prejudice against white people

[B. de Corbin]

Picked this up from the "Unpopular Opinions" thread -

Do "white people" (whatever that is) deserve to be blamed for the bad things that have happened, or are happening,to people with other skin colors?

[MoonRaven]

Re: prejudice against white people

I am going to ask for a definition of what being white actually covers before going I'll even touch this one, because it is not defined the same way in Europe as it is in the US. So as a European most of my opinions wouldn't fly in a US context, any more than the US discussion really works in a European context. The definition of White is simply too different.

[Aeran]

Re: prejudice against white people

It's a tricky issue. My stance is, broadly speaking, no, as long as they don't actively participate in persecution or racism and don't provide tacit support to it by (knowingly) ignoring it while benefiting from the institutions and social norms which perpetuate it. People don't choose to be born white (or into any other kind of privilege) any more than they choose to be born a minority (or into any other kind of persecution), and as such should be judged by their actions, not the actions of their ancestors or those within the same racial group.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: prejudice against white people

I am going to ask for a definition of what being white actually covers before going I'll even touch this one...

Got me hangin' on this. That's why I put it in quotes...

I guess, in the U.S., it's whether you choose to trace most of your ancestors back to Europe - then you're white. If you trace choose to trace them back to anywhere else, you're non-white. But don't quote me on this because the whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense to me anyway. I'm just using the language that other people typically use

[MoonRaven]

Re: prejudice against white people

It's just that this thread immediately brought this thread from tumblr to mind.

[Raphaeline]

Re: prejudice against white people

It's just that this thread immediately brought this thread from tumblr to mind.

I thought of tumblr, too. This conversation is one I usually go to GREAT LENGTHS to avoid there.

Here, though, I will say that it seems to me that one person can be prejudiced toward another person based on skin color, regardless of which one has which skin color. I understand that others pinpoint that White people have all the privilege and therefore all the power, and thus you can't be racist toward them (which I know is different from being prejudiced), but to me it sounds like the same rules are in place: if it's based on skin color, what difference does it make what that color is?

It's not something I've given a ton of thought to, though. This topic is usually so red-hot with rage that I usually give it a wide berth...

[Historyforall]

Re: prejudice against white people

If it is wrong to be prejudice against one group it is wrong to be against any group. Victims are still chosen by their appearance instead of their actions.

But race is the wrong word it is always culture based ethnicity prejudices. Every group is "racist" towards others not like them.

An American white guy may not like an American black guy but put him in a room with a middle eastern guy and the black guy becomes his best friend. Because they share similar cultural experiences.

In my high school most kids were separated by their ethnic identity with a few crossovers based on like interests. In the high school I teach I no longer see that. Kids today are solely grouped by their likes, example gamers, jocks, academics, music and such. In the lunch room I really do not see all of one race sitting together.

The US has a real chance to become a nation where racism does not exist and it does not just take white people it takes people getting out of the barrio, the hood, china town or whatever cultural enclave humans create to feel safe.

[Rowanwood]

Re: prejudice against white people

The whole thing just confuses me.

I can appreciate that this privilege business exists, but I think believing its a color thing and using the word "white" to describe the pinnacle for said privilege...is nonsensical. Looks/beauty in comparison to the social ideal might be a better way to put it.


But here in the US, there's this cultural thing where if your skin is light, you are therefore a slave owner descendant and also related to a guy with blankets infected with smallpox and also personally killed some nice noble native people, so hence you are at fault for anything that has happened to any people without light skin.

And there are people who do fit those descriptions. But most of us didn't even have family in the US during those times. I do have one set of great-great grandparents that where in the US in the 1890s, who worked as farm labor in Wisconsin in the summer and were drunk in the winter. This is my great cultural heritage. I'm pretty sure this past doesn't give me some fabulous advantage in the world, just because I have to buy the 50 SPF sunscreen.

50 years ago, my Irish-Scottish-Sicilian heritage husband wouldn't have been considered white at all. His own grandmother used to tell him how he'd have to wash extra good so his Sicilian blood wouldn't make him stink. But by most? He's considered the typical white male. Where do you draw the line?

I think BEAUTY is more privileging than race, in the end. If you look like people want you to look? You could be blue.

All I know is that I don't have enough sway in society to oppress anyone. I'm just some random person, slogging along and trying to make sure the bills all get paid. My 'whiteness' (which is apparently low grade in Europe since I'm 1/4 Polish and I look it) hasn't really been a great advantage.

