5 ms·

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.
- electric_sheep 9y ago
  Why on Earth should people of conscience not be concerned with a self-perpetuating inheritance of power? That seems to be exactly what affirmative action programs are designed to counter-balance, so not understanding your criticism of them here.

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.
electric_sheep 9y ago
Why on Earth should people of conscience not be concerned with a self-perpetuating inheritance of power? That seems to be exactly what affirmative action programs are designed to counter-balance, so not understanding your criticism of them here.