RE: My privilege as a straight, white, cisgender, middle class thin male
January 13, 2015 at 10:03 pm
(This post was last modified: January 13, 2015 at 10:08 pm by paulpablo.)
I don't have to take into consideration demographics or statistics to see that some of your first statements were wrong.
You said JUST because you're white you won't be identified by your race.
Not that you will be identified less than other races, just that you WON'T be.
To sum it up as a formula
You + being born white within western civilization = not being identified by your race.
So you say you don't care about my personal experiences but my personal experiences proves your statement wrong.
I was born white, in western civilization, and I've been in situations where I've been identified by my race, and I know of other white, straight, CIS gender, middleclass males who have been through the same experience. So if you personally have never been identified by your race, it MUST be due to other factors other than you just being born white.
It's that simple.
Your statement can be seen as being similar to a person, let's call them subject A saying
"I'm 6ft tall and 200 pounds and JUST because of this fact I won't get bullied."
But then subject B says to them
"I'm six ft tall and 200 pounds and I get bullied because I live around people who are taller and bigger than me, and people who just use knifes and weapons so it isn't just because of your height and weight, so your statement is incorrect, it must be something else, maybe the people you live around or your personality."
Then subject A responds back by saying
"But look at the statistics and the demographics, I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, NOT LISTENING!"
You said JUST because you're white you won't be identified by your race.
Not that you will be identified less than other races, just that you WON'T be.
To sum it up as a formula
You + being born white within western civilization = not being identified by your race.
So you say you don't care about my personal experiences but my personal experiences proves your statement wrong.
I was born white, in western civilization, and I've been in situations where I've been identified by my race, and I know of other white, straight, CIS gender, middleclass males who have been through the same experience. So if you personally have never been identified by your race, it MUST be due to other factors other than you just being born white.
It's that simple.
Your statement can be seen as being similar to a person, let's call them subject A saying
"I'm 6ft tall and 200 pounds and JUST because of this fact I won't get bullied."
But then subject B says to them
"I'm six ft tall and 200 pounds and I get bullied because I live around people who are taller and bigger than me, and people who just use knifes and weapons so it isn't just because of your height and weight, so your statement is incorrect, it must be something else, maybe the people you live around or your personality."
Then subject A responds back by saying
"But look at the statistics and the demographics, I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, NOT LISTENING!"
Are you ready for the fire? We are firemen. WE ARE FIREMEN! The heat doesn’t bother us. We live in the heat. We train in the heat. It tells us that we’re ready, we’re at home, we’re where we’re supposed to be. Flames don’t intimidate us. What do we do? We control the flame. We control them. We move the flames where we want to. And then we extinguish them.
Impersonation is treason.