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Quote: Meet the poster child for “white privilege” – then have your mind blown
Via The Princeton Tory:
There is a phrase that floats around college campuses, Princeton being no exception, that threatens to strike down opinions without regard for their merits, but rather solely on the basis of the person that voiced them. “Check your privilege,” the saying goes, and I have been reprimanded by it several times this year. The phrase, handed down by my moral superiors, descends recklessly, like an Obama-sanctioned drone, and aims laser-like at my pinkish-peach complexion, my maleness, and the nerve I displayed in offering an opinion rooted in a personal Weltanschauung. “Check your privilege,” they tell me in a command that teeters between an imposition to actually explore how I got where I am, and a reminder that I ought to feel personally apologetic because white males seem to pull most of the strings in the world.
I do not accuse those who “check” me and my perspective of overt racism, although the phrase, which assumes that simply because I belong to a certain ethnic group I should be judged collectively with it, toes that line. But I do condemn them for diminishing everything I have personally accomplished, all the hard work I have done in my life, and for ascribing all the fruit I reap not to the seeds I sow but to some invisible patron saint of white maleness who places it out for me before I even arrive. Furthermore, I condemn them for casting the equal protection clause, indeed the very idea of a meritocracy, as a myth, and for declaring that we are all governed by invisible forces (some would call them “stigmas” or “societal norms”), that our nation runs on racist and sexist conspiracies. Forget “you didn’t build that;” check your privilege and realize that nothing you have accomplished is real.
But they can’t be telling me that everything I’ve done with my life can be credited to the racist patriarchy holding my hand throughout my years of education and eventually guiding me into Princeton. Even that is too extreme. So to find out what they are saying, I decided to take their advice. I actually went and checked the origins of my privileged existence, to empathize with those whose underdog stories I can’t possibly comprehend. I have unearthed some examples of the privilege with which my family was blessed, and now I think I better understand those who assure me that skin color allowed my family and I to flourish today.
Perhaps it’s the privilege my grandfather and his brother had to flee their home as teenagers when the Nazis invaded Poland, leaving their mother and five younger siblings behind, running and running until they reached a Displaced Persons camp in Siberia, where they would do years of hard labor in the bitter cold until World War II ended. Maybe it was the privilege my grandfather had of taking on the local Rabbi’s work in that DP camp, telling him that the spiritual leader shouldn’t do hard work, but should save his energy to pass Jewish tradition along to those who might survive.
Perhaps it was the privilege my great-grandmother and those five great-aunts and uncles I never knew had of being shot into an open grave outside their hometown. Maybe that’s my privilege.
Or maybe it’s the privilege my grandmother had of spending weeks upon weeks on a death march through Polish forests in subzero temperatures, one of just a handful to survive, only to be put in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where she would have died but for the Allied forces who liberated her and helped her regain her health when her weight dwindled to barely 80 pounds.
Perhaps my privilege is that those two resilient individuals came to America with no money and no English, obtained citizenship, learned the language and met each other; that my grandfather started a humble wicker basket business with nothing but long hours, an idea, and an iron will—to paraphrase the man I never met: “I escaped Hitler. Some business troubles are going to ruin me?” Maybe my privilege is that they worked hard enough to raise four children, and to send them to Jewish day school and eventually City College.
Perhaps it was my privilege that my own father worked hard enough in City College to earn a spot at a top graduate school, got a good job, and for 25 years got up well before the crack of dawn, sacrificing precious time he wanted to spend with those he valued most—his wife and kids—to earn that living. I can say with certainty there was no legacy involved in any of his accomplishments. The wicker business just isn’t that influential. Now would you say that we’ve been really privileged? That our success has been gift-wrapped?
That’s the problem with calling someone out for the “privilege” which you assume has defined their narrative. You don’t know what their struggles have been, what they may have gone through to be where they are. Assuming they’ve benefitted from “power systems” or other conspiratorial imaginary institutions denies them credit for all they’ve done, things of which you may not even conceive. You don’t know whose father died defending your freedom. You don’t know whose mother escaped oppression. You don’t know who conquered their demons, or may still conquering them now.
The truth is, though, that I have been exceptionally privileged in my life, albeit not in the way any detractors would have it.
It has been my distinct privilege that my grandparents came to America. First, that there was a place at all that would take them from the ruins of Europe. And second, that such a place was one where they could legally enter, learn the language, and acclimate to a society that ultimately allowed them to flourish.
It was their privilege to come to a country that grants equal protection under the law to its citizens, that cares not about religion or race, but the content of your character.It was my privilege that my grandfather was blessed with resolve and an entrepreneurial spirit, and that he was lucky enough to come to the place where he could realize the dream of giving his children a better life than he had.
But far more important for me than his attributes was the legacy he sought to pass along, which forms the basis of what detractors call my “privilege,” but which actually should be praised as one of altruism and self-sacrifice. Those who came before us suffered for the sake of giving us a better life. When we similarly sacrifice for our descendents by caring for the planet, it’s called “environmentalism,” and is applauded. But when we do it by passing along property and a set of values, it’s called “privilege.” (And when we do it by raising questions about our crippling national debt, we’re called Tea Party radicals.) Such sacrifice of any form shouldn’t be scorned, but admired.
My exploration did yield some results. I recognize that it was my parents’ privilege and now my own that there is such a thing as an American dream which is attainable even for a penniless Jewish immigrant.I am privileged that values like faith and education were passed along to me. My grandparents played an active role in my parents’ education, and some of my earliest memories included learning the Hebrew alphabet with my Dad. It’s been made clear to me that education begins in the home, and the importance of parents’ involvement with their kids’ education—from mathematics to morality—cannot be overstated.
It’s not a matter of white or black, male or female or any other division which we seek, but a matter of the values we pass along, the legacy we leave, that perpetuates “privilege.” And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Behind every success, large or small, there is a story, and it isn’t always told by sex or skin color. My appearance certainly doesn’t tell the whole story, and to assume that it does and that I should apologize for it is insulting. While I haven’t done everything for myself up to this point in my life, someone sacrificed themselves so that I can lead a better life. But that is a legacy I am proud of.
I have checked my privilege. And I apologize for nothing. Quote: To the Privileged Princeton Kid,
Your angry op-ed has been been going around my Facebook for a few days now, and since I'm tired of unfriending those who have approvingly posted it, I'd like to address you directly here.Read on youngcons.com
You claim you're tired of people telling you to "check your privilege", and in response, you have written a long diatribe about how because your ancestors dealt with some shit it means you're not privileged like all these people think you are. Then, you go on to explain all of the ways in which you think you are privileged, throw in some solid nonsense about reverse racism, and end up coming to the ultimate conclusion that:
It's not a matter of white or black, male or female or any other division which we seek, but a matter of the values we pass along, the legacy we leave, that perpetuates "privilege." And there's nothing wrong with that.
I'd like to explain to you how you have completely missed the most basic definition of privilege; why you, like so many others, immediately got offended at the idea that you have somehow had it easier than others and leapt to your own defense without trying to listen or understand what someone was truly saying.
Privilege is when you get conscious or unconscious benefits from a demographic trait about yourself that you cannot control. These benefits may be overt (getting paid more as a man) or they may be covert (being able to walk down a street alone at night without fear of violence). I want to stress the last type of privilege. A privilege does not have to be something positive; it can simply be the lack of something negative.
Privilege is not personal. Privilege is institutional and cultural. It is macro. You have privilege because you are part of a group that has privilege. It is not because you are special or different or better in anyway (any more than those without privilege are not special or are worse in any way). This is going to be really hard for you to hear, and this is normally about the time where you're going to start railing and ranting about how you are at Princeton because you worked super hard and are naturally brilliant and wonderful. Maybe you are; and no one wants to take that away from you. Seriously - no one is saying that. But let's step back and remember once again, this isn't a personal conversation.
