The Asinine Idea of Privilege
There was a time when race was just a social construct. We were told we all belonged to one race; the human race. Any differences between us were ignored, and we concentrated on what brought us together. That has long since passed. We now live in the age where every single characteristic is worn on the sleeve and used to preach victimhood, and cause division. If you don’t win the oppression Olympics, you are perched upon the ivory tower as privileged; where all your struggles and challenges are downplayed to non-existent status.
Disparities along racial, gender, and other lines obviously exist now, and in the past. Some of us are more advantaged than others, but that does not mean only minorities struggle to live lives of comfort and substance. Although the existence inside American ghettos is hard, it is white Americans who use the most food stamps. Although poverty is being inflicted on the ghettos, life in the predominantly white rural areas is far from a picnic in the park. That’s not to say one type of life is worse, or better than the other. The reality is, hardship is not exclusive to one race, gender, or sexuality.
Unfortunately, social justice activists believe we are playing some sort of sport. Straight white males are the Golden State Warriors, while everyone else plays for the Philadelphia 76ers. To be a straight white male is to win the lottery, implying that being straight, white, and male means you don’t need to work for success; simply holding that identity means you get everything handed to you on a silver platter. If that was the case I would be a world famous journalist, and author, drinking beer on my balcony on Mission Beach while lighting my cigar with a hundred dollar bill.
This argument has its basis in identity politics. Identity is being used for sympathy and condescension. If you are of a certain race, sexuality, and have a bevy of mental or physical disability you must attach yourself to all of that, and use it all to be angry, bitter, and combative, because all of those identity traits are supposedly being used against you. Those identities are being used as a machete to cut up any hard work based success of straight white males. If you work two jobs while going to school full time, you are privileged, if you grew up poor, and study obsessively to get into law school that was paid for by thousands of dollars worth of loans, you are privileged; if you took a useless degree and work a minimum wage paying job, while barely failing to make a dent on your debts, you are soaked in privilege.
The rise in identity politics was perfectly described by Claire Lehmann in The Drum where she wrote, “(Identity politics), is a scourge of superficiality, and you see it whenever words like ‘straight’, ‘white’ or ‘male’ are used as insults, or as apparent checkmates within debate.” She added, “When one group is earmarked for special treatment by policy makers, it can set up resentment in those who miss out, leading to a cycle where both groups start to compete with, stereotype, and dehumanise each other.”
Writing for Spiked, Graham Good argued, “ Both the individuality of humans and their membership in the universal category of humanity are rejected or downplayed in favor of these specific categories of identity. These are felt to divide human experience so radically that a person from one category should not or cannot speak about the experience of a person from another category.” Judging a person by the content of their character has been eviscerated. Instead of universally condemning all criticism based on identity, bigotry is being applied to the descendants of racists, because they are to blame for actions they weren’t around to commit. Instead of condemning bigotry, the supposedly tolerant left is condoning, and embracing it.
The regressive left simply doesn’t understand irony, or why white people are justifiably annoyed with the concept of white privilege. Simply for being white means you contribute to the system of white supremacy, for being born with a certain color of skin. Because slavery existed two hundred years ago, every white person has to be reminded of, and blamed for slavery, because according to these people, only white people purchased slaves, and sins of a race are to always be remembered. When that sentiment is reversed to another race or religion, bigotry, and racism is screamed from rooftops. It is the hypocrisy that makes these people look completely ignorant, and foolish. Telling an African American how to act, what to say, or to not say anything at all would be condemned, but white men are being told the same thing. The “privileged” class wants to live in harmony; they know about the existence of prejudiced, but instead of an honest, and respectable debate the hatred is being fought with bigoted hatred.
White people aren’t oppressed enough, they aren’t disadvantaged enough, and they don’t struggle enough. The poor white family in rural America that survives off welfare has more power than the black family in the ghetto who also survives off welfare. The tactic shows the social justice warrior holds a contempt for debate, understanding, and refuses to even attempt bringing people together.
The practice of spreading the term privilege, “-suggests that those who are treated justly should feel bad for their lack of abuse or oppression,” suggested Todd Pettigrew, writing for Maclean’s, who added, “The word privilege implies a special favour (sic) or status that one does not necessarily deserve. But the right to compete for a job without being judged by one’s race, the right not to be spurned by one’s neighbours (sic)because of one’s race — these things are not privileges — they are rights deserved by all.”
Pettigrew noted a study in which white male academics noted feeling belittled for their personal achievement, like they received all they got not from their hard work, and study, but because of their race. The saddest part of the story is the comment section; which proves Pettigrew’s argument to be true. Many readers in the comment section lambasted Pettigrew for his white, privileged viewpoint; his identity was used to showcase his supposed ignorance regarding the issue. Pettigrew clearly doesn’t know his place.
The regressive left is so obsessed with playing identity politics they apply it to every issue without proof. After the terror attack in Brussels, xenophobia was argued to be the reason why terror attacks in Africa and the Middle East don’t get a lot of news coverage. They lambasted the Oscars for being white, negating factors like African American population rate, and the percentage of African American nominations in relation to population.
Social justice warriors are not interested in racial harmony. Instead of tackling racism by abhorring all forms of it, they have turned their targets on the “privileged,” class by shaming any successful white man, and changing the definition of racism to excuse their bigotry. It is why race relations are worse; and the SJW bigoted nonsense allowed for Donald Trump to become the presumptive Republican nominee for president. Cultural libertarians who are sick of being accused of benefiting from a racist system, while being forced to apologize or fired for every “microaggression,” latched onto a candidate who says what he wants, and refuses to apologize. The worst part of all of this is the spreading of cry bully propaganda that was bred by professional victims who are obsessed with their identities, they need to label every personality trait, and perpetuate victimhood.
Being white means you can’t write the word futbol; writing about something looking “pretty great,” gives the event unwanted male validation. For the white male who received an angry email in response to his supposed transgressions, the idea that he is banned for uttering a word based on his race,“ is terribly offensive. The exchange between the students, as published by The Atlantic shows exactly what is wrong by the purveyors of hypocrisy. They are too spoiled, too narcissistic, and far too angry, and bigoted to actually know what they are doing, and how their methods are the antithesis of their supposed goal.
This comes together perfectly with the concept of white privilege, a condescending, and hate filled idea that mocks, or downplays hardships, due to the argument that being white is a guaranteed ride to heaven.
The perpetuation of “white privilege,” is dividing America onto a path of even worse racial relations, because the regressive left is failing to acknowledge how terminology and condensation drives people away from noble causes.
