I heard Ellen say how she benefited from "white privilege" on the propaganda box today. What is "white privilege" and how can one be cured from it? Asking for a friend.

submitted by Optimus85 from self.AskSaidIt

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[–]Optimus85[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Which makes me think: "Is there such a thing as gay privilege?". I see businesses with rainbow stickers on their front door window designating them as safe havens for LGBQT people should they ever feel threatened for their safety. What about heteros? Shouldn't they deserve the same sort of consideration? My 2 pennies.

[–]butterferret12 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It's far from an unfair point. I think every group has their privileges. Black people, for example, get college grants just for being black. I will say, though, that 'white privilege' is often massively overstated as a way of disregarding personal responsibility. That is not to say we -- white people, I mean -- don't have certain privileges, but that there are also certain detriments to being white.

[–]Optimus85[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's just the way the mainstream media spins it. Pinning it as a white vs black issue is divisive and detracts from the fact that this is a people vs abusive authority problem.

[–]kittykahoots 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

White privilege is a monoscopic "solution" to all of life's problems for people of color. This enables them to heap all of their life's ills into one singular point of failure. They would have a great life if only they had been born white or were afforded the perceived privileges of white people.

This is no different from fat people thinking being thin will make life better or poor people who dream of winning the lottery only to file for bankruptcy a year latter.

The only real solution to this problem is to elevate all people. What I mean is that instead of schools and places of work doing diversity hires or acceptances (aka picking lower performers for the sake of having different colors of skin in the office/school) we should put an effort towards creating more equal opportunities for people to have similar educational and training opportunities.

School vouchers; allow those irregardless of color to take their federal monies to school that actually produce results. Why are subpar schools getting 11-12k in funding per student and yet students are less prepared today? (https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66)

The second part of the solution is for those broken communities to heal themselves. Why are police called over missing nugget sauces, when kids are truant, and a whole host of problems that people should deal with themselves? Form neighborhood watches, quit tolerating bad behaviors under the guise that "this is just our culture". IMO black people need to solve black problems not ask the government for more oversight (like a parent) to make life fair.

Was their a time when being white was an advantage? Yes. But that does not hold true any more- they need to find a new excuse.

[–]Optimus85[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks for your perspective. It's easy scapegoating certain groups of people for one's shortcomings or downfalls and everyone, regardless of ethnicity, skin colour or whatever, has been guilty of doing that at a certain point in their lives. I'd say it's inherent of human nature.

[–]comments 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

What is "white privilege" and how can one be cured from it? Asking for a friend.

You are not privileged. There, cured.

Sorry, but you have to work just as hard and appreciate whatever you have just as much as anyone else if you want to succeed -- which means you need to get to work.

[–]Optimus85[S] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

It was a rhetorical question but I agree with your stance. I wouldn't say hard work will necessarily lead to success but perseverance does further oneself.

[–]comments 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I wouldn't say hard work will necessarily lead to success but perseverance does further oneself.

fair enough. I think thinking you don't need to work as hard is probably a detriment to success though.

[–]Optimus85[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

True. It is the bane of my existence. :(

[–]Yamyam 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

White privilege is real. If you're white, just work in middle east, asia, and speak English. Asians are treated like shit sub-human slaves, they have to climb walls just to get the same opportunities at half being paid. Meanwhile, whites from the west working in middle east are being treated like people just for being white and having US or american passports and getting paid twice than what they earned in their home country. Going to asia and teaching english and getting paid handsomely. Those motherfuckers can't even teach grammar properly, since they aren't certified language teachers to begin with. They're getting paid because of their accents and western white look.

There's even essays, blogs dedicated on how to be an english language teacher in other countries.

Don't believe me? Just google it.

There's no cure, but you can be aware of that privilege and use it to better the playing field for anyone. People being paid shit in asia, now a foreigner comes with subpar english mastery with only their accents to boot gets paid more than local teachers will ever earn in a year.