Tuesday, July 14, 2020

So much for "white privilege"


A young Sikh man has written a thoughtful analysis of so-called "white privilege", and concludes that - if it even exists, which is doubtful - it's more of a liability than an asset.

The notion of white privilege stems from the idea that white people have benefited in American history relative to “people of color” ... an emerging definition of white privilege is now being widely circulated on social media: “White privilege doesn’t mean your life hasn’t been hard. It just means your race isn’t one of the things that make it harder.”

And yet, this definition suffers from several shortcomings ... the concept of white privilege can’t explain why several historically marginalized groups out-perform whites today.

. . .

On the whole, whatever “systemic racism” exists appears to be incredibly ineffectual, or even nonexistent, given the multitude of groups who consistently eclipse whites.

In fact, because whites are the majority in Canada and America, more white people live in poverty or are incarcerated than any other racial group in those countries.

. . .

Fundamentally, privileges of all kinds exist: able-bodiedness, wealth, education, moral values, facial symmetry, tallness (or in other contexts, shortness), health, stamina, safety, economic mobility, and importantly, living in a free, diverse society. Rather than “whiteness,” an exponentially more predictive privilege in life is growing up with two parents.

. . .

When surveying the tremendous complexity of racial disparities, it’s simply wrong to presuppose all whites are “privileged,” let alone racist. Using the despicable actions of a few to judge an entire group of people is never sound reasoning. Just because some white people (who were kids) weaponized their whiteness and harassed me for the color of my skin, doesn’t mean I view all white people as racist or privileged.

None of the statistics in this piece discount racial prejudice, unequal opportunities or the privilege of not experiencing racism. They simply point to the glaring fallacies of the all-consuming white-privilege narrative which has degraded our national discourse into identity politics and racial tribalism.

There's much more at the link.  Interesting and recommended reading.

The author makes several very good points, which you may find useful if you're ever accused of having "white privilege", or told to "check your privilege".  The article will give you something to ram down the throats of those who will choke on reality, rather than their identity-politics perceptions.  That's a useful thing.

Peter

2 comments:

Eric Wilner said...

Someday, I gotta finish reading Sowell's Black Rednecks and White Liberals, which addresses some of these issues in great detail.
"Two-parents privilege" is indeed a big deal; so are a culture and a community that encourage advancement.
For today, though, the linked essay is great, and gets the message across - to those who will read, understand, and accept. Too bad kids seem to be taught the opposite in school.

Jonathan H said...

I have always felt that BLM, "systemic racism", MeToo, and similar campaigns and claims were tools to manipulate those who aren't thinking.
They are a little too neat for a complex society, and are applied so unevenly and in such a clearly biased manner that their stated goals can't be their real goals.

As Barnum was reputed to say "there's a sucker born every minute" and there are many people with many methods working to control them. Many of those manipulators figure it is easier to convince several non-deep thinkers than it is one deep thinker, so they go the easy route.