# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![thisishowwepray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@thisishowwepray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thisishowwepray)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/41 "2013-10-31T14:58:52Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > No 1 is wrong. Cops, because they are a magnet for people with authoritarian personalities can be abusive and fearful towards any socially outcast group. White homeless, white addicts and white mentally ill people will disagree that whites will never be abused by the police. This was the only one I took issue with. Black people ARE much more likely to be fucked over by cops, but so are LGBT people (lots of recent problems with police hostility and brutality towards trans people) and, in somewhat of a different way, women. Or really (re: the latter), anyone who is sexually assaulted by a cop. It’s investigated internally in most places and cops are acquitted (is that the right word?) far too often. The propaganda poster next to the magazine cover was startling, as was the kid in blackface. ---
**Author:** ![thisishowwepray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@thisishowwepray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thisishowwepray)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/42 "2013-10-31T15:04:29Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > Hey, hey, it’s not like that at all. ☹ It’s just about knowing that privilege exist. Nothing more, nothing less. > > - Honesty Yeah. Privilege doesn’t mean you’re evil, it means you’re privileged. You can be privileged and be a good person. You can be privileged and fight for equality so that privilege doesn’t exist or exists less. I cannot for the life of me understand why people (seems generally to be white men) get so upset about being called privileged. I know I am privileged (white and educated, from an upper-middle class family) and simply see this as a fact. I didn’t choose any of these things (other than, to a point, the education past high school, which was available to me only because my parents paid). This doesn’t make me a bad person! My actions do. My privilege is only a bad thing if I intentionally use it to take advantage of someone else (“it wasn’t me officer, it was that young black man!”). ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/43 "2013-10-31T15:15:42Z")
The list is so stupid. 1. White people are victims of police brutality. Kelly Thomas was a white man beaten to death by police. Recently a whole [family](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/jimmy-drummond-texas-police-brutality_n_3900088.html)of white people were beaten by police. 2. People wear intentionally offensive halloween costumes. Two years ago [Casey Anthony](http://www.ibtimes.com/casey-anthony-top-5-looks-halloween-costumes-photos-553003) were big. During the OJ trial there were people who went as Nicole. 3. You don’t have to tell your children anything. 4. Unless, you are a teenager, have tatoos, dress poorly, have a southern accent, blond 5. They don’t just round up random people on the street, don’t break the law and you have a vanishingly small chance of going to jail. 6. No one has ever said anything bad about Justin Beiber, or said a word that rhymes with bigger but starts with wh-. Everyone gets judged by the way they dress. That is why people wear suits to business meetings and nice dresses to dates. 7. We are constantly told that diversity is a great and important thing because we need people who have different perspectives. However the only people who really believe that “all people of color think alike and share similar views.” are working in college admissions. 8. It is a privilege to not be forced to take jobs you are not qualified for and go to colleges you are not qualified for. 9. No white person ever got turned down for a job because of the way they looked or acted in a job interview? Everyone has to conform to fit in, there is no right to totally express your individuality if it is going to be disruptive to the organization you voluntarily join. 10. Crime does not occur evenly throughout the population. Males commit much more than females, the young much more than the old, and blacks more than whites. Shopkeepers treat people accordingly because they don’t want to be stole from. 11. No one labels all black people terrorists even though there have been black terrorists, no one labels all hispanics as terrorists even though there have been hispanic terrorists, no one labels all asians terrorist even though there have been asian terrorists. 12. Every group has stereotypes, white people can’t dance. Irish are drunkards, jews are cheap, italians are loud, etc. 13. No one has ever been forced to explain why cultural appropriation is a bad thing. Are you aware of the mobs of irish americans who go around every St. Patricks day telling people not to celebrate their holiday? 14. In 2012 50,000 white people were stopped and frisked in New York. This is a policy that has helped turned one of the most crime ridden cities in the country into one of the safest large cities in the world. Thousands of lives have been saved and most of those were black or hispanic. 15. Bernie Madoff’s crime were never excused because of the Holocaust. If I told my kids’ teachers they could not do their homework because their Great grandparents were on the Titanic they would think I was crazy. No one says slavery should be forgotten. It just should not be used to excuse bad choices people make. 16. I’ve never heard Niki Minaj referred to as the black Lady Gaga, but it has obviously held her career back. I am sure that one day black people will get a chance to excel in the music field once white privilege is done away with. 17. That is a part of being a minority. White people in Africa and Asia are very aware of race and being different. Do black people in Africa and the west indies have black privilege, do asian people in asia have yellow privilege, do south americans have brown privilege? ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/44 "2013-10-31T15:36:46Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > 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 If having one gaffe means you have to be a dishwasher, better make some room for Obama who thinks there are 57 states. Representative Yvette Clark is a black congressman who does not have a college degree. Solomon Oritz is a hispanic congressman who does not have a college degree. I am sure Boehner took great succor in his privelege as he was growing up in a house with fourteen people and two bedrooms. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/45 "2013-10-31T15:41:31Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > Lots of white people are subjected to police brutality. Not based on the color of their skin, though. Take yourself, if you are white. If you were black, you would be at a much higher risk to be on the receiving end of police brutality than you currently are. That’s the point. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/46 "2013-10-31T16:17:06Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > Only white men that can get elected to be Governor with just a high school diploma and would challenge anyone to find evidence to the contrary. So far as I can think of, only two African-American men have ever been elected as state governors: Doug Wilder in my home state, and Deval Patrick in Massachusetts. I think the sample size is too small to generalize any truths. (And Wilder, IIRC, had a degree in chemistry!) ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/47 "2013-10-31T16:34:47Z")
