# I am not a fan of the term "white privilege” **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872 "2016-03-03T22:11:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/101 "2016-03-06T19:25:13Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > What have I projected? > > Here’s my answer. You didn’t read you’re own link. > > “White observers reacted more to the pain of white than black models, and black observers reacted more to the pain of black than white models,” The last time I checked, there are a whole lot more white Americans than black. Thus, we can assume that more Americans empathize more with white people than with black people. A white poor person is more likely to be viewed with some compassion by your average American than a black poor person. > [@](#): > > Nobody cares about the color of street urchins. In my city the vast majority of beggers I’ve come across are white males and they all get the same amount of money from me. Zero. You want my money go to the shelters I support. You start off by saying “nobody cares” but it’s obvious by the rest of your statement that by nobody, you mean youself. If no one cared about panhandlers, they wouldn’t exist. > [@](#): > > And being the majority in numbers hasn’t stopped other demographic groups from whatever privilege you think white people hold. Stopped other demographic groups from “whatever privilege”? Sorry, the frothing rage of your rhetoric has made you a bit incomprehensible. You might find this article interesting: [:Peter Liang is unlucky to be an Asian cop](http://atimes.com/2016/02/peter-liang-is-unlucky-to-be-an-asian-new-york-cop/). ---
**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:** [March 6, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/102 "2016-03-06T20:54:52Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Which kind of street urchin tends to solicit more empathy and pity from the average American? A white woman or a black guy? Fortunately, it turns out we don’t have to rely on any “clairvoyance” to answer this question, since [current research indicates that most Americans are going to feel more empathy for the former, solely based on skin color](http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/27/race.empathy/). It’s probably _much_ more important that she’s a woman. People feel more compassion for females, right down to parents reacting faster to a crying baby if the baby is a girl. That’s why charitable organizations and political groups looking for sympathy typically put women and children in their advertisements after all instead of men; people _care more_ if you aren’t a man. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/103 "2016-03-06T21:39:15Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > It’s probably _much_ more important that she’s a woman. People feel more compassion for females, right down to parents reacting faster to a crying baby if the baby is a girl. Did you even read the article she linked to? Even when you control for sex, whites are more inclined to empathize with other whites. To argue this point in the face of scientific evidence is to be willfully ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/104 "2016-03-07T00:38:38Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > The last time I checked, there are a whole lot more white Americans than black. Thus, we can assume that more Americans empathize more with white people than with black people. > > A white poor person is more likely to be viewed with some compassion by your average American than a black poor person. > > You start off by saying “nobody cares” but it’s obvious by the rest of your statement that by nobody, you mean youself. If no one cared about panhandlers, they wouldn’t exist. > > Stopped other demographic groups from “whatever privilege”? Sorry, the frothing rage of your rhetoric has made you a bit incomprehensible. > > You might find this article interesting: [:Peter Liang is unlucky to be an Asian cop](http://atimes.com/2016/02/peter-liang-is-unlucky-to-be-an-asian-new-york-cop/). kudos for getting out of bed each day and not killing yourself. You’re a credit to your perceptions of the world. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/105 "2016-03-07T01:56:09Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/106 "2016-03-07T02:02:45Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Yes. That’s a rant not statement you can back up. You’re trying to project failures based on skin color when there is a clear and undeniable connection to drop out rates/poor performance in schools and job success. Unless I’m misreading this, it supports **monstro’s** point that black people, in general, are more likely to be viewed as poor and uneducated than white people. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/107 "2016-03-07T03:59:45Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > Thanks. I think that is a good way to look at things. I would have just called that indirect or societal racism. Maybe it is just a semantics game. It is. The way you get treated by the world around you is seen by you as “the norm.” It’s to your credit that you believe it SHOULD actually BE “the norm” universally, but that is not a good descriptor of what the world looks like. Because, like it or not, the way society looks today, there’s no such thing as a universal “norm.” Are you finding yourself confronted with accusation-tinged observations that you’re a beneficiary of white privilege? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/108 "2016-03-07T04:35:55Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > My problem with this way of looking at it is that, once again, it casts white people as the _default_ – white people are treated the _normal_ way, and everyone else is a special case or something. I’m not a minority, but if I were, I would imagine that it could feel utterly maddening sometimes to constantly see my circumstances and personal characteristics cast as _other than the norm_, and other than the default, when they are in fact the norm/default for myself and folks in my community. > > Characterizing the benefits (or lack of disadvantages) that being white can confer in various circumstances as a privilege, rather than just characterizing it as the default or normal state of being, casts _white people_, for once, as the recipients of some sort of non-default treatment or circumstance. My take on that is that if a group is a significant majority, and treats each other that same way, then it \*IS \*the default, whether or not that’s necessarily fair to others. And… I also think that a whole lot of what gets thought of as being the result of white privilege isn’t race-based at all. Most is likely classism at work, considering that the non-white minorities in the US skew much poorer than the white majority does. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/109 "2016-03-07T04:51:18Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > That’s how I see it used, \*overwhelmingly, \*regardless of the supposed theory behind it. I see terms like “white privilege” (or male privilege and white male privilege) used to demonize and dehumanize their targets, not for some “perspective on racism”. In fact the only time I ever see that version of it come up at all is in discussions where someone is trying to defend it, not when it’s being actually used. > > I see it used to essentially say _"So what_ if he’s sick/poor/oppressed/dead? He’s **Privileged** , and therefore deserves no sympathy, nor does he have the right to an opinion. He should remain silent, and suffer as he deserves." > > Really, the main thing I see it accomplishing is poisoning the well and making it harder to talk meaningfully about people who are\* actually\* privileged and given special treatment, like the wealthy. That actually sounds like someone who has white privilege and male privilege but _doesn’t_ have wealth privilege. Privilege is when you have an advantage that you likely don’t even realize you have because it’s taken so much for granted by you and the society you live in. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/110 "2016-03-07T05:34:38Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > It’s called white privilege because, all else equal, it is a disadvantage NOT to be white. If you compare two individuals at the same socioeconomic level, of the same gender, same advantages, same levels of education, and same work experiences, the white person would be more likely to succeed in their future endeavors because of societal bias. This is a fact, it cannot be argued against. Your mistake is taking it personally. There is no obligation to feel guilty about your privilege. > [@typoink](#): > > This is incorrect. People have acknowledged and discussed disadvantages of certain groups as long as sociology has been a thing. > > The language of privilege was _specifically devised_ to make white people feel guilty about their privilege. Disagree. I find more plausible the argument that it was coined to disabuse whites of the notion that the disadvantages faced by non-whites don’t have anything to do with them. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/111 "2016-03-07T05:36:33Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > If there really is a privilege, it was created, developed, and possibly is being sustained. But if you can’t identify them as unlawful, you shouldn’t undo them. Create your own environment of privilege. Or, use your feet. > [@Acsenray](#): > > If you don’t like it, you can go start your own country? Try “civilization.” ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/112 "2016-03-07T06:10:27Z")
I think their are pluses and minuses for each racial group. Twice in my life I’ve been turned down for a job because they said they had too many white males. Another one said basically they just wanted black candidates. But along with that I know I as a white person have some advantages. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/113 "2016-03-07T13:04:34Z")
Going back to something I mentioned before… Y’all think if instead of “white privilege” in its inception, the concept had been labeled something like “Caucacentrism”, people would still be strongly arguing it does not apply to them? ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/114 "2016-03-07T14:02:10Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I think their are pluses and minuses for each racial group. > > Twice in my life I’ve been turned down for a job because they said they had too many white males. Another one said basically they just wanted black candidates. > > But along with that I know I as a white person have some advantages. Such insight. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/115 "2016-03-07T14:26:44Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Going back to something I mentioned before… > Y’all think if instead of “white privilege” in its inception, the concept had been labeled something like “Caucacentrism”, people would still be strongly arguing it does not apply to them? Yes. I think its human nature to disavow your advantages. I’ve heard trust fund kids tell me how hard their lives are. College is paid for “but I still had to work hard to get in.” A relative will set them up with a job “but it isn’t one I wanted to do, so I had to make my own way.” And wealth is where we have all agreed that there is privilege (probably because so few of us grew up with it). There will still be the “yes I’m white, but do to quotas I wasn’t interviewed, didn’t get into the college I wanted, didn’t get a scholarship because I wasn’t a minority.” We tend to overplay the advantages of others and downplay ours. I want to believe I got where I am despite being a woman, not because I’m white and middle class - its a better narrative that has me overcoming odds rather than playing on the easy setting. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/116 "2016-03-07T14:58:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Sadly, I am a cisgendered heterosexual male and must be consistently reminded that I am privileged. By everyone. All the time. Lest my hubris overwhelm me, I guess. Yes, I’ll go along with the other poster who asked you when was the last time you were confronted with this. How many times a day? Or a week? or a month? Certainly to use such terms as “consistently” or “By everyone.” (as a sentence for emphasis) or “All the time.” (ditto) then it must be overwhelming. My bleeding liberal heart bleeds for you. > [@ITR\_champion](#): > > I have worked at the Salvation Army serving meals to the homeless, and at a free clinic for the poor, and at several homeless shelters. I see a lot of poor people come in, asking for help. I estimate 80-90% of those people to be white. In which city and what was the percentage of minorities? Studies consistently show that blacks are overrepresented among the homeless. > [@](#): > > But I have never seen any evidence that the police harass white homeless bums less than homeless black bums. Willful ignorance is still ignorance. A simple task of googling this : > [@](#): > > And blacks are 7.54 times more likely to be arrested for vagrancy, an offense that is typically associated with homelessness. It’s also well known that blacks are arrested at a much higher rate for pot use, and I think it’s pretty likely that this trend would be seen in the homeless as well. Here’s [an article](http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/03/25/racism-poverty-and-prisons-have-combined-in-seattle-to-create-surging-black-homeless-population/) which discusses the relationship of race and homelessness in greater depth. Among other points they discuss how the much higher arrest rate of blacks affects the ability to move up compared to whites. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/117 "2016-03-07T15:01:31Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Going back to something I mentioned before… > Y’all think if instead of “white privilege” in its inception, the concept had been labeled something like “Caucacentrism”, people would still be strongly arguing it does not apply to them? I don’t understand why someone would accept “Caucacentrism” but reject “white privilege”. The arguments against the latter also apply to the former. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/118 "2016-03-07T15:08:49Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Yes. I think its human nature to disavow your advantages. I’ve heard trust fund kids tell me how hard their lives are. College is paid for “but I still had to work hard to get in.” A relative will set them up with a job “but it isn’t one I wanted to do, so I had to make my own way.” And wealth is where we have all agreed that there is privilege (probably because so few of us grew up with it). > > There will still be the “yes I’m white, but do to quotas I wasn’t interviewed, didn’t get into the college I wanted, didn’t get a scholarship because I wasn’t a minority.” We tend to overplay the advantages of others and downplay ours. I want to believe I got where I am despite being a woman, not because I’m white and middle class - its a better narrative that has me overcoming odds rather than playing on the easy setting. I think it’s because we are uncomfortable with nuance. We think that admitting we have had advantages is the exact same thing as saying we didn’t earn anything–it can’t be both. People want to be able to put every possible advantage/disadvantage on a straight-line spectrum and know, to 17 decimal places, exactly how to handicap the accomplishments of an attractive black woman from a middle class family vs. a left-handed, red-haired white dude from an educated family that now lives in much reduced circumstances due to the death of a parent. And if you can’t talk about it like that, then let’s not talk about it at all, because if we can’t resolve the question, if we can’t determine at the end whose accomplishments are real and whose are bogus, then the conversation isn’t worth having at all. THIS is why a liberal arts education is useful. A liberal arts education teaches you how you can learn useful things and perspectives even when total absolute resolution is not possible. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/119 "2016-03-07T15:12:39Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Going back to something I mentioned before… > Y’all think if instead of “white privilege” in its inception, the concept had been labeled something like “Caucacentrism”, people would still be strongly arguing it does not apply to them? I suspect they’d find a way to complain. After all, we get to hear plenty about how homophobic people aren’t actually scared of gay people, they just…blah blah blah. Pretending you are just a little concerned about a particular word is a pretty classic way to avoid saying what you are trying to say directly. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/120 "2016-03-07T15:33:15Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > We tend to overplay the advantages of others and downplay ours. I want to believe I got where I am despite being a woman, not because I’m white and middle class - its a better narrative that has me overcoming odds rather than playing on the easy setting. Now, THAT is quite insightful. We very often adjust “privilege” in our minds to mean only that which WE don’t have. And yes, I figured there would be rejection anyway because “no way the society is designed around me, if it were I’d be on top”. Without realizing that part of the reasons it upsets you so much to not be on top, is that you see people who look and sound like you apparently making it to the top with ease. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872.md?page=7)