White People and the "Diversity Olympics"

Didn't we just have that thread about Chinese "Tiger Mom" parenting styles? Yes, she'd much rather he had no degree, but a wife and sons, than be gay.

I was just thinking that. There's nothing quite as demoralizing as seeing signs that say "No Americans  ^*

^{which really means "No white or black guys"}

" all over a neighborhood, or having a store owner ignore your existance when trying to purchase something. And there was one guy who was beaten up next to the hospital after visiting his  ^*

^Japanese

wife for the crime of ... being a white guy standing in a Tokyo parking garage.

Makes perfect sense to me!

To the best of my knowledge  ^*

, none of my ancestors ever owned slave, or even lived in the American South. I've had a number of real winners in my family history  ^examples

^{let's see, we can start with the one who went back to Britain after fighting against Washington in the Revolutionary war; the boxer who came to the US after killing two people in the ring; the great-great-grandfather who was a child rapist; and of course there's the various alcoholics, gamblers, and "little stuff" like my dad's draft dodging}

and yet, somehow, I don't feel guilt over any of it.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

I quickly skimmed the thread. My background is Asian, though.

"Doctor Who means never having to say you're kidding." - Bocaj

I got the impression from your Contributor's Page that your just studying in australian.

hashtagsarestupid

There's no point in feeling guilty for the past and for the actions of other people. There is a point in learning what other people go through and not assuming that because it's easy for you in your circumstances, it's automatically the same for everyone.

The difference between racial discrimination and most others is that you're visibly, obviously Other at all times. Some disability discrimination is similar in that way, of course.

A brighter future for a darker age.

@Morven I couldn't have said it any better myself.

There's no justice in the world and there never was~

I'm not even white and I'm fucking fed-up with hearing about Privilege Theory; in fact, white guilt just makes me wanna head-desk.

Enjoy the Inferno...

The part that gets me is when members of a minority group immediately decide any complaints I ever have are illegitimate because I'm a white male that didn't grow up in a trailer park.

@Barkey Well, what are you complaining about?

There's no justice in the world and there never was~

Make it so that whites are just as abused and downtrodden as minorities. Hard to feel guilty when you're being beaten in prison on trumped up charges.

There doesn't seem to be very many reasonable answers forthcoming to the thorny problems of race relations, except for vague statements in support for equality and no accompanying method to reach it. Which frees the podium for ideologues with less savoury intent.

edited 26th Feb '11 7:59:36 AM by DarkDecapodian

Aww, did I hurt your widdle fee-fees?

Or, we wait for aliens to invade. It'll be easy to unite in our hatred of the tentacles fiends!

But in all honestly, I don't think all racism will go away until there's a definite thing for humanity as a whole to shift our petty hate to.

One of my cousins is half-Aboriginal, who I wouldn't have known at all if the Stolen Generation legislation wasn't repealed before she was born. It's like white guilt turned full circle to white appreciation! Who started that bullshit? White people who were racist. Who repealed it? White people who were not.

One of my best friends from high school is Chinese, and he's related to the same sort of Chinese general you'd see in a movie like Red Cliff. One of my friends from art school is an Iranian guy who I have problems trying to figure out how to approach him, because he's seen shit in Iran you wouldn't believe and he has the tendency to destroy you with a single glance if one of the white people around you happens to mention you got another social security check but you're not going to report your income so you can still receive it. He seems to like me though, one of his main gripes with me is my constant attempts to try and maintain civility with him when really he's just a dude who happens to come from Iran. I still feel a lot of white guilt when I'm around him because I don't know what to say - which wasn't a problem with my Chinese friend because this guy is a recent addition to my social circle.

I'm disabled from the Autism Spectrum so basically for a long time I got prejudice from other white people who would be perceived to be privileged. I think my fear of being un-PC around people of different cultures is based on my fear of being abandoned by interesting people who like me and somewhat attempt to understand me on a greater level than some of the douchier white people I have known have done. Not to say there aren't un-douchey white people though. I'm just terrified of offending people because I'm terrified of people not liking me and leaving me to the wolves like the Spartans would have.

In a toss up between The Road Warrior future and being born into the 300 type Sparta, both rank amongst my worst fears.

I try to learn as much as I can about other cultures but part of my anxiety disorder links in with my fear of offending people, which makes some annoyed by my tendency to tremble while I'm trying to speak to people I don't know.

Hell Hasn't Earned My Tears

I live in a pretty homogenous country, and I don't have that many friends. I defend my views on my own ground, though it's not like I really need to play the diversity card, because I'm not on that side of the debate. Only times I've been accused of racial bias is on Tumblr in debates with angry post-colonial bloggers who seem to think that all white people are wrong by default. My main argument is that my country never colonialized anything beyond Åland.

Bonus round: I'm dating a Columbian guy (part Hispanic, part Native), I used to date an Indian guy. Beyond that, nothing much.

White privilege and feeling guilty over your ancestors are at most tangentially related. Feeling guilty about being white is pointless and also kind of racist, as is demanding that people feel guilty about being white. White privilege, on the other hand, exists, and it exists now, never mind what your ancestors did. It's not about the slave trade or whatever, it's about the here and now.

edited 26th Feb '11 8:57:10 AM by BobbyG

Welcome To TV Tropes | How To Write An Example | Text-Formatting Rules | List Of Shows That Need Summary | TV Tropes Forum | Know The Staff

Let's not forget that Positive Discrimination has its downsides, too.

I can't tell you HOW people continually get surprised when I (an otherwise typical Filipino girl) mention I'm double-majoring in Psychology and Theater, and they almost always ask "But why don't you major in Psychology and medicine or something? Those are both Asian fields related."

Currently I'm one of four Asians in my theater classes. The rest are black or Mexican, and about seven are white. I go to college in Oakland, by the way.

Also, my theater group ran into this when we did a play about the failings of the American education system—which naturally involved a lot of blacks (who are often poorly treated) and Asians (who are often under insane amounts of pressure to enforce the Asian and Nerdy stereotype). People said, and I quote, "Why are so many of the actors black and Asian? I wish the play was more diverse."

edited 26th Feb '11 9:20:07 AM by Sharysa

Well, since it's trendy here to say "I didn't do that, so I deserve to be where I am", I'm gonna be contrarian for a while.

If I kill and rob my neighbour, I'm a criminal. If it was my father who robbed and killed and I inherited his illgotten gains, it'd be dirty money. How many generations back do I need to go to make a stolen artefact a family heirloom?

If I had a company that made money by selling guns to a third world dictator, I'd be an international criminal. If I owned a company that made money by selling weapons technology to the nazis, and used the wealth gained to start a more legit business, wouldn't I still be profiting from war crimes?

The wealth gap between the Global North and the Global South is still the same as in colonial times. Maybe less steep, but countries that were rich then are still rich, and countries that were poor then are still poor. How long does it take to natural resources and labor force taken forcibly to become just wealth of a nation? African warlords can't profit on conflict diamonds, because they are obtained illegally. But had they done that some generations ago, no problem.

So let's have examples of "white privilege", as opposed to mere assertions; otherwise, I'm just gonna think you're invoking the concept as a fashion statement, rather than actually describing anything that exists in the world.

Enjoy the Inferno...

Read the Missing White Woman Syndrome page.

@MRDA Read this, skip down to where it says daily effects of white privilege: http://www.amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html

@wuggles That trope arouses disgust in me; how anyone can read that and not see that minorities are treated differently in respect to the members of majority is beyond me.

edited 26th Feb '11 10:59:28 AM by KCK

There's no justice in the world and there never was~

@MRDA: Are you white? Right, have ou ever went to a shop and been assumed to be a shoplifter? Do people assume you live on welfare, or belong to a gang? Is the way you, your friends and your family speak English considered a deviation? Has everyone ever assumed you're an immigrant?

And that's just the visible side of it. Even if no-one says it out loud, these kind of assumptions are made all the time.

That's not so much privilege as it is unfair stereotyping, though.

edited 26th Feb '11 10:49:09 AM by MarkVonLewis

It is privilege to not be subject of stereotypes. That, and your own personal failures and weaknesses aren't projected to be failures and weaknesses of your race, or other group.

In a similar example, I'm bisexual, and I'm sometimes depressed. Some will hold this as proof that queer people are more mentally unstable. But if I were heterosexual, it would be just individual depression.

Not sure if it belongs to this thread, but there is a question this one wanted to ask for some time and this seems to be a good place...If it isn't, I apologise

Thing is, this one is white but lives in a country that is highly racially (not ethnically, but that's another matter) homogeneous. So much that this one literally sees one black or asian person in a week, and that is considering that she lives in the capital. So various accusations of oppression always baffled this one, because, well, how can she oppress people she never had any contact with? Show me a single person this one had oppressed because of race?

I did not intend any offence, and apologise if I've caused any. It is something I sincerely wonder about

If we disagree, that much, at least, we have in common

@KCK: As somebody that is white, I call shenanigans on several bullet points on that list.

I can say with certainty, that none of the above apply to me. Granted, some of it is because of things other than race, but I'm certainly not immune because I'm white.

And yes, I have been discriminated against because I'm white. I've been turned away from cultural clubs in schools and have been denied jobs because of my skin color. If I have a hard time paying for school or housing, there are no race specific funds dedicated to helping people of my color out of a hard time as there are with minorities.

Bonus round: I once dated a Mexican.

"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian

@Beholderess You're Russian, aren't you? Suffice to say, this is mainly an American racial phenomena; the racial history in America and Russia are very different.

@Drunk G You still have privilege over minorities, whether you like it or not. That doesn't mean you won't be discriminated as a white person, but the experience is different.

edited 26th Feb '11 11:06:00 AM by KCK

There's no justice in the world and there never was~

Hell white people are subject to stereotypes as well. ANY ethnicity or race is subject to stereotypes.

But I've been drinking since noon, so I'm not in the best mindframe to engage in this discussion. I will say this, I think the concept of "white privilege", while it has a minor fragment of truth to it, is by and large far overblown.