This article was extremely interesting to read. The author discusses her experience with White privilege, and how she came to understand what having White privilege meant. She discusses how she believes that it should be discussed and taught more in schools, and that it is just as important as having discussions and learning about racism. There is clearly privilege and oppression in every society today, whether that has to do with race, class, gender, etc. It is important to acknowledge how people play roles in today’s society in order to correct some of the historical wrongdoings that have occurred. I do not believe this means dropping everything to “save,” or “fix,” these wrongdoings. I do not believe this means that every society is doomed due to the privilege and oppression that exists. I just believe that through doing your part, even just by acknowledging how you play a role, you can make more strides than you realize to redesign social systems. Something interesting about this topic is how much emotion and personal connections have to do with it. There is a lot of personal connection that has to do with privilege and oppression. People everyday will feel and understand their privilege and oppression in different ways, whether they decide to acknowledge it or not. This makes the topic very difficult, and I think that Peggy McIntosh does a great job of explaining why it is important to acknowledge White privilege in a way that keeps the argument academic.
When reading this, I began to wonder how this connects to the intellectual class and wokeism. We have been discussing how the intellectual class is able to speak and be immediately listened to. Frequently, we have seen that they are listened to without research to define if their statements are correct. They are viewed as correct just because of their status as an intellectual. Therefore, this is a privilege that can place harm on others. Other people who are not included in the intellectual class can develop morals or beliefs based on members of the intellectual class and what they have decided to speak on. Through listening and absorbing information that members of the intellectual class publish and not questioning how correct the information is, other people suffer consequences. We have seen how misinformation can affect people, and how wokeism can lead to harm. This is a perfect example of that.
2 replies on “Blog Post – White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”
I agree with you that this class has shown us that the intellectual class is not always the one to follow when forming opinions because we can suffer the harm from misinformation. Wokeism has shown us that reaching to fit an agenda, especially in our current society can be helpful and harmful. By that, I mean that Wokeism can help people formulate opinions but it can not be the end all be all in a situation. If this class has taught me anything it is that there is always a step further we need to go in terms of seeking the truth and that we can not rely on one group or one source to be that truth for us. Polarization and different opinions are bound to happen but the status of the intellectual class can’t always tell us what is correct so we need to move past that and look for data and research to back these claims and also call them out when they fail to reach academic standards.
I agree with her that white privilege should be talked about more in schools. I believe that the reason it is not talked about as much is because it makes the white people who are present in the classes a bit uncomfortable because it is hard to sit there and listen to someone talk about how because of your skin color, you get certain privileges that the non-white people in the same class don’t get. This is a hard situation to approach because the privilege is not their fault or their responsibility. It had to do with the history of America and past events that have shaped how society works today. With that being said, it still needs to be talked about and I think a way that we can make it a more comfortable topic of discussion for the white people is to constantly remind the students that it is not their fault or responsibility for having the privilege. If we do that I think we would be able to have much easier and productive discussions which would help this country in the long run. One problem that will most likely occur with this is that there are some white people who don’t believe that they have privilege because they feel attacked when having these conversations and they don’t know what it is like to be a minority in the United States, especially being Black or Hispanic. I agree completely with what you said about acknowledging how each of us plays a role in society and by doing that will help make strides for this country. People just need to let their guards down and try to make the correct steps to take strides forward. You bringing up how people listen to intellectual class and believe everything they say because of their status is another challenge that is in the way of the progression of people acknowledging white privilege. Not only by intellectuals but just higher powers that have influence on how people think. Since this is a problem that started at a time where most people who are currently living were not living at that time, everyone who is willing to learn about the subject has their own sources that they go to in order or get insight. The problem with that is that different sources have different opinions on the truth. Since oppression is not as prevalent in today’s society as it was in the past it is hard for people to witness it for themselves and for opinions based on that. Even with all these challenges that there are when trying to help improve society’s understanding of white privilege, I agree with how you said we are not doomed. The United States has made great strides over the years and as long as we continue to address these problems even if they are uncomfortable topics to talk about, it will only get better. It will never be perfect but the further we are removed from the days where this all started the better it will get.