# White Privilage **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 9, 2018, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-privilage/808511 "2018-02-09T14:26:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-privilage/808511/321 "2018-02-15T21:44:56Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > One drug arrest or an obstruction charge for mouthing off to a cop can ruin someone’s life? You seem to have a very low opinion of black youth if all it takes to ruin their lives is one arrest for a misdemeanor. …are you now or have you ever been a “black youth?” ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-privilage/808511/322 "2018-02-15T21:49:10Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > One drug arrest or an obstruction charge for mouthing off to a cop can ruin someone’s life? You seem to have a very low opinion of black youth if all it takes to ruin their lives is one arrest for a misdemeanor. In the real world what would happen is that the person would not even be charged and would be let go soon after being booked. If a person is charged, they would be pled down to a lesser offense and given probation, and if convicted for a minor offense, they would be put on probation and having the conviction expunged if they keep out of trouble. Even among felons only 41% are sentenced to additional prison time and 27% are sentenced to probation. Are you aware that you cannot get financial aide for college if you have any drug charges, at all? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-privilage/808511/323 "2018-02-15T21:56:50Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Well I think that answers your question, Asimovian. It did. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-privilage/808511/324 "2018-02-15T22:12:26Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > The law abiding black man did not almost get shot, he got detained and his car was searched. He got a cop holding a gun on him and threatening to “blow his head off”. That counts as “almost getting shot” in my book. > [@puddleglum](#): > > Like the therapist he is just another privileged person whining that something minor happened to him. :dubious: Something “minor”? How often do **you** have cops getting up in your business because you’re sitting in your own parked car outside your own home, and then pulling a gun on you and threatening to blow your head off when you try to explain to them that nothing’s wrong? If something like that happened to me, I damn sure wouldn’t be considering it “something minor”. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-privilage/808511/325 "2018-02-15T22:14:44Z")
As far as I can tell, **puddleglum** isn’t denying that it’s likely that there are lots of obstacles that black people face that white people do not, he just doesn’t think they add up to anything significant. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-privilage/808511/326 "2018-02-15T22:25:55Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Are you aware that you cannot get financial aide for college if you have any drug charges, at all? Interestingly, I do have to walk this back. I haven’t applied for student aid in quite some time, and things have changed a bit. In 2009, the laws were changed a bit, to where for mere possession, they won’t lose eligibility forever, and if they aren’t enrolled in school at the time, it doesn’t count. If they get charged with dealing though, that’s still enough to get them ineligible for 2 years, and forever for a second offense, regardless of whether they were in school. But, it still puts all the kids who got popped before 2009 at a serious disadvantage, so it is still very relevant to people who are still struggling, and it still effects employment and housing eligibility. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-privilage/808511/327 "2018-02-15T22:29:48Z")
The notion that black people whose professional success is impeded or delayed because of prejudice against their appearance, much less black people who get actually **threatened at gunpoint by cops when they haven’t done anything wrong** , should just suck it up and get over themselves because “there are people in the world with actual problems” has got to be the most obliviously white-privileged thing I ever heard anybody say. ---
**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:** [February 16, 2018, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-privilage/808511/328 "2018-02-16T04:16:14Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > The article was specific to the court of Cuyahoga County, surrounding Cleveland, OH. At the last census, it was 63.6% white, 29.7% black, making studies of how other groups may be treated rather irrelevant. I believe that generally, those who assert the existence of “white privilege” assert that it exists nationwide. Thus, the racial composition of Cuyahoga County is not relevant. Obviously to prove that “white privilege” exists, one would need to prove the existence of privileges exclusive to whites, and not applying to any other race. Comparisons that only involve whites and blacks don’t establish any such thing. > [@](#): > > While this tangent is silly, I will answer it anyway. White privilege simply addresses an issue of a majority population being treated better than another group even when there is no overt effort to do so. It tends to display unconscious behavior. Some people get all upset when they hear the phrase, taking it as an attack on their persons, when it is no such thing. If different groups were able to join the majority or were excluded