McCain/Palin The priveliges of being white

[ucatchtrout]

thought this might stir up a bit of conversation

saw it on buzzflash.com

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at 17 like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-size colleges, and then governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. senator, two-term state senator and constitutional law scholar means you're "untested."

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office -- since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s -- while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school, requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do -- like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the eight-hour workday, or an end to child labor -- and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small-town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college -- you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women and made them give your party a "second look."

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the United States is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good churchgoing Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then having people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to claim that your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a "light" burden.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising and the United States is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

comments?

 

[Jurassic]

LOL, I already know what people on this site will say, it all depends on what the race of the author is though.

 

[Denny Crane]

There is a healthy debate to be had over white privilege, but it's hard to take a foaming-at-the-mouth rant against Palin as a starting point for any kind of rational discussion.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

What about Black Privledge. Do you believe that Obama, with his qualifications and history, if he were white, would have been the Presidential Nominee?

I term it Social Affirmative Action.

 

[Jurassic]

What about Black Privledge. Do you believe that Obama, with his qualifications and history, if he were white, would have been the Presidential Nominee?

Do you think that certain aspects of his history would have been blown so much out of proportion if he were white? It goes both ways.

 

[Denny Crane]

Do you think that certain aspects of his history would have been blown so much out of proportion if he were white? It goes both ways.

Yes. If he were white and had a stars and bars flag in his office (see George Allen). Happens all the time.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

Do you think that certain aspects of his history would have been blown so much out of proportion if he were white? It goes both ways.

Such as what? Reverend Wright? That was a dip in the pond compared to the hype and blind following he gets for being black. He's become an iconic figure in the social hierarchy of things in which people are more prone to vote for the idea of Obama (strong, well spoken black man) than what he really is (relatively inexperienced politician with little leadership experience).

 

[Jurassic]

So you think that if he were white, with his qualifications, that Hillary would be the presidential nominee?

 

[Денг Гордон]

Obama is who he is. Him being half black half white, raised by a white single mother, and white grandparents, living in Indonesia, having an absent father, visiting Kenya, etc. are all apart of Obama. If you change those things, the man is no longer Barack Obama.

Barack Obama is where he is because he's Barack Obama, not because he's black.

 

[Denny Crane]

So you think that if he were white, with his qualifications, that Hillary would be the presidential nominee?

What qualifications?

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

So you think that if he were white, with his qualifications, that Hillary would be the presidential nominee?

Quite possibly. I think if Obama was white, he wouldn't even be in politics at all. Maybe a city councilman? But again, since he was black, he probably got some support from certain demographics.

But again, she's only there because she's Bill Clinton's wife.

 

[Jurassic]

What qualifications?

Lets not play this game. You can argue that he is ill qualified, but not that he has no qualifications whatsoever. The question was more posed to whoever it was that implied that he would not be the nominee were it not for his skin color.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

Obama is who he is. Him being half black half white, raised by a white single mother, and white grandparents, living in Indonesia, having an absent father, visiting Kenya, etc. are all apart of Obama. If you change those things, the man is no longer Barack Obama.

Barack Obama is where he is because he's Barack Obama, not because he's black.

What has he accomplished because he is Barack Obama?

 

[Denny Crane]

Lets not play this game. You can argue that he is ill qualified, but not that he has no qualifications whatsoever. The question was more posed to whoever it was that implied that he would not be the nominee were it not for his skin color.

I am arguing that a white person with no qualifications wouldn't have been paid much attention to.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

Lets not play this game. You can argue that he is ill qualified, but not that he has no qualifications whatsoever. The question was more posed to whoever it was that implied that he would not be the nominee were it not for his skin color.

Its all related. His color and image makes up for the lack of qualifications. Social affirmative action.

 

[Jurassic]

Obama is who he is. Him being half black half white, raised by a white single mother, and white grandparents, living in Indonesia, having an absent father, visiting Kenya, etc. are all apart of Obama. If you change those things, the man is no longer Barack Obama.

Barack Obama is where he is because he's Barack Obama, not because he's black.

Yeah, I was just about to post something similar to this. The man is half white, genetically. As far as how he was raised one could argue that his upbringing was similar to that of a white American. Although his complexion is clearly not that of someone who had two white parents so his experiences were not completely (white).

Its amazing that people (even myself) consider him to be a black man, when really, it could go just as easily the other way.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

Yeah, I was just about to post something similar to this. The man is half white, genetically. As far as how he was raised one could argue that his upbringing was similar to that of a white American. Although his complexion is clearly not that of someone who had two white parents so his experiences were not completely (white).

Its amazing that people (even myself) consider him to be a black man, when really, it could go just as easily the other way.

But then again, it makes him less iconic to say that he's white.

 

[mook]

If McCain weren't the son of an admiral, do you think he'd be a senator right now?

If Bush weren't the son of a president, do you think he'd be president right now?

