White male student at Princeton responds to repeated requests to "check your privilege"

baskandpurr · 2014-04-30T22:59:34+00:00

“I have checked my privilege, and I apologize for nothing.”

That is fantstic.

2014-04-30T23:58:37+00:00

http://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2007/10/soft-student--1.html

Via the comments to this, The Thin Man directs readers’ attention to an extraordinary story regarding the University of Delaware and its efforts to correct improper thought:

Students living in the university’s eight housing complexes are required to attend training sessions, floor meetings, and one-on-one meetings with their Resident Assistants (RAs). The RAs who facilitate these meetings have received their own intensive training from the university, including a “diversity facilitation training” session at which RAs were taught, among other things, that “[a] racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality.”

http://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2007/02/phantom_guilt_s.html

Thus we arrive at notions of genealogical guilt, whereby unsuspecting descendants of 17th century plantation owners are deemed by birth indebted to complete strangers who can claim a different ancestry.

Curious story.

My children were taught by a teacher that white people perpetrated slavery upon black people and that black people's poor position today owes to their oppression then (and since). No problem with the story in general but let's focus on some details. A white child in the same class can trace their ancestry to Russian/Polish peasants who escaped from Russia after the abolition of serfdom in about 1875 (+/-20 years). The parents tell me that almost certainly they were serfs but the first generation in exile were ashamed about this fact and deliberately forgot it. Not that the parents do, being of sound progressive opinions. By contrast, the teacher came from Ghana and since I had worked there in the past I had something in common, so on occasion we got to talk about the country, which included the fact that I had visited Cape Castle, a slave trading station. She was open about the fact that her tribe had been involved with the slave trade even after it officially became illegal but sought to blame Britain (or more generally capitalism for demanding the slaves. In any case, she certainly did not assume the mantle of guilt for her ancestors. Her phrase, I recall, was "worse than the Holocaust".

Thus the bizarre situation is painted in full: a descendent of a slave trader teaches a descendent of a slave but she, the descendent of a slave trader, by virtue of the fact that her skin was black, was deemed guilt free, whilst the child of a slave, by sin of being white, was deemed guilty.

iethatis · 2014-05-01T02:13:38+00:00

The problem here is that he undermines his case by participating in the oppression Olympics by invoking Jewish oppression. It would have been better if he invoked the uniqueness of every case. I would have liked to see a similar article, say, from a poverty-stricken redneck. Ironically, groups like these lack the advantages such as good education, that would allow them to express themselves articulately

hyperforce · 2014-05-01T04:35:15+00:00

I've worked some long difficult hours in my lifetime. Back breaking, soul crushing hours. Working multiple jobs for years.

I had to take on massive student loans, pay high child support premiums, go through the insanity of divorce...

Life hasn't been easy - and in order for me to persevere to get where I am today, I've had to contribute a very full effort with some harsh difficulties along the way.

I don't feel very privileged.

If people are expecting me to feel guilt over being born, that I refuse to do.

Are there people out there who got dealt a worse hand than me? Yeah, obviously there are - but don't expect me to tie myself to the railroad tracks over it.

I know that the moment I stop putting out the full effort, my descent would be rapid. I'm sorry, but I can't define this experience as privileged.

Edna69 · 2014-05-01T07:45:56+00:00

So he hasn't actually refuted the concept of "check your privilege" at all. All he has done is say "Guys, I'm one of you! I come from an oppressed background too!"

He is part of the problem. He is claiming he is not privileged and that his opinion should count because his grandparents were oppressed. He grew up in what he admits was a reasonably affluent home. Certainly affluent enough to send their son to a highly regarded University. Is that not a kind of privilege?

Surely the only way to deal with a call to "check your privilege" is to demolish the entire argument. To oppose the idea that the validity of a statement depends on how much the person making it is oppressed.

electricalnoise · 2014-05-01T04:14:57+00:00

The comments at the bottom of the article from black men complaining about the jewish university student not understanding opression because he is ignorant that black people were slaves for so long is sketchy. Especially considering white people from poland and other eastern european places were slaves for hundreds and hundreds of years to the byzantines ottomans barbary etc etc

Sylinus · 2014-04-30T23:18:41+00:00

Good. That check your priv stuff pisses me off.

YetAnotherCommenter · 2014-05-01T06:25:07+00:00

Whilst the theoretical concept of "privilege" is legitimate, its clearly used as a rhetorical bludgeon to attack people and dismiss their arguments on the basis of the groups they belong to.

Yes, society in general treats some groups relatively better to others. That's not really controversial or offensive. However, that doesn't mean ANY INDIVIDUAL WHO IS OF EUROPEAN ANCESTRY necessarily has it easy or has no problems at all. You could argue they don't suffer from racial stereotypes within American culture (although in Europe, there is still bigotry based on national origin), but that doesn't mean they have everything easy.

"Check Your Privilege" as its used in today's culture is nothing more than a silencing tactic. It is abusive and offensive. Sure, people should try to avoid being solipsistic and should try to avoid assuming other groups are IN FACT treated identically to how they are, but "Check Your Privilege" as used these days goes far beyond that.

2014-05-01T04:39:35+00:00

I'm really not understanding this. Considering that he's at Princeton, doesn't he have the same privilege as everybody else there?

okwhatok · 2014-05-01T16:50:30+00:00

This is an article about a guy who honestly is a part of multiple privileged demographics, but tries to claim he has plenty of unprivileged perspectives because his ancestors lacked the privileges that he has.

Privilege is not about "All white people/men/straight people have it off easier in life". It's that given that all other variables are held constant (ex. white impoverished male vs. black impoverished male or rich white male vs. rich white female), the isolated variable is still giving an advantage (even if it's subtle) to one group. A homosexual black female could STILL hold socioeconomic privilege over a heterosexual white male living in poverty. It's in no way a bad thing to have a privilege, it's just naturally occurring from your demographic.

It's a shame how much people abuse it to make privileged people feel bad and silence their opinions. And it's a shame how often people misinterpret it like this Princeton student has.

2014-05-01T18:30:45+00:00

The comments on this article are pitiful. It's a bunch of divisive liberal bashing and American exceptionalism.

Offensive_Brute · 2014-05-02T04:27:19+00:00

manwhile on the streets of Long Island, a young man shouts"I gotcha prvilege right here!" as he grabs his genetalia in a most vulgar fashion.

HighAngleAlpha0331 · 2014-05-01T03:18:00+00:00

"White"? Yeah right!! He's in the group with the ultimate race card and they play it all the time No matter how oppressed or slighted you've been taught to feel, the Jew Card wins

quadbaser · 2014-05-01T04:12:17+00:00

Wow so you can get into Princeton without even having the basic intelligence it takes to understand what someone means when they say: "check your privilege?"

It means "You are clearly ignoring the advantages you have had"

"I apologize for nothing" is no bold statement in the face of that.

It's a refusal to actually think about the world and empathize with others.

This kid makes all men look bad.

prove me wrong.

Title	White male student at Princeton responds to repeated requests to "check your privilege"
Author	extermin8r
Upvotes	146
Comments	68
Date	April 30, 2014 10:57 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/24eqbi/white_male_student_at_princeton_responds_to/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/white-male-student-at-princeton-responds-to.1001146 https://theredarchive.com/post/1001146

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