Checking your privilege doesn't mean anyone is asking you to say "I only have things because I am part of privileged groups". It does mean someone is asking you to say "By position of a characteristic I was born with, I have been helped, or at least not hurt, more than others without this characteristic". It does not mean anyone wants you to apologize for it; it does mean someone is asking for an acknowledgement of the implications of it, either for how it is impacted where you are now, how it might be skewing your perspective or level of knowledge in discussing a subject, or for how the lack of that same privilege may have made things different for someone else.
You may be in Princeton, but it seems like we should probably put this in really simple kindergarten examples for you. In the simplest, crudest metaphor I can think of, let's say you're a fully abled person in a race against a man with only one leg. You train a long time, run really fast, and beat him. No one is saying you shouldn't be proud of working hard or running so fast; all we're really asking for is that you admit that maybe having two legs fucking helped a little bit.
Using this metaphor, let's again break down some other arguments you can't really use. For instance, just because some one-legged people are faster than some two-legged people or manage to race doesn't mean that it is still not, on the whole, easier for two-legged people to walk and run. Again, privilege deals with macro level institutional and cultural ideas, not anecdata. If your grandfather only had one leg, but you had two, you don't get to claim that you do not have two-legged privilege. Having ancestors that endured hardships is important only if either you endure those same hardships or if those past hardships have continued on today in the form of discrimination based on your shared characteristics.
Privilege isn't an on/off switch. You can have one type of privilege, while not having others. You can, for instance, feel like you don't have religious privilege while still being able to admit that you have white privilege and male privilege. If our two legged man is black and our one legged man is white, he's still got white privilege.
Not all privilege is obvious; above, to make it simple, I used a metaphor where you could clearly see how one person had ability privilege (having two legs in a race instead of one). Some other examples are equally obvious: white/POC, male/female, rich/poor. Some other examples are not. Some require you to examine things you too for granted and realize the privilege underneath them. For instance, you admitted you were privileged because you felt like your parents and grandparents made sure you were educated. Looking deeper, I can reasonably assume that there is a huge likelihood that that involves financial privilege; no matter how wonderful a parent, someone who has to work three jobs in order to put food on the table is less likely to have time to spend learning the alphabet with you, or even possibly to be educated themselves. Looking deeply at things you're offering up as the ways in which you are privileged are going to show you that you are in fact privileged in the ways that you just denied. And again - that's okay. I'm genuinely happy you had that. Nothing to apologize for, just something to acknowledge.
Acknowledging privilege is hard (not as hard as not having privilege, but baby steps here), in no small part because it forces you to acknowledge other people don't have it, and that things are pretty shitty out there. It's a lot easier to yell "reverse racism!!!" than it is to sit down and fucking stare the realities of actual racism in the face. It's easier to feel the victim than it is to feel like the bad guy. All you'd like to do is keep staring at Megan Kelly's breasts and being blissfully oblivious that the world is a sad, fucked up place and dealing with your feelings of guilt that you got an okay deal? (Again - I want to take this opportunity to remind you that privilege is not personal. You're not the bad guy. When someone says "white men have done bad shit", no one is saying "you, dude in front of me, are the reincarnation of Satan and I personally blame you for everything")
So if there is one thing I want to leave you with, it is your own quote:
Behind every success, large or small, there is a story, and it isn't always told by sex or skin color. My appearance certainly doesn't tell the whole story
Take your own words to heart. In the same way your appearance doesn't tell the whole story, neither can you judge anyone else's story based on their appearance. You wrote this article because you felt people were treating you and judging you unfairly, and you wanted to be able to tell your story; to share the parts of you that weren't obvious because of your appearance.
And so does everyone else - especially people from groups who have historically been silenced or disregarded. Everyone wants to share their thoughts, opinions, and personal experiences rather than being judged based on the way they look or their demographics. So when someone says "check your privilege", what they mean is embrace and admit that you have preconceived notions and a specific world perspective, and to set those aside for a second and just listen. You wrote this entire article because you felt judged and un-listened to simply because of who you were and where you came from. Ironically, this is exactly how those you're railing against feel too. If you want people to listen to you - truly listen, without judgement - begin by doing the same for them.
