White Privilege?

[hotpink]

​you either are or won't admit it or feel that since you believe your race has done no wrong and you are blameless and content to perpetually play the victim with a pocket full of race cards to cash in.  

 

What is so wrong if white privilege existed with anyhow? Shouldn't we have the right to preserve it? As long as we do not seek to cause detriment to other groups?

​I'm a white dude, in an area made up of mostly white persons.  There's alot of people with victim cards to cash in, and while I grew up as a step above "white trash" I'm the last person to do so.  I have no cards of my own to play.

I work with underprivleged persons, some who do better than others, no matter their skin color.  I do see some disadvanteges.  I can send an average white person to walmart for a suit but not an average black male or asian woman beucase they simply don't carry clothing that fits them.  It does matter...maybe not to you, but it does.

And your last sentiment is rather disturbing....like someone who likes the cast system in india.

[Nihil Obstat]

Based on Diddy's comments on Japan I think he is OK with a bit of racism in a society. 

[little2add]

The only white privilege I see out there is the rich kids who commit crimes but can afford to get a good lawyer and buy their way out of trouble.  That's really nothing new about that and it is certainly not applicable to only whites. 

You know the old saying "the rich can do no wrong"

 

Edited June 11, 2015 by little2add

[Peace]

I think you may be a bit naive about how things are in Japan. I recall the United Nations fairly recently did a human rights investigation and found pretty bad, systemic xenopheobia and discrimination in Japanese society. Particularly against other Asians.  

No. I agree that Japan is extremely xenophobic and that there is a large amount of discrimination in Japanese society. I experienced much of that myself. But it would be naive to think that the USA fares much better. The point is that Japan is not particularly worse than the levels of racism that you see in the USA. Don't we have people down on the border wanting to install electrified fences and so forth just to keep people out? Didn't we have a group of college kids openly sing a fraternity song praising the virtues of lynching black people recently? One need not look very far in the US either.

[Catlick]

Based on Diddy's comments on Japan I think he is OK with a bit of racism in a society. 

Preference for one's own race should not be discredited because some take it too far, i.e. they prefer their own race because they think it's superior. 

Rooting out all preference for one's own race because of some racial supremacists is like rooting out all sexual desire because some take it too far, i.e. visit prostitutes. 

Much of what people call racism is of a similar nature as prefering one's own baseball team and one's own family. It is not objective judgment on the merits of your own group vis-a-vis those of the other groups, but a subjective affection for what you belong to either by choice (Church) or by accident (family, nation.)

[Peace]

Preference for one's own race should not be discredited because some take it too far, i.e. they prefer their own race because they think it's superior. 

Rooting out all preference for one's own race because of some racial supremacists is like rooting out all sexual desire because some take it too far, i.e. visit prostitutes. 

Much of what people call racism is of a similar nature as prefering one's own baseball team and one's own family. It is not objective judgment on the merits of your own group vis-a-vis those of the other groups, but a subjective affection for what you belong to either by choice (Church) or by accident (family, nation.)

Are you confusing race and ethnicity?

There are biologically objective reasons for finding the opposite gender (as opposed to one's own gender) sexually desirable. The ability to have children, for example.

There are also good reasons why a person might have a preference for people that share the same cultural values. Shared cultural values may aid in communication, for example.

But there is no biological basis for race. There is no scientific or objective way of defining characteristics that makes a person "black" "white" "Asian", or "your race".  For example, here in the USA I am considered black. If I were born in Brazil I might be called "pardo". If I were born in South Africa I might be considered white (as is one of my South African friends who is darker than me). As another example, not too long ago in the USA people of Irish (and other European) ancestry were not considered white. Now they are. 

So, I think it would be a bit silly to prefer another person because he has a skin tone or other physical characteristics that fall within some vaguely defined range of similarity as one's own. Now, if a certain set of physical features were indicative of intelligence or criminal propensity, for example, there might be a reason to prefer a group having one set of physical features as opposed to another. But I do not think that this has been proven (The Bell Curve notwithstanding).

In brief, my assertion here is that having a preference for a person because of some specific skin tone or other physical characteristic, is stupid.

[Era Might]

ALL races are racist in their culture and their past. All have killed in the name of their respective race. (I do not support killing for race - just to be clear. I do not believe anyone should give a disadvantage on account of race - but one race is not obligated to any other race either.)

​This is true, but the problem is that the whole premise of modernity is that we are "enlightened," civilized, advanced, that we have developed institutions where justice flourishes and we have committed ourselves to things like equality, dignity, etc. There's a quote I like from Anatole France, "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread."

What gives modernity such a guilty conscience is that it sets itself apart as something superior and advanced, and it turns out it's not very unlike past societies, it just has different ways of organizing its contradictions.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Era Might

[Era Might]

Preference for one's own race should not be discredited because some take it too far, i.e. they prefer their own race because they think it's superior. 

Rooting out all preference for one's own race because of some racial supremacists is like rooting out all sexual desire because some take it too far, i.e. visit prostitutes. 

Much of what people call racism is of a similar nature as prefering one's own baseball team and one's own family. It is not objective judgment on the merits of your own group vis-a-vis those of the other groups, but a subjective affection for what you belong to either by choice (Church) or by accident (family, nation.)

