White privilege 101

[Kutnupe14]

I do enjoy the privilege of living in the United States. Some politicians do want to keep race an issue because that helps them. They tell people there is a problem with race and that they can help fix the problem if you vote for them. I have met people who do seem racist, but it's rare. Probably about the same number as those (personally that I know) who think that we didn't actually go to the moon (not many).

You've either led a very sheltered life, or know lots of scientific morons.

 

[Kutnupe14]

https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=28f_1501553019. Statistics really suck!

That chick is an idiot. I dismissed her as soon as she glossed over the why single-parentage is so prevalent in the black community. Lots of people (mostly black, BTW) think that slavery is main component to why the Black people have family issues. This is false. Even slavery could not destroy the institution of marriage amongst black people. For anybody who has ever been to a black wedding, and seen the couple "jump the broom," that's a slave tradition, while not legal,was still done, in secret, under penalty of death that joined a couple in the eyes of God. Black unions also outpaced white marriages until the second half of the 20th Century. Not coincidentally, Civil Rights accelerated single-parentage. The powers that be understood that the power base of the black civil rights movement, was the black family. Now this is debatable, but we do know that slowly urban centers began to de-industrialize in the late-60s, 70s. Find elderly black men, and you'll discover that many of them worked very good jobs for decades. Inner-city schools at one point could put out graduates that were certified in plumbing, brick masonry, electrician, welders, etc. Those programs, too, were done away with. These are skilled labors that the black community, which has traditionally been insular, thrived... the absence of, and the outbreak of the drug trade in the 80s (on a large scale), combined with the penalties associated with this modern-day prohibition, and the removal of male heads of households, and what do you get? By design, or just bad luck? You tell me.

 

[rob63]

That chick is an idiot. I dismissed her as soon as she glossed over the why single-parentage is so prevalent in the black community. Lots of people (mostly black, BTW) think that slavery is main component to why the Black people have family issues. This is false. Even slavery could not destroy the institution of marriage amongst black people. For anybody who has ever been to a black wedding, and seen the couple "jump the broom," that's a slave tradition, while not legal,was still done, in secret, under penalty of death that joined a couple in the eyes of God. Black unions also outpaced white marriages until the second half of the 20th Century. Not coincidentally, Civil Rights accelerated single-parentage. The powers that be understood that the power base of the black civil rights movement, was the black family. Now this is debatable, but we do know that slowly urban centers began to de-industrialize in the late-60s, 70s. Find elderly black men, and you'll discover that many of them worked very good jobs for decades. Inner-city schools at one point could put out graduates that were certified in plumbing, brick masonry, electrician, welders, etc. Those programs, too, were done away with. These are skilled labors that the black community, which has traditionally been insular, thrived... the absence of, and the outbreak of the drug trade in the 80s (on a large scale), combined with the penalties associated with this modern-day prohibition, and the removal of male heads of households, and what do you get? By design, or just bad luck? You tell me.

It seems like progress always has hidden costs and unintended consequences that leave you wondering if there was actually progress or not.

 

[JettaKnight]

I own eight... or more?


But seriously, I understand the concept of white privilege, and believe there is some truth to it, but the name is absolutely horrible. The immediate counter is to say, "look, I am not privileged, therefore there is no white privilege and every attribute of the concept of white privilege doesn't exist."

I wish I knew a better name.

Anyone come up with a better name yet?


P.S. I counted - 12 bow ties on my rack.

 

[HoughMade]

...P.S. I counted - 12 bow ties on my rack.

That's 9 more than I have...and all of mine are for formal wear.

 

[jamil]

It seems like progress always has hidden costs and unintended consequences that leave you wondering if there was actually progress or not.

Are the consequences really unintended? Why perpetuate policies that have clearly had negative impacts on people? I'm not saying those policies were developed specifically for nefarious purposes. I think ideologues get stuck in their thinking and can't see the harm they're doing. I don't think the war on poverty concocted by the left or the war on drugs concocted by the right, were developed for the sole purpose of killing off the black nuclear family, or white or any particular race. Those were/are the wet dreams of ideologues. But when those ideas fail so obviously miserably, at some point perpetuating them is at some level, malevolent.

And there's a new social construct at play now which has a sort of nihilistic basis which says family units are a social construct and therefore don't matter. Yes. Sure. Families are social constructs. But they evolved to be what they are as much as physical attributes evolved to be what they are. We don't know how to act without those constructs. Children need both sets of parents. Boys need to learn how to be good men. Girls need to learn how to be good women. Children need to learn how to be good people.

 

[JettaKnight]

That's 9 more than I have...and all of mine are for formal wear.

Do you at least have a seersucker suit?

