# I'm going to catch it for this, White Privilege is not a thing....bear with me: **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 24, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783 "2017-06-24T19:02:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/21 "2017-06-24T22:00:47Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > As a white person I have not received any unfair advantage because of that fact. Like, I’m guessing, most of white America, I have had to claw and scratch for every inch of ground I’ve managed to get. I can truly say my life has not been privileged. But that’s not what “white privilege” means; it’s a reminder that as hard as my successes have been, I have not had to deal with the things that people of color have had to deal with IN ADDITION to the everyday grind to eek out my existence. > It’s not an attempt to say that white people are oblivious to the hardships that others face. It’s not an attempt to negate the sacrifices some white people have made to eliminate the hardship others face. It’s just a reminder that we, as hard as we may have had it, didn’t have it as hard as others. > In the same way that “Black Lives Matter” is not an attempt to say that other lives don’t matter, It’s just a reminder that Black lives are indeed lives that belong in the group of all lives that matter. > > mc Whites and Blacks are not this singular hivemind wherein each individual shares the same exact set of experiences. Please stop considering it so. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/22 "2017-06-24T22:03:22Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > If you think that the color of their skin contributed to the business failure, then yes, in this instance you are being racist. There is another obvious feature here that all the business had in common (besides being black owned) and that’s that they were in business with you. Could it be that the white businessman was the cause of the failures? Could it be that the color of your skin made you bad at discerning what business to choose as a partner? > > No one blames a business owner for attempting to mitigate their risk. But being owned by a person of color is not a risk; your claim otherwise notwithstanding. > > mc What makes you think he is white? ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/23 "2017-06-24T22:05:13Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > We’ve talked about this a million times when the conversation turns to privilege. > > Let’s say you have a sibling. Your parents favor your sibling over you. They give your sibling money for the smallest achievements, while they only say “good job” when you do something. When the two of you get in trouble for the same crime, you get sent to your room, while your sibling gets rewarded with an extra dessert. You’re expected to do chores every weekend. Your sibling is allowed to do nothing but play video games. > > You are obviously being screwed relative to your sibling, but not in any objective sense. Your sibling gets special treatment. You get “normal” treatment. Your hypothetical parents shouldn’t fix the inequality by spoiling you. They should fix the inequality by treating your sibling more like they do you. > > So yeah, in a lot in situations, white people receive the treatment that you’d want anyone to get. I don’t think the police should start treating white people like they do black people just so we can be a more equitable society. > > But I think we also need to confront the fact that sometimes white people are granted “extras”. If the security guards are too busy watching the black and brown customers that they miss the white shoplifters, then the white shoplifters are getting an “extra”. If a teacher overlooks little Johnny’s naughty behavior but sends little Jose to the principal’s office for the same naughtiness, then Johnny is getting an “extra.” If someone gets promoted because he was lucky enough to get invited to the very important and exclusive golf game that someone else who was equally qualified was not invited to, then the latter got something “extra”. > > If doctors are throwing opiate prescriptions at white patients out of sympathy for their pain, while being more skeptical when it comes to the complaints of their black and brown patients, what’s the solution? Should they treat the black and brown patients like they do the white patients and turn everyone into addicts? Or should they maybe reign in some of their sympathy and start dealing with the white folks like they do everyone else? > > I think it’s important for us to realize that dismantling privilege doesn’t translate into positives for everyone. Some boats are going to go up, some boats are going to stay at the same level, and some boats are actually going to sink. I think we’re politically hearing the outcry from a million sinking boats right now. People used to be able to rely on the “old boys network” to get them jobs. They scream “unfair!” when it comes to Affirmative Action, but they weren’t crying when they were able to piggyback on family connections for union jobs that weren’t as open to minorities. The two-step dance that a lot of people like yourself do is a very subtle revenge dance. I grew up in Brooklyn, so I know how to read bullshit well. Basically, you want a seesaw. It can’t be that blacks and whites exist on the same playing field; no; it has to be reversed. It can’t be equality with you people; as you said ‘some boats going to sink.’ Meaning, the white males will be reduced in order to lift up the black man and woman. Fuck that shit. I didn’t do anything to be turned into a second class citizen. The Far Left has abandoned traditional religion in favor of this Race Religion, where white skin is the new Original Sin. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/24 "2017-06-24T22:17:01Z")
Looks like one of those sinking boats is trying to take this place down with it. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/25 "2017-06-24T22:27:30Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > What makes you think he is white? Good point, sorry for the assumption. that was racist on my part. mc ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/26 "2017-06-24T22:35:28Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > Good point, sorry for the assumption. that was racist on my part. > > mc Ftr…I remember him saying he is black but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/27 "2017-06-24T22:39:16Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Looks like one of those sinking boats is trying to take this place down with it. A sinking boat? What do you know of my life? I never was part of any “old boy’s club”. No one in my family is or was a union member. I’m unemployed, struggling to find a job, and right now subsist because of welfare. My family was never rich; at most, solid middle class. My grandmother just retired a few years ago at 85 - so privileged. We never lived in luxury. My father did time in jail. My mother nearly died from Hepatitis C and I had to drop out of college for several years to take care of her. But yeah, I have soo much fucking privilege. Them good old white guys in Washington really give a shit about me. Oh, no, wait, I’ll be one of the thousands who loses health insurance if Trump’s bill goes through. I apologize for not hating myself because I’ve never taken part in racism or done anything to hurt a POC. I’m sorry I won’t accept becoming a “sinking boat” so someone can stand on my shoulders so I can atone for crimes someone else’s ancestors committed. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/28 "2017-06-24T22:48:43Z")
> [@Reddy\_Mercury](#): > > A sinking boat? What do you know of my life? I know about the same as you do about my life. If you know enough about me to feel confident enough to throw a “you people” at me, I know enough to surmise that you’re “sinking.” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/29 "2017-06-24T22:56:22Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Just about the only place I ever hear about white privilege is on this MB, usually by people complaining about other people using that term. [_Really?_](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22white+priveledge%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=%22white+privilege%22) ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/30 "2017-06-24T23:05:11Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > If you think that the color of their skin contributed to the business failure, then yes, in this instance you are being racist. There is another obvious feature here that all the business had in common (besides being black owned) and that’s that they were in business with you. Could it be that the white businessman was the cause of the failures? Could it be that the color of your skin made you bad at discerning what business to choose as a partner? > > No one blames a business owner for attempting to mitigate their risk. But being owned by a person of color is not a risk; your claim otherwise notwithstanding. > > mc Actually Mike the color of the skin was not the most mitigating factor. The biggest factor was that they had been backed by government subsidized programs for blacks and had little or no investment of their own to protect. As I said in my post, I didn’t hold that against blacks and assumed my own blame for taking bad risks. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/31 "2017-06-24T23:09:24Z")
Thank you **Czarcasm** that link led me to this [article](http://occupywallstreet.net/story/explaining-white-privilege-broke-white-person)which I think everyone in this thread should read but I’ll highlight: > [@](#): > > Years ago, some feminist on the internet told me I was “Privileged.” > > “THE FUCK!?!?” I said. > > I came from the kind of Poor that people don’t want to believe still exists in this country. Have you ever spent a frigid northern Illinois winter without heat or running water? I have. At twelve years old, were you making ramen noodles in a coffee maker with water you fetched from a public bathroom? I was. Have you ever lived in a camper year round and used a random relative’s apartment as your mailing address? We did. Did you attend so many different elementary schools that you can only remember a quarter of their names? Welcome to my childhood. > > So when that feminist told me I had “white privilege,” I told her that my white skin didn’t do shit to prevent me from experiencing poverty. . . . > > it’s impossible to deny that being born with white skin in America affords people certain unearned privileges in life that people of another skin color simple are not afforded. For example: > “I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.” > “When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.” > “If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race.”. . . > > **If you read through the rest of the list, you can see how white people and people of color experience the world in two very different ways. BUT LISTEN: This is not said to make white people feel guilty about their privilege. It’s not your fault you were born with white skin and experience these privileges. BUT, whether you realize it or not, you DO benefit from it, and it IS your fault if you don’t maintain awareness of that fact.** wise words. . . ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/32 "2017-06-24T23:35:50Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > . . . But one guy has always loved airplanes, has played flight simulator games since youth, and has a natural aptitude for math, science, physics, and technology. The second guy is more of an artist-painter . . . The discussion is in the context of race (and perhaps sex, national origin, maybe even religion) and not individual personal aptitude. No one is proposing “equality” between people who want a particular job and people who do not. You are correct…but it’s a trivial point that is not relevant to actual class discrimination, such as reflected in white privilege. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/33 "2017-06-24T23:48:30Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > Thank you **Czarcasm** that link led me to this [article](http://occupywallstreet.net/story/explaining-white-privilege-broke-white-person)which I think everyone in this thread should read but I’ll highlight: > > wise words. . . Given my arguments, the post a few back saying : “Here are realistic bonuses that white people get that POC ( including the aforementioned Indians and those of Asian descent to a degree) don’t get.” Is the one that is giving me the most thought. I think in general, a negative “privilege” ( don’t have to worry about getting shot ) is difficult to grasp as a privilege. But “more likely to get a warning on a speeding ticket” is definitely a bonus that I think is real and not particularly trivial. Someday I’ll do a poll and ask servers “Do you give black patrons extra service to avoid the perception you’re being racist and to make sure you did nothing to deserve a bad tip” ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/34 "2017-06-25T00:20:49Z")
> [@Reddy\_Mercury](#): > > It can’t be equality with you people; as you said ‘some boats going to sink.’ Meaning, the white males will be reduced in order to lift up the black man and woman. It’s not often that somebody shows you exactly what type of person they are so succinctly! I now know to completely disregard every opinion and everything to have to say. Thanks!! ---
