White Privilege and Sarah Palin

[truckstop]

After the Affirmative Action thread, I thought this was relevant. It is of course a bit left leaning in its criticism of Palin, but it does do a really excellent job of giving examples of white privilege. It's a concept that has taken me a while to really understand, and while I've always tried to be cognizant of my own prejudices, racism in the US is still very deeply institutionalized.

I doubt it'll change any minds, but hopefully it provides some food for thought about how not level the playing field is.

*****
This is Your Nation on White Privilege

By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their fuckin' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”


White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.


White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.


White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.


White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.


White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”


White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.


White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.


White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.


White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.


And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain…


White privilege is, in short, the problem.
*****

[RiverCityRebel]

I would love to see a cogent, point-by-point rebuttal from one of our right-leaning members.

[ctandc]

White Privilege.??????? Gimme a break...

Originally Posted by truckstop

After the Affirmative Action thread, I thought this was relevant. It is of course a bit left leaning in its criticism of Palin, but it does do a really excellent job of giving examples of white privilege. It's a concept that has taken me a while to really understand, and while I've always tried to be cognizant of my own prejudices, racism in the US is still very deeply institutionalized..

Okay so we know right away that it's a piece written to take shots at the Republican candidates. I don't foresee any bad-mouthing of Obama's running mate Biden.........he is still white isn't he?

Originally Posted by truckstop

I doubt it'll change any minds, but hopefully it provides some food for thought about how not level the playing field is.

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

Okay why play the race card? People of ANY color who have children young, and their family helps RAISE them and they don't become wards of state or immediately go in the system....I would say responsible.

I don't see any mention of the black, white, asian, hispanic (insert race here) WORKING CLASS families, who's children end up having children early, and they bust their ass to help raise the ENTIRE family. See the WORKING CLASS part.

Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their fuckin' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

I don't know where the author is from...but that sounds like most testosterone filled teenagers to me....the difference is he may SAY it (more than likely type it) but if he doesn't shoot / kill / harm anyone....well he's not a criminal / thug is he? Stupidity and young age know no racial boundaries.

And how would you feel if the entire country is talking / writing about you after you got your girlfriend pregnant?[/quote]

Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

Again..RACE CARD violation.

Just a another excuse to talk trash about Palin.[/quote]

Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”


I would consider NEITHER "tested". Has nothing to do with color.

Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.


LOL...sorry...that was kinda funny.

Don't seem to remember "Freedom of relgion" meaning RESTRICTION of religious expression. Don't believe it, don't say it.

Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.


you saying there aren't other races that own weapons as responsible citizens? This guy really needs to meet the guys in my hunt club and that go to my range that aren't white. I'm sure they would love to educate him

Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.


And what exactly does that have to do with being white or black?

Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.

Yup..good statement. But the flip side is NOT being able to disagree or dislike Obama without being ACCUSED of being racist. Hmmm...




Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”

And these are the same people the author would have been THRILLED to have on his party's side if HILLARY had been on the ticket........


Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.


No I'd just say that if you are / were a politician and worked with / around the Unions, the odds are much better than you are crooked (Right or wrong)....didn't know the Teamsters did much in Alaska?

Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.


YAWN.......religous extremists are the same. Whether they call themselves Christians and talk about damning people to hell, or they call themselves Muslims and do their best to send people to hell with bombs strapped to their asses.......

Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.


It's getting boring.......

Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.


PLEASE TELL ME that you don't think spending years as POW is comparable to growing up as Obama did? LMAO.........he needs to talk to my good friend who left the gangs in LA at 17 to join the Marines and then did multiple tours in multiple places where people were still shooting at him. As he put it.. "Obama has alot of cream in his coffee...black my ass......" (His words not mine...but I did and do LOL)

Originally Posted by truckstop

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain…


White privilege is, in short, the problem.

WHITE PRIVILEGE? Last time I checked trust funds were color blind.

And I've never heard of college programs geared towards lower and lower middle class WHITE kids who's parents don't make enough to cover college.


It's not WHITE PRIVILEGE......


And not surprisingly it sounds like Socialism is the goal. How come it's always the guys in limos and big houses that think everyone should be "equal".

That worked well in USSSR....oops I mean Russia.

See China in a few years.

Or North Korea in next 5 minutes / 5 years.