[Bjorn]

Re: prejudice against white people

http://www.buzzfeed.com/aaronc13/this-comic-perfectly-explains-what-white-privilege-is

This is a fine example. I don't feel bad for caucasians one single f****** bit. Oh, people say mean things to you? People don't give you a chance? People assume the worst? Cry me a f****** river.













[Edited for profanity ~ Courtesy of Chain]

[Rowanwood]

Re: prejudice against white people

http://www.buzzfeed.com/aaronc13/thi...e-privilege-is

This is a fine example. I don't feel bad for caucasians one single f****** bit. Oh, people say mean things to you? People don't give you a chance? People assume the worst? Cry me a f****** river.

How's your white privilege working out for your life? Happy, rich?








[Quote (profanity) repaired ~ courtesy of Chain]

[B. de Corbin]

Re: prejudice against white people

This is a fine example. I don't feel bad for caucasians one single f****** bit. Oh, people say mean things to you? People don't give you a chance? People assume the worst? Cry me a f****** river.

So what's a Caucasian?

My wife, being 1/8 Chippewa, and my kids, being 1/16 Chippewa, don't have to deal with your ire, while I (who, as far as I know - which isn't very far - have no Native American blood in me), do, despite the fact that all of us live pretty much the same life, under the same circumstances, with the same advantages and disadvantages (well, with the exception that my wife could get a free college education based on her ethnic decent)?

You don't find anything goofy about that?













[Fixed quote ~ Chain]

[Bjorn]

Re: prejudice against white people

So what's a Caucasian?

My wife, being 1/8 Chippewa, and my kids, being 1/16 Chippewa, don't have to deal with your ire, while I (who, as far as I know - which isn't very far - have no Native American blood in me), do, despite the fact that all of us live pretty much the same life, under the same circumstances, with the same advantages and disadvantages (well, with the exception that my wife could get a free college education based on her ethnic decent)?

You don't find anything goofy about that?

The point of the matter is this: if you LOOK white, people will treat you white.

And no, I don't think there's anything weird about it. We slaughtered them and stole their country. Yes, I know you didn't. Neither did I or any of my family. The fact still remains that Europeans came over and f***** them royally in the ear. This is the very, very, very, very least we could do.







[Profanity removed ~ Courtesy of Chain

[Aeran]

Re: prejudice against white people

This is the very, very, very, very least we could do.

What is the least we could do? I'm kind of confused about what point you're trying to make.

[DanieMarie]

Re: prejudice against white people

I don't think it's fair to generalize groups of people. Groups of white people in different countries have certainly done horrible things to other races throughout history, but horribleness isn't limited to white people and white people were horrible to each other as well. England wasn't very nice to Ireland for a good chunk of time it occupied the country, for example, and the Nazis weren't just horrible to the Jews - they were horrible to a lot of non-Jewish Germans and people in countries they occupied as well (communists, homosexuals, and pretty much anyone else with a different lifestyle, sexuality, or world view).

I do agree with MoonRaven though that this issue is much, much different in Europe than it is in other parts of the world. White people came from here, and were horrible for each other for thousands of years before they were horrible to anyone else. In Europe tensions tend to be about -where- in Europe you are from, which is usually based on either hundreds of years of warring or current events (lots of countries hate the Germans because of its austerity conditions right now).

In Canada some people do reflect what Rowanwood said, that white people destroyed their communities and took their land. I kind of resented it, to be honest, because a) a lot of us came a lot more recently, b) not everyone who arrived in Western Canada over the last 200 years was white....not even back in the day. Asians always played a huge role in the development of the region, and c) what am I supposed to do about it? Leave? Well, I did, but that's not why and that's not a realistic solution because Europe isn't just going to let millions of white North Americans into their countries. It doesn't work that way.

- - - Updated - - -

It's just that this thread immediately brought this thread from tumblr to mind.

Yeah totally...and it still keeps going sometimes. People can be horrible to the Poles and they have ridiculously unfair stereotypes to deal with.

Do you have the whole right-wing fear of Romanians and Bulgarians swarming into the country right now? The ultra conservative parties and politicians here and in the UK are freaking out about it. (I think they're wrong, by the way...the same fear popped up when freedom of movement applied to Poland and the Czech Republic and nothing happened).

[Dumuzi]

Re: prejudice against white people

Picked this up from the "Unpopular Opinions" thread -

Do "white people" (whatever that is) deserve to be blamed for the bad things that have happened, or are happening,to people with other skin colors?

People should only be judged for their OWN actions, regardless of where their skin falls on the chocolate-vanilla spectrum.