About 5 years ago my wife was in conversation with a woman that she was taking a coaching coarse in California with. The other woman (who went to Yale) started to talk to my wife about her "white privilege" and how it was bad. At that point, my wife had to tell her that she was born in rural Ireland in a house with no running water or central heating. Her father, along with all the other men in the village, had to leave their farms, and go to England every year for a month to pick the English potato crop. As an Irish Catholic, until recently if she was entering the US from Canada, where she now lives, she could expect to be questioned about her affiliation with the IRA, as after all, she must be a terrorist.
So much for the assumptions associated with "white privilege".
I think most of us living so called regular lives know by now the privilege/circumstance which makes the most difference in most folks’ lives is economic. But it doesn’t get air time because it would require the most self-examination, acts of will, and plain work. Easy for our PM to walk in a pride parade and bang on about whatever immutable characteristics + privilege. Not so easy to solve the mess that is the Canadian housing crisis. It speaks to my fatigue around such things that I almost feel relieved now when I encounter someone who has economic ‘privilege’ and just lives their life without apology or self-recrimination. It may not be generous but at least it’s honest.
I was born into a low income working class household in a small, blue-collar town. My father worked his way up to a respectable and moderately comfortable life as the publisher of the local newspaper and so I spent my teen years in the upper middle echelon of local society. I chose a career in music and scraped by for many years. Then I married a lawyer and spent twenty-six years in what became a loveless marriage where most of our friends and acquaintances were in the top five percent. I was always the outsider, the conversation piece, so that someone could claim to be bohemian by association. Then, at age sixty, I met someone by chance; we hugged and I didn't ever want to let her go so I walked away from a comfortable, privileged, lonely life.
A gay CBC reporter who is in my run group called me privileged. I stopped and looked at him somewhat defensively and said, ‘Don’t use the P word on me. You don’t know MY story.’ He said nothing.
Another source of privilege that the ultra-progressives never want to talk about is a childhood free of adverse experiences. Every doctor knows the depth to which adverse childhood experiences follow a person and detract from their health (physical, mental) for the rest of their lives.
I had an amazing childhood and I know this, more than anything else, predicted a good life. We were comfortably middle class. Our family made it work because we were there for each other.
A great read, I hope it permeated through to some of his intended audience. Two points for consideration though: 1, those elite college students are not the target of the ‘check your privilege’ mantra, they are the targets for brainwashing and radicalization. It takes one D.A. to skew the application of prosecutions in states (think back to that story the the Stanford law undergrads heckling the federal judge), it takes only a couple of justices to reinterpret the constitution for ´Social Justice’ goals, it only takes four or five Critical Theory loyalists to subvert a school board. Those students in elite schools will go on to occupy highly influential positions and the return on effort for the Critical Social Justice priests and wizards polluting academia is just too good to be true. So, far from wanting them to give up their privilege, the SJ cult is hoping to redirect it to their own means (which is to seize and disrupt the means (ie young and students) by which society reproduces itself)
2. The ´check your privilege’ quip is a thought terminating cliché aimed to stunt discussion and nullify any challenge. Its directed at anyone who might dissent or disagree, any heretic with a different viewpoint. The response is to keep talking of course, reality and truth will eventually triumph over corruption, however long it may take.
Whatever happened to the understood virtue of minding our own business? Nobody wants to listen to a bunch of self-righteous preachiness. If you come from a solid, supportive family with means, count your blessings and keep your mouth shut. We've forsaken the simplest of virtues.
What a sweet deal. To be an upper-class privileged victim fighting against those working class "bullies". I love the term "crybullies".
I just had a dialog with a commentor named Greg G. on a community blog that claimed my use of the term "globalism" was an antisemitic dog whistle. I told him that, if anything, connecting the two terms was more a sign of antisemitism. He then again accused me of antisemitism because he says he is Jewish.
The use of the slur "White privilege" is just the "privilege" of the so-called marginalized people. And any white person who would fall for it is a self-loathing fool. So much for white privilege?
An excellent read. I think that like the author, many of us are growing weary of the narrative being pushed at every turn about "Saints and Sinners." People are much more complex. Their stories are more complex. For some reason, much of the mainstream media in particular has forgotten this. And I say that after having worked in that field for the majority of my life. I am more than willing to hear the perspectives and stories of others. But they in turn must be willing to hear and consider mine.
