Jordan Peterson Proves White Privilege Exists
I've been meaning to write my own article about this so I decided to watch a Jordan Peterson video. It's both infuriating and hilarious since he tries to disprove White Privilege but... well, take a look:
First off I need to help him out a little. He begins by stating he doesn't understand why "postmodernists" draw distinctions based on things like race, gender and sexuality. I'm not really sure what these "postmodernists" are that he keeps trying to claim are Marxists, but I'm going to guess he's trying to address "leftists" as he often does.
To answer his question: Those lines were drawn a long time ago. People have made laws based on those lines. Conservatives still try to make laws based on some of those lines, such as preventing gay marriage.
What he is really doing here is claiming that people are causing the problem because they draw attention to it. It's a fairly insidious tactic, to claim that "post-modernists" draw distinctions based on race when the KKK has existed for a couple hundred years with the explicit goal of preventing political and economic equality for black people.
He further goes on to talk about intersectionality, claiming it is a path the realizing individuality by comparing race or gender to other traits like being dumb, or ugly.
The question here is: Is there a 140-year-old group in America trying to prevent ugly people from having equality?
No, there isn't. And while ugly people might not get the same treatment as attractive people they aren't specifically targeted for violence or discrimination.
But let's move on to the meet of his presentation: The claim that white privilege doesn't exist.
He starts off questioning if it's really "majority privilege" because the majority of people in our countries (US and Canada) are white.
Well, yes. Yes it is. Absolutely it is majority privilege. And the majority of people in the US and Canada are white.
He goes on further to state that those privileges are part of "living within 'your culture'" and that the culture is built in order to provide those benefits. The culture meaning the majority, meaning white people. (As a side note, he implicitly just excluded minorities from even being part of our culture.)
He ends with: "one of the consequences is that it (the culture) accrues fewer benefits to those who aren't in the culture." Then claims you can't tie that to race.
So let's follow this logic:
White privilege is actually majority privilege
Majority privilege is created by the majority as part of culture
People "not in the culture" accrue fewer benefits
So what he's really saying is: The culture made by white people for the benefit of white people accrues fewer benefits to people of other races.
In reality, Western Culture is an amalgamation of many cultures though. Especially the US and Canada since so many of the majority here are descended from immigrants. What the white privilege argument is really about is trying to ensure our culture is inclusive and accrues benefits equally to all people.
There was an interesting study published recently that followed 20 million U.S. children born between 1978-1983 using census data and found that after controlling for all other factors, in 99% of U.S. neighborhoods, black boys earn less in adulthood than white boys who grew up in families with the same income.
Black boys born to wealthy families were also much less likely to be wealthy in adulthood than white boys born to wealthy families.
The implication is that the only remaining factor accounting for these disparities is institutionalized, systematic racism.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/19/upshot/race-class-white-and-black-men.html
http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/
I read this same article and it brings up some interesting stats but really seemed to lack insights into spending behaviors and financial education of future generations. My father made a determined effort to educate my brother and I on basic financial concepts, such as interest, debt, stocks & bonds, dividends, savings accounts, etc. He gave us each a ton of books and by far the best one was The Millionaire Next Door.
My father handles a lot of family trusts and estate planning. Many blue collar families, such as electricians and plumbers. These families made MILLIONS over their lives and were passing a ton on to their kids. The biggest issue was how the kids would use/treat the money when they inherited it. Most admitted they didn't do much to educate their kids of the value/use of money and my father advised the families to set up trusts so the money would be dispersed over time, helping to prevent them from blowing it all quickly.
I think a lot of the issues stem from cultural taboos around openly talking about money and investing. People that grow up thinking that discussing finances is rude are typically less financially savvy. This could be a major issue in how wealth and status transfers down through families and it shows by how the kids view money.
While I agree that the article didn't really elaborate on spending behaviors, it seems that the wage gap affected black women to a much lesser extent than black men. I would assume that if the difference was mainly caused by attitudes in your family toward money during youth that it would have affected black men and women equally. However, I admit that I have only skimmed the full report...it's rather long.
That part of our culture is common though, so it wouldn't necessarily lead to the observed racial disparity.
We really do need to do a better job of financial education though, especially as jobs become more rare I think one of the few paths forward is for people to seek out residual income from investments so they can clear out of the job market.
Sadly, I think there are issues with how cultures spend money. Status symbols are a killer of wealth, but the perceived value of letting people know you are well off is important in many communities. Think about the need to own a certain brand of car, to wear a certain brand of clothes, to wear lots of jewelry and gold. These items don't appreciate in value (with the exception of gold... but that's a whole different story).
The article fails to address the issues with how disposable income is spent among income classes. Mass media and marketing have done an excellent job making people feel like luxuries are essential to be happy.... when all they do is provide temporary bliss in exchange for a less secure future.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/low-income-families-spend-40-of-their-money-on-luxuries-2017-06-28
Interesting, and somehow unsurprising. I'll probably use this when I write my own take on the subject... it actually fits perfectly with what I was thinking!