**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:** [June 25, 2017, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/35 "2017-06-25T01:01:29Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Sorry, but I’ve got a leg up because I’m considered ‘white’. I don’t get any special legislated favors but I’ve got lots of advantages anyway. ‘White’ is considered the norm, nobody worries about whether I’ll fit in with the other ‘white’ folk. Nobody wonders if I’ve got a subpar education due to affirmative action, even though I don’t have a college degree in field where it’s almost always required my resume is taken at face value and no one even bothers to ask. The majority of people assume that I’m just like them because I have a similar skin color, they don’t bother to think that I may be different in way. Nobody follows me around stores thinking I may be a shoplifter. Cops are always polite to me, at least at my house or in my car or dressed well because they assume I’m at least in the upper middle class and not a threat to them or a likely suspect in a crime. Just on the phone people treat me well because I sound like a ‘white guy’. The list goes on and on, most people suck, their prejudices run deep, they judge a book by it’s cover and I’ve got the cover that gets judged the best most often. I don’t like it, I’ve got too much pride to actively take advantage of it, but the only thing I can do about it is speak up when I see people treated unfairly in life and maybe once in a while I’ve changed a person’s mind, but I doubt that I’ve ever done more than convince anyone to moderate their behavior. > > I don’t like the idea of harping on the subject, it just adds to the division, I try to stay positive and point out that we should judge people as individuals, but if you’re going to say the privileges I’ve had in life don’t exist then I have to tell you that you’re wrong. I agree with all this except that I’ll quibble with the “I’ve got too much pride to actively take advantage of it” – one of the things about privilege is that we don’t have any control of it. Us white folks take advantage of it whether we plan to or not. I’ll also note that in the sense that “privilege” is used here, pretty much everyone experiences some sort of privilege in various circumstances, whether it be straight, cis, able-bodied, white, non-black, non-immigrant, etc. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2017, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/36 "2017-06-25T01:03:52Z")
> [@Reddy\_Mercury](#): > > The two-step dance that a lot of people like yourself do is a very subtle revenge dance. I grew up in Brooklyn, so I know how to read bullshit well. Basically, you want a seesaw. It can’t be that blacks and whites exist on the same playing field; no; it has to be reversed. It can’t be equality with you people; as you said ‘some boats going to sink.’ Meaning, the white males will be reduced in order to lift up the black man and woman. Fuck that shit. I didn’t do anything to be turned into a second class citizen. The Far Left has abandoned traditional religion in favor of this Race Religion, where white skin is the new Original Sin. Good job taking down that straw man! ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/37 "2017-06-25T01:07:56Z")
> [@Mithras](#): > > Why the obsession with the treatment of people mistaken for being Muslim and not a mention of the the treatment of people who are actually Muslim? > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Because the latter is a subgroup of the former usually I agree with you that that is what the OP probably meant, but technically it’s can’t be true. A person who is Muslim can not be “mistaken for a Muslim” as there is no mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/38 "2017-06-25T01:12:10Z")
If you’re someone reading this thread and not entirely sure about the notion of white privilege, or about whether racism is a big problem in 2017 America (and that you might be complicit in that problem), I recommend reading some books. Here’s my current set of recommendations: [ul] [li][The Color of Law](https://www.amazon.com/Color-Law-Forgotten-Government-Segregated/dp/1631492853) (the history and origins of residential segregation)[/li][li][Just Mercy](https://www.amazon.com/Just-Mercy-Story-Justice-Redemption-ebook/dp/B00JYWVYLY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1495728181&sr=1-1&keywords=just+mercy) (Bryan Stevenson’s memoir of his work on the death penalty and juvenile life without parole)[/li][li][Racecraft](https://www.amazon.com/Racecraft-Soul-Inequality-American-Life-ebook/dp/B007LCYZCE/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1)(a collection of essays about race, racism, and the ways in which racism produces ideas about race)[/li][li][The Warmth of Other Suns](https://www.amazon.com/Warmth-Other-Suns-Americas-Migration/dp/0679763880)(history of the great migration of African-Americans fleeing terrorism in the South)[/li][li][Ghettoside](https://www.amazon.com/Ghettoside-True-Story-Murder-America-ebook/dp/B0062OCN4E)(reporter’s account of homicide policing in LA and description of the problem of simultaneous overpricing and underpolicing of black communities)[/li][li][Colony in a Nation](https://www.amazon.com/Colony-Nation-Chris-Hayes-ebook/dp/B01H5HPC0S/ref=pd_sim_351_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2H9R2ZBFC47SV0BG9AV7) (A look at racial justice in 2017 from the perspective of white privilege)[/li][li][Between the World and Me](https://www.amazon.com/Between-World-Me-Ta-Nehisi-Coates/dp/0812993543) (Ta-Nehisi Coates’s memoir and contemplation about race in America)[/li][/ul] ---
**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:** [June 25, 2017, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/39 "2017-06-25T01:26:48Z")
A Colony in a Nation and Between the World and Me are both pretty short and very readable and I highly recommend them. I haven’t read the others. ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2017, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783/40 "2017-06-25T01:46:13Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > It’s not often that somebody shows you exactly what type of person they are so succinctly! I now know to completely disregard every opinion and everything to have to say. Thanks!! Well, whose boat did he mean? And why is full equality such a horrible thing? Why does one person have to be reduced for another to be on equal footing? Instead of knocking me down to uplift someone else, how about bringing that person up alongside me? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-going-to-catch-it-for-this-white-privilege-is-not-a-thing-bear-with-me/789783.md?page=3)