white privilege

[lastdaysofdisco]

I've been reading some critical race theory and issues about white privilege lately and stumbled across a man named tim wise. He's American, though a lot of what he says is still very relevent and I think he's worth checking out:

By Tim Wise

Comments

[lastdaysofdisco]

yay! thanks for the response! I wasn't expecting to get any :) haha, that's the same sort of reaction I get all the time. I spent all this afternoon reading through essays and when I mentioned this to my mum, she gave me the same look she always gives me, you know, the smiling while shaking her head :)

we should definitely have a chat over tea sometime. That would be really great actually. xoxo.

[_nojournal]

i'm sure this sort of thing does exist, but, as a very average, middle-class white man, I can honestly say that it doesn't bother me one bit.
besides, wasn't affirmative action/equal opportunity supposed to have evened things out for minorities in this opressive White-dominated world?

Hmm...

[lastdaysofdisco]

haha. Sometimes I can't quite pick up on sarcasm either.

This is a really fantastic link. thanks for pointing it out!

I think you're definitely right. Racism usually tends to be viewed as "their" problem (you know, the whole Othering thing again) and therefore something white people don't have to think about. The issue of white privilege directly implicates us into the issue and constructs is as something we need to take responsibility for, because we clearly benefit from it.

One aspect of this privilege is the fact that we can dismiss it entirely and continue on with our lives without it having any affect on us. :)

I like when she says, "many, perhaps most, of our white students in the United States (or Canada) think that racism doesn't affect them because they are not people of color; they do not see "whiteness" as a racial identity. In addition, since race and sex are not the only advantaging systems at work, we need similarly to examine the daily experience of having age advantage, or ethnic advantage, or physical ability,

[_nojournal]

in general, my point was, and is, whofuckingcares.
there are a lot of battles to be fought in this world, and this isn't one of them.
i feel no guilt, and no shame.
and i also didn't read past paragraph 2 in either the main article or the comments that followed mine. maybe i'm just lazy. or maybe pissing in the wind don't interest me much...

[biophaedia]

well, the answer to "whofuckingcares" is simply every member (by birth, biology, or social acclimatization) of every other race and ethnicity other than white anglo-saxons who are the historic progeny of generations of oppression and abuse. (and hopefully any white anglo-saxon with an iota of empathy, compassion, consideration, and reflective intelligence in the world)

but considering you didn't even read the article, i think it speaks volumes about the relevance or veracity of your statement (i was going to call it an argument, but it certainly is not one)

go away!

[lastdaysofdisco]

if you're not willing to listen, that's fine, that's your choice..but why would you even take the time to comment in the first place if none of this interests you?

[juicebelly]

"It's so difficult to get the message across sometimes or to at least voice thoughts on things when most people aren't even willing to listen in the first place. I guess I'm speaking from general personal experience. I get the eye rolls and the snickers and know I'm not being taken seriously, again."

jesus, sharon, i sympathize with you so much on that one. every time i try to discuss how strange i feel, being here in mexico and being the white tourist, my family just gets defensive and angry, like i'm "pulling that feminist shit again". aghhh.

i would really like to join your tea date. i wish i had more ammunition for my argument.

[biophaedia]

i think this familial "roll of the eyes" is more widespread than anyone thinks - and also symbolic of one of the fundamental challenges that society must face if any objective racial progress is to be made.
i go through the same thing with different relatives, and not just in conversation about feminist or neutral racial ideologies.
ideas seen as departing from the norm, the familiar, the comfortable, the unprovocative, the safe, the mainstream, and most importantly the morally EASY, are instantly rejected/written off with a scoff or a reluctant "mmhmm".

it's much like environmental change or consumerism or our apathy in the face of the commodification of our mental environment via advertisements: it is so much EASIER to remain staid in the Old.
working towards bettering any of those situations requires an effort to consume more wisely, to be more thoughtful, and to sacrifice some things. so (many) people instantly reject them and fall back into their la-z-boys with a rum&coke and watch tv.

it drives me nutso.