Of course Billo and Varney aren't aware of white privilege. They have never lived without it. No one wants to believe they had a special advantage.
I would write more but Leonard Pitts did a better job expressing it:
"...White men are the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action this country has ever seen.
That's not rhetoric or metaphor. It's only truth.
If affirmative action is defined as giving someone an extra boost based on race, it's hard to see how anyone can argue the point. Slots for academic admission, for employment and promotion, for bank loans and for public office have routinely been set aside for white men. This has always been the nation's custom. Until the 1960s, it was also the nation's law.
So if we want to talk about achievements being tainted by racial preference, it seems only logical to start there. After all, every worthwhile thing blacks achieved prior to the mid-'60s — Berry Gordy's record label, John Johnson's publishing company, Alain Leroy Locke's Rhodes scholarship, Madame C.J. Walker's hair care empire, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams' pioneering heart surgery — was done, not just without racial preference, but against a backdrop of open racial hostility.
By contrast, nothing white men have ever achieved in this country was done without racial and gender preferences..."
Chloe Louise genjac3213 • 4 hours ago
Right, we were basically a poor to middle income family, working hard, trials and tribulations of alcohol, etc..........but I guess my Grandma seemed to always have a vision for everyone so my uncle ended up going to Annapolis and MIT.........why was this dream realized for a very un-special family? I think one of the answers that Bill cannot bring himself to comprehend is social mobility. Obviously, that existed for us but does that hold true for every group in our United States society. We are making progress with President Obama but as you have indicated, white privilege has existed forever.Like you said....Bill can't believe it and that is my question......why.....what is wrong with him that he cannot allow himself to accept these facts........always trying to figure out what makes the old bird tick and why is he so popular.
genjac3213 Chloe Louise • 3 hours ago
Ego and pride might be the explanation. Billo often tries to arrogantly explain minority issues even though it is obvious that he has little ability or desire to understand the complexities of said issues. He can't allow himself to accept facts because it goes against what everything he has known to be the truth. Plus, he has to tell his mostly older, White, conservative Christian audience what they want to hear, and they don't want to hear about how good they've had it.
Chloe Louise genjac3213 • 3 hours ago
Yes....ego, pride and arrogance.He is so in love with his own cherished Catholic guilt.He loves to be the mad Catholic.His refusal to accept some facts--teen-age boys are assaulted for gang affiliation--Hispanic boys of age 12 in certain neighborhoods are targeted. That fact would go against his argument. Would he accept it.....And, as you said, his audience--when he refers to his watchers he talks about the ones that admonish him for not being more tea party-ish. So those are the people he is listening too, right?He is not really interested in the political conversation because then he would have to ponder what the other person said and discuss it. He would rather shoot down the guest with a trick question than take in new information.Pride......he can't ever be wrong. He may admit he was wrong on a little point but never on his platform.Honestly, is he capable of being humble.
Bill O’Reilly: I’m exempt from white privilege because I worked and can’t tan (via Raw Story )
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly expressed skepticism on Wednesday over the idea of white privilege, saying his upbringing and his inability to tan disqualified him from having it. “I’m a really white guy,” O’Reilly told contributor Rev. Jacques…
