I’m not really disagreeing with your overall point, but how could you possibly know the above? You seem to see the situation as you getting away with what appears to be unusual behavior because you’re white. I see a lazy government employee that doesn’t give a shit about doing their job. I guess it’s just a perspective thing.
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so you think I’m wrong? You think TSA agents don’t profile?
I’ve noticed this in other threads. We have different standards of proof on some things. I just can’t imagine a scenario where a brown dude wearing a turban gets on a plane with those items. Do you think that’s plausible? I don’t, but maybe to you that’s a plausible scenario.
EDIT: And just to clarify. If we’re saying ‘yes, it’s technically possible that one brown dude in a turban, at some airport got away with the same thing in the last 10 years’, then ok. I can concede possibility in that sense. I don’t KNOW this has never happened, but I doubt it has.
But to the original point, I know that almost anywhere I go, I’m going to be treated better than people of color, and I know there are many places I can expect to be treated better than women. It’s very difficult for me to come up with a place I could go where being a white male would be to my detriment. Perhaps there are some book clubs or protests or whatever that I may be less welcome at.
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I think you have your perspective and it’s based on your experiences. I have no idea if you’re right or wrong.
I think people instinctively profile, but iirc TSA has a specific policy that doesn’t allow for profiling, which isn’t to say TSA agents don’t profile… Maybe it’s a Texas thing. I fly out of BWI (Baltimore) more than anywhere else I can’t say I’ve seen the same thing.
I think, like in almost every single other scenario, it depends on the circumstances.
Come on down to Baltimore. AngryChicken used to tell stories about how he would get his ass beat (and was even stabbed) for being a white boy in Charm City.
You’re certainly not the only person that believes this. It just hasn’t been my experience in life.
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It’s not ok to be any kind of human.
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It depends on the country and the circumstances.
I love the quote from my father - “I love it when I’m discriminated against, it means that my tribe is considered the worst by the host society. When I’m welcomed with open arms it means that there are some seriously bad guys around and that the locals cannot afford to luxury to hate on imaginary enemies.”
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I think flipcollar has it right. I am white, have a white collar job, and get all the perks of society. People assume I am competent, assume I am not a criminal, and I’m always given the benefit of the doubt in any situation I’ve ever been in involving security/law. My wife is not white, and is from a far wealthier family than I am. Her brothers get pulled over and harassed, and are treated with suspicion I am not. My wife drives far slower and follows the rules of the road far closer than I do, and yet she gets pulled over often and I never do.
So, I think when someone says “It’s okay to be white”, it’s seen as a slap in the face to those who face constant judgement and harassment based simply on not being white.
It’s like if a model wears a shirt that says “It’s okay to be hot and skinny”, it’s hard to justify being so tone deaf.
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It’s like the “Black Lives Matter” thing… loads of idiots read that to mean that other lives don’t, hence starting an ‘All Lives Matter’ and missing the point that the campaign was trying to raise that black people’s lives are frequently eradicated by law enforcement and other criminality, and no one really seems to care…
In this case, idiots have taken “it’s ok to be white” to read “it’s not ok to be non-white” and are getting pissy about that too…
TL:DR - idiots everywhere
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Devils Advocate
Because you’re white you have been/are expected to succeed. Your success is, at least in part, because you’re white and afforded certain privileges by a majority white society. If you had not succeeded it would have been your fault because of your advantages.
If instead, you were black, your success is actually in spite of society holding you back. Your success is all you and is, in fact, more impressive than the success of a white person because society is (supposedly) set up against you. If you were not a success, well, that’s not your fault the system is stacked against you.
Again, maybe my perspective is skewed because I’m from Maryland where there are a lot of very wealthy black people (PG, Howard, and Montgomery County), I dunno.
Aside from the likelihood that this is a masterful troll job, again, I think it’s just a matter of perspective. PC culture, identify politics, the victim Olympics, etc… are very real. Is it debatable how real/prevalent these things are in society? Yes, of course. I happen to think they are much less relevant than some folks makes them out to be, but it does exist. And, some white people feel they are basically being shamed for their birth color, which is utterly ridiculous regardless of what color you are. It shouldn’t be a source of pride or shame for anyone, imo… And, very important, I don’t think it’s an either-or proposition. In other words, I don’t think to say it’s okay to be white somehow implies it’s better to be white or there aren’t reasons why being white is helpful in western society. I think it just means, hey you’re white and that’s fine too.
Is it tone deaf? Depends on the context. If a model wears an “it’s okay to be hot and skinny” shirt to an obesity support group, ya, it’s tone deaf. Buuuuuut, hasn’t fat acceptance become yet another event in the victim Olympics where being a “plus-size model” is “brave” and a “step in the right direction” etc…?
I dunno, to me this whole thread is mental masterbation. I have never, outside the internet, thought about whether it’s okay to be white. I just think all this stuff is blown way out of proportion.
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I disagree. There have been many intelligent men who didn’t consider Jews white/European.
I don’t believe we are white, but many of us do have white admixture, in some cases significantly so.
I keep procrastinating with it, but I intend to get a DNA test. Though I’m white presenting to some, I suspect I have only slight aboriginal-European descent, but I might be wrong.
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By that token, then white people are also “Gods chosen people”. Right?
