Lately, with all the talk about "white privilege" and the history of slavery, my mind has been churning.

I hear excuses for blacks' disdain for white people all the time.  A black person calls a white guy a cracker, and it's excused because the white man's great-grandfather was a slave owner or whatever.  But if a white person who was raised in Dixieland during or right after the big civil rights movement of the 1960s says is discovered to have said something remotely racist in their lifetime, they're crucified for it.

Now, while blacks were on the receiving end of racism (they were labeled the inferior race), this shouldn't excuse them from being criticized for being racially prejudiced.  Take Jews for example.  Since the middle ages Jews have been persecuted by societies and religious groups, and before that they were used as slaves by Arab societies.  Until the Papal States were dissolved in 1870, Jews were required to live in ghettos away from Christians.  This attitude of "good anti-semitism" (as it was called by the church) lasted well into the 20th century, until the end of World War II when the horrific acts perpetrated in the Holocaust were discovered.

Jews fled from Europe in two waves:  One during the lynchings and mobs in Leninist Russia, and the other during the rise of national socialism in Europe.  When they fled to the States they had nothing but the clothes on their backs.  Yet, despite all of this, Jews are now one of the richest demographics in the world, reaching or exceeding the average wealth of whites within five years of the end of WWII.

According to the theory of white privilege, because of the setbacks of slavery until 150 years ago and institutionalized racism until 1964, blacks are STILL at a disadvantage both socially and economically due to these [inherently immoral] practices.  Now let's compare this to what the Jews had to face:  Jews came to America in the early to mid-20th century not knowing a single word of English, and not having any money to their name.  Yet, on average, it took a mere 4.5 years for a Jewish family to reach the same average income of white families after WWII.

I believe you can argue that the Holocaust was worse than slavery, only because in one scenario the workers were fed and supported by their masters both to maintain their economic value and to keep their productivity up, and in the other the workers were just killed if they weren't putting out enough labor.  So the idea that blacks are doing poorly because of historical injustices, when compared to the Jews' strife, seems to me to be incredibly racist.  You're basically saying, "Well, Jews could overcome their historical injustices and surpass the wealth of whites in a decade, but for you poor, child-like, benighted blacks--it's taken you 50 or 150 years, and look where you are. *pats on head*  It's white privilege, you're just oppressed."  That's not what society told the Jews.  That's not what society is telling Latinos.  So why is society saying this to blacks?  My opinion?  It's incredibly racist.  It's saying, "Well the Jews did it in less than five years, but you surely can't do it in 150 years."

Until we put this theory of white privilege behind us, race relations in our society are never going to improve.  Historically, when you try to force artificial change on a culture (in this case, Dixieland), that culture only grows to be resentful of the people that are trying to change it, completely disregarding the real issues with what they think.  Should we discourage racism?  Of course.  But you can't expect to be taken seriously when you excuse the racist attitudes of one group and act openly hostile to the racist attitudes of another.

/ramble

If anyone says that ALL white people are responsible for American enslavement of black people, that person is a fucking idiot. I am white and wasn't born in America, yet bulldyke feminists still tell me I'm personally responsible for Amercan slavery.

Fucking geniuses.

edit: derp.

Quote from: Mad Max on October 21, 2014, 11:35:50 AM

Quote from: challengerX on October 21, 2014, 11:29:05 AM

They went (sort of) by choice as immigrants.

I mean, if you call being loaded up on boats and sold to the highest bidder [assuming you didn't die on the boat] "immigration", then...sure.

He's referring to Jews, not black people.

Woops. The "they" threw me off.