Privilege in the United States
POSTED BY: RiveR6213
UPDATED: Saturday, July 26, 2025 06:23
VIEWED: 20076
PAGE 7 of 20
I respectfully disagree.
US cops do stop people for driving while black. It is more difficult to get loans, apartments and jobs if you are anything but white. This is the basic stuff that makes life possible, and it's easier for whites.
What I would like to see is a system of blinded evaluation that leaves out personal identifiers. Loans? Use anonymized credit scores. Job? Use anonymized exams. And once the system really does become a meritocracy, you'll see people interested in competing.
But the other thing to realize is that in the US, in order to compete, people are expected to be better than their environment. In other words - outperform their schools, their personal examples, their family situation and so on. Even among whites you'll find children rarely deviate from family status. So it's exceptional when a person is the first one in the family to go to college, or graduate school, or professional school.
But this is what we routinely expect of people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
"I don't compete in rigged games."
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Quote:
Originally posted by rue:
"I don't compete in rigged games."
Question about meaning here. How do you not compete in rigged games? Do you have a job? A home? Have you ever received a loan? How do you ensure you personally do not benefit from built-in privilege?
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Privilege works for (white) and against (female) me.
I don't fit a stereotype.
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Try this one on for size... bear in mind I was asked more than once to assist in the enforcement of such a policy.
Submit two near identical applications to a job in a suburb bordering a major city.
On one, put a phone number from a local upscale suburban neighborhood, on the other, put a phone number from the depths of the big cities ghetto.
See which application dissappears without a trace.
There are many many subtle ways the game is rigged, but never ever doubt that it is - it was only when I acknowledge this, and started actively working around it, that I managed to get my hooks into a career whereafter my reputation kept me employed till I was physically unable to do the job anymore, and still brings me business.
And that one, with the phone numbers ? wasn't race primarily although that was part of it, it was economic, and yet via it's use deprived those who needed the jobs most of the opportunity to have them.
Rue is utterly correct, the upward climb IS rigged, it's just that those it's rigged to help along never see it that way.
-Frem
It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it
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It's interesting to see a few of you are defusing and attempting to downplay the very meat of this topic of White Privilege. It's one of those topics people don't like to talk about because regardless how much you downplay it, it's true, and we who are white do have an unfair advantage; the game is rigged. Deep down inside we would all like to think that we got where we are today under our own power, but the truth of the matter is we had help...like it or not it IS a truth and throwing insults, or put downs, or your like or dislike of a person here doesn't change the truth of this in any way. White Priviege is real, and it is working in our lives right now as I right this.
Go to China and you'll get to see Chinese Privilege at work. The same goes for any other country.
-River
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Kaneman is just in denial. Finn? Well, he has such an intricate, nuanced definition of "human life" that it's hard to tell who he thinks is "human". It may not even include people of another race.
It's awfully easy to tell if there's racism. All you have to do is be honest with yourself about your reactions.
---------------------------------
Always look upstream.
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Quote:I don’t doubt it’s rigged. What I doubt is that it’s all my fault because I’m white. I made that upward climb, from a hell of lot lower down then most people. And now it seems that some of you want to tell me that that doesn’t mean anything or as much, because I’m white.
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Rue is utterly correct, the upward climb IS rigged, it's just that those it's rigged to help along never see it that way.
And let’s think about “privilege” for a moment. For almost my entire driving life, I’ve paid more in auto insurance then my sister. I have a much better driving record and a much better credit history then she does, yet I’m the one who pays more for insurance. Why? Female privilege? If we look at it the way some in this thread are looking at race, then yes, it is female privilege. But the real answer is that, statistically speaking, single males under the age of 35 are more likely to get into a wreck then a female in the same category. It may not be fair on every individual bases (such as mine), but insurance companies don’t set their prices based only on individuals. They must take a risk based on what might happen in the future and to assess that risk they use an actuary assessment. Mortgage brokers and banks must also take risk based on their assessment of the chances of default, and the sad fact is that the African American community, statistically speaking, is in crisis. Over 50% of African American children are born to single mothers, which is one of, if not the leading cause of poverty. Half of the nations’ prisoners are African-American. Gang-bangers (most of whom actively condone violence, hate and a general lack of responsibility) are almost entirely black or Latino. It doesn’t surprise me, nor does it require any racism on the part of white people, for African-Americans to be less likely to qualify for loans or to pay more for the loans they receive. It’s not fair in every case, but it’s not necessarily the fault of white people either, and it is wrong to accuse white people of being “privileged” because there are fewer white screw-ups, statistically speaking, then black screw-ups. This is not a popular or politically correct view, but it is one that many leaders in the African-American community have tried to voice, most noticeably Bill Cosby.