 

[Benp]

You've either led a very sheltered life, or know lots of scientific morons.

I lot of my friends are engineers

 

[indiucky]

That chick is an idiot. I dismissed her as soon as she glossed over the why single-parentage is so prevalent in the black community. Lots of people (mostly black, BTW) think that slavery is main component to why the Black people have family issues. This is false. Even slavery could not destroy the institution of marriage amongst black people. For anybody who has ever been to a black wedding, and seen the couple "jump the broom," that's a slave tradition, while not legal,was still done, in secret, under penalty of death that joined a couple in the eyes of God. Black unions also outpaced white marriages until the second half of the 20th Century. Not coincidentally, Civil Rights accelerated single-parentage. The powers that be understood that the power base of the black civil rights movement, was the black family. Now this is debatable, but we do know that slowly urban centers began to de-industrialize in the late-60s, 70s. Find elderly black men, and you'll discover that many of them worked very good jobs for decades. Inner-city schools at one point could put out graduates that were certified in plumbing, brick masonry, electrician, welders, etc. Those programs, too, were done away with. These are skilled labors that the black community, which has traditionally been insular, thrived... the absence of, and the outbreak of the drug trade in the 80s (on a large scale), combined with the penalties associated with this modern-day prohibition, and the removal of male heads of households, and what do you get? By design, or just bad luck? You tell me.

QFT (You sound like a strange love child mix of Ann Coulter and Mike Rowe there Kut...Just saying)

A buddy of mine told me the Government would come to his mother's house and check the closet for male clothes to make sure his dad wasn't living there....He believed in his heart of hearts that the Government did everything they could to break up the black family.......HE believed it was by design....I couldn't rebut it...Not saying it's true but when you hear something like that from more than one dude growing up you have to think there may be something to it...

Regarding Slavery weddings; Nelson County, Kentucky one time released all of their records from folks that had been "slave married" that came to the courthouse after the war ended to have their marriages made "official"...Some of them had been together 40 years.....I helped a gal I worked with find her ancestor's marriage certificate on that list.....It was really cool to see....They were cleaning out the courthouse and found them in some old boxes and the Kentucky Historical Society and the Filson Club published them......

 

[HoughMade]

Do you at least have a seersucker suit?

Who doesn't?

 

[JettaKnight]

Who doesn't?

Canadians.

 

[Kutnupe14]

I lot of my friends are engineers

Oh, then that's like a pharmacist, lol

 

[Kutnupe14]

QFT (You sound like a strange love child mix of Ann Coulter and Mike Rowe there Kut...Just saying)

A buddy of mine told me the Government would come to his mother's house and check the closet for male clothes to make sure his dad wasn't living there....He believed in his heart of hearts that the Government did everything they could to break up the black family.......HE believed it was by design....I couldn't rebut it...Not saying it's true but when you hear something like that from more than one dude growing up you have to think there may be something to it...

Regarding Slavery weddings; Nelson County, Kentucky one time released all of their records from folks that had been "slave married" that came to the courthouse after the war ended to have their marriages made "official"...Some of them had been together 40 years.....I helped a gal I worked with find her ancestor's marriage certificate on that list.....It was really cool to see....They were cleaning out the courthouse and found them in some old boxes and the Kentucky Historical Society and the Filson Club published them......

I've looked really far in depth into "black" component of American history. It started around the 6th grade, when I was at a family reunion in Arkansas. Some boring old lady...aunt, or cousin, compiled our family's history from the day we landed on American shores (mid-1700). The documentation up until 1850 was all bill of sales... then a gap, and a reappearance in the late 1860s.

 

[Twangbanger]

That chick is an idiot. I dismissed her as soon as she glossed over the why single-parentage is so prevalent in the black community. Lots of people (mostly black, BTW) think that slavery is main component to why the Black people have family issues. This is false. Even slavery could not destroy the institution of marriage amongst black people. For anybody who has ever been to a black wedding, and seen the couple "jump the broom," that's a slave tradition, while not legal,was still done, in secret, under penalty of death that joined a couple in the eyes of God. Black unions also outpaced white marriages until the second half of the 20th Century. Not coincidentally, Civil Rights accelerated single-parentage. The powers that be understood that the power base of the black civil rights movement, was the black family. Now this is debatable, but we do know that slowly urban centers began to de-industrialize in the late-60s, 70s. Find elderly black men, and you'll discover that many of them worked very good jobs for decades. Inner-city schools at one point could put out graduates that were certified in plumbing, brick masonry, electrician, welders, etc. Those programs, too, were done away with. These are skilled labors that the black community, which has traditionally been insular, thrived... the absence of, and the outbreak of the drug trade in the 80s (on a large scale), combined with the penalties associated with this modern-day prohibition, and the removal of male heads of households, and what do you get? By design, or just bad luck? You tell me.

