# Video: Whites are privileged, and that's unfair **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 22, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928 "2012-06-22T11:36:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/1 "2012-06-22T11:36:44Z")
Curious: [Do you agree with this PSA’s message](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Do_w2V0-3D0)? Apparently it is part of something called the Un-Fair Campaign, co-sponsored by the NAACP, the YWCA and the League of Women Voters. Poll to follow shortly. ETA: In the title I should have specified that white _individuals_ are privileged by virtue of being white, as that’s the message of the video. Agree/? ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/2 "2012-06-22T11:45:18Z")
It’s true, crackers are privileged and it’s unfair. Looking at the website of the campaign, I see the goal is “to look at racism and to encourage a community dialogue about the causes and solutions.” I am reminded that one of the things White People Like is awareness: [#18 Awareness | Stuff White People Like](http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/23/18-awareness/) Also, the word “community” is good and the word “dialogue” is good. Let’s have community dialogue! I don’t know if they think people will watch this and go have a chat with their neighbour about their unfair privilege. ---
**Author:** ![oreally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ab992/32.png) [@oreally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oreally)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/3 "2012-06-22T11:49:16Z")
After seeing your OP, I wasn’t about to even waste my time or bandwidth clicking on such blatant idiocy. I am so sick of that race card BS I could puke - but what really gets me is that our society is so mind-numbingly stupid that it has proliferating SO well for SO long. But it works so well, I guess I can’t blame them for continuing to milk it for all it’s worth. Talk about a cash cow (in every sense). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/4 "2012-06-22T11:59:05Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/5 "2012-06-22T12:07:04Z")
I can’t watch the video right now, so it may well be dumb, but that doesn’t change the fact that whites ARE privileged, and I’m so fucking sick of them shouting “RACE CARD!!!11eleventy!1” when that simple fact is raised. If you don’t think that you’re privileged, it’s because you choose not to think about it. Being white certainly doesn’t guarantee you an awesome life, but as a rule however your life is, rest assured that it wouldn’t be \*better \*if you _weren’t_ white. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/6 "2012-06-22T12:07:20Z")
> [@oreally](#): > > After seeing your OP, I wasn’t about to even waste my time or bandwidth clicking on such blatant idiocy. I am so sick of that race card BS I could puke - but what really gets me is that our society is so mind-numbingly stupid that it has proliferating SO well for SO long. Maybe you should watch it before you start jerking that knee. It’s quite short. > [@](#): > > But it works so well, I guess I can’t blame them for continuing to milk it for all it’s worth. Talk about a cash cow (in every sense). “Them”? I think **Acsenray** has summed it up: the point seems to be that white people do have a tendency to see each other first as individuals and non-whites first as members of a group. Of course this is true of every group – people in your monkeyverse are people, people outside it are categories: whites/blacks, liberals/conservatives, rich/poor, etc. – and since there are a lot more white people in Western society the result is a discriminatory approach to non-whites. I voted for the “neither agree nor disagree” option - I think it’s fundamentally true but not particularly profound or effective as a PSA. ETA: And now **Acsenray** ’s post is gone. \ ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/7 "2012-06-22T12:55:12Z")
I’m non-white and I agree. Whites are priviledged and it’s unfair. I don’t intend to debate this, however, it’s just life. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/8 "2012-06-22T13:15:45Z")
I’m white and I agree. I think the degree of privilege compared to that of non-whites has been slowly decreasing over the years, but it’s still there. I didn’t much care for the presentation in that I found the words written on faces to be sorta stupid. I found the comments on that one page to be ridiculously stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/9 "2012-06-22T13:27:23Z")
I’m white and I agree with the PSA. Especially the line, “society was set up for us.” People don’t think of whites as having a culture, but we do have a culture, and that culture dominates in every area of society. I have tried to imagine what it would be like, to turn on the television and see scads of people who are not like me being defined as “normal.” I have tried to imagine what it would be like to have a choice among politicians who have no clue about my culturally unique experiences and interests, and don’t care what my needs are. I have tried to imagine what it would be like to look at magazines full of women who look completely different from me and are the definition of beauty that I can never attain. I can’t. I can’t imagine it. I’ll never have to. That’s privilege. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/10 "2012-06-22T13:43:05Z")