White privilege is real but it is diminishing in America. White privilege is great, especially for white people but also for many other races who enjoy the benefits of the wealth and civilization built by whites. White privilege in the mainstream consciousness is an entirely different story. It means the demonizing, blaming whites, claiming they're stealing, killing or otherwise exploiting other races "systematically" or "institutionally"... Or why not the enitre condition of said race.. in other words, it's a myth.
It may be diminishing, although it seems to have seen a resurgence lately with the KKK and other white supremacists claiming nationalism to support their agenda.
It is NOT about demonizing or blaming whites. There are a few radicals who do use it that way, but it's really a call to be aware of some of what's actually going on. For instance in my neighborhood one of the neighbors trying to sell his house actually said he refused an offer from a black family because he "wouldn't do that to the neighborhood." So the sentiment is definitely out there and still needs to be fought against.
Oddly though I've seen people claim they don't like "being made to feel guilty" pretty much whenever race is mentioned. It boggles my mind a little, because no one wants you to feel guilty... they just want everyone to be aware of the disadvantages some people have had.
I respect his sentiment as it's based in reality. Many people seek out white neighborhoods, it's a simple fact when a black family moves into a neighborhood that that affects the value of everyone else's home, for multiple reasons really. He's looking out for white people, as white people should and be proud for doing so. Not be ashamed for it or for being white. White people ought to be aware of the advantage white people are losing everyday. The truly disadvantaged are not minorities in America but how about any pick of the peoples of the places they come from.
No he's not. Stop trying to make him racist.
I'm not trying to make anyone racist. I am speaking generally, though, as many whites have this sentiment and it is not racist to hold that viewpoint. My point is if I look out for my race/neighborhood/family/country/heritage, that is not racism or racist. What is racist is white farmers being targeted in South Africa for their lands, livelihoods, everything. They've either got to fight or run to Australia. Do you think the Boers are wrong to ban together in order to protect their property, people and culture?
Oh come on, you must be living in your own world. This might be a reality you wish we lived in but it isn't. That might be how you hope people conducted themselves, but they don't.
I've seen people react with "stop making me feel guilty" far, far, far more often than I've seen anyone make someone try to feel guilty. Literally any mention of race will cause some people to think they are supposed to feel guilty.
For instance there was a meme about gun control, where someone had claimed the government never violated the rights of people while they had guns. The response was a list of things like Asians Concentration camps during WWII.
Immediately someone replied with how they were sick of being made to feel guilty, even though that literally had nothing to do with the point.
I'm torn on Jordan Peterson. He does raise some interesting points and make ~some~ compelling arguments (albeit in a very alpha bro kind of way), but he is thought provoking. I am a little disappointed by how the uber conservative bro community has lapped up everything he's said.... with the exception of not falling for identity politics... they seem to ignore that bit.
He's infuriating. He makes sense about half the time and seems to always segway into sexist nonsense. I think that's kind of the thing though, the alt-right loves him because of his traditional views on religion/gender but he's smart enough to not go the whole alt-right route.
He claims often that he leads people away from the alt-right but I'm not so sure. In one interview he claimed that the comments section on his Youtube channel were very smart and civil... but I'm sitting there like "but you realize that people take snippets of your videos and spread them around alt-right channels and sites to support their views, right?"
Not to mention he seems to turn everything into an attack on the left, and tacitly equates the left with Marxism every chance he gets. I've lost count of the number of times he says things like "The alt-right is terrible, but the left..." and then launches into a detailed diatribe of something he perceives about the left. I feel like there's a term for that kind of propaganda but haven't gotten around to looking it up yet.
This guy actually goes into an exploration of how Mr. Peterson defines truth when it suits him, and while the guy seems to agree with Jordon on most things I think it's actually very revealing of how Jordan actually approaches most topics:
Woah, fantastic video. Definitely chips away at his arguments. Thanks for sharing.
He definitely attacks the left with complete disdain for political correctness and gender equality (ignoring intellectual capacity/potential). It is frustrating and even more infuriating that the Alt-Right cherry picks his quips and slogans to laud themselves as intellectually enlightened. It's like "Christians" who quote select bits of the bible and ignore the others.
I think the comparative argument about the Left is simple DEFLECTION. Conservatives have mastered the ability to deflect the discussion away from the criticisms of their beliefs to something else particularly things they hate or that their critics embrace.
What sexist nonsense?
And what possible clips can you take from him to support Alt Right views?
You won't find any.
When he says he's against identity politics he's naturally talking also about the alt-right identity politics so he's not on their side either. The only way anyone Alt Right can like Jordan is if they mistakenly think everything he's saying against the SJW's doesn't also by definition also apply to them. But then people are that blinkered so of course that is one of the myriad of things you see.
This video is a good example. Who knows what else was said, but he spends a lot of time talking about the identity politics of the left, briefly mentions the right does it too, then goes back to hammering on the left and even calling them murderous.
The biggest identity politics game being played on the right is creating the perception that liberals are evil.
He even admits in this clip he saves most of his vitriol for the left. He is playing identity politics, it's just that he's using left vs. right instead of the groups you normally think of.