10-02-2016, 01:25 AM
(09-30-2016, 02:38 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: The fallacy of this article is that is ignores what the concept of privilege actually is. The idea of privilege is that if you take two people in identical situations, save this one thing, one person will have an advantage over the other because of it. Are there other factors that affect people that cause some white people to be worse off than black people? Yes. Are there other privileges that can have more of an impact on a person than white privilege? Absolutely. Does every privilege apply in every situation the same way? No. But that's not what the concept of white privilege is about, and the actual idea behind the concept is what is ignored in the author's argument.
(09-30-2016, 02:55 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: I don't like the term "white privilege", because it does suggest that the person is being handed something or that they should be ashamed of it. It is also often times mischaracterizes as meaning "White people get things, particularly monetary things".
No, it just means that if you compare me to another person who grew up with a lower-middle income single mom, but they were black, our experiences would vary because of our race. I would be less likely to get diagnosed with a behavioral problem or disabilities if we acted the same way. If our fathers were arrested with drugs, mine would be more likely to get a plea bargain, less likely to serve jail time, and if they served jail time, would likely serve less time. My father would be more likely to get a job after prison, even if the black kid's dad never went to prison, and equally likely if that kid's dad actually went to college, which my father did not do until the age of 49. When we went to get a job during high school, I would be more likely to get a call back with my Irish and Italian sounding name than if he had a traditionally Black American, African, or Spanish name.
Obviously somethings can equalize this. Money can be a great equalizer. Having more support at home, which usually comes with having more money, can change this too. This shouldn't be brought up as a "you had it easy!" or "we had it hard!". It should be a "Just remember, we come from different experiences".
(09-30-2016, 03:06 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I am also not a fan of the term, primarily at this point because it has become such a part of the lexicon of the zeitgeist that it gets thrown around without the real meaning attached. Which leads to the misunderstanding about what it actually is.
The term is really something that is more of an academic tool for the social sciences. It's not something that every person is going to recognize or understand, and that includes the people throwing the term around all the time. I have often heard the term ceterus paribus which means, in essence, all else is the same. You're only changing one thing about the comparisons and everything else is constant. It's a part of the idea of privilege but because the term has become such an overused phrase it has really lost that. I do cringe now when I hear the term tossed around outside of a classroom because it's so often just used incorrectly. And I think when the term was really created, because they were thinking of it more for use in the social sciences, they weren't considering the implications of the word choice to the outside community.
These three post pretty much sum up how I feel about the argument. A completely misunderstood term by many. I think that many would benefit from a bit of empathy, or rather trying to walk in others shoes, so to speak. It's difficult for minorities to understand why whites hate the term and equally difficult for whites to understand why minorities insist that it exist. I'm a strait white male, and I certainly don't feel privileged, but I do understand why others may feel that I am.
