Sep 14 2008
On white privilege…
I’m tired this morning, still rendered into a temporary food coma from all the grease bombs I ate at the Tunbridge World’s Fair last night (where, I might add, all four of Jenni’s flower entries won ribbons, two blue and two red). As the grease works its way out of my system, lemme share with you some excerpts from a rather funny guest contribution I found over at Buzzflash this morning about White Privilege:
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 seventeen 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-sized 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.”
And so on… It’s interesting how the MSM is actually starting to do its job and point out that McPalin is lying. I really don’t know what to make of it, what the motivation is behind it, or how long it will last. It’s just nice to see the media do what its supposed to do, for a change.
Posts
You were there? Damn! This is the first year we’ve missed the Tunbridge Fair and JD just happens to show up. Damn! We were in Canton, MA for the Icons Irish Music Festival. It was fun but I like the Stonehill College one better. Wendy’s cousin lives across the street from the Tunbridge Fairgrounds. The sausages are top notch, as does the corn on the cob, and the maple candy. Which pols were there this year? I’m jealous you went.
Oh…. and good post on white privilege.
Oh, yeah, I never miss it. But the last thing on earth I’m looking for when I go there is politicians. It’s supposed to be a good time.