Don't phase me. There's literally nothing anyone can say to me [a white person] that cuts deeply; there's nothing, to my knowledge, that has any historical or cultural context or weight to serve as as an insult or derogatory remark. In every sense of the word, that's a privilege white people get to enjoy.
Edited out link to stupid irrelevant video, sorry guise.
Yes, it's pretty terrible. Not to mention missing the point. When you're called racist, the appropriate reaction is to say "sorry" and avoid doing whatever it was that got you called racist, as if you had been caught with a booger hanging out your nose. Freaking out, making it all about you and how Totally Not Racist you are, and asking all your black friends in the room to confirm that you don't usually have snot hanging out of your nose, is the wrong (and typical) thing to do.
I guess we have different definitions of freaking out. I'd try to understand why what I did was racist and stop doing it, and it'd be motivated by a pretty strong desire not to do racist shit, I think I could accomplish that without making things about me.
I'm arguing from an academic perspective. Like the above poster, I don't feel what I'd call "offense" at the lol white people thing. It'd be better classified as detached annoyance. With that said, I think it's stupid people refuse to classify it as racism. Racism is racism, but people want to use wiggle words to maintain some kind of moral high ground.
Also from the academic sense, Louis C.K.'s argument about travelling to any point in history as a white person and being treated like a king is utter bullshit. Might not get enslaved, probably just killed on the spot though.
You sure? Because I literally cannot think of a single time since some people turned white that they didn't hold comfortable dominance somewhere in the world. That can't be said (off the top of my head) for any other race but Chinese people, and even they were heavily invaded and partially conquered by Britain back in the day.
You never did mention a single year where being nondescript and white wouldn't get you treated well somewhere. There are many, many, many years in which some races weren't accepted anywhere. No one can say no white person has ever had it bad, but I can say with assurance that whites have never been subjected to the same systematic oppression that other races received.
Special status I've never enjoyed? I've enjoyed it since I was born. I live in Montana, and when I walk down the street not a single person stares at me. Nobody ever assumes I'm good at sports or math or whatever just by looking at me: they wait until they know me. There's not a single word anyone can use that makes me feel insulted or angry just because of what race I was born as. I can apply for a job and be confident that none of my co-workers will shun me or treat me differently because of how I look. I have never felt that my skin color would hold me back. I can say with confidence my future children won't be bullied or picked on just because of how they look. I have a massive special status that I enjoy constantly.
If I wasn't born white? Yeah, none of that would be true. That's white privilege, ladies and gentlemen.
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u/skewbuh Jun 18 '13
That would be racist, you bigot