"White Privilege" Isn't Really A Thing

   Insisting you're right doesn't make you right. Case in point, insisting that white privilege is totally a thing doesn't make it one.

   I've gone through these arguments before. Thing is, as with most ideas, there's not absolutely nothing to it. There's an idea buried in there somewhere...but its mired in conceptual confusion like almost everything that comes from the illiberal left. "White privilege" is largely a figment of far-left imagination, much like "rape culture," "cultural appropriation," and "microaggressions." That's not to say that whites don't *on average* have a comparative advantage as against (and I take it that this is the comparison the lefties actually have in mind) blacks in the U.S. in many circumstances. Rightly or wrongly, I thought we'd all been convinced long ago that this was true. It is, rather, to say that it isn't accurately described as "privilege." The illiberal left lives in a philosophical fantasy world packed full of concepts that almost make sense...but not quite. 

   "Social construction" is a good example. There are, of course, social influences on belief...but it is not accurate to say that this means that "reality is socially constructed." It's radically inaccurate and misleading terminology--and it's calculated to mislead in a direction that the left finds tactically advantageous and emotionally pleasing. There are rapes, and culture no doubt plays some role, but American culture cannot reasonably be called a "rape culture." The culture's more-or-less official position on rape is: it's basically the most heinous crime there is, with the possible exception of child molestation...which is a kind of rape.  

   People face many small annoyances...they're *micro-* alright...but their not "aggressions." If I ask you where you're from, it may be annoying because it's the third time you've been asked this week. But there is no intent to harm, ergo it's not "aggression." One can adopt practices from other cultures, but this need not be "appropriation", since the term suggests that's wrong when, in fact, it isn't. There might be some circumstances in which it's wrong...though I have a difficult time thinking of any. Usually the real cause of concern is disrespect for the culture. Some cultures deserve to be disrespected in certain ways, of course...but it's prima facie plausible to think that at least some acts of disrespect aimed at at least some cultures is worthy of criticism... But, again, the problem there would be disrespect, not "appropriation."

   Disenfranchisement of blacks is not "white privilege," it's discrimination against blacks. Voting isn't a "privilege," it's a right. Emba notes that black kids are suspended more from school, but some studies indicate that this is because they have more behavioral problems--something that wouldn't be surprising given that more black families are impoverished. If people who are black are followed around in stores, but whites and Asians are not, then this cannot reasonably be called "white privilege." Again, it is a kind of discrimination against blacks.
   And "privilege" isn't merely the mirror-image of 'discrimination.' "Privilege theory" typically entails that whites benefit from discrimination against non-whites. Sometimes this is true, but not usually. I gain nothing when others are e.g. disenfranchised--especially since my political preferences tend to track with those of the majority of black Americans. "Privilege theory" is a mess, as is the term. There are good reasons to reject it, like the rest of the conceptual disaster of the post-post-modern regressive left. We can't be forced to accept bad concepts and false theories just because the left insists that we must. 

   The general problem here is that what are sometimes called "cultural elites" are in the grip of a political correctness fad. They are insisting that the rest of us adopt the fad, too. Some people can be bamboozled by quasi-academic jargon...but I'm gratified to see that, so far, at least, there's significant resistance to this nonsense.

   I shouldn't have to add this, but you know what times are like...: none of this is to say a word about how bad discrimination against blacks in the U.S. is, nor how much of a comparative advantage it is to be white and/or Jewish (however you want to divide things up there), Asian, etc.