5 ms·

I'm sick of hearing about white males. Just because they dominate leadership roles doesn't mean that all, or even most white males have power. It's gotta be les

I'm sick of hearing about white males. Just because they dominate leadership roles doesn't mean that all, or even most white males have power. It's gotta be less than 1% of white males who have a position of influence. It's not a collective group.

aioprisan 9y ago
Yes but as a percentage of population, those while males have a disproportionate amount of power compared to any other group, all things equal.
- frozenport 9y ago
  No. To the folks in power, you are the "other". You are a completely different group - even if your skin color is white. They can tell by your mannerisms, priorities, and dress you're not one of them. Indeed, they might say you don't work as hard as them, and call you "white trash" for shopping at Walmart. Even what I though was my high paying CS job was for the working class, no more a person than an MRI machine.
- TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
  The fact that white men hold power shouldn't be worrying. Power is often inherited, and America was historically a predominantly white male-dominated nation in the near past. What we should worry about is this fact being used as an excuse for anti-white racism and anti-male sexism, which is exactly what is happening. People are acting like all white males are the issue when they're not. They're applauding affirmative action while ignoring the fact that white men are now a minority in universities nowadays. They sneer at men embracing their masculinity while applauding women embracing their femininity. They push for equality in high paying fields while ignoring these inequalities in lower-paying ones. We really should reconsider our methods of facilitating change. It's a double standard, and will be met with cultural and political backlash.
  - aioprisan 9y ago
    > The fact that white men hold power shouldn't be worrying. We've got a few thousand years of racist history that shows us just how worried we should be about mostly white men holding power vs representative populations of those leadership groups. > What we should worry about is this fact being used as an excuse for anti-white racism and anti-male sexism, which is exactly what is happening. This is where you lost me. Do you have any proof that this is taking place and at which rate? At which point is the discomfort of white males OK for society given the vast injustices and imbalances created to make white males more comfortable at everyone else's expense?
    - TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
      > At which point is the discomfort of white males OK for society given the vast injustices and imbalances created to make white males more comfortable at everyone else's expense? Fighting racism with racism will earn you no friends. There is nothing that makes whites better than nonwhites, and there is nothing that makes nonwhites better than whites. Utilizing this us-vs-them mentality to suppress a group of people you don't like is exactly the kind of mentality that led to racism in the first place.
      - aioprisan 9y ago
        Having representative populations of leaders that understand and properly advocate for the interests of their communities is not fighting racism with racism.
        TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
        No, but saying that making white people "uncomfortable" is okay _is_ fighting racism with racism, and should not be tolerated.
        electric_sheep 9y ago
        No other way to say this: that's not racism. Nobody's saying it's okay to make white people uncomfortable because they are white; they're saying it's okay because some conversations that are uncomfortable are still worth having. Making the few squirm in their seats a bit for the profound good of the many is utilitarianism.
Swizec 9y ago
> less than 1% who have a position of influence A big part of “We are the 99%” is, surely, the realization that less than 1% of all people have those coveted positions of power. If they followed the same distribution as the population as a whole, which they don’t, something like 61.3% of that 1% would be white, 13% would be black etc. The distribution is heavily skewed towards white because for historic and cultural reasons it’s much easier for white people to get into that group. > it’s not a collective group Welcome to *ism 101. That’s when the properties of a minority are expanded to the whole group based on a trait. All white men are terrible, all black people wear saggy sweatpants, all hispanics clean toilets, and all white women want to speak to the manager Etc
platz 9y ago
You Poor soul
vm 9y ago
You're fed up after one year... Imagine what it's like for those of us who are judged in worse ways than being accused of having power. Literally hundreds of years of being called thieves, hoodlums, idiots and worse, being harassed and assaulted by authority, because of race/gender. I agree with you -- the generalizations suck and I'm tired of it too.
kevintb 9y ago
> Just because they dominate leadership roles doesn't mean that all, or even most white males have power Read that sentence to yourself again, slowly. And ask yourself why, and how it affects groups who rarely have power.
LV-426 9y ago
Poor white men arguably have more in common with poor women of other races than they do with rich white CEOs or presidents, but, you know, divide and rule.
acjohnson55 9y ago
I understand your frustration, but I have little sympathy. Most of us who aren't white males have never had the luxury of not having to think about white males. Our success is largely contingent on understanding the dominant culture of the circles of power. It is, indeed, tiresome to have to do so. Now I'm not saying life is easy for the white male. I know it's not. We all know the vast majority of white males aren't basking in wealth and power. I'm simply saying, look how exclusive the top is to those who aren't white and male, and for all the challenges the composite white male faces in navigating the world, the composite person who is not white male that has those, plus the mechanisms that filter us out the higher we rise. I'm not asking you to cry for me. I don't need it. I wrote the above in full recognition that if you remove the white part, as a male, I'm in the in group. I try to understand the advantages I have as a guy, a heterosexual, an American, and a person who was born well off, and I try to advocate for those that don't have those advantages.
- TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
  > Most of us who aren't white males have never had the luxury of not having to think about white males. Our success is largely contingent on understanding the dominant culture of the circles of power. It is, indeed, tiresome to have to do so. Everyone who seeks and earns power does this, even white men. If we want to be powerful, we mimic powerful people. You're conflating race and culture, which are massively different. A white hillbilly from Tennessee will have just as much trouble becoming an executive as a black man from the projects.
- trgv 9y ago
  The article seem to suggest that "white males dominating positions of power" and "males committing sex crimes and getting away with it" are the same issue. Both of these things are problems. The former because it suggests that equal opportunity is a myth, and the latter because criminals are getting away with sexual harassment/assault and even rape. But I don't think they're the same issue. In my opinion, if we solved the equal opportunity problem, we'd still have to face these three problems: 1. Sexual harassment and assault are considered acceptable behavior by many males. 2. Rich people face a different justice system than poor people. 3. Women face skepticism, hostility, and sometimes reprisals when they come forward with allegations of sexual harassment/assault or rape. I do wish people would talk about 2 more. All in all, I think it's extremely good thing for our society that women are coming forward and males who have committed sex crimes are paying for it. I just wish they were being prosecuted and not "forced to step down."

