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White Privilege

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
Explain white privilege to me.

If there are some benefits to being white, I'd like to know what they are so I can start benefiting from them.

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metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
"Privilege" is a term that's relative, so one has to qualify it terms of what it's being compared to.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
"White Privilege" is an emotionally confusing concept to a whole lot of White folks -- especially men -- because in the mouths of a relatively few scurrilous characters, it is a term used to condemn White folks -- especially men -- just as if they were personally responsible for it.

To genuinely understand what it's all about, you need to get beyond your emotions, look at it dispassionately, and ignore the morons who use it as a term of condemnation.

The very first thing to understand is that nearly everyone has some kind of privilege in society -- and the kind and extent depends on the circumstances, on the situation. In short, privilege is relative to the situation or circumstances.

Here's a neutral example of what privilege can be: I grew up in a very small town where your privilege in that tiny society largely depended on what family you came from. If you came from a "good" family, you could -- as a kid -- get away with a whole lot more misfeasance than if you came from a "bad" family. That was just a fact, and there was no denying it. You might try to BS people about how you were all equal, but every kid older than ten in the town knew the way things really worked. At the same time, if you came from a "good" family, there were things -- a relatively few things -- you were not as privileged for as the kids who came from a "bad" family. For instance, "good" kids had a much harder time being accepted into the clique at the local pool hall. So your privileges (or lack of them) were relative to the situation, the circumstances.

White Privilege is just like that. It depends on the circumstances and the situation.

But when speaking of White Privilege it is also more useful to think in statistical terms, in terms of odds, chances, and probabilities, than to think of it in absolute terms. e.g. what are the odds of a group of White males getting entry level jobs in finance compared to a similarly qualified group of Black males?
 

Kemosloby

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
White priveledge means your first in line everywhere you go, If a non white person is where you want to be you can tell them to let you have their place.
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
When used as intended, it's the grown up version of "male bashing".
 

The Kilted Heathen

Crow FreyjasmaðR
To genuinely understand what it's all about, you need to get beyond your emotions, look at it dispassionately, and ignore the morons who use it as a term of condemnation.
I've honestly tried doing this. The conclusion I arrive at is that "white privilege" doesn't exist per se, and is essentially a by-product of racist people. It's the state of being a non-target of white people; not exactly a privilege, simply not a hindrance or restriction. As used, "white privilege" is by nature racist itself, and almost always used as a term of condemnation, belittlement, or social stigmatization.

Would that it could be discussed as the example you gave of being from a certain family. But every time I've used myself as a subject to try and find what "privileges" I have, they're dismantled one-by-one, and I'm accused of refusing to see past my own privileges and accept this social burden of self-examination. Despite doing just that. It would be good if it was limited to statistics, but by the name "white privilege", it is almost always applied to every single "white person" the nation over.

On the other hand, I've said before - and will continue to say - that the only true social privilege that exists in this nation is the privilege of the rich. Forget band-aids not matching skin tone, if you want to see people who literally get away with murder like it's a playdate, look at the NFL, Ivy League universities, Wall Street, and the upper levels of our government.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
I've honestly tried doing this. The conclusion I arrive at is that "white privilege" doesn't exist per se, and is essentially a by-product of racist people.
- All else being equal, car insurance in a low income black neighbourhood is more expensive than in a low income white neighbourhood.
- All else being equal, black men tend to earn less than white men with the same level of education.
- All else being equal, it takes longer, on average, for an unemployed black person to find a job than an unemployed white person.
- 6% of white students attend a "high poverty" school. 40% of black students attend a "high poverty school."

http://www.theroot.com/yes-you-can-measure-white-privilege-1794303451

Other examples, all small individually, but that add up:

Consider the following:

  • When I cut my finger and go to my school or office’s first aid kit, the flesh-colored band-aid generally matches my skin tone.
  • When I stay in a hotel, the complimentary shampoo generally works with the texture of my hair.
  • When I run to the store to buy pantyhose at the last minute, the ‘nude’ color generally appears nude on my legs.
  • When I buy hair care products in a grocery store or drug store, my shampoos and conditioners are in the aisle and section labeled ‘hair care’ and not in a separate section for ‘ethnic products.’
  • I can purchase travel size bottles of my hair care products at most grocery or drug stores.
https://www.tolerance.org/professional-development/on-racism-and-white-privilege
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Logically speaking, the fact that some people use White Privilege to bash Whites is irrelevant to whether or not White Privilege exists. Of course, I realize most of our noble and esteemed species of poo-flinging super-chimps couldn't be logical for ten minutes about an issue they're emotional about. Either you love us poo-flingers or your don't. :D
 

The Kilted Heathen

Crow FreyjasmaðR
car insurance in a low income black neighbourhood is more expensive than in a low income white neighbourhood.
The car insurance that I run through gives the exact same rate to blacks and whites indiscriminate of "neighborhood".

black men tend to earn less than white men with the same level of education.
I'm making the exact same as my black coworkers. Some are even making more with less education because they're in manager and Person-In-Charge positions.

it takes longer, on average, for an unemployed black person to find a job than an unemployed white person.
I'd love to see some rates on that. All I can say for now is that despite having a physical award in Customer Service, it took me five months to find two minimum wage jobs out of ten gathered and turned in applications. Meanwhile I have personally known a black woman who was receiving food stamps, housing aid, and welfare assistance (things that I would sure love so I wouldn't have to kill myself to squeak by), and didn't feel she needed to find a job because she was "doing alright" with free money handed to her.