I don’t know if I agree with everything on the list, but I also know that I get my back up when a guy tells me there is “no sexual harassment in the military” - how would HE KNOW? By the same token, being a caucasian female, I don’t think I can comment if I can recognize “white privilege”. What I can say is that there seems to be less racism against Black people in my area (hold on…) and instead it firmly lands against the Aboriginals in my area. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/48 "2013-10-31T16:35:30Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > #1 is pure horseshit. > Lots of white people are subjected to police brutality. It might happen more often to black people, but it happens plenty to white people. Either its pure horseshit or it doesn’t happen to more black people because of their race, which is it? I think its mostly on point. Police brutality can happen to anyone, but to people of color, police brutality happens not because they’ve pissed off the cops or because of something they did, but because of how they look. The entry should instead say that white people never have to worry about police brutality SOLELY BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE, whereas minorities do. > [@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? #8 isn’t discussing the merits of Affirmative Action, #8 is talking about how people see it. When you’re white and you get a job, you don’t get questioned on your race. That lack of questioning is the privilege. Blacks and others do get questioned, because you can be the editor of the Harvard Law Review and be president and some people still think you only got that job because of your race. That questioning dogs minorities from the lowest job to the highest office in the land. Whites don’t have to worry about that I like the list, its pretty accurate though simplifies some things. The fact that we have so many coming out being defensive about their white privilege says that this list struck a nerve, one more honest than their posts would indicate ---
**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, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/49 "2013-10-31T16:37:12Z")
> [@thisishowwepray](#): > > Yeah. Privilege doesn’t mean you’re evil, it means you’re privileged. You can be privileged and be a good person. You can be privileged and fight for equality so that privilege doesn’t exist or exists less. Why the hell would we _want_ this “privilege” to go away? When a black man gets shot by the police for no reason, the problem isn’t that there aren’t enough white men getting shot. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/50 "2013-10-31T16:46:14Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And things like blacks disproportionally being sent to prison isn’t “white privilege”, it’s the persecution of blacks. And calling it that is hardly doing a favor towards blacks; calling it a “privilege” implies that you think that all those black people should be sent to prison; that they are genuinely deserving of prison. Calling such things “white privilege” implies that how black people are treated is the way things should work, and that whites should be dragged down to the same level of treatment, rather than ensuring that the circumstances of black people are improved. Your understanding of the English language is interesting and unique. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/51 "2013-10-31T16:49:57Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Either its pure horseshit or it doesn’t happen to more black people because of their race, which is it? > > I think its mostly on point. Police brutality can happen to anyone, but to people of color, police brutality happens not because they’ve pissed off the cops or because of something they did, but because of how they look. The entry should instead say that white people never have to worry about police brutality SOLELY BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE, whereas minorities do. It’s pure horseshit because of the phrasing: “Because of white privilege, you’ll never have to worry about becoming the victim of law enforcement officers.” That’s an objectively incorrect statement, people of all races, colors, and creeds have been the victim of law enforcement officers. There is no one who can be assured that they’ll “never have to worry” about it. A more accurate version would be something like, “Because of white privilege, you almost certainly won’t be targeted by law enforcement officers because of your race.” That’s the problem with this list, it cloaks some solid points with awful phrasing. More examples: 1. Having white privilege means people will never label you a terrorist. White people have indeed been labelled terrorists, mostly by virtue of actually being terrorists. I see what they were going for, but again, poor phrasing. 1. White privilege means not being affected by negative stereotypes that have been perpetuated and ingrained so much into American society that people believe them to be fact. Not entirely true, there are negative stereotypes associated with being white, especially if one factors in sub-sets like being Irish, Italian, Jewish, etc. 1. White privilege means you never have to explain why cultural appropriation is a bad thing. Most of that “explaining” that I’ve heard has been done by white people, it’s not something that’s purely the province of non-whites lecturing whites. 1. White privilege means not having to worry about being stopped and frisked. As already noted, white people get stopped and frisked too, just less often, and out of proportion to their numbers. 1. Benefitting from white privilege means you can walk the Earth unaware of your color. And one more: you can’t walk the Earth as a white person and be unaware of your color. Head to an area that’s majority non-white and you’ll be aware pretty quickly, be it a black or Hispanic neighborhood, Kenya, or anywhere else. This is a majority privilege, not a white one, and thus it’s only a white privilege in some areas, and not “the Earth”. So, conclusion: absolutism and clumsy word choice undercuts a potentially-useful article. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/52 "2013-10-31T16:53:17Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Police brutality can happen to anyone, but to people of color, police brutality happens not because they’ve pissed off the cops or because of something they did, but because of how they look. I am going to need a credible cite for this, and I don’t mean you just repeat it. Regards, Sho-damned ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/53 "2013-10-31T17:21:11Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > I can give you three examples of White Privilege: Scott Walker, Dan Quayle, and John Boehner. All three of these individuals would be washing dishes somewhere if they were a minority. For example, Scott Walker, has no college degree but was elected to the Governership, _twice_. 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. Out of idle curiousity, do you think a white man could get reelected to Congress while under criminal indictment and while being treated at an inpatient facility for a mental condition? How about a black man? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/54 "2013-10-31T17:28:21Z")
> [@thisishowwepray](#): > > I cannot for the life of me understand why people (seems generally to be white men) get so upset about being called privileged. Based on this, I assume you also cannot for the life of you understand why people (generally blacks) get so upset at being called the beneficiaries of affirmative action. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/55 "2013-10-31T17:45:39Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Calling such things “white privilege” implies that how black people are treated is the way things should work, and that whites should be dragged down to the same level of treatment, rather than ensuring that the circumstances of black people are improved. Exactly. Privilege is some sort of treatment better than the norm, not some sort of relativistic view of the norm from the perspective of people being treated worse than the norm. That’s why to me, the concept of “White privilege” or “Male privilege” is kind of flawed to begin with; you can’t really say that white people have “privileges” that others don’t; they’re just not getting screwed. Would anyone call it “black privilege” that people stereotype you as having larger than average genitals? ---
**Author:** ![thisishowwepray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@thisishowwepray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thisishowwepray)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/56 "2013-10-31T17:49:59Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Based on this, I assume you also cannot for the life of you understand why people (generally blacks) get so upset at being called the beneficiaries of affirmative action. Sure I do. If you clock me in the jaw every day for a year and then bring me an ice pack, I’m going to be pissed if you call me a beneficiary of your nurturance. If you clock me in the jaw and I say “you clocked me in the Jaw,” you have no reason to be angry. If you wear a blue hat and I say “you are wearing a blue hat,” you have no reason to be angry. If I say, in the latter scenario, “I hate people who wear blue hats,” then you have a reason to be angry. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/57 "2013-10-31T17:50:15Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Based on this, I assume you also cannot for the life of you understand why people (generally blacks) get so upset at being called the beneficiaries of affirmative action. _:golf clap:_ Regards, Sho-damned ---
**Author:** ![thisishowwepray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@thisishowwepray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thisishowwepray)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/58 "2013-10-31T17:59:00Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Why the hell would we _want_ this “privilege” to go away? When a black man gets shot by the police for no reason, the problem isn’t that there aren’t enough white men getting shot. It “going away” would mean that, ideally, no one would be shot for no valid reason. If that’s hard for you to comprehend, ask yourself if allowing women to vote was bad for men, or made men less able to vote. Or if ending slavery took away jobs from white people of European descent. Oh, did it? Should we bring slavery back then? After all, ending slavery of African Americans clearly enslaved white people. Do you get the picture? The idea is equality, not preferential treatment for a group. Getting there is difficult because of long histories of oppression and inequality being woven in to the very fabric of our society. ---
**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, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/59 "2013-10-31T18:06:36Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > So far as I can think of, only two African-American men have ever been elected as state governors: Doug Wilder in my home state, and Deval Patrick in Massachusetts. > > I think the sample size is too small to generalize any truths. (And Wilder, IIRC, had a degree in chemistry!) True, operative word being _elected_. Two were appointed after their predecessors were accused of shenanigans. [David Paterson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Paterson) [PBS Pinchback](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._B._S._Pinchback) The US Virgin Islands have had a few black territorial Governors. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700/60 "2013-10-31T18:09:37Z")
> [@thisishowwepray](#): > > It “going away” would mean that, ideally, no one would be shot for no valid reason. If that’s hard for you to comprehend, ask yourself if allowing women to vote was bad for men, or made men less able to vote. > > Or if ending slavery took away jobs from white people of European descent. Oh, did it? Should we bring slavery back then? After all, ending slavery of African Americans clearly enslaved white people. > > Do you get the picture? The idea is equality, not preferential treatment for a group. Getting there is difficult because of long histories of oppression and inequality being woven in to the very fabric of our society. If it’s a white privilege to not be shot by the police, and that privilege were to go away, the result would be white people getting shot by the police. That’s a perfectly valid parsing of what it means to for a privilege to “go away”. A better term might be to say that ideally, not being shot by the police would no longer be a privilege, as opposed to being a privilege that should go away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buzzfeeds-17-deplorable-examples-of-white-privilege/672700.md?page=4)