe this will clarify some things: > [@](#): > > Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is > > I’ve been thinking of a way to explain to straight white men how life works for them, without invoking the dreaded word “privilege,” to which they react like vampires being fed a garlic tart at high noon. It’s not that the word “privilege” is incorrect, it’s that it’s not their word. When confronted with “privilege,” they fiddle with the word itself, and haul out the dictionaries and find every possible way to talk about the word but not any of the things the word signifies. > > So, the challenge: how to get across the ideas bound up in the word “privilege,” in a way that your average straight white man will get, without freaking out about it? > > Being a white guy who likes women, here’s how I would do it: > > Dudes. Imagine life here in the US — or indeed, pretty much anywhere in the Western world — is a massive role playing game, like World of Warcraft except appallingly mundane, where most quests involve the acquisition of money, cell phones and donuts, although not always at the same time. Let’s call it The Real World. You have installed The Real World on your computer and are about to start playing, but first you go to the settings tab to bind your keys, fiddle with your defaults, and choose the difficulty setting for the game. Got it? > > Okay: In the role playing game known as The Real World, “Straight White Male” is the lowest difficulty setting there is. > > This means that the default behaviors for almost all the non-player characters in the game are easier on you than they would be otherwise. The default barriers for completions of quests are lower. Your leveling-up thresholds come more quickly. You automatically gain entry to some parts of the map that others have to work for. The game is easier to play, automatically, and when you need help, by default it’s easier to get. > > Now, once you’ve selected the “Straight White Male” difficulty setting, you still have to create a character, and how many points you get to start — and how they are apportioned — will make a difference. Initially the computer will tell you how many points you get and how they are divided up. If you start with 25 points, and your dump stat is wealth, well, then you may be kind of screwed. If you start with 250 points and your dump stat is charisma, well, then you’re probably fine. Be aware the computer makes it difficult to start with more than 30 points; people on higher difficulty settings generally start with even fewer than that. > > As the game progresses, your goal is to gain points, apportion them wisely, and level up. If you start with fewer points and fewer of them in critical stat categories, or choose poorly regarding the skills you decide to level up on, then the game will still be difficult for you. But because you’re playing on the “Straight White Male” setting, gaining points and leveling up will still by default be easier, all other things being equal, than for another player using a higher difficulty setting. [link](http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/) ^^^^^ No need to feel “white guilt” over this, only to acknowledge the reality. Also just because you privileged in one dimension doesn’t mean you are in others (class, for instance)… ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/23 "2013-10-31T03:31:12Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > And how about #8: > > So now affirmative action that gives preference to minorities is a _privilege_ for white people? I thought it was supposed to benefit minorities. Which is it? The point is that you are operating under the unfounded assumption that the minority was hired because of affirmative action. You basically proved the point given that the vast vast majority of minorities are not in their current positions because of affirmative action, yet you assumed many/most are, and that affirmative action (where it exists) somehow hurts White people. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > You might as well call Clarence Thomas an example of White Privilege, since he got on the Supreme Court for the same reasons and backed by the same people. While I think he is a bad justice, he is certainly qualified on paper to be on the SC. Ivy league law school, DC Court of Appeals, and a few other high profile government jobs is enough to put most people in the short list. His resume is comparable to Kennedy, Scalia, and Robert’s. While he was likely nominated because he is Black, his Blackness is sill a net negative. > [@Dostoyevsky](#): > > A critic would likely counter that Pres. Obama is an example of a black politician who succeeded despite his lack of serious leadership experience from his role as a community organizer. This would be a good point if he hadn’t been a Civil Rights Attorney, Law Professor, State senator, and US Senator before being elected as President. > [@Dostoyevsky](#): > > Assuming the critic’s charge is true, then wouldn’t an unqualified person’s ascent to power be as objectionable as an uneducated person’s ascent to the very same? If so, whence white privilege in politics? The charge is not true, but even if it were, people usually assume an uneducated Black person is uneducated because they are unintelligent or unmotivated whereas many Whites aren’t saddled with such assumptions. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/24 "2013-10-31T04:11:20Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > No one in on this message board will be able to parrot any minority candidate that ascended to the Governor’s Chair with just a high school diploma. They just don’t exist. Romulado Pacheco, Governor of California in 1875. I don’t think he had any formal education past the age of 12. Alternately, if he counts, Luis Muñoz Marin, the first elected governor of Puerto Rico, from 1949 to 1965. He had been enrolled at Georgetown, but I’m not sure that he ever actually went. His father had enrolled him, over his objections, and then fell ill and died, and so Muñoz never went back. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/25 "2013-10-31T04:13:34Z")
John Scalzi wrote a good essay on white privilege: [Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is](http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/26 "2013-10-31T04:19:26Z")
What we really need are some Deplorable Examples of white, male, wealthy, heterosexual, intelligent, educated, healthy, physically able and unchallenged, English-speaking, good looking, tall, Christian privilege. Did I leave anything out? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/27 "2013-10-31T04:23:35Z")
> [@NonaSequitur](#): > > That’s not what privilege is… Yes, that is what “privilege” is. Or more specifically, that’s what the term means when people start using it to shout down their opponents or dismiss them as having any worth, which is overwhelmingly how it’s used. And that is overwhelmingly how it is heard by the _targets._ You can use whatever scholarly/politically correct definition you like, but it _isn’t_ going to be heard by your targets as anything other than a sneer of hatred and contempt. And regardless of how _you_ mean the term, that’s _exactly_ how it’s meant by most people who use it. I’m reminded of the occasional libertarian who calls themselves a “classical liberal” and then gets all offended when people “misunderstand” because people think they mean the same thing that everyone else does when they use the word “liberal”. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/28 "2013-10-31T04:29:08Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > The point is that you are operating under the unfounded assumption that the minority was hired because of affirmative action. You basically proved the point given that the vast vast majority of minorities are not in their current positions because of affirmative action, yet you assumed many/most are, and that affirmative action (where it exists) somehow hurts White people. There are ten places available for a course. You are the tenth most qualified candidate, except for one problem: you’re Chinese. Instead a black student gets the tenth position, despite his scores being 250 points lower than yours, just because he is black and you are not. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/29 "2013-10-31T04:31:11Z")
Agree, Buzzfeed is retarded. Cracked without the effort to write an article or the willingness to not steal images. It’s hard to debate the message when the whole list uses asinine images. #2 Are they saying that that can’t happen because only black teenagers die young? Racist! But really, that whole quote is meaningless. #5 Aww they’re becoming doctors! #6 _Sagging_ is associated with hip hop culture. I don’t know many black people, white people, or other people who aren’t Justin Bieber who wear those retarded “crapped myself” pants. #8 What the hell is that gif and what is it supposed to mean? #9 Heh only he’d be the whitest person they can find. #10 Again, WHAT? Two people laughing or crying? #11 Uh they _were_ white. Being Islamic does not change your race. #12 Yeah the pickelhaube is a giveaway. If that wasn’t a clue, the text is. And I guess she should’ve picked him up? #14 No, not living in NYC means I don’t have to worry about stop and frisk. I don’t doubt that cops elsewhere harass people, but I don’t think that these protesters weren’t in New York. #15 Got it. Fuck the Germans, fuck terrorists, and fuck… icebergs? #16 By whom? And to be fair, one came first. They’re both annoying as hell. Minaj’s Lonely Island visit was better. #17 The Boondocks on vacation? In summary, I hate list websites that don’t even try, created by some random guy. Making a social or political point works better when you use examples and persuasion instead of image macros, but most people are too lazy. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/30 "2013-10-31T04:35:47Z")
**Der Trihs** , you were making up your own definition of privileged the last time this topic came up, and your definition has no more validity this time. (And I am highly amused at finding that you are upset over people being subjected to name calling.) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/31 "2013-10-31T05:19:14Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > **Der Trihs** , you were making up your own definition of privileged the last time this topic came up, and your definition has no more validity this time. As opposed to the made up definition we are “supposed” to use? The fact of the matter is that however much you dislike “my” version, that’s how I consistently see it used and how I see people react to the term. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/32 "2013-10-31T06:11:49Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > There are ten places available for a course. You are the tenth most qualified candidate, except for one problem: you’re Chinese. Instead a black student gets the tenth position, despite his scores being 250 points lower than yours, just because he is black and you are not. What job do you know of that uses standardized testing, affirmative action, and race based criteria? Additionally, you have no idea whether any individual’s scores are after the fact. The point is that people see a Black kid at Harvard, and ASSUME he is less qualified even though you have no idea whether he was 1st or 10th in your example. More importantly, you have curiously chosen to view affirmative action as a program that helps Black people at the expense of Asians and Whites despite the fact that White women have benefitted from affirmative action far more, and that affirmative action is largely absent in employment situations. But either way, thanks again for proving the point made by the article. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/33 "2013-10-31T06:20:06Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > As opposed to the made up definition we are “supposed” to use? The fact of the matter is that however much you dislike “my” version, that’s how I consistently see it used and how I see people react to the term. I’m the first to admit that a lot of e-feminists (or other-activists) are internet tough guy shitheads who abuse the term “privilege” to shut down discussion, but that doesn’t mean that the underlying concept is completely unsound, or that we should completely abandon the term because people are stupid. Privilege is an apt description, white (or cis, or heterosexual, or male, or rich) people get certain levels privileges in society not afforded to others. That doesn’t mean that Barack Obama isn’t way better off than Cletus McPoorPants WhiteGuy, but it does mean that Cletus is probably better off than a black guy of the same socioeconomic status than him, and better off in ways that may be invisible to him. Similarly, Obama faces levels of scrutiny and attacks that aren’t afforded to white guys at his level. That’s what it was coined to mean, and **privilege** is a perfectly good way to describe it. Don’t let internet shitheads ruin it. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/34 "2013-10-31T09:03:39Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > Can we talk about Dan Quayle? Dan Quayle (a white man) who just happened to be Vice President could not spell the word “[potato](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdqbi66oNuI)”. I know it’s a low-hanging fruit, but God, could you imagine if Obama did this? Or hell, if his children did this? Or if Rev. Jeremiah Wright did this? What if Eric Holder did this? We could do this with John Boehner, Rick Snyder, Ted Cruz, and be here for days. The problem is that white privilege isn’t something that most white males can handle. If you’re a white male, you (likely) believe that it is your intellect, hard-work, and tenacity which has allowed you to overcome adversity and obtain your present level of success. You (probably) also believe that if you were to encapsulate that hard-work and other qualities into a black body or a female body, that you’d be just as successful (heck! more successful!!11one) than you were in the white male body. > > - Honesty Obama put HOW many states in the union? And Dan Quayle accepted the ACCURATE spelling of potato, but was THEN told it was wrong & did not correct the backup-judge. Now, Dan was a fine Congressman & Senator for my state, tho he seemed taken aback by his V.P. nomination, stumbled several times in public, and was never taken seriously again. Hell, the fact that you’re bringing this up over two decades later shows that this is a crap example. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/35 "2013-10-31T13:40:45Z")
> [@NonaSequitur](#): > > This is true, though I can’t recall coming across any reports of any unarmed white guys being shot (due to furtive movements, scary wallets etc) by the police. Maybe there have been instances and it’s not been reported? My hometown had a lovely case a couple years back: [Patricia Cook](http://reason.com/blog/2013/05/03/culpeper-cop-who-shot-and-killed-patrici), shot by Officer Daniel Harmon-Wright. As for the list that inspired the OP, I agree with the general feelings others have put forth. Black people suffer discrimination in this country at times, but the list is an excellent example of slipshod thinking, false claims, and poor wording. About what I expect from most internet sources, in other words. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/36 "2013-10-31T13:43:37Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > My hometown had a lovely case a couple years back: [Patricia Cook](http://reason.com/blog/2013/05/03/culpeper-cop-who-shot-and-killed-patrici), shot by Officer Daniel Harmon-Wright. Perhaps he had a problem with a guy named Patricia. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/37 "2013-10-31T14:04:19Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > My hometown had a lovely case a couple years back: [Patricia Cook](http://reason.com/blog/2013/05/03/culpeper-cop-who-shot-and-killed-patrici), shot by Officer Daniel Harmon-Wright. What’s noteworthy about that link is that the cop was successfully prosecuted, which isn’t the typical outcome for shootings of black males. ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/38 "2013-10-31T14:10:44Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Obama put HOW many states in the union? > > And Dan Quayle accepted the ACCURATE spelling of potato, but was THEN told it was wrong & did not correct the backup-judge. Now, Dan was a fine Congressman & Senator for my state, tho he seemed taken aback by his V.P. nomination, stumbled several times in public, and was never taken seriously again. Hell, the fact that you’re bringing this up over two decades later shows that this is a crap example. I’m sorry, FriarTed, but being “told” potato was wrong and not knowing it was wrong is just as bad. In fact, in some ways, it’s _worse._ If Dan Quayle were a minority, he’d be washing dishes somewhere. Same goes for Scott Walker, John Boehner, and many other white politicians. - Honesty ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/39 "2013-10-31T14:16:00Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Romulado Pacheco, Governor of California in 1875. I don’t think he had any formal education past the age of 12. > > Alternately, if he counts, Luis Muñoz Marin, the first elected governor of Puerto Rico, from 1949 to 1965. He had been enrolled at Georgetown, but I’m not sure that he ever actually went. His father had enrolled him, over his objections, and then fell ill and died, and so Muñoz never went back. Thank you for fighting my ignorance but was hoping for a more contemporary example. Marin might be a comparable example to Scott Walker but Puerto Rico isn’t even a State, it’s a territory. Thanks for the information, nonetheless. The best example of white privilege is simply looking at the book labeled “Presidents”. When you’re done with that, open the book labeled “Vice Presidents” and you’ll find that 98% of all Presidents have been white men and 100% of Vice Presidents have been white men. It’s quite remarkable given the diversity of the United States. - Honesty ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/40 "2013-10-31T14:19:37Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > They don’t like being told that they are worthless evil subhumans for something they never did, no. Which is what slamming people with a label like “privileged” is doing. It’s just a snooty version of “worthless parasite”, the left wing equivalent of calling someone a “taker, not a maker”. Hey, hey, it’s not like that at all. ☹ It’s just about knowing that privilege exist. Nothing more, nothing less. - Honesty [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700.md?page=3)