aioprisan 9y ago

Yes but as a percentage of population, those while males have a disproportionate amount of power compared to any other group, all things equal.

frozenport 9y ago
No. To the folks in power, you are the "other". You are a completely different group - even if your skin color is white. They can tell by your mannerisms, priorities, and dress you're not one of them. Indeed, they might say you don't work as hard as them, and call you "white trash" for shopping at Walmart. Even what I though was my high paying CS job was for the working class, no more a person than an MRI machine.
TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
The fact that white men hold power shouldn't be worrying. Power is often inherited, and America was historically a predominantly white male-dominated nation in the near past. What we should worry about is this fact being used as an excuse for anti-white racism and anti-male sexism, which is exactly what is happening. People are acting like all white males are the issue when they're not. They're applauding affirmative action while ignoring the fact that white men are now a minority in universities nowadays. They sneer at men embracing their masculinity while applauding women embracing their femininity. They push for equality in high paying fields while ignoring these inequalities in lower-paying ones. We really should reconsider our methods of facilitating change. It's a double standard, and will be met with cultural and political backlash.
- aioprisan 9y ago
  > The fact that white men hold power shouldn't be worrying. We've got a few thousand years of racist history that shows us just how worried we should be about mostly white men holding power vs representative populations of those leadership groups. > What we should worry about is this fact being used as an excuse for anti-white racism and anti-male sexism, which is exactly what is happening. This is where you lost me. Do you have any proof that this is taking place and at which rate? At which point is the discomfort of white males OK for society given the vast injustices and imbalances created to make white males more comfortable at everyone else's expense?
  - TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
    > At which point is the discomfort of white males OK for society given the vast injustices and imbalances created to make white males more comfortable at everyone else's expense? Fighting racism with racism will earn you no friends. There is nothing that makes whites better than nonwhites, and there is nothing that makes nonwhites better than whites. Utilizing this us-vs-them mentality to suppress a group of people you don't like is exactly the kind of mentality that led to racism in the first place.
    - aioprisan 9y ago
      Having representative populations of leaders that understand and properly advocate for the interests of their communities is not fighting racism with racism.
      - TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
        No, but saying that making white people "uncomfortable" is okay _is_ fighting racism with racism, and should not be tolerated.
        electric_sheep 9y ago
        No other way to say this: that's not racism. Nobody's saying it's okay to make white people uncomfortable because they are white; they're saying it's okay because some conversations that are uncomfortable are still worth having. Making the few squirm in their seats a bit for the profound good of the many is utilitarianism.