About 5 years ago my wife was in conversation with a woman that she was taking a coaching coarse in California with. The other woman (who went to Yale) started to talk to my wife about her "white privilege" and how it was bad. At that point, my wife had to tell her that she was born in rural Ireland in a house with no running water or central heating. Her father, along with all the other men in the village, had to leave their farms, and go to England every year for a month to pick the English potato crop. As an Irish Catholic, until recently if she was entering the US from Canada, where she now lives, she could expect to be questioned about her affiliation with the IRA, as after all, she must be a terrorist.
So much for the assumptions associated with "white privilege".
I think most of us living so called regular lives know by now the privilege/circumstance which makes the most difference in most folks’ lives is economic. But it doesn’t get air time because it would require the most self-examination, acts of will, and plain work. Easy for our PM to walk in a pride parade and bang on about whatever immutable characteristics + privilege. Not so easy to solve the mess that is the Canadian housing crisis. It speaks to my fatigue around such things that I almost feel relieved now when I encounter someone who has economic ‘privilege’ and just lives their life without apology or self-recrimination. It may not be generous but at least it’s honest.
I was born into a low income working class household in a small, blue-collar town. My father worked his way up to a respectable and moderately comfortable life as the publisher of the local newspaper and so I spent my teen years in the upper middle echelon of local society. I chose a career in music and scraped by for many years. Then I married a lawyer and spent twenty-six years in what became a loveless marriage where most of our friends and acquaintances were in the top five percent. I was always the outsider, the conversation piece, so that someone could claim to be bohemian by association. Then, at age sixty, I met someone by chance; we hugged and I didn't ever want to let her go so I walked away from a comfortable, privileged, lonely life.
A gay CBC reporter who is in my run group called me privileged. I stopped and looked at him somewhat defensively and said, ‘Don’t use the P word on me. You don’t know MY story.’ He said nothing.
So true. Fully agree.
Another source of privilege that the ultra-progressives never want to talk about is a childhood free of adverse experiences. Every doctor knows the depth to which adverse childhood experiences follow a person and detract from their health (physical, mental) for the rest of their lives.
I had an amazing childhood and I know this, more than anything else, predicted a good life. We were comfortably middle class. Our family made it work because we were there for each other.
Wow, this is thoughtful, made my day.
Those are the people that believe that vacations are the same as traveling.
That probably the reason I find their company and conversation insufferable. Virtue signaling wanna be snobs.
A great read, I hope it permeated through to some of his intended audience. Two points for consideration though: 1, those elite college students are not the target of the ‘check your privilege’ mantra, they are the targets for brainwashing and radicalization. It takes one D.A. to skew the application of prosecutions in states (think back to that story the the Stanford law undergrads heckling the federal judge), it takes only a couple of justices to reinterpret the constitution for ´Social Justice’ goals, it only takes four or five Critical Theory loyalists to subvert a school board. Those students in elite schools will go on to occupy highly influential positions and the return on effort for the Critical Social Justice priests and wizards polluting academia is just too good to be true. So, far from wanting them to give up their privilege, the SJ cult is hoping to redirect it to their own means (which is to seize and disrupt the means (ie young and students) by which society reproduces itself)
2. The ´check your privilege’ quip is a thought terminating cliché aimed to stunt discussion and nullify any challenge. Its directed at anyone who might dissent or disagree, any heretic with a different viewpoint. The response is to keep talking of course, reality and truth will eventually triumph over corruption, however long it may take.
Whatever happened to the understood virtue of minding our own business? Nobody wants to listen to a bunch of self-righteous preachiness. If you come from a solid, supportive family with means, count your blessings and keep your mouth shut. We've forsaken the simplest of virtues.
What a sweet deal. To be an upper-class privileged victim fighting against those working class "bullies". I love the term "crybullies".
I just had a dialog with a commentor named Greg G. on a community blog that claimed my use of the term "globalism" was an antisemitic dog whistle. I told him that, if anything, connecting the two terms was more a sign of antisemitism. He then again accused me of antisemitism because he says he is Jewish.
See? Crybully is a perfect label.
Fabulous.
The use of the slur "White privilege" is just the "privilege" of the so-called marginalized people. And any white person who would fall for it is a self-loathing fool. So much for white privilege?
An excellent read. I think that like the author, many of us are growing weary of the narrative being pushed at every turn about "Saints and Sinners." People are much more complex. Their stories are more complex. For some reason, much of the mainstream media in particular has forgotten this. And I say that after having worked in that field for the majority of my life. I am more than willing to hear the perspectives and stories of others. But they in turn must be willing to hear and consider mine.
A bit lighter fare...but refreshing.