Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Huh. So every day when you walk out the door, you feel it's easy to be you because you're white. When you're driving to work, when you grab a coffee at Tim's, when you sit down at your cubicle, when you buy your groceries at Co-op, when you talk the people at Shaw on the phone - you feel it's all easier because you're part of the favoured class.
And you think every white person should feel the same? The out-of-work drywaller who's struggling to make rent. The alcoholic with maxed out credit cards. The woman going through a bitter divorce. The 50 year old trying to retrain after his knees are shot from laying carpet for 30 years. The senior struggling with depression. All should recognize that they wear a cloak of privilege, and have no right to question the prejudice and anger of anyone who isn't white?
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That is quite the strawman you constructed there Cliff. Well done. A very disingenuous diatribe worthy of deconstruction.
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So every day when you walk out the door, you feel it's easy to be you because you're white. When you're driving to work, when you grab a coffee at Tim's, when you sit down at your cubicle, when you buy your groceries at Co-op, when you talk the people at Shaw on the phone - you feel it's all easier because you're part of the favoured class."
You're damned right its easier. Even in the very "traditionally Canadian" way you attempt to frame your comparison. As a white person you aren't profiled all day long by the majority. As a white person you are not going to get pulled over in your car for being white - you actually have to do something suspicious/illegal to be pulled over. As a white person you are not going to be scrutinized for standing around a place of business, customer or not. Visible minorities, especially black and brown people, are viewed as threats and monitored more closely than their white people. As you sit in your cubical at work it is much more likely you have the job in question over a visible minority because you had obvious advantages that the other people did not. As a white person you have things much easier because the system has been setup to benefit you.
The system was established by white people, and the laws and rules have been set up to maintain that systemic advantage. It may not be as overt in Canada as it is in the United States, but the same systemic advantage exists for the white majority.
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And you think every white person should feel the same? The out-of-work drywaller who's struggling to make rent. The alcoholic with maxed out credit cards. The woman going through a bitter divorce. The 50 year old trying to retrain after his knees are shot from laying carpet for 30 years. The senior struggling with depression. All should recognize that they wear a cloak of privilege, and have no right to question the prejudice and anger of anyone who isn't white?"
And here is where the strawman has been constructed. No one is saying that everyone white person should feel the same, because every white person's situation is NOT the same. There are massive advantages for some white people over others. Those with money and position naturally have more power and access than those without. That is obvious, and holds regardless of culture. But as soon as you add in the color of one's skin, the game changes.
So who do you think has the advantage and better access? Who do you think stands a better chance of finding a leg up and bettering their situation? The WHITE out-of-work drywaller who's struggling to make rent, or the BLACK out-of-work drywaller who's struggling to make rent? The WHITE woman going through a bitter divorce or the BLACK woman going through a bitter divorce? The WHITE 50 year old trying to retrain after his knees are shot from laying carpet for 30 years or the BLACK 50 year old trying to retrain after his knees are shot from laying carpet for 30 years? We could go on and on.
The system has been setup to protect a certain type of people. It has been obvious for as long as we've established the systems to rule the land. Whites setup the rules to protect their privilege. But now that the white majority is being threatened, and minorities are demanding equality and fair access those very systems white people have taken advantage of for decades, now there is a problem. When you're accustomed to privilege, the very attempt to offer equality feels like oppression.