The Lowest Difficulty Setting in the Game of Life

[Kinuki]

How do you explain the concept of privilege to contemporary America without having to fear a partisan [censored] of people screaming CLASS WARFARE!!! and ENVY!!! right and left?

Here's at least an attempt.

[Twippit]

Okay, okay, I get it. But where's the part where I get to sit in the retard chamber for being another racist straight white male? Because honestly...? I get a lot of serious crap from members of the minorities for being who I am too. It doesn't help that my "dump stats" are wealth and charisma, which makes me the weird kid from the ghetto. Please. I understand that I have it easier in a lot of ways. But so do you.

Cheap manual labor jobs? I've been turned away from those because I'm too expensive.
Scholarships? Yeah, the only group (that I'm aware of) that gives out scholarships to straight white males for merely being straight white males... is the KKK. No thanks.

Here's the crux I'm in; too intellegent for a quick manual labor job, not wealthy enough for an education, not educated enough for a well-paying job.

Straight white males don't get free stuff shoved at them (at least, not for being straight white males). Yes, yes, okay, straight white males get cool perks or whatever; but not tons and tons of free stuff. Instead, I am hated and abhorred by my black/latino neighbors.

The fact of the matter is, people help out those who are similar to them. And that means I'd expect I'd get a job from a straight white male before I get a job from a straight black male. That's simply the world we live in today.

[TinyVoices]

All right, so, I wrote out this long post about how I fit the "straight white male in the U.S." thing perfectly, but it rambles too much.

I'll just sum it up by saying that I realize that where I stand, is the best place to stand. Yet, I still act selfish, and demand more of the best. At the same time, I waste what this position has to offer. I've been told this before, but any form of full realization towards it, is only shown in guilt and/or further selfishness. This guilt makes me depressed and anxious, which makes everything worse. And so on.

I was given the easiest setting, I was informed about my luck, but I never took anything from this info. Instead, I wait for the day that we can swap bodies/minds/whatever with others, because then I'd just look for someone who could use my game piece and "dump stats" better. Whatever the hell those are, and however the hell you can chose them at the start of life, and improve them as you move on.

[TheMouse]

And that means I'd expect I'd get a job from a straight white male before I get a job from a straight black male. That's simply the world we live in today.

Except it's illegal if you're white. It's cool if you're anyone else, but that SWM? He can't get any favors at all, or everyone else gets to scream and rant and litigate.

[Insomniac]

And that means I'd expect I'd get a job from a straight white male before I get a job from a straight black male. That's simply the world we live in today.

Except it's illegal if you're white. It's cool if you're anyone else, but that SWM? He can't get any favors at all, or everyone else gets to scream and rant and litigate.

Donchya miss the days when employment was based on ability and not on anything else? For all the bad things back in those days, that at least was a good thing.

[Wynni]

Dump Stats are tabletop gamer terms. The 'dump stats' are the stats you put whatever you have left over in. For example, intelligence would be the 'dump' stat for a fighter who needs to put his best rolls in Strenth, dex, and con, whereas a Mage would put his best roll in Intell, and let Str, Dex, and con probably be his 'dump stats'.

So what he was saying is that his lowest scores in the game of real life are in wealth and charisma.

I had the pleasure of sitting in a Black Lady's office ~ the only white employee, mind~ listening to her tell me I couldn't imagine what it'd be like to be in the minority.
I have been the minority more times than I care to imagine.

This is a dead horse that has been in need of burying for entirely too long. This thing is still an issue because people are making money off keeping it a 'front burning issue'. The longer this horse is dragged out for the ritual beating the more it smells, and the more probable retaliation becomes.

It's to the point bringing it up over and over is HARMING racial harmony.

[Sable Dove]

Here's the thing about social groups (minorities, in particular): As a social group approaches equal standing with the majority, its greatest detriment is some of its own members. Those very visible, outrageous members, who claim to represent their group, and are extreme enough that the majority does not want to accept the group, based on their interaction with those few. For example, I bet women would have an even better standing in the world today if not for the very vocal individuals who can't differentiate the terms "feminism" and "misandry".

Similarly, American blacks would very likely be in far better standing if not for being heavily over-represented in the street-gang population (as well as over-represented in the prison population).

I'm not saying that this is how it should be; just that this is what it seems to be. If a minority wants equal footing with the majority, they at some point will have to find a way to reign in the more extreme members of their group.

[Tygron]

There's one thing i've heard my parents talk about, at least on the racial stuff. My mom had been feeling that between black and white people things were getting better and people stopped caring about color so much. And then these "community organizers" came out and basically threw it all back into "it's because i'm black isn't it?"

That's a synopses of it anyway.

I can see what the article is trying to say. But I can't say that, SO FAR, i've run into anything that makes me feel that way. So for those who don't know. I'm a white male, bisexual and engaged to a gay white male. I can't say i've run into anything that has limited me because of my sexuality. And, while I could be wrong, I can't say Snow has run into anything because of his either. I mean. Hell, he's had his job at the same place as me for much less time and he's a manager. He regrets it, but he still got promoted. Also the managers are the time were both black women. So I dunno. I understand there's a lot of prejudice out there towards many different groups of people, but I guess my personal experiences leave me not understanding much of it at all.

[Yash]

I'm really grateful that I live where I do here in North Carolina.

Down here, I've don't see even a hint of racism anywhere. White, black, and every other color of people freely mix in relationships and jobs and whatever else without the slightest care about what race the other person is.

