The Myth of White Privilege
the Wokerati hijacking of space
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Let’s begin with the basics. What do we mean by privilege? A privilege is a special right or advantage granted to a particular person or group. The word originates from the Latin for an ordinance in favour of an individual—privus + lex = private + law. So, when we talk about privilege we mean a special advantage that that only certain people have and can get. Typically those awarded a privilege don’t earn it, it’s bestowed based on membership to a particular group or possessing a particular characteristic. An award is an example of a privilege bestowed on a person. When we describe someone as privileged, we mean to imply they did not earn their comfort or achievement or success. When we invoke privilege, we intend to diminish the value of the person’s achievement. In this context the person receives the privilege comment as a personal attack— oh you have privilege.
Now let’s examine White Privilege. What is White Privilege? Wikipedia provides the following circular definition: White Privilege is the societal privilege benefitting white people over non-white people. White Privilege is apparently this nebulous force which makes light-skinned people complicit in structural racism, which is a fancy woke term for everything in the structure of society is racist.
Ok, this doesn’t explain the concept of White Privilege though. What is White Privilege?
Peggy McIntosh, who popularised the term in the late 1980s, describes White Privilege as follows in her writing—
an invisible package of unearned assets that Peggy McIntosh can count on cashing in each day but about that she was “meant” to remain oblivious
an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks.
similar to male privilege
unconscious oppressiveness
makes people very irritating to be with
unearned skin privilege that puts Peggy McIntosh and her people ahead
being of the main culture
having the permission to dominate and control others
the power to choose.
Peggy provides a list of 46 ways she experiences White Privilege, here’s a summary in my own words to capture the sentiment she expressed in that list—
she can hang out with her own kind
she can avoid anyone she doesn’t feel comfortable around
she can move homes and neighbourhoods when she wants
she can go shopping by herself
she can watch TV without being upset
she gets to believe her people built this civilisation
her kids will learn stuff that proves their race exists
someone published Peggy’s horsesh1t piece of writing
apparently Peggy’s race is the default race
she can act like an asshole or dress weirdly
They make bandaids that match Peggy’s skin colour.
Okay, I’m glad I could clear up the vagueness of the term White Privilege with this precision definition. I also love (sarcasm alert) how Peggy tossed in the concept of male privilege, especially when we consider that male humans have— 1. a higher suicide rate, 2. lower life expectancy, 3. higher occupational death rate, 4. overrepresentation in the homeless population, 5. over representation in the prison populations, 6. over representation as overall victims of violent crime. That sounds like some cool + fun privilege, where can I sign up for that sh1t?
I notice the Wokerati have a fondness for nonsense. In this case, using a circular definition to describe White Privilege perfectly exemplifies their fallacious reasoning. The deliberate nonsense of Woke Dogma seeks to exhaust + exasperate, to wear away piece by piece at the fabric of reality. A privilege is a privilege. Ok, that tells me nothing. Also, what privilege? What, specifically + jargon-free, is the social privilege bestowed by having low levels of melanocytes? Like, what does it give anyone who has it? Because Miss Peggy’s list of 46 things doesn’t cut it for me.
Also, there’s the annoying detail of who is white and also who decides who is white. I have questions. For starters, are Arabs + Jews white? Asking especially about Jews, because, y’know, there’s this whole big thing that happened in Europe about 80 years ago, I don’t know iffin y’all Murikkkan progressive folk heared about it? Wiped out nearly the entire Jewish population of continental Europe. Yeah. So, the self-appointed racially pure Europeans considered the Semites as impure and lesser-than-human in human form. In this context I see the label white as code for “European”, and that means Arabs don’t qualify for Peggy’s invisible knapsack of unearned assets, despite having the same fair complexion as whypipo. It’s a shame, cuz maybe the light-skinned Arabs could have cashed in some of their Light-Skinned Privilege to soften the blow of the American War on Terror.
That’s how this works, ain’t it? Human = currency, right?
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