Swizec 9y ago

> less than 1% who have a position of influence A big part of “We are the 99%” is, surely, the realization that less than 1% of all people have those coveted positions of power. If they followed the same distribution as the population as a whole, which they don’t, something like 61.3% of that 1% would be white, 13% would be black etc. The distribution is heavily skewed towards white because for historic and cultural reasons it’s much easier for white people to get into that group. > it’s not a collective group Welcome to *ism 101. That’s when the properties of a minority are expanded to the whole group based on a trait. All white men are terrible, all black people wear saggy sweatpants, all hispanics clean toilets, and all white women want to speak to the manager Etc

platz 9y ago

You Poor soul

vm 9y ago

You're fed up after one year... Imagine what it's like for those of us who are judged in worse ways than being accused of having power. Literally hundreds of years of being called thieves, hoodlums, idiots and worse, being harassed and assaulted by authority, because of race/gender. I agree with you -- the generalizations suck and I'm tired of it too.

kevintb 9y ago

> Just because they dominate leadership roles doesn't mean that all, or even most white males have power Read that sentence to yourself again, slowly. And ask yourself why, and how it affects groups who rarely have power.

LV-426 9y ago

Poor white men arguably have more in common with poor women of other races than they do with rich white CEOs or presidents, but, you know, divide and rule.

acjohnson55 9y ago

I understand your frustration, but I have little sympathy. Most of us who aren't white males have never had the luxury of not having to think about white males. Our success is largely contingent on understanding the dominant culture of the circles of power. It is, indeed, tiresome to have to do so. Now I'm not saying life is easy for the white male. I know it's not. We all know the vast majority of white males aren't basking in wealth and power. I'm simply saying, look how exclusive the top is to those who aren't white and male, and for all the challenges the composite white male faces in navigating the world, the composite person who is not white male that has those, plus the mechanisms that filter us out the higher we rise. I'm not asking you to cry for me. I don't need it. I wrote the above in full recognition that if you remove the white part, as a male, I'm in the in group. I try to understand the advantages I have as a guy, a heterosexual, an American, and a person who was born well off, and I try to advocate for those that don't have those advantages.

TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
> Most of us who aren't white males have never had the luxury of not having to think about white males. Our success is largely contingent on understanding the dominant culture of the circles of power. It is, indeed, tiresome to have to do so. Everyone who seeks and earns power does this, even white men. If we want to be powerful, we mimic powerful people. You're conflating race and culture, which are massively different. A white hillbilly from Tennessee will have just as much trouble becoming an executive as a black man from the projects.
trgv 9y ago
The article seem to suggest that "white males dominating positions of power" and "males committing sex crimes and getting away with it" are the same issue. Both of these things are problems. The former because it suggests that equal opportunity is a myth, and the latter because criminals are getting away with sexual harassment/assault and even rape. But I don't think they're the same issue. In my opinion, if we solved the equal opportunity problem, we'd still have to face these three problems: 1. Sexual harassment and assault are considered acceptable behavior by many males. 2. Rich people face a different justice system than poor people. 3. Women face skepticism, hostility, and sometimes reprisals when they come forward with allegations of sexual harassment/assault or rape. I do wish people would talk about 2 more. All in all, I think it's extremely good thing for our society that women are coming forward and males who have committed sex crimes are paying for it. I just wish they were being prosecuted and not "forced to step down."