[MeaCulpa, S.C.M.]

There's plenty of differences throughout demographics, but there's no affirmative action for religious preference, for sexual orientation, or for the area in which you are born, for left-handedness, for having a certain brain structure. In short; there is no damn thing as a fair chance. You simply can't take all the variables in a person's life, say it's worth "x" amount of dollars a week or "x" employees from that demographic in percentage, and then say all is well; it's absolutely ridiculous to even suggest it. And trying to do the best we can for what we can see merely shifts money around in random directions, ignores this variables invisible to us, raises taxes for more porkbelly schemes and thus does not fix any actual problems.

Affirmitive action assures that meritocratic systems cannot exist in the US, because it assumes the common person is far too racist to even think about making one.

EDIT: Don't we have enough problems with an elitist Congress? Didn't that whole fiasco with SOPA/PIPA make that clear? Now we want them to get it into their heads that the average American is an absolute, unabashed racist. No one, as a matter of basic self-interest, would vote someone into power over them if said person had an unequivocally low opinion of them.

[TheMouse]

Racism isn't just experiencing verbal or physical abuse because of your race, but also receiving special treatment in the work world or wherever based on your race.

I agree, Kinuki. Racism is also not exclusively a minority problem. I have been passed over for promotion and nearly got fired once because it would have looked bad for them to favor me over the Mexican twit that's less qualified and more of a problem-causer. Because I'm white. Equal opportunity, affirmative action, and all those other programs have done me nothing but harm and stress. Even the ones that are supposed to be in place to help me cause me nothing but trouble.

Tell me, then, what unearned favors SWM get today that they can't immediately be sued over?

[Sebbie]

I think "racist" is the wrong word to use here, and is the reason for so much disagreement with the article. If the article were saying "Open racism still exists and that's why SWM have it best," then I would have to disagree. Outright racism (the "old-fashioned" kind) certainly does still exist, but it's very rare and has effectively been turned into a taboo by now. But that's not what the article is doing; the article is simply pointing out that straight white males tend to get the best in life, in one way or another. For instance:

• White people have a high school graduation rate some 10% higher than that for minority students (go to page 43 for the relevant table)
• Some 27% of black and Hispanic people fell under the poverty line in 2010, compares to only 10% of white people (similarly, 30% of households held by single women fell under the poverty line, compared to only 15% for single men)
• Women make significantly less money than men, in all ethnic groups, and Asian and white people make significantly more money than black or Hispanic people
• Black people comprise some 12% of the general US population, but in 2005, they made up 40% of the US prison population (page 4)

The list goes on and on...to those of you who are complaining about the article, do you really think that white males and, say, black females are born, on average, with the same opportunities in life? The data above indicate that the answer to that question is a resounding "no." I agree that the problem isn't overt racism, and although I agree with the philosophy behind affirmative action (namely, to help give minority groups the opportunities that majority groups are naturally born into), its implementation has been poor, I think; but there is clearly a problem, and to whine about how trying to fix it is a form of reverse racism is shallow and naive, I think.

[Wynni]

But 'racist' is exactly where everyone immediately goes when we start talking color and privileges. BECAUSE we've been hit over the head with it repeatedly ad nauseum. It is an ugly accusation shouting loudly in the back of all our minds whenever the topic comes up, and frankly, I'm past tired of it.

It doesn't help that I spend a LARGE portion of my time with a faction of society that is not only largely represented by 'minorities,' but most of 'em couldn't be less interested in education.
I believe if more cared about actually learning and achieving, there'd be a larger representation among the successful. As long as a sizeable portion believe they are owed something, there's no incentive to succeed. It is a very dangerous and insidious idea that spreads like a cancer.

[TinyVoices]

"What are the three main hate-speech words that are not allowed at school?"
"Gay, ghetto and retarded."


Even in California, the land of milk, honey, and liberalism, there's still a lot of hate bouncing around. And the equal and opposite push is there as well. I myself feel the last two are really only there as an overreaction.

But I saw these words used a lot, despite them being "taboo". People aren't burning or getting pushed to flee in terror because they are what they are, but I know it's still there. Maybe it was only because it was high school, though. I don't know.


Towards the word racism: Until recently, I've never thought of the word race as meaning anything other than ethnicity. People keep digging it up that the word racism is a made up word by the blah blah blah. Just stop. If I feel that your care-bear word "ethnicity" or nationality is the same as race, then your attempts to drive the word racism into the ground only brings your word with it. Not being mean, just blunt.

[Sebbie]

But 'racist' is exactly where everyone immediately goes when we start talking color and privileges. BECAUSE we've been hit over the head with it repeatedly ad nauseum. It is an ugly accusation shouting loudly in the back of all our minds whenever the topic comes up, and frankly, I'm past tired of it.

It doesn't help that I spend a LARGE portion of my time with a faction of society that is not only largely represented by 'minorities,' but most of 'em couldn't be less interested in education.
I believe if more cared about actually learning and achieving, there'd be a larger representation among the successful. As long as a sizeable portion believe they are owed something, there's no incentive to succeed. It is a very dangerous and insidious idea that spreads like a cancer.

Alright, let me ask you my question outright: do you think a white male and a black female, on average, are born with the same opportunities and priviledges?

If your answer is yes, kindly back it up with some data.

If your answer is no, then do you think society should do nothing about it? Or should some active steps be taken to equalize the class differences?