from the majority in the future, the ways in which they were treated would probably change. > > More silliness. White privilege is probably not recognized by the overwhelming number of people who benefit from it. The privilege is not that of having money or honors bestowed on someone, but simply the freedom from poor treatment that most people accept as normal without even realizing that they are free of such negative treatment while others with different appearances are not so free. That doesn’t address my point. If the definition depends “a majority population being treated better”, then to test the claim it would be necessary to have a clear definition of who that majority is. But the definitions of races in America is completely arbitrary. Most official sources recognize five groups (Asian, black, Hispanic, Native American, white) for reasons that go back classifications from the Nixon Administration in order to create affirmative action. They could just as correctly have officially recognized four races, or six, or seven, or fifty-nine. The boundaries between the five races are also arbitrary. > [@](#): > > Denying that white privilege exists is a sign that one enjoys white privilege. Sounds like a hypothesis that isn’t falsifiable. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-privilage/808511/329 "2018-02-16T04:50:34Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Obviously to prove that “white privilege” exists, one would need to prove the existence of privileges exclusive to whites, and not applying to any other race. 😕 Wait, what? That makes no sense. Of course societal privilege is both relative and context-dependent, as per the point I made in a previous post about the existence of “female privilege” in the form of lower vulnerability to certain kinds of risks. Your objection is akin to saying that in order to acknowledge the existence of societal bias in favor of tall men, we’d have to prove that men over a certain height benefit from exclusive privileges that don’t apply to any shorter men. Which is absurd. Everybody’s got privilege of one sort or another compared to somebody else, usually many different sorts and degrees of privilege. There’s straight privilege, cis privilege, male privilege, looks privilege, and all kinds of others. > [@ITR champion](#): > > Sounds like a hypothesis that isn’t falsifiable. Heh. This from the devotee of rigorous Spockian analysis who posts [stuff like this:](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18710689&postcount=26) > [@ITR champion](#): > > You say that the laws apply equally to people of all religions. I agree, but that doesn’t mean it’s unreasonable to describe it as an attack on Christian values. It could simultaneously be reasonably described as an attack on Jewish values, Muslim values, liberal secular values, and for all I know, Zoroastrian values. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t an attack on Christian values. And I agree that the likely motivation of such laws has to do with harassing the poor, but that also doesn’t mean that it’s not an attach on Christian values. It’s not an either/or proposition. […] > > What I said was “If a law outlaws an activity that many Christians view as a religious duty, then it’s perfectly reasonable to view that law as an attack on Christianity” And [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10843309&postcount=52): > [@ITR champion](#): > > In fact, Christianity is a necessity for science. The the collection of ideas and procedures that we recognize as “science” originated in Christian civilization, at Christian institutions, thanks to people whose lives were devoted to Christ. > > Today we can compare the amount of scientific research in the United States to nations with a large proportion of atheists, such as France and the Scandinavian countries. The United States produces more original scientific research. In other words, **ITR champion** , when you see a claim about a social phenomenon that you feel inclined to agree with, you don’t demand impossibly rigid scientific validation in order to accept it; and when you see a claim about a social phenomenon that you **don’t** want to agree with, you do. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-privilage/808511/330 "2018-02-16T17:51:16Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I don’t see where they demanded stop and frisk. I don’t see where they demanded that their kids be sent to jail for ting that are ignored in the “nice” neighborhoods. > > What they were wanting is the same sort of protection that the nice neighborhoods get, what they got instead was an occupation force. > [@WillFarnaby](#): > > They most definitely called for harsh drug law enforcement. You just haven’t paid attention. > [@tomndebb](#): > > Shifting the goalposts. > > The statement to which you responded noted that no one in affected neighborhoods demanded stop and frisk–which did nothing to curb the distribution of crack, heroin, or other damaging drugs. Calling for efforts to reduce drug use does not equate to calling for stop and frisk. The residents called for harsher drug law enforcement and sentencing, not “efforts to reduce drug use”. Stop and frisk is a tactic used to harshly enforce drug laws. Paternalistic progressive whites played a role in bringing harsh drug law enforcement to black neighborhoods, but to blame them for it is wrong. The residents of the communities were clamoring for it through political action. Another progressive attempt to deny black agency. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-privilage/808511.md?page=16)