Buzzfeed's 17 Deplorable Examples of White Privilege

Great Debates
121

Well, I think that you’re wrong both about the content of SB 1070 and the court rulings on it, but let’s use it an example.

  1. The bill is designed to facilitate the arrest of illegal aliens. 2) Most illegal aliens (especially in Arizona) are hispanic. 3) The police use hispanic as a proxy for illegal alien, thus subjecting hispanics who are not illegal aliens to increased police attention.

Number 3 is unacceptable. But, it sounds to me like you’re saying that number 2 is untrue, and I don’t think it is. Maybe I’m naive, but I strongly doubt that you are correct that the only reason that most detained illegal aliens are Hispanic is because, notwithstanding the fact that most illegal aliens are non-Hispanic, police are racistly focusing their attentions on the Hispanic community.

122

There are two ways crime statistics are collected. One is through law enforcement, the other is to call people and ask if they were the victim of a crime in the last year and ask about details of the crime. Both of these methods show that black people commit crimes at a much higher rate than white, asian, or hispanic people. Furthermore, most of the victims of crime are people who are of the same race as the perpetrator. So unless black people are going around making up crimes to blame on black criminals or blaming crimes done by white criminals on black people, the only conclusion is that black people commit more crimes than other races. The exceptions to this are fraud, and drug possession. Black people are charged disproportionately for drug posession because the police focus on high crime areas and so have a greater presence in neighborhoods with black male youths. Furthermore all people arrested for other crimes are searched and tested for drugs so this also leads to more black people being charged for drug possesion.

123

To find it more worthwhile to argue over semantics than to actually care about racism and it’s effect on people is, in fact, something that comes with white privilege.

But carry on, white males, carry on.

124

The two are in no way mutually exclusive.

125

With the exception of the 31st vice president, Charles Curtis, who was Indian (Kansa/Osage/Potawatomi).

126

Number 3 is exactly what they’re doing. They can’t know someone’s race irrefutably by looking at them, and you can’t search someone who’s not doing anything unless you have that law behind your back. Number 2 is irrelevant to me, even if they are, the police should not be allowed to stop someone on that basis.

Cite that this is because they are black?

127

I guess I’m confused about your position.

I agree that number 3 is the concern. (although I’m not sure why “knowing someone’s race irrefutably” is relevant). And if what you’re saying is that *notwithstanding * the fact that the overwhelming majority of illegal aliens are Hispanic, treating all Hispanics as illegal aliens is unacceptable, then I agree. But I understood you to be saying that the underlying premise (most illegal aliens are Hispanic) is false, and that it only appears that way because racist Arizonians focus on the Hispanic communities. And I just don’t believe that that’s true.

The same is generally the case with blacks. Because young black males commit such a disproportionate amount of major crimes, there is increased police focus on them. The focus possibly means that this group will be convicted of petty crimes at a rate greater than they commit them (which doesn’t strike me as “racist” really). But it also creates the risk that innocent people are going to be subjected to police harassment simply because they are part of a race and sex-based demographic (and that is unacceptable). But in both of these cases, it’s not racist (or even wrong) to say that most illegal aliens are Hispanic or that blacks commit a disproportionate amount of crime.

128

Why people commit crimes is unknown and maybe unknowable. But we do know which groups commit crimes more often and thus end up in prison more often. Males are incarcerated at much higher rates than women. The disproportionate rate of males in prison is much higher than the rates of black people in prison. But that is not because of female privilege, but because males commit much more crime. More young people are arrested than old people but that is not because of old privilege but because young people commit more crime. Whites are imprisoned at a higher rate than asian and that is not because of asian privilege but because they commit more crime. Blacks are imprisoned at a higher rate than whites not because of white privilege but because they commit more crime.

129

Tweet!

Too much, Ibn Warraq. I’m giving you a warning for that. There are many MANY better ways to express disagreement with another poster. Don’t do it again.

130

Ok then, lets hear your opinion on the matter since your not a white male… Oh wait that violates number 7 :rolleyes:

131

Nah. It is the same sort of nonsense we see with people whining about the Jews being the Chosen People. Some people put their own spin on words and insist that their odd interpretation is the correct one, (or only one), and I see no reason to indulge them.

But “putting it another way” is not an equivalent statement. How hard one works is irrelevant when one person is not even given the opportunity to participate. You have simply posted a different statement and claimed that it is the same thing to shift the discussion in such a way as to avoid the reality.

And you accused me of weaseling?

132

Fair enough.

133

#10. No, not because my skin was darker but because it was lighter. I was ready to spend about $3000 in a furniture store and was treated like complete shit because I was white in a mostly hispanic store.

134

Actually, that’s not really putting it a different way. This entire thread is about “white privilege” and not “black disadvantage.” Referring to “white privilege” is ignoring the efforts individual people make. Why is it difficult to see how that is insulting and demeaning? Or is that the point? Is it to say “So how do you like it for a change?”

135

Yes, that kettle is certainly black.

No. He said that your statement was weaselly at best. It would be best if you did not misstate others.

Regards,
Shodan

136

The idea of privilege is actually not about “ignoring the efforts individual people make”. Many people (mostly white men) misinterpret it that way, and then insist that because they refuse to learn or accept the actual definition, that the one they imagine for themselves is the correct one.

A couple people linked to John Scalzi’s “Easiest Difficulty Setting” essay earlier in the thread. I think that gives a decent summary of the concept of privilege. Basically it says that privilege is how society is set up as a whole to make things harder for minorities (not just race, but gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, etc…). It doesn’t mean that every single white man has life handed to him on a platter or that his accomplishments don’t mean anything or that he’s a bad person. But it does mean that, all other things being equal, minorities are less privileged.

Imagine a young white man, born to somewhat wealthy parents, who gets into an Ivy League school. Now imagine a young black man, born to somewhat wealthy parents, who gets into an Ivy League school. Throughout his life, the black man has had to deal with some discrimination based purely on his race that someone very similar who’s white hasn’t had to deal with. Pulled over by cops for driving while black, being suspected of shoplifting because he “shouldn’t be able to afford” something he purchased, people insulting him and assuming he only got into a good school due to affirmative action, etc…

Imagine a white woman who grew up poor, in a bad neighborhood, studied hard and sought out scholarships, went to college, made a decent life for herself. Now what if another woman was in the exact same starting situation but was black and disabled? She’d have additional barriers and difficulties. This is not to blame the first woman or say she had it easy. And it doesn’t mean she has “privileges” that should be taken away and given to someone else.

People who seek to reduce disadvantages for minorities want to do so by making a level playing field. I think this makes some people (mostly white men) nervous because they fear that means bringing everyone down to an equal level, rather than raising everyone up and eliminating prejudices and barriers. Focusing on a semantic nitpick and misinterpreting how social justice people actually use the word privilege just makes them look paranoid and like they’re trying to keep other people disadvantaged out of fear of losing the higher position our society gives them.

137

So, you have nothing but snark to contribute?

Then you should follow your own advice. Your poor attempt at semantic games contributes nothing to the thread.

138

Have I ever been denied a job because I was not the “right” race? Yes and I was told that was the reason.

Have I ever been discriminated against with ridicule because of my race? Yes.

Have I ever had someone refuse to wait on me in a store because of the way that I or my S.O. looked? Yes. And it happened more than once. One time it was a pharmacist who refused to fill a prescription for pain medication when I had one hell of a toothache. He not only refused to fill it, but was very hateful to me when I was not unpleasant to him.

Have I ever been followed in a store and suspected of shoplifting? Yes. My packages were even checked after I left one store. In another store I began to follow the woman who was following me. That worked well.

Have I ever been criticized for my Southern accent? Yes, by a member of my family who didn’t grow up in the South. Some people will tease me a little bit, but not in an offensive way.

Have I ever been asked in a court of law, as a plaintiff, if I was racially prejudiced when the defendent was of another race? Yep.

Who is more likely to have a higher salary – a Caucasian woman who is a college graduate or an Africian-American male without one?

I have many benefits because I am not Africian-American. But I have missed out on many things – particularly in the Sixties and Seventies – because I am a woman.

I am discovering lately that there is another prejudice which is causing me problems. My age. I don’t think that one is going away. Yet…

And I did think of an additional reason why more African-Americans are incarcerated. Many of them cannot afford a good lawyer.

Where has more crime been committed lately – on Wall Street or in Harlem?

The original article in the OP was assumptive and not at all well thought out. There are too many exceptions to “white privilege” and the person who wrote the article must be very prejudiced against women, Lesbians and gays, homely people, foreign cultures, fat people and much more not to realize there are huge holes in her or his ignorant claims.

139

I’m just curious if all other variables have been controlled for so that we know with a reasonable amount of certainty that this black young man (with the same background as the white young man) is being pulled over, accused of shoplifting, etc. SOLELY because of the color of his skin. Is he hanging out with friends from the community, who statistically commit crimes at a higher rate, bringing suspicion on himself? Is he dressing and acting like those friends, bringing suspicion on himself?

All young males get extra attention from the police for this reason. A 23 year old who is driving at 3am with his friends flicking cigarette ashes out the window is going to get looked at by police harder than the very same 23 year old with a suit on driving home from work, no matter his race. Is there objective, non-biased data that shows a young white male getting a pass on something that the young black male doesn’t?

I’ve been stopped by police for what I consider to be bullshit reasons, but I was “privileged” in the sense that I know it wasn’t for racial reasons. If I was black, I might still wonder if some of those encounters were for racial reasons. How do we measure this so that a young black male can either, 1) learn a lesson from the stop, or 2) chalk it up to racism and fight the injustice?

140

What is a straight white male supposed to do about all this? The one attempt made to answer some of these complaints was affirmative action and that itself became another complaint. This is nothing but teenage angst.