You forgot about how Bush blew up the levies during Katrina .

 

[Thor]

So, The Daily Iowan 'news' paper of Iowa U published an article about 'Cognitive Privilege':

"There are many kinds of privilege besides white privilege: cognitive privilege, for example. We now know that intelligence is not something we have significant control over but is something we are born with. We are living in a society in which success is increasingly linked to one’s intelligence."

Next up, affirmative action for idiots. Yes, Mr Engineering Company, you must hire this moron as your chief engineer, pay him well, and let him design bridges. Any success anywhere by anyone is the fault of someone else and I must now be paid for it. It is sad to see a generation of Americans being raised to be too stupid to survive on their own.

 

[JettaKnight]

So, The Daily Iowan 'news' paper of Iowa U published an article about 'Cognitive Privilege':

"There are many kinds of privilege besides white privilege: cognitive privilege, for example. We now know that intelligence is not something we have significant control over but is something we are born with. We are living in a society in which success is increasingly linked to one’s intelligence."

Next up, affirmative action for idiots. Yes, Mr Engineering Company, you must hire this moron as your chief engineer, pay him well, and let him design bridges. Any success anywhere by anyone is the fault of someone else and I must now be paid for it. It is sad to see a generation of Americans being raised to be too stupid to survive on their own.

Harrison Bergeron likes this.



After reading the op-ed, it's apparent that conservative bloggers have latched onto the wrong part.

I believe the key is:

The purpose of pointing out someone’s privilege is to remind them of the infinite number of experiences that are possible and the very large number of experiences that are actual that they know very little about. The purpose is to enlarge their moral consciousness, to make them more sympathetic to people who are less fortunate than they are.

Which, when stripped away from liberalism, is mildly valid. A little understanding and empathy can go a long way when used correctly.

And this brings us to the problem with the term "white privilege" - it frames the argument in terms of knocking down those with privilege to promote equality and implementing affirmative action. This should not be the outcome, and the author makes that point, but I guess you (and others) missed it.

Personally, I've had great opportunities - multiple engineering degrees, two parents, Christian upbringing, etc., etc. ... The author's not telling me to feel guilty and give up my successful engineering career so a moron to replace me, but to not call someone without my skills a moron!

You also missed this:

We can debate whether “whiteness” is a sort of “master privilege” that overrules all others. Personally, I don’t find this believable — I don’t think our present society is that racist — but I imagine it once was. And that is enough to make one shudder.

which raises the question: Did you read the article or just read what others are saying about it?

 

[jamil]

I think the most privileged attributes in society aren't the two most whined about, race and sex, but are really good looks and intelligence. It is a huge advantage in life to be both pretty and smart. Smart and pretty people generally do much better than stupid and ugly people. Of course SJWs have capitalized on identifying them too as groups oppressed by the white male hierarchy. Seems they will not run out of oppressed groups until there's nothing more than groups of one.

 

[Kutnupe14]

I think the most privileged attributes in society aren't the two most whined about, race and sex, but are really good looks and intelligence. It is a huge advantage in life to be both pretty and smart. Smart and pretty people generally do much better than stupid and ugly people. Of course SJWs have capitalized on identifying them too as groups oppressed by the white male hierarchy. Seems they will not run out of oppressed groups until there's nothing more than groups of one.

Uh... how about wealth and fame?

 

[jamil]

Harrison Bergeron likes this.



After reading the op-ed, it's apparent that conservative bloggers have latched onto the wrong part.

I believe the key is:

Which, when stripped away from liberalism, is mildly valid. A little understanding and empathy can go a long way when used correctly.

And this brings us to the problem with the term "white privilege" - it frames the argument in terms of knocking down those with privilege to promote equality and implementing affirmative action. This should not be the outcome, and the author makes that point, but I guess you (and others) missed it.

Personally, I've had great opportunities - multiple engineering degrees, two parents, Christian upbringing, etc., etc. ... The author's not telling me to feel guilty and give up my successful engineering career so a moron to replace me, but to not call someone without my skills a moron!

You also missed this:

which raises the question: Did you read the article or just read what others are saying about it?

He has a point though. We've had affirmative action for morons ever since the first set of students graded on a curve. I'm glad this article is against equalizing outcomes. But finding people on the left who can see the folly of that is getting much more difficult.

 

[jamil]

Uh... how about wealth and fame?

For people born into wealth or fame, I'd have to agree. But there are relatively very few of those. So, who is most likely to earn wealth or fame? Pretty/smart people or ugly/stupid people?