Tal's privilege.

Get ready for the latest right- wing hero. This one isn't some intellectually challenged cowboy from Nevada; he is a preppy privileged brat who attends Princeton.




He, like so many white men in America, believes that reverse racism is rampant in Obama's America, and that we have completely come full circle when it comes to racism.




To him, and others like him, the white male is now the victim. He is sick of being told of "white privilege" because, to him, no such thing exists.


It's all very interesting, because Tal's parents created a very good life for him, and I don't doubt that his father worked very hard for him to get it.




"I do not accuse those who “check” me and my perspective of overt racism, although the phrase, which assumes that simply because I belong to a certain ethnic group I should be judged collectively with it, toes that line. But I do condemn them for diminishing everything I have personally accomplished, all the hard work I have done in my life, and for ascribing all the fruit I reap not to the seeds I sow but to some invisible patron saint of white maleness who places it out for me before I even arrive. Furthermore, I condemn them for casting the equal protection clause, indeed the very idea of a meritocracy, as a myth, and for declaring that we are all governed by invisible forces (some would call them “stigmas” or “societal norms”), that our nation runs on racist and sexist conspiracies. Forget “you didn’t build that;” check your privilege and realize that nothing you have accomplished is real.


But they can’t be telling me that everything I’ve done with my life can be credited to the racist patriarchy holding my hand throughout my years of education and eventually guiding me into Princeton. Even that is too extreme.


So to find out what they are saying, I decided to take their advice. I actually went and checked the origins of my privileged existence, to empathize with those whose underdog stories I can’t possibly comprehend. I have unearthed some examples of the privilege with which my family was blessed, and now I think I better understand those who assure me that skin color allowed my family and I to flourish today." [Source]


Tal goes on to talk about his family tree and how his grandfather had to escape from Nazis in his native Poland, not to mention all the hard work his father put in to earn a top spot in his college class and blah blah blah.


What Tal and others like him always fail to realize is that by simply being white he benefits from what we like to call white privilege. He doesn't always necessarily see it at work, because it's one of those things that people like Tal tends to take for granted. It's like an invisible force field that's always there to protect him. He doesn't notice it, but trust me, it's there. It manifests itself in countless ways on a daily basis, and Tal has enjoyed it throughout his entire -silver spoon fed- life.




It doesn't matter if he is Jewish, Polish, Italian, Irish, Scot, or...well, you get the picture; his skin is white. That's enough.




Still, I respect Tal and others like him who speak their minds on this subject. If we are going to have an honest debate about race and racism in this country musings from folks like Tal should not be silenced, it should be encouraged.