So many people on twitter talk about “ending white supremacy, as a white person blah blah” and they are actually Jewish.
They are quick to state how “as a white person” but then in the next sentence, proclaim their Jewishness. Which is it?
So fucking hilarious.
I harbor no hatred towards any race or religion, just FYI.
Interesting, isn’t it?
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This isn’t completely related but also not completely unrelated, so:
Bit of background real quick on me - my dad is Native and my mom is white. I’m not dark enough that you know for sure “that’s an Indian” but I’m dark enough that you know I’m “something” (Hispanic is the usual guess, idk why).
I don’t think that all people of color are pour souls constantly terrorized by some white boogey-man, nor do I think all white people are wealthy and have perfect lives and live with the sole purpose of trying to bring down anybody of color that they can find. Not at all. I’ve seen many racist people of color and many very kind, emapthetic, loving white people who have had very rough lives.
However, I just wanted to tell this quick story. Just kinda going off of what @flipcollar said about how it’s nice to be white.
My dad is a bricklayer. Has been for almost 20 years. Widely known amongst the construction industry in our area that he’s one of the best around at what he does. Not just saying that because I’m his son, but it’s true. He’s got an amazing work ethic (which goes against the common stereotype of Natives as lazy bums living off welfare), and just has a skill for what he does.
When the company he works for gets jobs, there’s basically two types - commercial jobs where it’s just some simple brick walls on a store, school, hospital, etc. or residential jobs where some wealthy person wants some fancy stone work done on their house. These jobs require a little bit more skill, due to the intricacy of it, and the “importance” of the customer.
He is, and has been for a long time, the guy in charge of these jobs. When he works at them, it’s him, one or possibly two other bricklayers, and one “tender” who basically does whatever is demanded of him by the bricklayers. (If anyone wants to get a strong back, shoulders, and grip, work this job for a summer. It’ll work wonders.)
Anyway, all of his coworkers are white. He started the job around the age of 20 years old. My parents had me when they were still in high school, and my dad, who didn’t go to college, found this job after being a dishwasher and factory worker for a couple years. I am too young to remember, but from what I’ve heard from my mom, when he started he was a young, inexperienced guy who immediately was at the bottom of the totem pole, working 60+ hours a week, in all types of weather, showing up an hour before anyone else, and staying an hour later. He was constantly called a prairie nigger by his coworkers, as well as other terms, and most expected him to quit after the first few paychecks. He didn’t need to work this hard, but he felt the need to, in order to earn anybody’s respect.
A couple years ago, during the summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school, I worked at this company as a tender. It payed well for someone my age and I actually chose it hoping it would help my deadlift go up 
. Now my dad had been at this job for about 15 years, and I came in, and watched him still being called racist names and shown a lot of disrespect by his coworkers. Occasionally they get some new guys, usually high school or college age, who even though they are new and completely inexperienced, watch the example of the older workers, and call people things. We’ve had an influx of Mexicans in our area lately, and some of them have started working with him, and are always met with unfriendliness and racism by the white employees. Again, even by the teenagers who have never worked a day in their life, yet they show up and start treating them a certain way as well. And at least where we live, Mexicans in particular, pretty much only work the hardest, shittiest jobs. Hard construction jobs, night janitors, factory workers, and at the beef plant (where they kill and prepare cattle - idk if that’s the universal term for it or not).
Anyway, the summer I worked with him, I never once saw a customer show up and talk to him. They showed up quite often, to check on their houses and look at the progress of the work. They never ONCE came and spoke to him. Though he was usually in charge, they would go to the white workers, every single time, and ask them their questions (like, when would they be done, was everything going ok, etc.). Even if the white employee in question was 16-19 years old! And every single time, they were refered over to my dad, since he was in charge, and every single time they got a look of surprise on their face. And they would go to him, and ask, almost in disbelief “Are…are you in charge?” Like it was impossible.
That’s the end of the story. My apologies for the length of that. My point was not to demonize white people, nor cast pity on minorities, but simply to echo what flip said say that often, yes, white men do experience at least some benefits. To work at a job for almost two decades, after three knee surgeries, one back surgery and daily racism directed at you, and have your customers never once refer to you for help, choosing teenagers with not even any facial hair on them over you simply because of your skin color, is not necessarily direct, aggressive racism, but it’s just the fact that most people have these predetermined ideas in their head and that, is the benefit I think a lot of whites experience, whether or not they know it.
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Of course it is. Heck, it’s great!
What does this mean, and how do you know it?
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Keeping good bricklayers a ready supply of bricks and mortar is the some of the hardest work anyone will ever do. I still hate wheelbarrows.
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It means when I have walked out of a store and the sensor goes off, I am politely told “sorry” and allowed to proceed without any questioning or checking my bag. When I am pulled over, I am never treated with suspicion or told to keep my hands where they can be seen.
Both of these are not reliably true to my friends and family of color.
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Jewish is also a religion. One can be european and Jewish lol
Clearly this isn’t what I am talking about. I’m talking about Jews, as a race.
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Have you ever actually walked out with items for which you didn’t pay(obviously, talking about situations involving sensors here)?
Do you yell at the Officer and accuse him of racism, or do you sit there with your hands on the wheel and doing exactly as he says?
How do you dress? Have you ever tried to dress like a homeless man and gone weeks without bathing before going shopping?
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