“White privilege” has a specific meaning, and it’s not just “white people have it easy.” Specifically, it’s about your awareness of your race and how others perceive you. I’m sure we’ve all had situations where we’ve wandered into a neighborhood, or bar, or party, where we are a minority. When that happens, there are all these questions: “What do they think of me? Are they wondering why I’m here? Am I in any kind of danger? Are they going to stare at me?” For white people, these experiences are usually a novelty, and usually don’t have a lot of power behind them. Most white people don’t find themselves trying to move up the career ladder in a Latino dominated business, or needing to try to make friends in their Asian neighborhood. But when you are a minority, these experiences and feelings happen day after day, and it wears you down. It’s grinding on you, and it fucks with your sense of identity. I experienced shades of this living in small town China. Every time I went to the store, stepped on a bus, sat down next to someone, went to a party…there was this feeling of “what is _she_ doing here?” It was like having an extra person following you around- there is me, **Sven** , and then there is my race, with all the implications and history behind it. And except in very few instances when I was with my real friends or with other foreigners, I was rarely fully comfortable. I always had this little nagging awareness that I was different, and in some ways, not as good. I felt like I was always slightly apologizing for my presence, and just deeply uncomfortable in my skin. It’s not an exact analog, of course. I knew I could go home, my status came with a lot of perks as well as drawbacks, and I was trying to fit into a completely foreign culture rather than feeling like an alien in my own. But it was enough to make me feel thankful that when I walk down the street here nobody stares, when I go to a job interview, I don’t have to think about what the interviewer thinks about white people, and race isn’t a part of my every day awareness. It’s a real privledge. > [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Also, the word “community” is good and the word “dialogue” is good. Let’s have community dialogue! I don’t know if they think people will watch this and go have a chat with their neighbour about their unfair privilege. Uh, you’re talking about it, so it seems to have worked. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/11 "2012-06-22T13:45:23Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > I found the comments on that one page to be ridiculously stupid. It’s YouTube. **Never** read the comments on YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/12 "2012-06-22T13:56:06Z")
Sven, Please quote the part where I have a community dialogue about causes and/or solutions of white privilege. The “people are talking about it, we have succeeded!” mindset is so typical of bleeding hearts that the SWPL article reads like a how-to for that sort of video. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/13 "2012-06-22T14:00:46Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I’m non-white and I agree. Whites are priviledged and it’s unfair. I don’t intend to debate this, however, it’s just life. Well, gosh, maybe you should go back to India, where you will certainly not be subjected to such horrible unfairness. We horrible white people should not have forced you to immigrate here, considering what a wonderful life you had back there. It really was mean of us. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/14 "2012-06-22T14:06:02Z")
Lonesome, You understand that she’s not accusing you, right? The fact that there’s unfairness to non-whites doesn’t require that all white people are horrible and unfair. Although responding with “go home then” really doesn’t help you. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/15 "2012-06-22T14:06:17Z")
Saying “whites are privileged” is totally racist. Really. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/16 "2012-06-22T14:06:47Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > I can’t watch the video right now, so it may well be dumb, but that doesn’t change the fact that whites ARE privileged, and I’m so fucking sick of them shouting “RACE CARD!!!11eleventy!1” when that simple fact is raised. > > If you don’t think that you’re privileged, it’s because you choose not to think about it. Being white certainly doesn’t guarantee you an awesome life, but as a rule however your life is, rest assured that it wouldn’t be \*better \*if you _weren’t_ white. Where do you get the idea that whites are endlessly obligated to be sensitive to minorities? There is no reason whatsoever that whites should feel bad about being the dominant political, cultural and demographic majority, and if that makes you feel bad–well, boo fucking hoo. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/17 "2012-06-22T14:10:55Z")
Aaaand all opportunity for constructive dialog goes out the window. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/18 "2012-06-22T14:11:58Z")
The campaign’s point is true, of course – I’m not even sure what there is to argue about, though apparently some people are gonna try anyway – but that video made me want to jam it in a bathroom stall and give it a swirlie. Christ, that was annoying … and I agree with it! Kind of a terrible job on their part, as it’s just gonna alienate anyone who isn’t already inclined to agree. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/19 "2012-06-22T14:12:11Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Lonesome, > > You understand that she’s not accusing you, right? The fact that there’s unfairness to non-whites doesn’t require that all white people are horrible and unfair. Although responding with “go home then” really doesn’t help you. You realize that she and her family chose to come here because our society obviously provided them a better quality of life, and yet she choses to feel resentment against the white majority which generously allowed her to come here in the first place? She is biting the hand that feeds her. “White privilege” is just another way of saying, “White people suck.” ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928/20 "2012-06-22T14:12:11Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Lonesome, > > You understand that she’s not accusing you, right? The fact that there’s unfairness to non-whites doesn’t require that all white people are horrible and unfair. Although responding with “go home then” really doesn’t help you. It’s Ok. I feel no reason to respond to him; he doesn’t warrant it. I did want to post that you’re right - I’m not accusing anyone of anything. I love this country and I’m happy to be here and be a part of it. I know it’s the best opportunity I could have, no matter what. I’m not ungrateful for the opportunity. That doesn’t change the fact that I live in a predominantly white country! I will say one thing. I _am_ home. India is my mother country in many ways and I don’t forget that I was born there and lived there for four years, and most of my family is there. But I’ve been here since 1979, and I’m a citizen, and this is my country. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-whites-are-privileged-and-thats-unfair/625928.md?page=2)