• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Is being born white a privilege? [W:357]

Is being born white a privilege?


  • Total voters
    128
Status
Not open for further replies.
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

A conversation about white prvilege got me thinking about what it means. If it is, indeed, a privilege to be born white in the US, what does that say or mean for people who aren't white? What would be the appropriate characterization of their births? Attaching poll.
Being born white doesn't mean that your life is easy. You can still, without question, be born poor, or lose your job, or get divorced, or get sick, or be disrespected.

However, white people don't face the same kind of discrimination and constant disrespect, both individual and structural, as most minorities do.

Maybe we shouldn't classify "being treated like a human being by default" as a privilege per se, but that is the language we've adopted. So it goes.
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

I also started thinking about the narrative Illegal Immigrants taking Jobs from American Citizens. Really ... I can honestly say, no Illegal Immigrant has ever taken a Job from me, and if something like that ever happened, I'd best better step up my Game.

Since we where all thinking ... shouldn't be a problem for privileged people.
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

A conversation about white prvilege got me thinking about what it means. If it is, indeed, a privilege to be born white in the US, what does that say or mean for people who aren't white?
That in the US, since they are a minority, they will face discrimination.

Hurr durr.
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

By the same token, how can you look at a baby born into extreme poverty in, say, St Louis, already addicted to narcotics, and claim they are privledged​ simply for being born in the US?

Because a child born in the exact same situation but in a village in Congo is, realistically, less privileged.

I'm not saying the child in your post has it good. Plenty of people who are white don't have it good. They still have white privilege. White trash have white privilege.

There are plenty of other social and physical factors that carry with them 'privilege'. Someone with white privilege might not have privilege of class, or an able body or whatever.

Please see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersectionality
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

I also started thinking about the narrative Illegal Immigrants taking Jobs from American Citizens. Really ... I can honestly say, no Illegal Immigrant has ever taken a Job from me, and if something like that ever happened, I'd best better step up my Game.

Since we where all thinking ... shouldn't be a problem for privileged people.

Are you saying that no illegal immigrant can hope to possess the skills that you do, or that if they did, you could simply remedy that with some effort on your part? Because it sounds like you're saying you are better than the work illegal immigrants do, and that if that changed it would mean you were being lazy.
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

So no white person actually earns anything for themselves? Anything we do is simply handed to us? :lol:
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

Because a child born in the exact same situation but in a village in Congo is, realistically, less privileged.

I'm not saying the child in your post has it good. Plenty of people who are white don't have it good. They still have white privilege. White trash have white privilege.

There are plenty of other social and physical factors that carry with them 'privilege'. Someone with white privilege might not have privilege of class, or an able body or whatever.

Please see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersectionality

Marxist-Feminism?
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

No.......


Being born rich is a privilege!
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

A conversation about white prvilege got me thinking about what it means. If it is, indeed, a privilege to be born white in the US, what does that say or mean for people who aren't white? What would be the appropriate characterization of their births? Attaching poll.


Some other word - or words - than 'privilege' is required. Accidents of birth can, surely, have consequences. For example there were once those born something other than Jews who were very fortunate indeed: they lived while millions of others died.
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

Are you saying that no illegal immigrant can hope to possess the skills that you do, or that if they did, you could simply remedy that with some effort on your part? Because it sounds like you're saying you are better than the work illegal immigrants do, and that if that changed it would mean you were being lazy.

NOPE, I'm saying it didn't happen ... period.

... and I don't anyone who has say it did.

Your mileage could be different
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

A conversation about white prvilege got me thinking about what it means. If it is, indeed, a privilege to be born white in the US, what does that say or mean for people who aren't white? What would be the appropriate characterization of their births? Attaching poll.

Being born non-white means uphill battle just to get to the point of average. Being born white means just needing to be average to get pretty high up the hill.
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

Who's saying that isn't true?

Well I know I'm certainly not. I specifically said that I and plenty of other white people worked hard to be where we are.

And given a quick scan through the thread I don't see anyone else is saying it either.

Did you read the comic I posted?
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

So to people in this thread claiming majority privilege or how certain peoples have it better:

Would you also say Ashkenazi Jews or East Asians have Jewish or "yellow" privilege respectively? Both of these demographics (especially Ashkenazi Jews) are vastly over represented, relative to their population, in positions of wealth or power in the United States. Now, where as some would call this privilege, I would call these disproportions a disparity in IQ. Ashkenazi Jews have an average IQ of 115 which is an entire standard deviation above whites and Asians fall in about the 106 mark. People in the Congo suffer so badly because their average IQ is 76, not entirely due to oppressive colonialism... you see.

To those who have actually read into the dramatic relationship IQ has to success, you'll know why these disparities exist.
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

Being born in a rich and stable nation to parents in a committed and loving relationship that lack social, educational and economic deficiencies is a privilege even if they are white or black rather than Asian. ;)
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

Being born in a rich and stable nation to parents in a committed and loving relationship that lack social, educational and economic deficiencies is a privilege even if they are white or black rather than Asian. ;)

Absolutely, it is a privilege indeed!
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

Ah, I see now. I feel so guilty now. Seriously, could that cartoon be any more stereotypical?