​Some people prefer the company of prostitutes, because that's where they belong by choice or by accident.

[Guest]

nm

Edited June 11, 2015 by Guest

[Ice_nine]

Based on Diddy's comments on Japan I think he is OK with a bit of racism in a society. 

​Hey, America is not racist. Have you seen Japan? They are SUPER racist. We could learn something from them.

[veritasluxmea]

The only white privilege I see out there is the rich kids who commit crimes but can afford to get a good lawyer and buy their way out of trouble.  That's really nothing new about that and it is certainly not applicable to only whites. 

You know the old saying "the rich can do no wrong"

 

​That's an example of class "privilege", not white "privilege." They're not using their skin color to get a lawyer, they're using their money. 

[Didacus]

Civilisations have been claiming enlightenment for centuries. It is arrogance t blatantly assume we are better than our ancestors. 

[Didacus]

​Hey, America is not racist. Have you seen Japan? They are SUPER racist. We could learn something from them.

​Japan certainly has a better sense of self preservation than we do.  

 

I don't seeanything wrong with a race preserving their culture and heritage. I wish Quebec and Canada would have done the same: but now we have elected ministers openly claiming that Canada does npot and never has had a culture of its own and obtain standing applause for saying so. 

[Didacus]

Are you confusing race and ethnicity?

There are biologically objective reasons for finding the opposite gender (as opposed to one's own gender) sexually desirable. The ability to have children, for example.

There are also good reasons why a person might have a preference for people that share the same cultural values. Shared cultural values may aid in communication, for example.

But there is no biological basis for race. There is no scientific or objective way of defining characteristics that makes a person "black" "white" "Asian", or "your race".  For example, here in the USA I am considered black. If I were born in Brazil I might be called "pardo". If I were born in South Africa I might be considered white (as is one of my South African friends who is darker than me). As another example, not too long ago in the USA people of Irish (and other European) ancestry were not considered white. Now they are. 

So, I think it would be a bit silly to prefer another person because he has a skin tone or other physical characteristics that fall within some vaguely defined range of similarity as one's own. Now, if a certain set of physical features were indicative of intelligence or criminal propensity, for example, there might be a reason to prefer a group having one set of physical features as opposed to another. But I do not think that this has been proven (The Bell Curve notwithstanding).

In brief, my assertion here is that having a preference for a person because of some specific skin tone or other physical characteristic, is stupid.

​I would sooner refer to race as a cultural heritage than physical characteristics. Hence one of my previous comments that 'race' in a sense is far more a state of mind than a skin colour. I agree with the above.  

[Ice_nine]

​Japan certainly has a better sense of self preservation than we do.  

 

I don't seeanything wrong with a race preserving their culture and heritage. I wish Quebec and Canada would have done the same: but now we have elected ministers openly claiming that Canada does npot and never has had a culture of its own and obtain standing applause for saying so. 

​Whatever dude. You are stubbornly unwilling to admit that being white in America (or I guess Canadia in your instance) doesn't give you any advantage and it's just to make white people feel bad and bring them down *boo hoo* life is so hard for us white people. This leads me to believe you  have probably not taken more than five minutes to seriously consider, without a defensive position,  the obstacles people of color face in everyday life. That's too bad really. But good for you. Whatever makes you happy (although you seem more bitter than happy but hey if that's your flavor).

 

I have a somewhat relative, personal anecdote. When I was in high school I sacrificed a lot of time and energy to be successful academically. There would be weeks where I'd maybe get ten hours of sleep total, and needless to say the stress exacerbated a lot of already existing mental problems and my physical health took a toll. Chronic sleep deprivation will do that to you. Anyhow I graduated valedictorian and did AP (college credit) classes and all that. School counselors and teachers encouraged me to apply to difficult schools because they thought my academic record could get me into almost any school I want.

Well, I got rejected from every private school I applied to (wait-listed for some). I kept thinking, quite bitterly as I was so burnt out when high school was over, that if I was another race that might have been enough to tip the scales in my favor. If I were say, black with my  academic record, I probably would've got accepted easy. I was so mad. I felt slighted. I worked so hard and in hindsight it was pretty much a waste. And dammit if something so insignificant like my skin color was different, then maybe I would have succeeded.

I guess I say this because I wasn't always a bleeding-heart liberal playing the race card or whatever epithets you want to direct my way. But when I went to college (state schools fo life!) I read lots of literature about race dynamics and thought about it more. At first I balked. I felt defensive. After all I never owned slaves and I wasn't racist. After I thought about if more though I saw the many benefits I have simply by virtue of being white. That didn't mean I didn't work hard to get where I'm at, but if I were black I'd probably would have faced a lot more obstacles and they very well may have prevented me from attaining the achievements (which now seem piddly and stupid that I'm older), and I probably would have had to work much harder and since I was mentally taxed to the hilt that would have been impossible. If I had been black, with the same intelligence and other qualities I have, I might not have even made it to college at all.

So take that for what it's worth. You can say I was indoctrinated by ebil liberals of higher education, but I think it's a matter of looking at a wider picture without being defensive.