Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Privilege

I have been thinking about this so-called "white privilege" thing that all of of folks of light complexion are supposed to be ashamed of. It's a big bucket of hog-wash. There is plenty of privilege out there but one doesn't get a chunk of it just by being born white.

Now Hillary thinks that we should show humility for our privilege. She has a point, but it is a purely personal point. She and her husband have been slopping at the public trough all of their adult lives. As have our current President and Vice President and far to many members of Congress. Now that is privilege.

The hue and cry about white privilege started among liberal college professors. (Yes, I know that that is redundant.) Just think of those poor tenured ivory towered cuckoo-clocks, making over a hundred thousand a year and can't be fired, advocating humility for us. That is not only privilege, it is also dripping in arrogance.

Then there is the Greek chorus of those who work in the entertainment business. A business that is based on fantasy and fiction. Because they are adept at spinning stories and spells they have an over blown sense of their own worth, all thinking them selves so brilliant that we, the little people, should hang on their every word. Every one of them, regardless of complexion, are truly privileged.

And athletes. I'm talking the top-notch pros. Those people that are so talented that they seem to be of another species. So talented that, by the time they are in high school, they are already being watched, both by colleges and pros. They live a life in a cocoon of privilege. They are coddled to the point where they have a sense of entitlement. Now that is privilege and color makes no difference.

But the rest of us. We're not privileged. We've worked for every scrap. We have done without when we had to. Many of us fixed our own cars and painted our own houses. We scrimped on our own retirements so our kids could have better. Now those who aren't fit to wash our underwear, tell us that we should be more humble.

2 comments:

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  2. I wish that those who think that you and i are privileged would live a few weeks in our lives. They would quickly realize that we are not privileged anymore than they or others are in America. As Americans, we are all privileged to have been born as Americans. Not that we are better people, but that the freedoms and liberty that we enjoyed until recently gave us the opportunity to improve our lot. Much of the rest of the world has not enjoyed these freedoms as we have. That is what gives us the opportunity to be exceptional. President Obama will never understand this. In my opinion.

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