I understand what you're saying and I agree. But resolving the inequities crosses gender/race and socio-economics strata. It involves everything from early educational opportunities through to recruitment.

 

Also maternity and family issues ares a factor. It is not uncommon for the women to disengage from the workforce for a period of time following the start of the family. Then she might be the older when she re-enters, but she does not have the experience. There is a background to this culture and old family values that has not changed. And... as the male part of the equation, I would have been tickled to death to be a "stay at home Mom" for a few years and let my wife earn a living, but it didn't work out that way for me. I was unemployed for one summer where I watched the kids, and it was one of the best summers of my life.

I understand what you're saying and I agree. But resolving the inequities crosses gender/race and socio-economics strata. It involves everything from early educational opportunities through to recruitment.

 

Agreed. Especially I believe the value of education begins at a very early age, and it is the long-term key to the higher paying jobs. This is where I really want our country to put its money as an investment.

There are privileges that come with both races, now who has more or less is up to debate.... Help me out and give me a true example you have witnessed as of late of white privilege.

 

See post #57. All of those examples have happened to me or a friend on a regular basis.

You are correct in some ways. What you miss, maybe because you haven't experienced it, is that if you are a minority, no matter how skilled, how experienced or how hard you've worked, you will be passed over for opportunities in favor of a white male...and then more galling...asked to train that person. When I gave my notice at my last job, my boss eventually promoted a guy from within because he "liked computer stuff". Never mind that he had know system knowledge, no background that would lend itself to understanding the concepts of my field. His claim to fame was he found us lots of in-room phone replacements on E-bay. All due respect, but bidding on E-bay doesn't mean you understand how the GDS/OTA/IDS/PMS systems all work, nor how you forecast demand and yield to achieve maximum occupancy/revenue. My boss also offered that gentleman $7,000 more than I was making. On my first day at my new position, I received a phone call from my former boss, because said gentleman had walked out by noon that first day, because he had thought the job was 9-5 and easy. I then worked on a contract basis for about a year, 6 months of which was training a girl who was promoted into the position, whom my boss paid $10,000 less than I had been making when I left, despite the fact that she actually had some knowledge and experience with aspects of the job. How do you explain the fact that the white male with no experience was offered $7K more than I was making, while 1) I wasn't offered any increase to stay, and 2) the girl with experience was offered $10K less than I was making?

I never said that the system is perfect but sometimes people think that they were passed over for promotion because of skin color, sex, etc., and they simply overestimate the value of their own work. In other cases, the manager making the promotion decision is truly an idiot and somebody made a mistake in promoting him or her to their position.

 

If you accurately described your situation, then you worked for an idiot. Maybe you think that never happens to white men, but I can tell you from experience that it does.

The issue is those people all had to overcome roadblocks that others didn't.

The point is that no talented American faces roadblocks that they cannot overcome. You can always find somebody who has started his or her way up the ladder of prosperity with less than you did.

I think this is a stupid and irresponsible remark. Maybe you are a white apologist, but many of us pasty-white middle aged Americans have NOTHING to apologize for and have been supportive of the changes in civil rights and support of equality, and that includes not rioting when we have been denied jobs or career paths because we did not fit a minority profile.

 

 

Who has done that?

White privilege is real. Connecting that to mentally unstable people going on shooting rampages is absolutely dumb. But white privilege is real.

 

We all know that, right?

 

No we don't. White privilege is a poorly conceived pseudo intellectual concept that is poorly thought out to lump white people in a box and create a boogeyman for other peoples problems.

Exactly. Being born a white male gives you a "leg up" on everyone else in the game of life.

 

Not buying it in 2014.

You are right in some ways as well rockmom, but I've seen firsthand of cases where the white male is passed over specifically because they are a white male and there needs to be more diversity. I've seen and read about young white males being declined admission to certain universities while an African-American (you could insert other minorities here) males/females are accepted in their place. And yes the white male did have better test scores and GPA. However, due to wanting to ensure a certain amount of diversity, the white male was declined.

 

I'd be willing to bet that happens quite often at universities across the country and I'm not necessarily even saying its a bad thing to provide more opportunities to minorities, even though someone else might be more deserving. So at times, it can go both ways, maybe not in most industries but there's a perfect example of how minorities are not always passed over by the white male for better opportunities.

 

Makes me think of a great movie, American History X. One of the cutback scenes when Norton (before he went Neo-Nazi) is talking about how an African-American received a promotion over his dad who was more qualified because of a diversity quota. Again, probably rare in a lot of industries, but in some others, this might happen.

 

This happens in the real world every day in every industry in the name of diversity. That is why I laugh at the white privilege statement. People who created this thought process are so secluded from the real world in their educator bubble its kind of sad. If people believe white men have some unwritten advantage in today's business world again you are clueless and so out of touch of what happens in today's real world. I live in the business community. Every fortune 500 company on down to small businesses have diversity at the top of their mind when hiring or promoting. In a lot cases we will pass up the more qualified white male for the sake of diversity. I'm not saying its bad its just a matter of fact. Those who say otherwise tells me you aren't in the rooms I'm in when these decisions are being made.

 

The whole concept of white privilege is so racist in its base its laughable when people who discuss it think they are being thought provoking and moving the conversation forward.

No, my questions related to this shooting were why weren't we discussing the reasons the shooter stated, an the related issues. In a separate post, I began the discussion of the disparity of men vs. women in power positions. I also have another post related to white males vs minorities. Separate issues. If you feel any of the above are sexist, please...show me how.

 

Bolded in post sixty is as sexist as any posts on here.

The point is that no talented American faces roadblocks that they cannot overcome. You can always find somebody who has started his or her way up the ladder of prosperity with less than you did.

 

No doubt but you can't argue that the "privilege" doesn't pave the road.

This happens in the real world every day in every industry in the name of diversity. That is why I laugh at the white privilege statement. People who created this thought process are so secluded from the real world in their educator bubble its kind of sad. If people believe white men have some unwritten advantage in today's business world again you are clueless and so out of touch of what happens in today's real world. I live in the business community. Every fortune 500 company on down to small businesses have diversity at the top of their mind when hiring or promoting. In a lot cases we will pass up the more qualified white male for the sake of diversity. I'm not saying its bad its just a matter of fact. Those who say otherwise tells me you aren't in the rooms I'm in when these decisions are being made.

 

The whole concept of white privilege is so racist in its base its laughable when people who discuss it think they are being thought provoking and moving the conversation forward.

 

 

I think it is laughable when people use their experiences to say something doesn't exist. I've never experienced racism therefore it doesn't exist.

No we don't. White privilege is a poorly conceived pseudo intellectual concept that is poorly thought out to lump white people in a box and create a boogeyman for other peoples problems.

 

So you are saying the white privilege has never existed and has never been part of the problem in the lack of diversity and opportunity for minorities in America. Never????????

 

Bolded in post sixty is as sexist as any posts on here.

 

I'm viewing from my phone. Do you mind reposting?

This is the one he's talking about, RM.

 

I think it's odd we haven't discussed the issue that the shooter himself laid out as the reason he did this: women didn't sleep with him. Why aren't we discussing the fact that men (in general) seem to feel that women are for their pleasure?