Otherwise you'll just look like a complete fucking asshole when you write a hypocritical article completely missing the point of everything.
Quote: Violet Baudelaire Wrote A Rebuttal To Princeton's Tal Fortgang. And It's So Absurd I Need To Rebut It.
Written by Mockarena
You guys remember when Daisy posted Princeton's Tal Fortgang's amazing letter about white privilege, right? If not, start there, because you'll need it for context.
One of Jezebel's "writers" has written this rebuttal to it, and it's a perfect encapsulation of everything that is wrong with Jezebel. You want shrill? You want vulgarity for vulgarity's sake? You want hosebeast-y? It's a gold mine. But if you're looking for common sense and Actual Brains, steer clear, y'all. Consider that a friendly PSA from the Chicks.
Anyway, the writer of the rebuttal, who goes by Violet Baudelaire (and who, by the way, still uses the whole 77-cents-to-a-man's-dollar-for-the-same-job long-debunked myth as if it's factual), wrote her rebuttal as a letter addressed to Tal, and she said really smart things in it like, "It's easier to feel the victim than it is to feel like the bad guy. All you'd like to do is keep staring at Megan (sic) Kelly's breasts and being blissfully oblivious that the world is a sad, fucked up place and dealing with your feelings of guilt that you got an okay deal?" and "If you want people to listen to you - truly listen, without judgement (sic) - begin by doing the same for them. Otherwise you'll just look like a complete f*cking asshole when you write a hypocritical article completely missing the point of everything."
Yeah. That Violet's a real prize, isn't she?
But to be fair, I'm leaving an awful lot out. Let me make up for that right now.
In her very first sentence, Violet let Tal know that she'd unfriended everyone on Facebook who'd approvingly posted a copy of his op-ed. Because that's precisely how liberal feminists operate. If you disagree with them, even if you are friends, then you're written off. They don't want to hear dissenting points of view. They only want to hear their own thoughts parroted back to them. And she openly admits it.
Violet wants Tal to understand that privilege isn't personal - it's "institutional and cultural" and "macro." She explains that Tal isn't privileged because he's special or different or better, he's privileged because he is part of a group that HAS privilege.
And then in the very next paragraph Violet says, "Checking your privilege doesn't mean anyone is asking you to say "I only have things because I am part of privileged groups". It does mean someone is asking you to say "By position of a characteristic I was born with, I have been helped, or at least not hurt, more than others without this characteristic". It does not mean anyone wants you to apologize for it; it does mean someone is asking for an acknowledgement of the implications of it, either for how it is impacted where you are now, how it might be skewing your perspective or level of knowledge in discussing a subject, or for how the lack of that same privilege may have made things different for someone else."
OF COURSE people want apologies. That's all this white privilege bullsh*t has ever been about. They want white people, and particularly white MEN, to feel guilt. They want white people, and particularly white men, to internalize and acknowledge that simply because of the color of their skin, they have been "helped" or "at least not hurt" more than others who aren't white. The question is - why? For what purpose? To make non-white people feel...what exactly? Black people, or women, or gay people, or whatever group of people Violet determines is "non-privileged" cannot just make the casual assumption that they've had it harder than any specific white person just because there's a "macro" trend which indicates that white people have been more successful or otherwise better off. You know why? Because there's this whole thing that liberals like to ignore called individuality. And the more they try to put people into pre-categorized buckets (privileged whites, for example), the more they perpetuate stereotypes, divide people, exacerbate resentment, and keep racism alive. Violet and other white-privilege-obsessed folks claim they just want people to acknowledge and listen. But they are not being honest.