Ah, the fragile ego emerges.

Externalities are a fact of life.

Question 1: Do you think you are more privileged than a kid born into poverty in Bangladesh?
Question 2: Does that detract from your achievements in life?
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

Voted no. There is no privilege to skin color or genetic heritage. The whole concept of white privilege is nothing but an extension of identity politics and accompanying agenda.

We weren't given a choice where we were born. We just were.

What we did after that is the measure of the person, the content of character that allows anyone to rise above circumstance, and strive for whatever may be possible in their lives.

Failure is only an option if one is willing to buy into the implied message contained in the idea "white privilege" exists.
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

Well I know I'm certainly not. I specifically said that I and plenty of other white people worked hard to be where we are.

And given a quick scan through the thread I don't see anyone else is saying it either.

Did you read the comic I posted?

I did and it completely illustrates what you claim you're not saying. Let's cut to the chase, what do I need to do to to make up for the circumstances of my birth?
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

Voted no. There is no privilege to skin color or genetic heritage. The whole concept of white privilege is nothing but an extension of identity politics and accompanying agenda.

We weren't given a choice where we were born. We just were.

What we did after that is the measure of the person, the content of character that allows anyone to rise above circumstance, and strive for whatever may be possible in their lives.

Failure is only an option if one is willing to buy into the implied message contained in the idea "white privilege" exists.

I'll ask you what I asked X above.


Question 1: Do you think you (or your children) are more privileged than a kid born into poverty in Bangladesh?
Question 2: Does that detract from your achievements in life?
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

I did and it completely illustrates what you claim you're not saying. Let's cut to the chase, what do I need to do to to make up for the circumstances of my birth?

You can't do anything and you know it. That's the whole point.
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

Ah, I see now. I feel so guilty now. Seriously, could that cartoon be any more stereotypical?

Anytime you need a pat on the Back, all you have to do is ask, because I have just the Boots.
 
Re: Is being born white a privilege?

The best anology I've ever heard is playing an RPG game where your stats are randomly generated.

Some people get Easy Mode: a combination of life factors that are going to tilt the odds of fortune in your favor. White, male, able-bodied, straight, born into a well-off family.

Some people get Hard Mode: a combination of life factors that are going to tilt the odds of fortune against you. POC, female, disabled, queer, poor.

There's more, of course.

The point is, the game is still theoretically winnable or losable either way. There's still dragons in both versions and they can still kill you. There's still gold and you can still get it. But people playing Hard Mode have to work more, roll the dice more frequently to get a good number, etc, in order to win. There's a lot more ways to die, and a lot more ways to fall short of the stats you need for success.

Most people are some sort of combination of these factors, with both Easy and Hard variables. Few people get pure Easy Mode, or pure Hard Mode. But being born white is definitely a big tick in the Easy Mode category.

Essentially, being born white means you're probably in a better school district, you're less likely to be stopped by the police, and less likely to go to jail if you're stopped and they find something. You're less likely to experience hate crime, more likely to have better access to state resources, more likely to be successful in college (due to the better K-12 school district you went to). All of those things are big advantages in life.

It means you got lucky, in that respect. It also means that the people playing racial Hard Mode are experiencing stuff you don't, and therefore stuff you can't see. And that's why it's important to be a good listener and to be open to doing the research on the evidence when talking about racial issues. As a white person, they are invisible to you.



This is a pretty good analogy except for one thing: simply being born white isn't, in and of itself, a major Advantage.... just a Feature, mostly. :)

FAR bigger advantages are not necessarily race-dependent... that is, your birth race isn't itself a determining factor in whether you are:
- born into prosperity or wealth
- born into a family that values and encourages education
- born in an area where substance abuse, crime and gangs are uncommon.
- grow up where the schools are good.

Seriously... visit a few trailer parks. Lotta poor white people; lotta substance abuse and petty crime.
Visit some nice subdivisions: lots of black folks there these days. Some new subdiv's I worked last year had upscale houses well beyond anything I could afford and were at least 50% black families.
At the local state university I saw more black female students than any other demographic. Locally black folks are about 25-30% of the general population, at the college they were more like 50-60%.


Seems to me that here in the heart of Dixie, as many black folks are doing well for themselves as white folks.

Mexicans not so much; the language barrier is a problem, but there are plenty of classes for them to improve their English and in their neighborhoods I see businesses specializing in helping them in various ways.

As for being gay, trans, etc.... well a white male can get fired from his good job for saying a single ill-considered sentence that might be construed as disparaging same so pardon me if I don't feel much advantaged. You can bash white males all day long and get away with it, but heaven help you if you forget that Bob is now Roberta and say "he" instead of "she".... be lucky if they just send you to Sensitivity Boot Camp instead of firing your ass.

So I'mma say no, whiteness in and of itself isn't much of an advantage.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom