Why I don't think the phrase/argument white privilege is effective.

[BainsBane]

24. I have noticed that Americans in general don't like to acknowledge their privilege

racial or otherwise. The fact is we are much more economically advantaged than the majority of the people on the planet, but I have seen people here deny that fact and even become angry about it. They want to talk about the 1 percent, but don't acknowledge that their own percentile in global terms is pretty high. I think it gets down to the fact people feel entitled to everything they have and resent what others have yet don't like to think for a minute about how their economic position comes at that cost of great exploitation around the world. Nor are very many at all grateful for their relative advantages.

A lot of white people don't like to hear about privilege because they don't want to be reminded of the ways in which they are advantaged in comparison to people of color. Most men don't like to hear about their advantages vis a vis women, and the wealthy don't like to hear about their privilege vis a vis the poor. There is one common denominator in all of this: Everything I have I deserve; not only do I deserve that, I deserve more. It comes down to basic selfishness.

And then we have the talking points about "division" reiterated again in this thread. What they mean is they don't want to be reminded about the concerns of anyone but themselves. They see the world as revolving around people just like them and become angry when women and people of color speak about their own experiences. We see it on this site all the time, and I have not once posted a thread on women's issues or feminism without being confronted directly with it.

The opposition to discussions of privilege is a clear determination to not only maintain their own privilege, but to silence any speech that questions that privilege. I know many African Americans don't give a shit that white people don't like to be reminded of their privilege. I am with them on that point. I don't give a shit if it makes you uncomfortable or you find it ineffective. In fact, if people find the discussion uncomfortable, they are the ones who most need to hear it.

Class and race are not the same thing, and grown adults shouldn't have to be reminded of that point over and over again. I have also see class issues evoked in exclusionary ways here, with some having the gall to argue that the concerns of "women and minorities" are only social issues, or even "Third Way." Some have dismissed LGBT rights as concerning "only a very small percentage of the population." It's a determination to exclude as illegitimate the concerns of any but themselves. In the face of a growing effort to exclude any but the privileged few just like them from consideration in the body politic evidenced in political discussions here, I think the last thing people should be worrying about is that someone posts a thread about white privilege. The fact is racism is endemic. Its not just practiced by police forces. It's evident in discussions like these, as African American posters on this site know all too well. I don't give a shit who doesn't want to hear about it, particularly when they have made clear that they see my life and those of the majority of Americans as inconsequential compared to their own political interests. The problem is the sense of entitlement and exclusionary politics, not that people of color have the nerve to use words you don't approve of.