White professor discusses white privilege in America.

reply to post by beatbox


white walking around , chest all puffed up carrying heavy pride ......

" grrrr im the best of any race, , im the fearless im the strongest, im the coolest grrrr "

then all the sudden a skinny black guy passes by ....... white guy stops tracks

" eeeeeeeek i scary black guy ! "

runs and jumps inside a trash can... peeks over to see any scary race passes by .

I'm white and I have to work just like everyone else in order to be successful. I don't get to rely on affirmative action to help me get a job or an education.

Affirmative Action benefits several different groups. The thing of it is, though, that this isn't 1965, anymore. We've had roughly 50 years of integration in several different facets, for both racial minorities and women.

I think we need to acknowledge that we have a long way to go, but that we've also come a fair bit of the way. With this in mind, the playing field has been leveled somewhat, and to keep up the same policies as though nothing has changed gives those people an advantage now.

As for the professor, the advantages that he is talking about are two very different things. White privilege is a passive thing in most areas and far less of an issue than it was 40 years ago, though most people don't seem to want to acknowledge this.

Affirmative Action is an active act of discrimination based solely upon race and gender. To actively discriminate against a white young man because he has enjoyed some passive benefits, benefits that are quickly wanning, is wrong, and quick frankly, is going to do more harm than good in a modern world where younger people are largely color blind.

I grew up in a poor single parent household and nothing was handed to me. I earned my education and have one more year left of college. Where was my handout again? I have seen affirmative action and it doesn't work unless you're trying to boost the football program...sad truth.

and yes I'm caucasian

Of course white privilege exists. This shocking documentary proves it.

www.snotr.com...

This happens all the time when minorities aren't around, but it's getting harder to find a bus with no minorities riding it.

Originally posted by JailTales
I think a lot of people take privilege the wrong way, and think when people say privilege that they're suggesting white people are all living a great and easy life, but that's a misunderstanding of the word.

What white privilege means is that white people have it slightly easier than other people. If it was called "minority disadvantage" people would easily accept it, but they get thrown off by privilege because they think "well I'm not privileged, nobody gave me sh/t"

All that needs asking is does the average white person have it easier than the average black person, the answer is yes.

Yes but again what does easier entail? The problem i see with many of the posts here is a statement is made like in the op but it isn't expanded upon It just essentially has a that's just the way it is attitude. Making any claim while never backing it up with anything of substance is lazy rationalization and only a foolish person would see such a thing and just say "oh that sounds right". In our society we have far too many popular notions spreading around on a variety of things. Who knows where they started but they spread amongst people who just blindly accept them with out ever questioning why and how.

If this somewhat easier life is things like not being followed or stopped at a store well obviously as anyone can see here we have had many whites have a similar experience.. Further we should ask ourselves if things like this are largely racially motivated to begin with. Just for one example. Years ago i went into this sports store in a shopping mall complex and i was watched and followed around closely by the Asian owners. Now could i assume they did this because i was white? Sure BUT there is also other factors i would have to look . One being that I'm an extremely large individual therefore i can intimate people particularly and elderly Asian little man who could not stop me if i decided to go bananas in the store and make off with his merchandise.

Further this store in particular was adjacent to a corner and was open in the front with racks of clothing and such right there in the open where anyone could walk through the mall and snag a shirt or ball cap thus it was also highly likely they were ripped off more than once and now on edge with everyone who came in through their store. Perhaps this could appear rude to customers but at the same time its understandable. Ultimately as far as the race factor is concerned in this i gave them them benefit of the doubt. They didn't after all explicitly state anything would leave me to believe such.

And of course most of all even if they did do this because they I'm white is it really that big of a deal? 'Im certainly not going to feel like I'm less of a human being and go running home to cry into my pillow because some random stranger thinks less of me based on my skin colour and features. If anything It's better i would know they were a POS so i could take my business elsewhere. Problem solved and i go bout my day undisturbed.


The point of what I'm getting at besides the fact that peoples lives vary far to much to make sweeping generalizations, is one must always analyze events in their lives thoroughly as outcomes and reactions can also wildly vary thereby making it possible for one to jump to conclusions that can often be incorrect. Further i feel must question how hard various things in their lives truly are. Personally i grew up with what many would consider disadvantages but i never felt my peers who didn't have to go through the same thing were "privileged" I assumed as long as i didn't fall into a negative cycle and worked hard i would get a better life.

Total BS!

Liberalism is a mental disorder!

So its not racist when blacks murder and rape white women?

reply to post by RealSpoke


No one has said that, I certainly haven't.

It exists. However, is it like it once was? Not even remotely.