6% of white students attend a "high poverty" school. 40% of black students attend a "high poverty school."
So where's the privilege for those 6%? What of the kids who's families are so poor that they can't even attend school, so they're homeschooled? Does this take into account military children abroad who are enrolled in DoD schools, which don't divide between high and low poverty? Looking back at the areas that I lived in, I was also in several of those "high poverty" schools, when I wasn't being homeschooled because of abusive teachers and administrations. I cannot rationally see my childhood education experience as "privileged", regardless of what some statistic says.

When I cut my finger and go to my school or office’s first aid kit, the flesh-colored band-aid generally matches my skin tone.
There's the bloody band-aid... Did you know that they don't match my skin tone either? They're too dark.

When I stay in a hotel, the complimentary shampoo generally works with the texture of my hair.
Most people who stay in hotels pack their own shampoos, I would imagine. But no, actually, the complimentary shampoo does not work with my hair, despite being "white". It leaves it dry and listless, because it's free, cheap crap.

When I run to the store to buy pantyhose at the last minute, the ‘nude’ color generally appears nude on my legs.
I don't wear pantyhose, but as with the friggin' band-aid's, that only works if you have the exact skin tone that the hose is made in. If you're too light, they look just as weird.

When I buy hair care products in a grocery store or drug store, my shampoos and conditioners are in the aisle and section labeled ‘hair care’ and not in a separate section for ‘ethnic products.’
In most places the entire aisle is "Hair Care". The shampoo that I need and use is usually in a sub-section called "medicated and specialty." Should I be able to complain that this is humiliating, because it paints me as having a problem?

I can purchase travel size bottles of my hair care products at most grocery or drug stores.
I can't. And even then, a single bottle of shampoo and conditioner (they're separate) that's only 13oz (that's about the size of a can of Coca Cola) ends up costing me $5.99 each before tax.

So... where are my privileges?
 

Koldo

Outstanding Member
- All else being equal, car insurance in a low income black neighbourhood is more expensive than in a low income white neighbourhood.
- All else being equal, black men tend to earn less than white men with the same level of education.
- All else being equal, it takes longer, on average, for an unemployed black person to find a job than an unemployed white person.
- 6% of white students attend a "high poverty" school. 40% of black students attend a "high poverty school."

http://www.theroot.com/yes-you-can-measure-white-privilege-1794303451

Is that even legal ?
How do they get away with that ?


Isn't that because the majority of people in USA are white ?
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
But when speaking of White Privilege it is also more useful to think in statistical terms, in terms of odds, chances, and probabilities, than to think of it in absolute terms. e.g. what are the odds of a group of White males getting entry level jobs in finance compared to a similarly qualified group of Black males?

Ok, but you really have to correlate this to skin tone and rule out all other factors.

You can't just look at numbers from a thousand feet up and assume there is a trend based on skin tone.

Maybe there is. Maybe there's other factors involved. You'd have to see how many folks of a certain skin color applied, how many were actually qualified. Determine in each case whether the person chosen was chosen not because they were more qualified but because of skin tone.

Lots of other factors too like how personable one is in an interview. When I hire folks skin tone is never a factor but personality is.

Actual white privilege is a difficult thing to prove. The dynamics IMO are too vast isolate.
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
- All else being equal, car insurance in a low income black neighbourhood is more expensive than in a low income white neighbourhood.

Insurance companies work off statistics. So is it because of skin color or because people in black neighborhoods file more claims?

All else being equal, black men tend to earn less than white men with the same level of education.

If this were true, why aren't more black folks being hired? Companies tend to move where labor cost are lower.

- All else being equal, it takes longer, on average, for an unemployed black person to find a job than an unemployed white person.

But they work for less? I'd guess a lot of the business folks are stupid.

I get paid more cause I ask for more. The company has to decide whether I'm worth what I ask for.

A qualified person who can do my job for less. Nobody is going to care about the skin color.

6% of white students attend a "high poverty" school. 40% of black students attend a "high poverty school."

Since schools depend on property taxes, this show more black folks likely live in poverty area. However it doesn't show why.

There's a problem, but that doesn't prove it's about skin tone. And, if it not because of skin tone but it keeps getting repeated that it is, then nothing gets fixed.

Other examples, all small individually, but that add up:

Examples add up to something, not necessarily this idea of white privilege. As long as it's assumed to be white privilege any solutions for white privilege is not going to fix the problem.
 
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