Thursday, May 29, 2014

More Thoughts On So-called White Privilege

From a comment on a post at Inside Higher Ed:
Yes, but if I would pose statistics in a different way you would not buy into a race motive for a moment. For instance:
1. White men have the highest suicide rate of all groups.
2. Black women live longer than White men and have for the larger part of the twentieth century.
3. White women have the longest life expectancy of any group.

Do these facts prove prejudice or societal oppression against White men, Black female privilege, or White female privilege? If you follow the news, women are an oppressed group routinely left out of medical studies, suffering prejudice at the hands of White male doctors.

Academic's response to 1: They usually argue that White men tend to be loners, unlike minorities who are community or group oriented. Hence, they don't have emotional support when depressed. The blame is on "White" culture. Try blaming Black culture for poor school performance!
Academic's response to 2 & 3: They argue its genetics. Of course, try arguing that White male dominance in science, computing, and math is genetics.

This is why White Privilege is an empty concept, too generalized, simplistic, bordering on superstition. It only explains what partisans want it to.
Yep.

No comments: