MrScorpio Talks To Everyone

[aikoaiko]

56. Oy. Watching 2.5 hours of Allan Johnson is harsh. I rec watching the 2nd.

Last edited Sun Sep 6, 2015, 12:25 PM - Edit history (3)

The 2nd Allan Johnson video contains everything the first does, plus a little more on disabilities.

Well, I'l still kind of reeling from defensiveness someone like me experiences when listening to privilege discussions.

I still don't buy the rhetorical parsing of blame and responsibility. The example of his residence hall director friend who chose applicants with a desire to serve and meet others over those who were doing it for money was to blame for the classist decisions and outcomes and he was responsible for making different decisions. I don't understand how he can say he wasn't to blame for those decisions.

I still don't understand the point of his hypothetical monopoly game where he says we don't blame the individual for being greedy because thats the nature of the game. People are greedy in monopoly because they want to win. Winning is fun in monopoly and in real life. You are what you do.

Anyway, but back to my question. What is in it for the straight, white, able, middle-class male to address privilege?

Allan Johnson doesn't really offer much. He thinks people who don't address these issues are less than human, less moral, and less spiritual. I'm pretty sure the straight, white, able, middle-class male who doesn't address privilege is perfectly comfortable with his degree of humanity/morality/spirituality (lesser though it may be according to Allan Johnson).

If that's the best answer, then so be it, but its pretty easy to understand why the straight, white, able, middle-class male may be resistant to addressing straight, white, able, middle-class male privilege. After all, its not his fault, Allan Johnson might say. He's just trying to win the game that we're all playing regardless if some have advantages or not.

eta: I finished the other videos. In the Peggy McIntosh video, once again, a distinction between guilt/blame and responsibility is claimed, but there doesn't seem to be any real distinction. She sounds like she was wracked with guilt thinking something was given to her that she did not earn. I've never quite seen anything like that. Then I realized what bothered me about McIntosh's and Johnson's videos -- they were acting like they found religion. They found the religion of washing away white sins and now they are evangelizing the good word. Its a similar narrative as Christianity where we are all born sinners (not our fault), but nevertheless we sin (complicity of living in the racist system and reaping the benefits of privilege) and our only chance at redemption is to speak the truth (whites are privileged and we must change what we do). And then we will be more human, more spiritual, more moral, and more compassionate.

Do you see that at all?

Anyway, I'll keep thinking about what you wrote and the content of the videos. Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to engage in discussion. I'll do what I can.

Eta: I watched the white supremacy test dude and I found some of his questions bizarre as examples of white supremacy. I couldn't get through the wandelen video because the soundtrack was so distracting.