Here's a little tidbit that'll likely make Violet's head explode. There is no way for anyone to understand what it's like to be anyone else. Everyone has their cross(es) to bear. Violet wants Tal to ACKNOWLEDGE his white privilege, (for what purpose, she cannot clearly articulate) while she dismisses everything about his personal story. She diminishes his uniqueness, his individuality, his entire being, in fact, by reducing him to nothing more than his skin color, and then has the audacity to demand he own it as if it's something of which he should be ashamed.
How much more racist can you get than that, I ask you?
Violet insists, repeatedly, that she's happy that Tal was so "privileged." That she doesn't want him to apologize for it. She just wants him to ACKNOWLEDGE IT. She wants him to stop "staring at Megan (sic) Kelly's breasts" and see that "the world is a sad, f*cked up place" and deal with his feelings of guilt that he got "an okay deal."
You know what? I want Violet to acknowledge that she's got a weird obsession with Megyn Kelly's boobs. And then I'd like her to explain how in the world it does anyone anywhere a single bit of good to feel guilty for getting "an okay deal." I want to know why she and every other person who insists others acknowledge "white privilege," can't offer a single tangible example of what that acknowledgement should look like. (Hint: that's because it looks like an APOLOGY, which they insist they don't want, but actually do.)
But Violet says that none of this is personal - she insists that Tal isn't the bad guy. In one of her comments, Violet said, "The point isn't that only people who don't have privilege are allowed to speak or have opinions, it's just that the privilege needs to be taken into consideration and admitted." Still, she cannot express why or how. And she completely discounts the fact that Tal, repeatedly, acknowledges the many many ways he's been privileged in his life. He just refuses to do what she inexplicably craves - which is to attribute any of it specifically to his whiteness. Violet desperately wants him to check that box, as if doing so will somehow fix whatever perceived wrongs have been perpetrated by the evil white men she so clearly resents.
Wait. Make that evil white RICH men. In one of her comments she says, about Tal's column, "I'm just blown away at how many people are all thumbs up at this guy for making a stand. A brave, proud stand for rich white people."
Yeah. Because that's what Tal's column was about. Just rich white people. Forget the fact that he descends from Jewish immigrants who suffered at the hands of the Nazis. Jews have always been so privileged, right? What could they possibly know about persecution? Pffft.
Violet and all of the other white-privilege-obsessed people can pretend they're only interested in white people "acknowledging and listening" but anyone with half a brain can see what total nonsense that is. They simply won't rest until they are satisfied, by a measure they themselves cannot begin to define, that white people have sufficiently acknowledged their whiteness. This, they claim, will somehow allow us to further the conversation, start a dialogue and somehow make this world a better place. But ask them to prove that this "acknowledgement" does any of those things? *blink blink* (Hint: It doesn't. It simply divides us all further, and breeds resentment.)
Violet says that when someone says, "check your privilege" they simply mean "embrace and admit that you have preconceived notions and a specific world perspective, and to set those aside for a second and just listen." Really? So, when exactly does someone say, "check your privilege?" Because I'd be willing to wager that it's in response to a success that a white person has. It's in response to a white person achieving a victory of some sort. It's in response to a simple opinion a white person offers. The end result of saying "check your privilege" to someone, in any circumstance, is purely to diminish, to reduce, to minimize, to trivialize, to condescend. Because what other purpose is there to say such a thing?
I'll tell you the purpose - it's to SHUT DOWN conversation. If someone says, "check your privilege" they are dismissing whatever you just said or did, and attributing it purely to the privilege they believe you have due to your skin color. And that, clever and competent readers, causes far more harm than good.
So Violet can go on acknowledging white privilege and dismissing individuality all she wants. I'll be over here, with Tal, listening to individual people's personal stories, acknowledging their individuality, empathizing where I can and sympathizing where I can't. That's all anyone should ever be expected to do. Because we're all unique, special, different people with unique, special, different stories to tell. And it's getting really tiresome to have harpies like Violet putting themselves on some sort of unwarranted moral high ground simply because they want to categorize people.
Enough.
SHIT THE FUCK!!!!
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