"White privilege" as a phrase vastly oversimplifies the cultural hierarchy. It is probably rather insulting to a unemployed rust belt white man with no degree,

"White privilege" as a phrase vastly oversimplifies the cultural hierarchy. It is probably rather insulting to a unemployed rust belt white man with no degree, who is getting by on social assistance, to be tagged by some well-off person on the coasts with a professional degree, that they are suffering from "white male privilege". For a start, such "privilege" is not terribly applicable in this case. Regardless of whether the professional is not white and/or not male, the professional with the degree is in the "higher caste" in American society compared to the unemployed white man with no degree. Many articles that use such phrases as "white privilege" tend to be accusatory and overly moralizing. If that's not insulting, at the very least you are not going to change any minds. (As an example from the "other side", my brother works at Citigroup. Guess what I start thinking of a person's argument when they start descending into an "evil Wall Street elite" meme?) I agree that "white privilege" exists but there are better ways to phrase this -- at the very least, acknowledge and understand the other side.