# 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:** 7
**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 7, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/121 "2016-03-07T17:09:40Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > 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. Yeah this habit is pretty much the rule rather than the exception. People still object to the word “racism” because it’s applied to people who think other races are intrinsically different but don’t necessarily hate them. ---
**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, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/122 "2016-03-07T17:36:21Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Yeah this habit is pretty much the rule rather than the exception. People still object to the word “racism” because it’s applied to people who think other races are intrinsically different but don’t necessarily hate them. Racist is a loaded word. Racists are horrible people - white sheet wearing, genocidal, murderous haters on the far end, and even on the soft end of common usage - hateful, ignorant and unwilling to non white people the benefit or the doubt. No decent person wants to be lumped in with that crowd. So racism becomes a loaded word, even though racism can be less overt, more well intentioned but patronizing, unconscious and systemic - and just part of how our brains work unconsciously to quickly categorize and stereotype. Racism can also describe those hateful racists. It would be nice if we had more shaded language to work with here. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/123 "2016-03-07T17:42:17Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > 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. Excellent post. ---
**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 7, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/124 "2016-03-07T23:26:44Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Racist is a loaded word. No more loaded than other words that deal with race and discrimination, that’s my point. Ideological hangups and the desire to distance oneself from uncomfortable truths…these drive what we consider loaded terms. It’s delusional to think its the words themselves that cause us to have these eternal semantic quibble fests. > [@](#): > > It would be nice if we had more shaded language to work with here. The irony is that we do; it just automatically becomes loaded when it gains purchase in everyday speech. Case in point, “white privilege”. It refers to the benefits that come with being a member of the racial majority even if you’re not directly perpetrating discrimination against other races yourself. We now have the means to talk about racism without accusing someone of being a evil bad hateful person, and yet people still feel like others are trying to make them feel guilty and ashamed. At a certain point, you realize it’s not speech that is the problem. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/125 "2016-03-08T17:46:56Z")
Exactly! Really, it’s a gentle way of getting white people off the hook (as individuals). It’s basically saying “you’re not (necessarily) a racist. It’s not your fault, _but_, you might find it helpful to be aware that…” But even this isn’t good enough for some of them! They bristle at even the tiniest suggestion that they’ve been enjoying structural, cultural advantages (yes, _compared to certain others_ – that’s what “advantage” means). Fine, forget it. You don’t like this gentle reminder, about something that isn’t personally your fault? Okay, then – you’re not going to like the alternative, though. ---
**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 9, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/126 "2016-03-09T14:09:35Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Exactly! Really, it’s a gentle way of getting white people off the hook (as individuals). It’s basically saying “you’re not (necessarily) a racist. It’s not your fault, _but_, you might find it helpful to be aware that…” > > […] > > Fine, forget it. You don’t like this gentle reminder, about something that isn’t personally your fault? Okay, then – you’re not going to like the alternative, though. Two components to that: 1. Granting them a partial point: it is often NOT used “in a gentle way” and not at all to get them off the hook. _However…_ 2. … too many hold the position that “if it’s not personally my fault, then I’m not responsible for dealing with it at all”. ---
**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 14, 2016, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/127 "2016-03-14T00:47:52Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Exactly! Really, it’s a gentle way of getting white people off the hook (as individuals). It’s basically saying “you’re not (necessarily) a racist. It’s not your fault, _but_, you might find it helpful to be aware that…” To me it’s the exact opposite; it’s a way of making sure that the “privileged” person cannot get off the hook. I’d \*rather \*be called racist than privileged, since I can _try_ not to be racist, _try_ to show that I am not racist; but “privileged” is a status that can’t be rejected since it’s imposed from without. You might as well call someone “unclean” or talk about how they have “bad blood”. It’s an accusation that someone is _born_ bad, and nothing he or she does can change it. And it has the opposite effect than is supposedly intended. It encourages racism if anything; “If I am going to be _called_ evil no matter what I do then I might as well _actually be_ evil” to paraphrase an actual quote from memory. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/128 "2016-03-14T01:01:22Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > To me it’s the exact opposite; it’s a way of making sure that the “privileged” person cannot get off the hook. I’d \*rather \*be called racist than privileged, since I can _try_ not to be racist, _try_ to show that I am not racist; but “privileged” is a status that can’t be rejected since it’s imposed from without. You might as well call someone “unclean” or talk about how they have “bad blood”. It’s an accusation that someone is _born_ bad, and nothing he or she does can change it. > > And it has the opposite effect than is supposedly intended. It encourages racism if anything; “If I am going to be _called_ evil no matter what I do then I might as well _actually be_ evil” to paraphrase an actual quote from memory. That’s sort of my take on “benefit” (see post way high up above). ---
**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 14, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/129 "2016-03-14T01:03:07Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > To me it’s the exact opposite; it’s a way of making sure that the “privileged” person cannot get off the hook. I’d \*rather \*be called racist than privileged, since I can _try_ not to be racist, _try_ to show that I am not racist; but “privileged” is a status that can’t be rejected since it’s imposed from without. You might as well call someone “unclean” or talk about how they have “bad blood”. It’s an accusation that someone is _born_ bad, and nothing he or she does can change it. > > And it has the opposite effect than is supposedly intended. It encourages racism if anything; “If I am going to be _called_ evil no matter what I do then I might as well _actually be_ evil” to paraphrase an actual quote from memory. How do you suggest that a black person react if someone who isn’t black tells them, say, that they should trust and obey cops at all times because cops are there to protect and serve? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/130 "2016-03-14T01:43:47Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > 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? Sorry for not coming back to the thread sooner. Anyway, I’ll hope it was obvious that this was hyperbole but, yes, I have experienced it. No, I won’t quantify my anecdotal experiences. The internet is awash with the stuff, though, and if you haven’t seen it then you aren’t paying attention. And no, not in dusty corners that nobody pays attention to. It’s mainstream as hell. Here, though. I googled “privilege allies” and [this is what came up](http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/11/things-allies-need-to-know/). The takeaway is “shut up and listen.” There’s a link there to a comic called “white privilege, explained in one simple comic” that ends with “fucking educate yourself!” Another article that says, quote, “white people are constantly centered, nurtured, and coddled when it comes to conversations about race.” That sentence contains three links to three separate articles. The conversation around privilege is meant to be in your face, abrasive, and confrontational. It’s meant to be offputting, to throw people off balance and out of their comfort zones. It’s like the old joke about being in denial. Person 1: You’re in denial. Person 2: No I’m not. Person 1: See!? Person 1: I don’t like the conversation about privilege. Person 2: Well see, that’s how you know you’re privileged. Now go fucking educate yourself. Like a lot of people in the thread, I _certainly_ don’t have a problem with the underlying concepts that are addressed in terms of racism and bigotry. I do have a problem with any philosophy that dictates your social status based upon the circumstances of your birth, and for better or worse that is what the privilege movement does. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/131 "2016-03-14T02:01:41Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > To me it’s the exact opposite; it’s a way of making sure that the “privileged” person cannot get off the hook. I’d \*rather \*be called racist than privileged, since I can _try_ not to be racist, _try_ to show that I am not racist; but “privileged” is a status that can’t be rejected since it’s imposed from without. You might as well call someone “unclean” or talk about how they have “bad blood”. It’s an accusation that someone is _born_ bad, and nothing he or she does can change it. Hogwash. I have “able-bodied” privilege. When I hear the disabled complain about lack of access and accommodation, my instinct is to say, “Knock the chip off your shoulder and quit whining about how unfair the world is.” I know this about myself. So I try to check myself whenever I have this thought. Instead of rolling my eyes, I try to imagine how hard it must be to get around in a wheelchair. Can’t I imagine being pretty pissed off if I couldn’t get access to a building where I’m scheduled to have a job interview? Of course I can. If you are able to stop yourself when you have similar thoughts, then you are “clean”–or at least clean enough. But if you think it’s crazy to believe that your social position inculcates you with a certain mindset, one that makes you blind to certain everyday realities, then it is likely you will stink forever. Privilege isn’t a stain all by itself. It just foster a “dirty” mentality. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2016, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/132 "2016-03-14T05:16:33Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > In which city and what was the percentage of minorities? Studies consistently show that blacks are overrepresented among the homeless. Currently I live in Fargo, ND. The percentage of the population up here that’s white is fairly large, and the percentage that’s any other race is fairly small. I’ve also worked in food banks and homeless shelters in many other places, and if all of them, I’ve encountered a cross section of the population, with all races represented. You say that blacks are overrepresented among the homeless. I don’t doubt it. I never would have. But that misses the point entirely. As long as there are many white people among the homeless, it’s wrong to say that whites as a class are privileged. Those white people who are homeless are not privileged. That’s the point. Or here’s another way to look at it. Everyone who has a supply of healthy food, sanitary drinking water, indoor plumbing, a home that protects them from the elements, and decent clothing is privileged. Immensely privileged. I have all those things and I have had them every day of my life. I am extremely thankful for this privilege and I work to help people who don’t have this privilege. But most discussions about privilege ignore this meaningful way of determining who is and isn’t privileged, in favor of other false divisions, i.e. that whites are more privileged than other races, and so forth. > [@](#): > > Willful ignorance is still ignorance. A simple task of googling this : It’s also well known that blacks are arrested at a much higher rate or 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. Not in very much depth. The article says, “From 1980-2011, the prison population in the Emerald City increased fivefold, from 315,974 to 1,537,415, according to the King County Department of Adult & Juvenile Detention.” Considering that 1,537,415 is more than double the entire population of Seattle, I’m guessing that **Atlanta Blackstar** does not check its facts very carefully. Beyond that, the article is mostly anecdotes of people saying they just know that racism is what causes the problems for homeless people, no data-based evidence that it’s really the case. ---
**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 14, 2016, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/133 "2016-03-14T05:36:32Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > How do you suggest that a black person react if someone who isn’t black tells them, say, that they should trust and obey cops at all times because cops are there to protect and serve? I’d say that they’d be foolish to do so because it isn’t so; the cops are there to harass and abuse them, not help them. But a lack of abuse isn’t _privilege._ > [@monstro](#): > > If you are able to stop yourself when you have similar thoughts, then you are “clean”–or at least clean enough. But if you think it’s crazy to believe that your social position inculcates you with a certain mindset, one that makes you blind to certain everyday realities, then it is likely you will stink forever. Privilege isn’t a stain all by itself. It just foster a “dirty” mentality. You are ignoring what I am saying. I don’t consider privilege to have anything to do with the attitude of the supposedly privileged in the first place; it’s about demonizing & dehumanizing the accused and trying to silence them. It doesn’t matter if someone has a “certain mindset” or not; the essence of “privilege” is that nothing the “privileged” do can ever affect it. It is all about defining someone as irredeemable, as intrinsically vile. It has nothing to do with social position; someone can be starving or homeless or dead and still be called “privileged”, and therefore _automatically_ unworthy of sympathy, respect or help. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/134 "2016-03-14T06:09:20Z")
If you live in a First World nation, you (no matter you skin color or sex or sexual orientation)are an order of magnitude more privileged than someone living in some of the Third world hellholes. Most poster here are Americans- that’s privileged. More than their race- by far. I had a young, healthy person, who had changed their sex\* call me “privileged”- until I pointed out i am old, with cancer , failing eyesight and crippling Arthritis. Yes, they had and will have problems- but to be young, American, with a supportive family, a paid for degree, a decent career, a life-partner- and _healthy_- who is privileged now? - what’s the PC term now? ---
**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 14, 2016, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/135 "2016-03-14T09:26:19Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I’d say that they’d be foolish to do so because it isn’t so; the cops are there to harass and abuse them, not help them. But a lack of abuse isn’t _privilege._ > > You are ignoring what I am saying. I don’t consider privilege to have anything to do with the attitude of the supposedly privileged in the first place; it’s about demonizing & dehumanizing the accused and trying to silence them. It doesn’t matter if someone has a “certain mindset” or not; the essence of “privilege” is that nothing the “privileged” do can ever affect it. It is all about defining someone as irredeemable, as intrinsically vile. > > It has nothing to do with social position; someone can be starving or homeless or dead and still be called “privileged”, and therefore _automatically_ unworthy of sympathy, respect or help. This might be how you interpret privilege, but it’s not how I use the concept, nor how the folks that I know use it. Do you have a problem with privilege if it were only used in the way that I and \*\* monstro\*\* use it? ---
**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 14, 2016, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/136 "2016-03-14T12:11:37Z")
I don’t understand the extreme reaction to being called “privileged”, as if it is the mark of Cain or something. I like to travel, and as an American I have a HUGE advantage. My passport lets me in, with little hassle, pretty much everywhere. My currency is universally accepted and trivially easy to exchange. It’s a privilege. By the raw luck of being born on a particular path of land, I have an ability to travel the world that is all but unimaginable to much of the planet. Why would I feel bad about having this pointed out? It’s just a reality. I don’t have every advantage in the world-- I haven’t scraped together enough money to travel in several years. But I’m certainly better off than Bob in Bhutan who doesn’t even have a way to get a visa to half the planet. It’s not about feeling guilt or feeling bad. But I do have a little patience when I’m stuck in immigration behind someone who is having a harder time than me. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/137 "2016-03-14T12:12:28Z")
I get what Der Trihs and others are saying. True, one can’t “do anything” about the cards one is dealt, but by being confronted with this “privilege” meme, one can be made more AWARE of one’s cards, and AWARE of how history/society/human nature has conspired to make some of your cards “better” than the ones dealt to others, for no good reasons. What you do with this new awareness is up to you. Should you be “blamed” if you do NOTHING with it? Some posters to this thread think so. But I’m guessing that it’s nearly impossible to do nothing with this awareness. Somewhere along the line, one’s actions and behavior are going to be different than if one hasn’t gained this awareness. So, no blame necessary. ---
**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 14, 2016, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/138 "2016-03-14T13:01:50Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > To me it’s the exact opposite; it’s a way of making sure that the “privileged” person cannot get off the hook. You know who also can’t get “off the hook”? People who are routinely discriminated against because of their race! Racism is also a thing that is imposed from without, and yet that doesn’t stop us from using the term. > [@](#): > > It’s an accusation that someone is _born_ bad, and nothing he or she does can change it. You are projecting your own emotions on to the term. Having privilege in one aspect of one’s life doesn’t make anyone “bad”. It just means they are generally better off (in one aspect of one’s life) than others. That’s all it is. > [@](#): > > And it has the opposite effect than is supposedly intended. It encourages racism if anything; “If I am going to be _called_ evil no matter what I do then I might as well _actually be_ evil” to paraphrase an actual quote from memory. Oh Lord. If someone is prone to think this way, they will think this way regardless of the terms we use. You realize this, right? I hope you don’t hold to this particular brand of nonsense. ---
**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 14, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/139 "2016-03-14T14:04:05Z")
**Der Trihs** , how would you describe the concept that (as one example) white people don’t usually have personal experiences with many of the challenges that black people face every day, and therefore may routinely misunderstand them? What word would you put to that concept? I use “privilege” – if it were only used in this way, would you have a problem with it? ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872/140 "2016-03-14T14:34:27Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > But let’s not be fooled, that the word is “privilege” itself hugely helps those who want public opinion to reject it. > [@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 think that would be met with much more eye-rolling and much more decisive rejection. If the problem is the idea that I as a white person am personally doing something wrong by having the “privilege,” it’s much worse that you’re telling me I’m actively putting myself as a white person at the center of the world, isn’t it? I mean, same concept, but I have even more of an active role in it, so in the OP’s terms it’s even more of an accusation or even more of a suggestion that it’s something to feel guilty about. I agree with **Frylock**. There’s no word that wouldn’t be objectionable, because the thing it’s expressing is so uncomfortable to a lot of people that even if they don’t have a rational way to articulate why the thing doesn’t exist, they don’t want to allow it to pass unchallenged. The problem is the suggestion that this phenomenon, whatever you call it, should be a problem that I care about personally. I can’t think of a single -ism-related concept that isn’t met with the same semantic or technical objections of the form “I don’t disagree that (group) is discriminated against, I just don’t think that (actual thing that would address discrimination) is the right way to go about it.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-fan-of-the-term-white-privilege/747872.md?page=8)