privilege

Hi,

Hope all is well in your world.

They say that you're not supposed to talk about race, politics, money, and/or god. However, these are some of my favorite subjects to talk about. I'm not exactly sure as to why I enjoy these topics more than other topics. I narrow it down to the old adage from Eleanor Roosevelt who said, "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; and small minds discuss people." Not saying I have a great mind, but, I'll fake it until I make it.

Now, this topic is going to be about privilege. So if you're easily offended, I recommend going back to my real estate link, cat videos on YouTube, or your favorite fetish videos on PornHub. I can be offensive, whatever. Louis CK (bad time to quote him, yes I know), said that, "Offending people is a necessary and healthy act. Every time you say something that's offensive to another person you just caused a discussion. You just forced them to have to think." Well, here we go. Time to think homie.

With the disclaimer out of the way, I wanted to talk about privilege. All types of it. The most popular one that media seems to cover is white privilege. I'm sure you've heard of it. The dictionary for Camrbidge.org defines white privilege as, "The fact of people with white skin having advantages in society that other people do not have." That's a pretty straightforward definition. The Urban Dictionary top definition states, "A thing that has to be checked repeatedly when interacting with someone of another race, gender, kin, etc." Sounds like a definition about the ego to me, but ok, fair enough. Definitions out of the way, now onward.

I came across an article from the Chicago Tribune with the headline Yes, white 'privilege' is still the problem. It's a pretty straightforward attack on American cultural societal problems. And guess what? Spoiler alert. White people are blamed. The article is written by a black female. She goes on to state that, "White privilege means that you were born with an inherent advantage over every other race of people. The whiteness of your skin alone allows you to leave the starting gate quicker and to run the race with fewer obstacles. White skin comes with certain other perks, too, many of which are taken for granted." She may be right and sort of has a point, but let's look at the inverse.

Now I come across an article from left leaning news (fake?) CNN titled It's time to talk about 'black privilege'. As always, we can't go anywhere without defining terms. Urban Dictionary's top definition states that it is, "The ability for Blacks to openly spew racist violent hatred towards whites without social or legal repercussion." There is a hashtag on Twitter where people talk about #BlackPrivilege and one humorous tweet came from Frederick Uglass @WuttheDEUCE who said, "One perk of #BlackPrivilege is walking by a white bake sale and not being asked to buy anything. So peaceful." Classic. Going back to CNN's article where they talk about the perks of being black. "Being black today gives its recipients privileges ranging from landing coveted college scholarships to becoming activists who can build careers on racial grievances." The author for this article is a white male by the way. 

So we have a black female talking about why it's good to be white and a white male talking about why it's good to be black. Yet no one attacks the Asians, Indians, Middle Easterners, Hispanics, Europeans, and so much more. What are Jews? Are they white? They are Middle Eastern, yet they look white, right? Are they privileged as well? What about Russians? They're white as well. Russia has areas of tremendous poverty where the white privilege argue simply will not work. How about aboriginals in Australia? They're blacker than Africans and African Americans. Are they privileged in some way shape or form? What's the deal? How can this essentially black and white issue, eliminate the gray area and become a black and white issue? 

I would like to put forward an hypothesis that everyone is privileged in some way shape or form. Yes blacks are privileged. Yes whites are privileged. But guess what? So is every race. Everyone is born to parents that they didn't choose, a nature and nurture they also didn't choose, and a whole list of both amazing and horrifying things that, for the most part, people did not choose. Within these attributes that are inherited throughout life, I recommend people find the privileged ones and utilize it to their advantage.

What I mean by that is that maybe you're black, and your black genetics allowed you to be taller and have a propensity to be athletically gifted relative to your classmates. This is a privilege in the athletics department, and the statistical probability of going professional in a sport increases in a way that your racial counterparts will not have. Or maybe you're white and was raised out in the country somewhere and your family taught you how to hunt growing up. This too is also a privilege that racial counterparts will not have. It is also possible that the white person be athletically gifted and that the black person learned how to hunt. Black and white aside, maybe you're Middle Eastern and born into a royal family where it rains money constantly. Another privilege for someone. The list goes on and on. 

Privilege is everywhere and everyone has it in some way shape or form. You just have to find it, exploit it, unfuck yourself, and make the best life possible. We all die and get thrown into the inferno or eaten by worms. Bickering about it while you're here for 70 years, or however long you got on this blue marble planet, is completely and utterly useless and a waste of time. Find your strengths, recognize your weaknesses, and press forward. The whole debate is stupid and I can't believe I wrote a blog on it. Just wanted to add an official opinion somewhere. If this changes one person's mind about the situation and it helps them for the better, the writing is worth it.

Carry on.

P.S.
Don't forget to add me on social media. Click any of the social media images on the bottom of the page for direct access to me.

References:

Cambridge Dictionary. (2018). White Privilege. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/white-privilege
Blake, J. (2018). It's Time to Talk about Black Privilege. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/30/us/black-privilege/index.html
Glanton, D. (2018). Yes, White Privilege is Still the Problem. Retrieved from http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/glanton/ct-met-white-privilege-dahleen-glanton-20180328-story.html
Uglass, F. (2018). Twitter. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/WuttheDEUCE/status/1009470667622842368
Urban Dictionary. (n.d.). Black Privilege. Retrieved from https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Black%20Privilege
Urban Dictionary. (n.d.). White Privilege. Retrieved from https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=White%20privilege