Irish White Privilege......Yeah

NSAman · 22-08-2023 2:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012095#Comment_121012095

There are good people in every country in the world, there are assholes in every country in the world. Believe me I’ve done the legwork.

I have met very privileged individuals from the top of society who are the most welcoming people and also others who were the most obnoxious. The same with not privileged individuals. I don’t recognise people for what they have or their social standing or how much perceived privilege they have, I recognise them for who they are.

Good people are good people, be they privileged or not.

elefant · 22-08-2023 2:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012142#Comment_121012142

Nobody is saying that people with privilege aren't good people. I don't understand why you're determined to break things down into good people vs bad people - that's not the point of the discussion at all.

magicbastarder · 22-08-2023 2:38pm

I... I... I...

OK, we've established you're enlightened. so you're saying that's a reason for it not to be on the curriculum?

gameoverdude · 22-08-2023 2:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012142#Comment_121012142

Perfect. If you're sound you're sound.

Talking about white male privilege, seems both sexist and racist.

22-08-2023 2:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012095#Comment_121012095

I came from one of the most disadvantaged, non-privileged backgrounds you can think of. My annual earnings now easily put me in the top 1% in this country.

I didn't achieve that through complaining and crying about those people more privileged than me, those higher up the ladder; I did it through hard work and focussing on consistent self-improvement over time.

People who aren't privileged should accept that reality, as I did, and do something in their own life to change their own circumstances, and not try to drag other people down to raise themselves up.

magicbastarder · 22-08-2023 2:54pm

summation: those who come from disadvantaged, under-privileged backgrounds should pull themselves up by their bootstraps and become the top 1% of earners.

or, more seriously, what IN HOLY HELL are you talking about 'dragging people down' for? what you posted is a complete non-sequitir in relation to the topic that opened this thread. i think i am beginning to see what the issue is, many of the people who are objecting so much seem to think their own specific situaton is what should inform the topic.

22-08-2023 2:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012304#Comment_121012304

The principle is the same.

When the debate is had over slavery and white privilege etc., the argument from many is that "reparations" are required to undo the damage caused.

It's entirely economic; it's fundamentally about envy.

When someone says that another person is privileged, what they're really saying is that they're jealous of them.

magicbastarder · 22-08-2023 2:59pm

Ah yes, the typical Irish* reaction. When I'm doubt, fall back on the accusation of begrudgery.

*I couldn't help myself, your honour.

elefant · 22-08-2023 3:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012271#Comment_121012271

Again - I'm not sure who or what these arguments are directed at, because they're not addressing the issue at all.

Is anybody here saying that disadvantaged people should complain and cry about their situations? That they shouldn't try and raise themselves up or focus on self-improvement?

What is being said is that people who are privileged should accept that reality, and be aware that some things that are easy for them or don't even warrant a thought for them, might be different for other people.

Unflushable Turd · 22-08-2023 3:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121011794#Comment_121011794

it isnt ignorant at all.

If you want to go back 200 years, then fine. While Irish Catholics were discriminated against, black people were being rounded up, shipped to the other side of the world and sold as slaves to the highest bidder, and please don't give me any of this bullshit about the red legs and "we were treated worse than the blacks".

magicbastarder · 22-08-2023 3:06pm

The poster above appears to explicitly assume that someone reaching a hand down from above to pull someone below up; is indistinguishable from someone below reaching up and pulling the person above down to their level.

It's not a zero sum game.

22-08-2023 3:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012356#Comment_121012356

What is being said is that people who are privileged should accept that reality, and be aware that some things that are easy for them or don't even warrant a thought for them, might be different for other people.

That bold part also applies to taller people; people who aren't obese; more athletic people; people who weren't born with a fatal disease; people who are rich; people who aren't rich but are for whatever reason happier than richer people; natural beauty; IQ; and so on and so on and so on.

Privilege is omnipresent through society and it is absurd to focus on 1 singular example and pretend that no other examples exist. Or that the example you cite somehow has greater primacy than all the others.

