On privilige

[alias_sqbr]

EDIT: *cough*, meant to post this to debunkingwhite. But hey, you guys may be able to help too :)(*) If you're unfamilar with the concept of "white privilige" I reccomend White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.

A statement I've seen pop up fairly frequently is "I don't want to give up my white privilege, I want to share it with everyone". I've seen enough criticisms of this statement not to say it myself, but I don't have quite enough of a grip on it's wrongness to explain it to other people.

The counterarguments that I can see (which combine together in complex ways):
-Maybe POC don't want to live exactly like white people, but to have their own lifestyles validated (ie it's like turning women into men to remove male privilige)
-It may not be possible (ie it's like giving all peasants a castle to remove class privilige)
-Certain priviliges only work if there's another, less priviliged group (ie "not getting suspected of shoplifting")

But I have a feeling that's not all there is to it, and can't express it very well.

So, in words of one syllable: why is this wrong? It is wrong, right?

(*)n.b. to sonnlich, I realise this oversimplifies the position you were taking in our particular discussion, but I decided to pare down the question to it's simplest form rather than adding a bunch of qualifiers etc, esp. since I'm interested in general.

Comments

[vegetus.livejournal.com]

What immediately leapt to my mind was the whole development idea that people in developing countries need to be brought on par with the developed countries.

This is problematic for a number of reasons:
* It assumes that the developed world is better in every way than the developing world
* It does not account for cultural differences
* Resource issues

The assumption that white privellege is something to aspire to is problematic because it assumes superiority in white culture.

[alias_sqbr]

Oh yes, that's it exactly, and a very good example. There are actually alternatives beyond "starving to death" and "living like a middle class white american" :)

[vegetus.livejournal.com]

No really? But I mean if you are living a upper-middle class white american are you *really* living? :P

Right now I'm finding reverse culture shock interesting... So much choice in the supermarket!

[alias_sqbr]

No really? But I mean if you are living a upper-middle class white american are you *really* living? :P

Heh. You know that statement works both in it's original form, and as what I think you actually meant (are-> aren't) :)