As I stated earlier, in this thread or in another one (I don’t remember which) it comes down to a work ethic. The work ethic among White people is, statistically speaking, stronger then it is among Black people, and that needs to be fixed before the disparity will ever change. The desire to point of “Whitey” and blame it all on him is not going to improve matters. It will only make it worse.
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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Quote:
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:Quote:I don’t doubt it’s rigged. What I doubt is that it’s all my fault because I’m white. I made that upward climb, from a hell of lot lower down then most people. And now it seems that some of you want to tell me that that doesn’t mean anything or as much, because I’m white.
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Rue is utterly correct, the upward climb IS rigged, it's just that those it's rigged to help along never see it that way.
And let’s think about “privilege” for a moment. For almost my entire driving life, I’ve paid more in auto insurance then my sister. I have a much better driving record and a much better credit history then she does, yet I’m the one who pays more for insurance. Why? Female privilege? If we look at it the way some in this thread are looking at race, then yes, it is female privilege. But the real answer is that, statistically speaking, single males under the age of 35 are more likely to get into a wreck then a female in the same category. It may not be fair on every individual bases (such as mine), but insurance companies don’t set their prices based only on individuals. They must take a risk based on what might happen in the future and to assess that risk they use an actuary assessment. Mortgage brokers and banks must also take risk based on their assessment of the chances of default, and the sad fact is that the African American community, statistically speaking, is in crisis. Over 50% of African American children are born to single mothers, which is one of, if not the leading cause of poverty. Half of the nations’ prisoners are African-American. Gang-bangers (most of whom actively condone violence, hate and a general lack of responsibility) are almost entirely black or Latino. It doesn’t surprise me, nor does it require any racism on the part of white people, for African-Americans to be less likely to qualify for loans or to pay more for the loans they receive. It’s not fair in every case, but it’s not necessarily the fault of white people either, and it is wrong to accuse white people of being “privileged” because there are fewer white screw-ups, statistically speaking, then black screw-ups. This is not a popular or politically correct view, but it is one that many leaders in the African-American community have tried to voice, most noticeably Bill Cosby.
As I stated earlier, in this thread or in another one (I don’t remember which) it comes down to a work ethic. The work ethic among White people is, statistically speaking, stronger then it is among Black people, and that needs to be fixed before the disparity will ever change. The desire to point of “Whitey” and blame it all on him is not going to improve matters. It will only make it worse.
Actually "Whitey" is the blame for a lot of current conditions of other races in the United States and I don't care how you try to play it. In many ways defensive Whites are attempting, or have been attempting to make the other races the blame for the game board that we whites put together, so we can feel okay with our whiteness, and privilege by placing the blame on the victims of our greed and high-handedness of the past and present. I don't buy it. Whitey should be blamed because it's our game by our rules.
-River
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Quote:
Originally posted by RiveR6213:
It's interesting to see a few of you are defusing and attempting to downplay the very meat of this topic of White Privilege. It's one of those topics people don't like to talk about because regardless how much you downplay it, it's true, and we who are white do have an unfair advantage; the game is rigged. Deep down inside we would all like to think that we got where we are today under our own power, but the truth of the matter is we had help...like it or not it IS a truth and throwing insults, or put downs, or your like or dislike of a person here doesn't change the truth of this in any way. White Priviege is real, and it is working in our lives right now as I right this.
Go to China and you'll get to see Chinese Privilege at work. The same goes for any other country.
I would disagree that anyone is trying to downplay white privilege, it exists. Much like privilege exists in other countries where caucasian is not the dominant race. I am trying to ascertain how I am not to benefit from this built-in privilege. A reasonable question which arose during the course of this thread.
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Quote:Damn uppity Whites. Someone should put them in their place.
Originally posted by RiveR6213:
Actually "Whitey" is the blame for a lot of current conditions of other races in the United States and I don't care how you try to play it. In many ways defensive Whites are attempting, or have been attempting to make the other races the blame for the game board that we whites put together, so we can feel okay with our whiteness, and privilege by placing the blame on the victims of our greed and high-handedness of the past and present. I don't buy it. Whitey should be blamed because it's our game by our rules.
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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