If you’re talking about the relative levels of privilege between two groups, there’s no point in looking for exceptional individuals (unless, of course, your purpose is to argue against the principle). Saying that white people, as a group, are better off than black people, as a group, in America is true. Finding exceptions like black millionaires and homeless white people doesn’t disprove the general rule.
You also have to consider context. Obviously college students aag are better off than non college students aag. But within the context of college, white college students aag are better off than black college students aag.
[Quote=tomndebb]
So? Your inability to discern privilege is hardly the measure by which we would judge it. In the situation you describe, who would be more likely to be rousted by police? One of the white men or a black man in similar situations.
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I don’t know; honestly I’ve never seen a study of whether white or black homeless people are more likely to be harassed by police. Supposing that black men are more likely to be homeless than white men, which I’d guess is true, and that homeless people of all races are likely to attract police attention, that doesn’t mean that a white homeless man is less likely to be harassed than a black homeless man.
In the absence of such studies, I believe it’s wise to defer (on the subject of mistreatment of black people in America) to black people in America. We didn’t have studies of mistreatment of black people in the Jim Crow South – and, as has always been true in American history, black people were the best source of information about the mistreatment of black people in the Jim Crow South. I see no reason why this wouldn’t continue to be true.
But I’d certainly like to see such a study be performed, though I’m not certain how one would determine scientifically what constitutes “harassment”.
Why? Black people have no greater insight into the treatment of white people than white people do in the treatment of black people. If you want to confirm that black people are suffering mistreatment at above the base rate, you can’t just talk to black people, you need to talk to everyone.
That being said, I’d be really interested in seeing a properly cohorted out study on police treatment, race, and income.
Right – talk to everyone. Most white people do not report having been mistreated by police; a much higher percentage of black people report that they have been mistreated by police.
Good question – it probably depends on the circumstance. A white woman has the “privilege” of being less likely to be mistreated by police, while a black man might have the “privilege” of not having his value determined (or at least not determined as much) by his appearance. Overall, I don’t know, and I’m not sure if that can be answered.
I will stipulate that every statement above is true. (I keep in reserve several important caveats.) You are a Christian, correct? When someone informs you that you need to be aware of your own privileges, in your mind, translate this to “Take the plank out of your own eye.” Meanwhile, should you be interested in informing others of the privileges they have, you are more than welcome to do so. As in all things, consider your own purposes (plank checking, again, is a good thing to do here) and consider the likely consequences. Have fun.
Which was what I already addressed:
It is an error to believe that
It is entirely possible for a person belionging to one identifiable group to be privileged in one situation and not in another. As a college educated, white, male in 21st century North America, I have more privilege in more situations than most, but I am still more likely to be regarded with distrust when interacting with small children than a woman, for example.
Privilege is not some sort of absolute that any one individual is granted in all situations.
This opinion of yours runs counter to an awful lot of facts. Want to explain that position?
ETA:tomndebb has already stated a pretty good understanding of privilege. Still, I find it pretty bizarre that one could tally up all the privileges (if it made sense to do so) and come to the conclusion that women are above men on the power ladder. That’s like saying blacks are more powerful than whites because of Affirmative Action.
Well, we do have a case where one group is vastly disproportionately the victim of violent crime, and suffers more both in terms of sentences and in non-court interactions with the justice system. Is this important? Or is this just a meaningless outcome which has nothing to do with whether or not group A or group B is privileged or not.
Getting a PhD involves both the privilege of being born with enough intelligence to do it, but also the privilege of being able to put off earning real money until you get one, and of course the privilege of being able to afford a college good enough to prepare you for graduate school.
And I agree that privilege has to be evaluated on a case by case basis.
There’s a whole discussion on intersectionality about how some folks can be privileged in some ways and not in others.
On a less reverent note, there is this:
God forbid you’re made to think. And do you think there’s a single person on this globe which checks all your bullet points? I’m pretty sure even Obama – the most powerful man alive – wakes up some mornings feeling inadequate, unloved, unappreciated, and pissed off because his wife was ogling that secret service guy with the big biceps and Putin wasn’t validating his political views. Being met with obstacles in all walks of life is just a fact of life. Although a bit ironic that you showcase the stereotype of low expectations, as that is precisely what comes from people cuddling and validating people when they should be opposing and challenging them. We grow in opposition, suffocate in validation.
You also seem to be under the misunderstanding that opinions, beliefs and (god save us!) political concepts should be validated. That’s perhaps what the toxic ideology of safe spaces will do to you, but unless you want live in an echo chamber opinions and beliefs should be vigorously challenged. If they’re worth their salt they’ll weather a bit of storm, if not they probably weren’t worth shit anyway. Otherwise you get you’re your program and start validating my opinions. Your feelings aren’t sacred either and have no demand to be validated by anyone.
Otherwise go buy a puppy; it’ll love you unconditionally, validate the shit out of you and never challenge your views.
Another thing is, much of this just comes off as a version of a fallacy of appealing to authority – the authority of underprivilege. Ideas have no source and they’re not in the least given unique privileged strength from coming from a person who seems himself as uniquely unprivileged.
Well there’s your unconditional validation. Congratulation, you are now a person of privelege.