Is white privilege real? To what extent?

[Little lunch]

I think there's a problem with the word privilege.
Before anybody ever started talking about male and white privilege, the word had already been reserved for applying to people that we common folk used for the rich, snooty, upper class types who inherited their wealth and looked down upon the rest of us.
Now, I fully believe in all the various privilege terms used these days and their accompanying statistics, there's no debate.
It just stings to be called privileged. I can't help but think that this terminology was originally chosen to rally the forces rather than win the rest of us over.
I'm afraid I don't have any alternatives at this moment.
I hate to be the whinger without a solution.
I just think it would pay to keep in mind that if somebody reels at being called privileged, it may not be because they are racist, sexist or homophobic.
It may be just because they are not, in their experience, privileged.