So recently there was that dumb ass White man’s march. I call it “dumb” because it did it all wrong. Diversity is bad? Really? I have an eclectic mix of close friends from different backgrounds that makes me “grateful” America is so diversified. If our country was nothing but posh White folks I’d probably get bored and discontent! (Ben just likes looking at attractive Black, Asian,Native American, and Latino women. The fucking pig!)
Yet I think there’s a certain point to be made. I do think it’s sort of a popular trendy status symbol for Whites to talk down to and shame other Whites. (Usually upper middle class and rich Whites from Suburbia or College Universities do the mouth flapping. I apologize, but it’s true! The privileged trying to convince the underprivileged they are equally privileged. How cute!)
As a Caucasian I’m expected to unpack my privilege knapsack and answer for crimes at places and during historical eras in which I did not even exist yet. Pardon my dissenting opinion, but that seems unfair.
I’m more than willing to acknowledge my culture has done terrible things. I know at one point The English oppressed the Scottish and the Irish. I know Vikings would often rape and pillage while raiding neighboring villages. I know eventually we even bought slaves, brought genocide to the Jews during World War II, bombed Hiroshima, and took land that rightfully belonged to the Native Americans. (Don’t even get me started how we unjustly vilify Muslims because of that whole “war on terror” spew. Heck, we even tried that nonsense during The Crusades!)
It’s “bad stuff” and rotten to the core. Yet I find that’s the heart of humanity in general. I think any of us could trace back our ancestral lineage to a point in time they did horrible atrocities. At that moment those atrocities might have been justified with misguided logic but the fact remains they were wrong.
On my end all I want is for society to admit yeah, sometimes violent hate crimes happen to Caucasian people too, Yeah, many Caucasian people are poor and it’s not always their own faults, and that yeah, there are certain places where being White does not get us a rolled out red carpet and barrels of champagne.
Anyway, I know you all reading this are a diversified bunch. Do you think this new “White privilege fad” is justified? Should all Whites answer for crimes they did not even commit themselves? Is it wrong to acknowledge or even suggest “White victims” exist? I’m especially curious at to what my Black, Asian,Native American, and Latino friends might say because frankly another perspective from other cultures would be invaluable and appreciated! (But don’t worry! If you are Caucasian you can post too!)
Personally, I rather just refer to all of us as “people” but sadly the world seems to be a bit regressed in that department!
Ireland was oppressed by other whites in England, which is why my grandpa was always perfectly fine with any race or gender or creed, but haaaaaated English people, so on that note Happy St. Paddy's Day!
(And no, I don't harbor his views on the English).
I think guys with aristocratic English accents make the best villains! I know it's bias but it's so darned true! (I apologize to all my English chums!)
Happy Saint Paddy's day to you too!
I don't disagree with a word you wrote. Anything I could add would be pretty redundant. In my personal experience, because of the way things seem to be now-a-days, I find myself defending white people more than ever. I'm usually arguing against other white people on the subject. It's very strange because they try to put up a good fight. I find it easier to debate the issue with nonwhite people.
You're a good man,James. You go with what is your own feeling as opposed to going with the crowd. It's a rare gift.
I think another problem is a lot of the people in White-pride events are kind of crazy themselves. For every laid back person you have another one calls Obama a monkey or argues diversity is the same as White genocide. That kind of shit makes my brain go numb!
All I really want is for people to realize being Caucasian is not an automatic shield that protects us from all bad things. Noone is safe from general human idiocy and general human bigotry.
There are more of us out there. I run into people all the time that would agree with you. Maybe it's because I'm in Louisiana, but I meet many black, white, and colors in-between that would totally agree with you. For example; last week, I had to take a 4 day class for work and we sort of touched on this subject. We were just talking. There were only 8 of us, but we were all on the same page when it came to this topic.
Perhaps it's because Louisana has gone through difficult tribulations and everyone knows everyone else has suffered equally. (At least when you factor in hurricane Katrina and the aftermath) Disasters suck but in a way they wake us up,James!
if aliens invaded we wouldn't give a crap about this shit anymore. Goddammit, where are you, aliens?!?!? 
Dude, I was thinking the exact same thing. lol. It would take a monumental disaster or alien invasion to bring us all together! Funny and sad simultaneously!
We are already amongst you Matt....... Craaaaaaaab people
Adam,I thought you were a lobster! You crafty devil! I'm sorry,you crafty crustacean!
ha!
When I'm taking a class of 13 year olds and I ask them to be quite, I always get a few kids who are calling 'ssshhhhhhhhh' out loudly and telling other students off for continuing to talk. I have to remind them that if everyone would just worry about themselves and actually stop talking there would be no problem. I think people look at the big picture that is society too quickly and forget to focus on the people in their immediate lives, their local communities which often have very specific problems which can vary greatly from a few blocks down the road. Alas the big picture is always easier to critique..... and less painful to watch.
I think so too,Adam. There's a lot of blame put on whole groups of people when in reality there are only a few bad apples in every barrel. I actually told someone earlier it would be wrong to blame a random Caucasian for a bad choice George W. Bush made just as it would be wrong to blame a random Black person for something an African War-lord did. Yet people so easily say "All those people are at fault" without acknowleding the innocent indviduals from that scapegoated demographic who did nothing at all.
We seem quick to point but slow to put down our stones. 
You're also right about the "down the road" analogy. Many White people telling me to check my privilege do not even know me or my circumstances. I cannot help but to perceive them as pretentious ignorant hipster douche bags when they do that.
But I guess many of them believe being on a college campus makes them "enlightened" even though when you think about it "college life" is sort of split off from the rest of cold harsh reality.
The past stays in the past. No mather the crime that was comitted, it's very stupid to condemme someone for a crime that they didn't do and were alive to act it. It's like people forget that time can change and what was once saw as "acceptable" it's now different. Besides, tough white people had commited past atrocities and they may or may not have done a lot, other kinds of ethnics have had shady pasts of thier own.
Saying this as a white latin american, just if you wanted to know my ethnic.
I agree,Alejandro. I think human history in general is covered in blood. It's a romantic notion there might have been an entirely peaceful and enlightened lost tribe but it's difficult for me to buy that when even the most advanced and supposedly progressive civilizations built themselves atop of wars and dead bodies.
I think every ethnic group has its' "bad people" and every ethnic group has its' "good people" too! Thus we cannot put everyone in a single barrel. We have to judge the individual. It's really the only fair system.
Bleh, I'm of the opinion that every culture has an at best checkered past and shouldn't dwell on it because that only shuts out the possibility of a brighter future.
Exactly. We should learn from the past but not dwell there!
All groups of life have their good and bad. The thing though is society has this big guilt by association thing and it sometimes makes things ugly for all. I wish it wasnt like that though, no ones past isnt without its share of bad deeds. We just need to learn to forgive and keep moving forward.
I work in retail, I see the ugly side of all humans, no matter the nationailty. Half of them treat people who work in retail like their lowly peasants sent to serve their beck and call. The color of the skin has nothing to do with it. Its human fucking nature at its worse :( I however dont let this judge my view. If someone treats me properly I give it in return. I wont let the bad apples ruin the good apples chances. Wish more people would take to that view.
You're pretty much on the bullseye! Human nature in general is inherently selfish and petty. That is true across the board.
But there are many good people too. Personally I do not know why certain folks treat workers like shit. I remember it was exceptionally terrible being a dish washer at a college. Many college kids there picked on the staff thinking it was "funny". I guess they thought a tiny piece of paper made them "superior". But ironically even people with degrees often have to take blue collar jobs when nothing else is available. I love to see it when reality bites college kids on the ass! (And that comes from someone who was one. lol.)
Sigh. If people just started looking at each other as human beings instead of at the color of their skin or their religion, the world would be so much better. Jason's boss, who happens to be African-American, was making life so miserable for another employee that he quit. The issue? He was biracial. I wish more people thought about and acted on MLK's "I have a dream" speech where he talks about people being judged on the content of their character and not on the color of their skin. And I refuse to feel guilt over something that I had nothing to do with. We should learn from past mistakes and use that to make a better world, not wallow in guilt. It just perpetuates the whole "White man's burden" attitude from the previous centuries.
If Martin was still alive he would really despise most of today's activism. It's gone back to people wanting to scapegoat another group of people to blame all their immediate problems on.
Also, I cannot understand people that embrace "White guilt". It's one thing to admit your people have a checkered past but another thing all together to try to hold yourself (or other people in your group) accountable for events they or yourself played absolutely no part in doing.
Lastly, I feel bad for the biracial person you mentioned. My cousins Aaron and Kyle are bi-racial too and even though we only got together when we were younger I noticed how some kids bullied them for it.
Being from a small Irish town in the very south west of the country, my childhood friends could never be described as "diverse", however, I'm not dumb enough to think for a second that any particular race/people is superior to any other. Common sense dictates that. I would never apologize for how past generations of whites treated other races, much like I wouldn't expect an Englishman today to apologize for his ancestors, or a German for his. Holding onto grudges is needless and even worse when the person is not directly involved.
Not a race thing, but I was talking to a friend of a friend in a bar about a month back and he mentioned he still calls Germans he meets "Nazi's" to their faces. I told him outright it was the dumbest fucking thing I'd ever heard and hopefully some of the discussion that followed sank in.
At the end of the day, whether white, black, brown, yellow or just tan, all races contain assholes, all races contain vocal minorities and all races need to realise that we're all just human so stop being so socially retarded.
Yeah,some people really cling to the whole "Nazi" thing. In truth many German people did not even agree with the Nazi regime but because Hitler had the power what could they really do about it? There have been many things America's presidents have done I do not like or approve of but it's difficult to make a change when I'm just an average smoe.
You're also right about "ancestral blaming". It's just plain stupid!
and that's why I just hate people in general. It can't be considered racism if the hate is smoothed out equally. and that's what makes people the same =)