People get uncomfortable when they have to think about their privilege. It chips away at the bootstraps fantasy. As a white guy in a field that's mostly male i

People get uncomfortable when they have to think about their privilege. It chips away at the bootstraps fantasy. As a white guy in a field that's mostly male i see this all the time. Lots of people's self worth seems to hinge on the ideal self-reliancy, so to recognize the unfairly positive treatment we receive is too much to bear for many. Instead, they expend their mental energy on finding ANY other passable explanation to divert conversation to a different subtopic to escape the negative emotions caused by the contradiction.