5 ms·

There's a good reason many of us dislike current usage of word "privilege", and to your credit, you avoided it. Lots of times the word "white privilege" is thro

There's a good reason many of us dislike current usage of word "privilege", and to your credit, you avoided it. Lots of times the word "white privilege" is thrown around by relatively well-off people in urban areas, and that usage is extremely hurtful and frankly stunning if you're a poor white person living in a small town in say, W. Virginia. You work multiple minimum wage jobs and still barely scrap by, watch friends and family succumb to desperation and opiates, and look around your town as it crumbles in neglect. And you don't feel like you're very "privileged" in spite of being white. The term is particularly bewildering to rural and small town poor whites when it's tossed out by a 20-something-year old professional in some big city who's making a $200,000/year salary, or by a trust-fund kid protesting in a university where tuition costs more money a semester than your whole extended family makes in a year. I realize that many people who use the term "white privilege" may not be targeting such people with the term (although many clearly are). However, when the only qualifier someone uses is "white", it's hard to draw that conclusion. Again, to your credit, you used the term "straight rich white men". But most people fail to make this distinction. I also strongly agree with your final paragraph. What we call "privilege" is something that all people should have. Instead of working to destroy privilege, we should work to ensure that all people have that same privilege.

vostok 9y ago
I think white privilege is in contrast to being not white. Statistically, you can think of it as a, for example, 1% effect that gets added to another 1% effect that gets added to another 1% effect and so on. Add enough of these effects and you have a pretty big impact. Even accounting for the racial makeup of those states, I know far more white people than non-white people from poor states who are now making great money.
Retric 9y ago
Being poor and white is still an advantage over poor and Latino/Black. Look at conviction rates at criminal trials for example. Now, it's not the kind of advantage that feels meaningful, but it really adds up over a lifetime. Even +/- 1% sales can make or break a small business for example.
- badpun 9y ago
  > Being poor and white is still an advantage over poor and Latino/Black. Look at conviction rates at criminal trials for example. Are there stats for convictions of poor white people vs poor black latino/black, or just all white vs all latino/black? I don't think the latter stats would be particularly helpful here.
  - Retric 9y ago
    Yes, it's so bad: Poor white kids are less likely to go to prison than rich black kids "https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/23/poor-white-kids-are-less-likely-to-go-to-prison-than-rich-black-kids/" https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/... "One in ten Black males in their thirties is in prison or jail in the United States." That's insane.
    - badpun 9y ago
      Very interesting. However, one thing that I fail to see addressed here is reason for the incarceration gap. The way I see it, it can be partially because black kids are prosecuted more (the "white privilege" argument) and partially perhaps because, for whatever reason, rich black kids just commit crimes more often.
      - s73v3r_ 9y ago
        I don't buy the argument that rich black kids commit crimes at higher rates. White and black people smoke weed at roughly the same rates, yet black people are far, far, far more likely to be prosecuted for it.
        badpun 9y ago
        It's not an argument, merely an unknown. Considering that black people have elements of their own culture that are anti-hard work ("acting white") and pro-crime ("gangsta rap"), I wouldn't be suprised if this culture managed to spoil even the kids from the good homes to some degree. BTW how do you know that white and black people smoke weed at roughly the same rates?
jachee 9y ago
> we should work to ensure that all people have that same privilege That is working to destroy privilege.

vostok 9y ago

I think white privilege is in contrast to being not white. Statistically, you can think of it as a, for example, 1% effect that gets added to another 1% effect that gets added to another 1% effect and so on. Add enough of these effects and you have a pretty big impact. Even accounting for the racial makeup of those states, I know far more white people than non-white people from poor states who are now making great money.

Retric 9y ago

Being poor and white is still an advantage over poor and Latino/Black. Look at conviction rates at criminal trials for example. Now, it's not the kind of advantage that feels meaningful, but it really adds up over a lifetime. Even +/- 1% sales can make or break a small business for example.

badpun 9y ago
> Being poor and white is still an advantage over poor and Latino/Black. Look at conviction rates at criminal trials for example. Are there stats for convictions of poor white people vs poor black latino/black, or just all white vs all latino/black? I don't think the latter stats would be particularly helpful here.
- Retric 9y ago
  Yes, it's so bad: Poor white kids are less likely to go to prison than rich black kids "https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/23/poor-white-kids-are-less-likely-to-go-to-prison-than-rich-black-kids/" https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/... "One in ten Black males in their thirties is in prison or jail in the United States." That's insane.
  - badpun 9y ago
    Very interesting. However, one thing that I fail to see addressed here is reason for the incarceration gap. The way I see it, it can be partially because black kids are prosecuted more (the "white privilege" argument) and partially perhaps because, for whatever reason, rich black kids just commit crimes more often.
    - s73v3r_ 9y ago
      I don't buy the argument that rich black kids commit crimes at higher rates. White and black people smoke weed at roughly the same rates, yet black people are far, far, far more likely to be prosecuted for it.
      - badpun 9y ago
        It's not an argument, merely an unknown. Considering that black people have elements of their own culture that are anti-hard work ("acting white") and pro-crime ("gangsta rap"), I wouldn't be suprised if this culture managed to spoil even the kids from the good homes to some degree. BTW how do you know that white and black people smoke weed at roughly the same rates?

jachee 9y ago

> we should work to ensure that all people have that same privilege That is working to destroy privilege.