You know what the problem is? Trying to make other people look bad to make your people look better. NO MATTER WHAT PARTY you vote, or don't vote, for.

NEWSFLASH....the more they write and bitch and moan about Palin, the more COVERAGE they give McCain's campaign.

"Any press is good press........"


HEY WAIT A MINUTE.......the guy that wrote that is a white, middle-class college grad.......I feel so used.

[RiverCityRebel]

I'm still waiting.

[FastNinja76]

Damn man, I cant or wont waste my time picking this article apart. I suppose I'll use my "white priveledge".

Fuckin dipshits, you're funny...or sad.

[RiverCityRebel]

Originally Posted by FastNinja76

Damn man, I cant or wont waste my time picking this article apart.

No worries, Mate. You were off the hook the moment I wrote "cogent."

[King Cobra]

Originally Posted by ctandc

That worked well in USSSR....oops I mean Russia

No, the two are not one and the same.

[SAHTT]

So what if I wear full leathers and a dark smoke visor all the time?

The original post is about 99.8% garbage and .02% valid. Not far from the forum average.

[RiverCityRebel]

In all honesty, aside from the teen pregnancy and redneck parts, I don't think it has anything to do with "White Privilege."

It's actually "Republican Privilege." In other words, some things are bad if you're not the darling of Fox News, but just fine if you are. It's like flip-flopping - OK if your fanbase is the mouth-breathing, chain-email spreading talk radio set, but a transgression of the first order if your last name is Kerry instead of McCain.

So please, let's not pretend that all the NeoCon hypocrisies are due to their inability to vote for one o' them coloreds. Most of them stem from the simple fact that NeoCons are just hypocritical by nature. Simple, really.

[SAHTT]

Originally Posted by RiverCityRebel

In all honesty, aside from the teen pregnancy and redneck parts, I don't think it has anything to do with "White Privilege."
Most of them stem from the simple fact that NeoCons are just hypocritical by nature. Simple, really.

I don't think most of that has anything to do with white privilege either. Just out of curiosity, what is your definition of a neocon in relation to a few major policies? I don't even know what neocons are supposed to represent these days in the eyes of most people.

[timd99]

Originally Posted by truckstop

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Oh good God, this has to be a joke.

[timd99]

Originally Posted by RiverCityRebel

So please, let's not pretend that all the NeoCon hypocrisies are due to their inability to vote for one o' them coloreds.

Your giving a large majority of people way too much credit.

[truckstop]

Originally Posted by RiverCityRebel

In all honesty, aside from the teen pregnancy and redneck parts, I don't think it has anything to do with "White Privilege."

I mostly agree with this, (and don't entirely agree with the article either) and the disclaimer wasn't really effective in trying to diffuse it being viewed as entirely anti-republican jabs, instead of the intended purpose of providing an easier-to-digest essay on the concept of white privilege. My bad. I'm looking for different, less politically charged essays, since the majority of the responses just reinforce the fact that white privilege does indeed exist, and is difficult to come to terms with.

Well, ok, and part of me just wanted to join in the shit-disturbing.

[RiverCityRebel]

Originally Posted by SAHTT

I don't think most of that has anything to do with white privilege either. Just out of curiosity, what is your definition of a neocon in relation to a few major policies? I don't even know what neocons are supposed to represent these days in the eyes of most people.

Oh, sure, put me on the spot with something like that, when all I was trying to do was make a funny.

[deftones156]

I too feel that this has nothing to do with "white privilege" and everything to do with the author enumerating his dislikes for the Republican candidates. That's fine, but don't try to apply the mask of race to it.

Also, the article loses credibility in my mind when it applies absolutes to each issue. Just because some people feel certain ways about each issue does not mean that you can apply the "everybody" label. It matters not if any of the points are valid from a purely political standpoint because the author wrapped any possible relevant points in inflammatory race rhetoric.

I feel Palin's daughter is irresponsible, but any family of any race who raises their kid right is okay by me. I feel her boyfriend sounds like a typical teenage dipshit. I feel that anyone of any color who completes college has accomplished something good. I feel that Palin and Obama are both largely untested, though only of of them is running for president.

Oh, and I'm white. Wait, how does that work since everyone who "enjoys white privilege" agrees that Palin/McCain can do no wrong, right?