Any racism/bias at all is too much. But it's getting better with every passing generation, and anyone who deny's this is blind to history.

reply to post by VictorVonDoom

Of course white privilege exists.

(Second Line)

Originally posted by seagull
reply to post by RealSpoke

 

No one has said that, I certainly haven't.

It exists. However, is it like it once was? Not even remotely.

Any racism/bias at all is too much. But it's getting better with every passing generation, and anyone who deny's this is blind to history.

When you say it's getting better, do you mean you think there is less racism, or that people are becoming equally likely to be a victim of racism?

reply to post by beatbox


White Privilege. What a bunch of horse crap.
Sounds to me like the author has a tremendous case of White Guilt.

White privilege is when after 3 interviews you're told you are the best qualified candidate for a job, but they cant hire you because they have to hire another african american

same thing with college, it is what it is I guess.

Yes, there has certainly been white privilege even in the recent past. I think it's slowly diminishing, but it's still there. Anyone that thinks otherwise is fooling themselves.

However, being white doesn't mean you are made in the shade, either. During a recent layoff at my company, race was a decision in some of their layoffs. I was let go because I was white. Performance had nothing to do with it. Which I think is very wrong. Hiring should be fair and equal. Firing should be based on performance and history with the company. Not to meet some racial quota.

reply to post by beatbox

What a load of crap. The student hadn't experienced any real life situations yet, and wanted the professor to know that there was something wrong going on. And he gave, maybe, an honest answer with what he had seen to this point in his education but had not been in the real world yet to give a real experienced answer. Well I am here to tell you that my daughter experienced the real answer. She also told me none of the students could really complain about the minorities upper hand compared to the white students when she was in college. She was afraid to speak her mind in college because she would labeled a bigot and would have to answer for it.

My daughter went to Western in Illinois and was one of the most screaming liberals the liberal world could ever hope to produce - in the beginning. Fast forward - graduation - she came to me and said, Dad, you were right all along. They had their own dorms, they segregated themselves from us and then complained they were not treated right. They were allowed to graduate with lower qualifying scores, lower expectations and assignments and also miss classes on a regular bases. They got the same teaching degree that my daughter worked very hard for. Now those same people are teaching in Illinois schools - what a joke - and the state wonders why their students are performing poorly.

I lost my job working as regional manager for a large corporation in 1996 that I had worked my way up to in a 24 year period only to lose it to some minoritie in the "Affirmative Action" period. My company had two people commit suicide over this crap. Most of the country doesn't talk about what toll "Affirmative Action" had taken on the white society, but i can tell from first hand experience. You have no idea how hard it is to find a job to replace the kind of job I had when I was 50 years old. I am fed up with this liberal - "spread the wealth crap" - and the whites take the brunt of it - period.

I am sure where the professor sits it looks pretty easy even if he or she is white - nice cozy protected job isn't it? LOL. But let that same professor lose his or her job to a minority because he or she is white and I for one would like to read his or her thread on that subject. I can tell you from life experience that if a minority has the same experience as me or more - so be it - but do not sacrifice me because I am white - like I said in the beginning - what a load of crap from the professor. The professor needs to experience unfairness like this just once in a life time - hopefully when he or she is much older like myself. Oh please let it happen to the professor so he or she gets a "lesson" in "Affirmative Action"

the line about 'like all white americans I fear I didn't earn my success..etc' is ridiculous. I don't know anyone including myself who feels that way. I think this professor has white guilt, which is much different and it's skewing his perspective on the U.S. That man just needs to get over his white guilt.. guilt for something he didn't do, and something no one alive today suffered through.

Because the U.S. is a majority white country of course the majority of the very successful people in the country are going to be white. Go to Uganda and all the rich successful people are black, go to Japan, all the rich successful people are asian...etc.. etc..

reply to post by beatbox


Propaganda, total propaganda,
I bet pro white arguments would be shunned as racist by the same media outlets.
Enjoy Sovietization everyone.

reply to post by PvtHudson


Nooooooooo really?

I guess you didn't realize the topic of the thread

Originally posted by RealSpoke
lol @ white people acting like discrimination against minorities suddenly ceased to exist

lol @ black people acting like white people aren't discriminated against.

Well I'm "white" by most people's standards, but my ethnicity is Portuguese and my entire family's is as well... so does this "White Privilege" apply to the colour of your skin or your actual race? Also, I feel like your race or skin-tone only affects so much of how you're perceived. The rest of it has to do with how you carry yourself, clothing, attitude, etc. I know people like to play the racism card, but it isn't the entire reason one is perceived in a particular way unless the other person/people are truly racist to begin with... which I guess is the case more times than what people would like to admit, so maybe there is a some merit to what this guy has to say.