It's actually a normal and healthy feature of society and it can never, ever be eliminated.

magicbastarder · 22-08-2023 3:09pm

it is absurd to focus on 1 singular example

yet people like you are the ones with the laser focus on that one example which was given in the NCCA doc.

22-08-2023 3:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012391#Comment_121012391

No, other posters throughout this thread have consistently brought up every other major example of privilege in society.

Do you accept that these other forms of privilege exist in society?

growleaves · 22-08-2023 3:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012356#Comment_121012356

In this discussion, "privilege" is being discussed as a political concept - on a Current Affairs forum.

So its not just a question of having empathy for people in different situations and with different abilities. Something which I am happy to do normally.

Ultimately (leftists hope) concrete political action will be taken to re-organise social systems and introduce weights and balances, artificial advantages and disadvantages directed by them.

Given the larger context in which leftists use demagoguery, attempts to inflame debate and whip up emotion and strife, even violence - including in the US, riots - they do not deserve any sort of benefit of the doubt.

So if you wonder why hostility and defensiveness are the reaction to what you're saying, now you know.

Also the sheer awkwardness of importing a foreign-origin political ideology into a local context throws people. You mentioned guilt upthread. Guilt for what?

magicbastarder · 22-08-2023 3:13pm

wait; either people are focussing on one particular example, like you state, or they are not. what one particular example were you referring to?

elefant · 22-08-2023 3:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012382#Comment_121012382

In some situations it is good if normal sized/fit people take into account how something might be different and more difficult for an obese person. In some situations it's good if tall people recognise that something easy for them is hard for short people. In some situations it's good if straight people recognise that situations might be easier for them than gay people.

I'm struggling to understand why there's such vehement opposition to this is. Is it that you think you'll be constantly taken advantage of? The point is not to eliminate things, but just make things a bit nicer for everyone where possible.

22-08-2023 3:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012409#Comment_121012409

The very title of this thread, which hones in on "Irish white privilege".

What we're saying is that any objective assessment of "privilege" must necessarily include an assessment of every other feature of privilege in society, or else the analysis is flawed to begin with.

But I reassert the question I asked you earlier:

Do you accept that these other forms of privilege exist in society?

magicbastarder · 22-08-2023 3:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012406#Comment_121012406

Given the larger context in which leftists use demagoguery, attempts to inflame debate and whip up emotion and strife, even violence - including in the US, riots - they do not deserve any sort of benefit of the doubt.

wait, this is leftists in the states doing this? a genuine 'not sure if serious' moment.

22-08-2023 3:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012417#Comment_121012417

What do you want these people to do about it?

NSAman · 22-08-2023 3:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012214#Comment_121012214

Why not say homophobe too and I would have the full bingo card 😀

elefant · 22-08-2023 3:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012427#Comment_121012427

To be mindful of people around them, and so avoid putting others in difficult situations by presuming their experience of the world is the same as everyone else's.

gameoverdude · 22-08-2023 3:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012454#Comment_121012454

I'm not talking about you!

I agreed.

22-08-2023 3:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012466#Comment_121012466

Barring a tiny number of exceptions, that's what people are currently doing and have largely always done.

NSAman · 22-08-2023 3:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012194#Comment_121012194

I’m not breaking it down to anything. I am saying you think of yourself as having privilege, I don’t. I’m just a person who sees people as people, no matter their economic backgrounds or social status. If I like someone I like someone. If I dislike someone I dislike someone.

privilege is a mental state, it means “you” think you are better than someone else.

NSAman · 22-08-2023 3:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012469#Comment_121012469

I know,,,,, it’s a joke!

Flinty997 · 22-08-2023 3:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058310097/irish-white-privilege-yeah

Did any one look at the questions in the survey. Not exactly plain english are they.

gameoverdude · 22-08-2023 3:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012487#Comment_121012487

Doh!

Feisar · 22-08-2023 3:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121011720#Comment_121011720

I've had a fair few women get very angry because I rebuffed their advances. Does that count?

TomTomTim · 22-08-2023 3:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121011720#Comment_121011720

Are you a man? Because I've been pinched in the arse by many women through the years, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Statistically men have a far higher chance of being jumped/mugged randomly than women too.

Irish White Privilege......Yeah

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