I don't think Obama would've made it to being a presidential candidate if he were white. Yet. (I do think he might have eventually.) But it doesn't bother me that he got a leg up because he's got a big constituency that was looking for a black person they could elevate to that level. 12% of America is black--they've been pretty unified in their support of him.

People, even presidents, are born into all sorts of advantages. For every Bill Clinton who pulls himself out of nowhere, there seems a Kennedy who gets a lot of mileage out of name recognition, money and family connections.

I wish the presidency were a true meritocracy, but as long as it isn't, I'm ok to see race being used as one of those advantages.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

well, as long as you can admit it. that's all and dandy. most people can't and just start yelling "RACIST!" at you.

 

[Denny Crane]

If McCain weren't the son of an admiral, do you think he'd be a senator right now?

If Bush weren't the son of a president, do you think he'd be president right now?

I don't think Obama would've made it to being a presidential candidate if he were white. Yet. (I do think he might have eventually.) But it doesn't bother me that he got a leg up because he's got a big constituency that was looking for a black person they could elevate to that level. 12% of America is black--they've been pretty unified in their support of him.

People, even presidents, are born into all sorts of advantages. For every Bill Clinton who pulls himself out of nowhere, there seems a Kennedy who gets a lot of mileage out of name recognition, money and family connections.

I wish the presidency were a true meritocracy, but as long as it isn't, I'm ok to see race being used as one of those advantages.

I agree with most of this. That Obama did get attention because he's black didn't help him seal the deal. He still had to raise money, formulate policy ideas (in that order), win primaries, etc., etc.

Thank goodness the presidency is NOT a true meritocracy.

 

[Jurassic]

But then again, it makes him less iconic to say that he's white.

LOL? Well yeah, and it wouldn't work to say that he's white, look at him. I'm not saying he should have tried to run as a "white male". I'm saying that in this case (all cases really), color is skin deep, no deeper. What makes a white person, and what makes a black person? He's had some of both, so to say that he's where is he because he is black only applies if you are referring to skin color and that alone, not how he was raised, and NOT who he is.

Great post mook, nepotism sure is a bitch. So I guess we could all agree that Obama is no more guilty than any of the other politicians who have resorted to using things other than their qualifications to get into office. Although I don't know if all of those other politicians received the same scrutiny over it.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

I don't think Obama himself is using his race as a crutch, far from it. However, I believe many of his supporters are using his race to place him on a pedestal of stature.

 

[e_blazer]

Barrack Obama is where he is today, for the main part, because he caught the attention of the Democratic Party leaders as a gifted young politician, was given the opportunity to be the keynote speaker 4 years ago at the DNC, and gave a speech that sent shivers through the political world. Without that speech, he'd be laboring away in the Senate as the junior senator from Illinois. He also had the audacity to hope that his lack of experience on the national scene could be overcome by his ability to present himself, rightly or wrongly, as bright, articulate, and an agent of change; and thereby defeat politicians with considerably more experience and national prominence. Could he have pulled that off if he weren't black? It might have been harder, but ,yeah, I think so. The Republicans are certainly hoping that a guy like Bobby Jindal can do the same thing for them in the future. Being smart and articulate are much more important to being a viable candidate than race, IMHO.

BTW, whoever wrote that diatribe in the OP is an idiot.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

Well, don't forget he's also there because his opponent for the senate seat was in sex clubs! IMO, Barack's term as a senator was merely an extension of his run for President, nothing more.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

Unlike Obama, Jindal has actual accomplishments. His handling of the recent hurricane was FANTASTIC.

 

[maxiep]

So you think that if he were white, with his qualifications, that Hillary would be the presidential nominee?

Without question. Barack Obama is spectacularly unqualified to be President.

 

[Jurassic]

I wonder if this theory applies to all aspects of life?

Guys like Larry Bird, Lil Wayne, Jackie Chan, Carlos Mencia, etc should all just be very thankful that they were born the races that they were. Otherwise they would be mediocre in their respective fields?

As a black man who plans on being a lawyer, I wonder if I'll ever be able to accomplish anything without it being "only because he is black". Sad.

 

[maxiep]

Lets not play this game. You can argue that he is ill qualified, but not that he has no qualifications whatsoever. The question was more posed to whoever it was that implied that he would not be the nominee were it not for his skin color.

He wouldn't be the nominee if it weren't for his skin color. I can't even see how that's debatable. If he's not black, he's Ken Salazar.

 

[maxiep]

I wonder if this theory applies to all aspects of life?

Guys like Larry Bird, Lil Wayne, Jackie Chan, Carlos Mencia, etc should all just be very thankful that they were born the races that they were. Otherwise they would be mediocre in their respective fields?

As a black man who plans on being a lawyer, I wonder if I'll ever be able to accomplish anything without it being "only because he is black". Sad.

Oh, dear. I'm sorry you can't see the difference between the people you just named and Sen. Obama. Do you believe politics to be a true meritocracy?

 

[huevonkiller]

Doesn't really matter to me, Hillary wouldn't be anywhere if it weren't for her last name and gender. There are plenty of comparable examples.