My gf seems to be bothered that I am 'white and privileged'.

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Well as for her being a supervisor compared to me, are you saying she is slightly more privileged than me because of that? I guess we never thought so.

If they're in a bona fide relationship, I think they can drop the political correctness and have a frank discussion.


How does this change anything?


I would agree. Problem is, some non-whites assume ALL whites share in this privilege to the fullest extent of its power. You and I and ironpony know that's not the case, but some non-whites don't. White folks aren't the only ones who can have stereotypes and misconception about other races.

All white (and white-passing) people benefit from white privilege, even if white privilege doesn't amount to an easy life.

People often conflate the concept of benefiting from privilege in someway with being privileged.

I would agree, to an extent. That's not the issue.


What people? White people themselves, or non-white people who realize whites are privileged, but are unaware of the white caste system and assume being privileged is a guarantee for anyone who is white, equally? You need to clarify.

This is why I qualified white privilege to "the fullest extent of its power."

Ironpony may be privileged for being white, as you point out. The EXTENT of the priviledge may not be as extensive for him as his non-white girlfriend assumes (since she may think the privilege applies equally to all whites). She may see the most privileged white man and assume the privilege applies to all whites equally. It doesn't.

People you'll meet in the real-world and people on here. Kraftie's post I described as a canard is an example of it but there's a handful of posters on here who will eventually do it literally every single time the phrase gets used on here.

I don’t agree what I stated is just a “centrist canard.”

We have to take individuals’ circumstances into account when we speak if someone is “privileged” or not.

A person of European descent who lives hand-to-mouth would resent it if (the person) is told to “check your privilege.” The person would find such a statement to emanate from someone who “doesn’t have all his marbles.”

And they'll end up relying on canards and strawmen because when the concept is laid out in whole they'll be obliged to concede it exists just like you consistently have to do every time it comes up.

Being white or white-passing reduces the likelihood of having certain negative 'racialized' stereotypes applied to one's self. It reduces the likelihood of being seen as not a true member of the western society that person participates in and reduces the likelihood of being reduced to 'one of them' in interactions.

Only the bad people are Ammuuurians.

I was just about to suggest this.

I'm a fan of agreeing to disagree if there is no hope for a resolution.
If the bickering continues, there may not be a relationship, period.

I think its risky to make inferences without knowing the person and only ironpony really knows this girl. The rest of us are trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle based on bits and peices that ironpony is choosing to share.

Over here, we have a problem of non-native Australians claiming that they have an aboriginal heritage to access the benefits, stealing the finite resources from actual people who qualify.
Don't quote me, but there may be laws established to prevent this, in the future.

Isn't this a case of "black privilege" that some whites are trying to steal?
Perhaps I don't understand the term.

Sorry for the tangent, ponyman.

Agreed.
People really need to hear both sides of the coin first to have a credible opinion.

BTW,
How did you get so clever in such a short period of time?
My influence?

Pepe, the master of the back-handed compliment.

Like I said, I agree there “white privilege” on a statistical and historic basis.

I wish we would in person and talk…..because I sense you believe I am a certain kind of person—when I actually am not.

Once people get to know me, they invariably do not believe that I am a racist….though they think I’m rather a kook.

I think somebody else on this thread asked about her experiences living in a first nations community and whether she distrusts white people. Quite clearly the only exposure she's had to native Canadian culture is from her mother. She has grown up in a predominantly white Canadian environment around white people (according to ironpony).

She might have experienced some discrimination so feels compelled to align herself with her native ancestry but there is no evidence the reason she self-identifies as "native" (I am not even sure based on ironpony's feedback that she does?) based on her life experiences. For all we know she chooses to self-identify. Another important factor is how she looks. If Canada is anything like Australia then the more closely she phenotypically resembles a typical white person will likely mean (as funeral empire pointed out) the more likely she benefits from white privilege, In the latter case of "self-identification" is similar to the growing number of aboriginal people here in Australia who are physically indistinguishable from white people so its affirmation of identity/roots.

For somebody who is physically quite clearly non-white then they wear their heritage on their skin/face so they have no choice but to identify as native.

Some years ago I did an indigenous cultural sensitivity course run by the city of Melbourne. The facilitator was a professional of indigenous background but who passed for white (red hair/blue eyes/caucasian face). One of the exercises we had to do was to draw an image of how closely we feel part of Australian society. The indigenous facilitator opened the post-exercise discussion by saying that his indigenous tattoos and his jewellery made white people (he did not consider himself white) discriminate against him because he was indigenous. He said whenever he opened the door and walked outside his outward appearance invited racism. Following this he asked for volunteers. We had an east Indian participant who was visibly shaking and told the facilitator that "he was the one who chose to wear the jewellery and get the tattoos". The Indian dude responded "I can wear the best clothes, have the best job but we all know that I wear my identity permanently as I can't hide my skin. He told the facilitator "you talk about discrimination and privilege but I face this 24 hours a day". "I will always be identified as an Indian first not an Australian". "You have the luxury to remove your tattoos and jewellery and you are white/Australian.

The lesson from this is that how adjacent you are to the majority population determines who easily you benefit from the privilege of switching identity whenever it suits you. The indigenous guy had that luxury, he chooses to dress himself up and declare his "non-whiteness". The Indian guy doesn't have that privilege.

What are you on about?
Show me one person who thinks you are a racist.
I dare you.