Clarence Smith
Analysis Response Essay
Composition II
13 September 2016
I Have an Advantage; Why?
In today 's world, perhaps one of the largest debates among human beings is privilege and gender equality. In both Macklemore’s “White privilege II”, and Michael Kimmel’s “Why Gender Equality is Good for Everyone, Men Included”, the authors evidently explained what white privileges are, how white privilege effects individuals of different race, and how gender equality can benefit men and women in their household and in the workplace. In Macklemore’s song he attempted to understand his place in black culture, specifically related to hip-hop music and Black Lives Matter protests. While in Michael Kimmel’s speech he attempted to explain white privilege and the benefits of gender equality for women as well as men by using stories of past experiences. When critically analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of both author’s tones, evidence, and overall strength of the body of work, I am boldly convinced that Michael Kimmel’s speech is essentially the superior of the two authors. Though Macklemore’s song was relevant and had great connections to our everyday life, the author was very aggressive and lacked any source of credible evidence to his observations. Michael Kimmel’s speech did exhibit evidence, but it was often questionable. However, he does displayed great tone by appealing to humor, was very entertaining by keeping his audience eagerly intact, and communicated relevant stories
Growing up in the United States, racism is an issue one cannot help but hear about at one point or another. Racial inequality and discrimination is a topic that comes up every February with Black History Month, and is often talked about in high school history classes around the country. But that is what it is considered to the majority of people: history. Most students are taught that, while there are still and will always be individual cases of racial discrimination and racism, nationally the problem ended with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. People of color, however, will often tell you differently. At least that is what they told Tim Wise,
Peggy McIntosh concludes white privilege is, “an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was meant to remain oblivious.” The writer came to this conclusion when observing male privilege initially in America. McIntosh discusses the lack of acknowledgement of men when it came to addressing their own advantages over women even if they could admit the position of disadvantage of women. This shed light on how white privilege is curtailed; In the United States, foundations of our society are interlaced with institutionalized privilege creates unethical levels of dominance; dominance of males over females, whites over people of color,
In this spellbinding lecture, the author of White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son offers a unique, inside-out view of race and racism in America. Expertly overcoming the defensiveness that often surrounds these issues, Wise provides a non-confrontational explanation of white privilege and the damage it does not only to people of color, but to white people as well. This is an invaluable classroom resource: an ideal introduction to the social construction of racial identities, and a critical new tool for exploring the often invoked – but seldom explained – concept of white privilege.
Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack” addresses the issue of acknowledging whites’ unaware privileges, thus weakening the systems of advantage to reconstruct power systems in the society from 1989 to the present. For instance, men are unconscious about their privileges in a patriarchal society while women are oppressed in the society. White people are unaware of the privileges which they take for granted while non-white communities are discriminated against repeatedly. McIntosh identities her privileges from daily life, which she also relates the patterns of white privilege and assumptions that passed down.
At its core, white privilege is described to be an “invisible package of unearned assets” (McIntosh, 2002, p. 33) for white people. There are many layers explaining the manifestation of white privilege and even more explanations pertaining to its dominant presence in today’s world.
White privilege is an advantage in society that is unmerited. Though it is practiced in every day life (whether it’s subtle or not), the majority views it as “absurd” and “non-existent”. It is a taboo that creates feelings of guilt, hostility and anger, but it must be addressed and understood in order to be eradicated. It is necessary for white people to acknowledge their part in maintaining and benefiting from a society that has thrived on racial hierarchy and white supremacy for centuries. White privilege is essentially the flip side of racism; racism does not only disadvantage people of colour, but grants white people power and dominance in our so-called “post-racial” society (McKintosh, 1). In this essay, I will argue that positive and widespread representation and implied acceptance are the most important features of white privilege. Widespread representation is the most important feature of white privilege because we live in an age where the media not only reflects, but also controls our real worldviews and attitudes. The second most important feature of white privilege is adequate housing opportunities and implied acceptance and respect. It is necessary to eliminate this system that puts people in power based on their skin tone and these two aspects are crucial in order to reach that.
In her 2012 TEDx Talk, “How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion”, Peggy McIntosh discusses how race is a privilege system and how white people are given an advantage without even realizing it. In her lecture McIntosh says, “These privilege systems, which locate us above and below the hypothetical line of social justice, were invented and we were born into them. And we all know both sides and that is the reason for compassion, about the sadness of having been born into systems that gave us such… such different ‘politics of location’”. Here, it seems that McIntosh’s main goal is to inform people that we are born into a privilege system because of our skin color and the only way that we can prevent a social hierarchy we must be able to recognize that we are all different. I think that the human population should be able to identify that people are different and have compassion for the differences in society our world today could have little to no race issues. After listening to McIntosh’s arguments, I support the ideas she makes throughout her works and I find that privilege systems are still prominent in today’s society.
In Peggy McIntosh’s, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” she introduces the topic of privilege from the point of view of a women in a world designed to favor men. She sees that men acknowledge the fact that women are disadvantaged but are unable to admit that they themselves have higher power. This denial of power is what creates the gap between men and women and is a clear stepping stone to her primary point of white privilege. The problem does not lie in the existence of white privilege but more so in the validation that is given to it. To be oblivious to this privilege is what gives it power to aid the white population, while simultaneously crippling other minority groups. She goes on to state that realizing there is hierarchy is the first step to systematically taking it down. This however has to start by finding where the problem originates.
Many white Americans are living with the fear that they didn't really deserve their success, and that maybe luck and privilege had more to do with it, than brains and hard work. There are numerous reasons for the widespread discrimination at all levels, but the main reason for the existence of discrimination is a privilege to certain groups of people, and widespread social prejudice towards certain groups of people. Differences between people have always existed, but they gain in importance only when are different importance given to certain differences, so it creates privileges. People who are privileged in one society are often not aware of their privilege. It is very easy to be oblivious to the privilege. The problem of discrimination
In “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh we discuss the concept of white privilege, and white male privilege and its existence in modern day society. McIntosh goes on to speak of how unacknowledged white male privilege is a phenomenon that is constantly being denied and protected. Mcintosh compares white privilege to an “invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks.”(175) Much of male oppressiveness is unconcious, basically, many men don’t realize that what they are doing is oppressive towards other people.
The concept of white privilege helps to highlight the hypocritical nature of the American ideologies of democracy and meritocracy. Ask yourself: Do we live truly in a democratic system if the voices of our nation’s disenfranchised people are not heard? Or are we truly a nation that functions on a meritocratic system if every person-- regardless of socioeconomic background or race-- is not given the same opportunities for development? The concepts of white privilege and male privilege, as used by McIntosh, are meant to unveil the hidden schemes of American ideology.
In my recent adult life, I have always liked to joke around about my association with every agent group in contemporary America as a straight, white, able-bodied, middle class, Christian, European, suburban, cis-gendered male from a nuclear family in the Midwest. It feels at times that I was plucked from a 1950’s advertisement. Additionally, through most of my life, I was surrounded by people who share the same identity and did not get regularly exposed to difference until I came to Ohio State. As a result, I found it difficult to acknowledge or discuss privilege as it was never something I had to do until I came to college. In this reflection, I will examine what privilege means to me, my experience in the male agent group, and my experience in the suburban agent group.
The significance about these claims is the concept of "privilege" and how its dissenting power can have a negative impact predominantly on those who are not privileged. To discuss, "white privilege" is an example and this concept is a struggle towards those of a different race. Those who identify as white need to understand that their race grants them enough competence to progress. In contrast, those of a different color have to prove themselves repeatedly to be accepted within systematic constructs. With that, white fragility is a supplemental burden in which specifically white people have
Collins, L., & Barnes, S. L. (2014). Observing privilege: Examining race, class, and gender in
Peggy McIntosh, chapter on “White Privilege, color, and crime,” encourages readers to think about the world in the framework of race, class, and gender on a “White privilege” perspective. McIntosh