It's good to be a white man in the United States. I know, because I am one. I'm not saying it's fair, I'm just saying that you're biased and I can prove it.
Great thoughts. All of us should routinely challenge our assumptions and biases. And if you're having trouble doing that, find better opportunities to be challenged while working on your ability to have your beliefs challenged.
Some people believe familiarity breeds contempt. Sure, to some extent. But I think familiarity does much more to bring us together and find commonality.
Jeff, ironically, it sounds like you have projection bias in terms of projecting your white guilt from your presumably affluent lifestyle onto other white males.
Moreover, your circular logic doesn’t prove itself. “If you don’t agree with me…you’re projecting …and thus wrong.” That’s not persuasive.
I was also disappointed in your lack of statistical data/sources to back up your logic or a more insightful analysis that touches on new information to further your argument.
Instead, you bring up woke talking points, cliched stereotypes, and sweeping generalizations that no longer apply today without even mentioning how you claim your expertise in this field. #epicfail.
Secondly, I have absolutely no guilt for being a white male. None at all. Had you read to the end of the article you would have realized that. The article is not about feeling bad for being white - it’s about the bias that all humans have, regardless of race, gender, whatever.
Also, you called your comment above a “measured critique”. I’m not quite sure how this is a measured critique - all your doing is trying to insult me.
As for statistical data sources to back up my logic, what would you like statistic on?
You know what, read this, I’m sure there are some statistics here you’ll like…
First of all, check your privilege about guessing my ethnicity in an attempt to discredit my criticism, due to my alleged whiteness and maleness. Your dismissiveness towards someone whom you perceive to be a white male is palpable.
I'm sure you would never address a reader, whom you thought was from a historically marginalized group (which in fact I am), in that manner.
1) I have met tons of self-righteous, allegedly progressive white guys like you, all the time here in LA. Such self-professed "progressives" like you - love to virtue signal to minority or marginalized communities like mine about white privilege to pander to us - and to feel better about yourselves!
Yet, when the rubber meets the road, it's OTHER white males of lower socioeconomic statuses and minority groups as well (from the unintended consequences of your "noble" social ideas like defunding the police) who ultimately make the sacrifices for YOUR unearned virtue.
Question: If you really believe you have white privilege, instead of obnoxiously BRAGGING how much you LOVE your privilege, "I recognize my privilege. I enjoy my privilege. It works in my favor all the time." I am left to wonder...
A) When will you give up YOUR unearned white privilege?
B) Where's YOUR sacrifice for your beliefs?
C) How come YOU get to profit from your white privilege?
Solutions: Here are some ways you use your "rich, white guy privilege" for good, if you truly believe in it...
* Transfer your next few months of public speaker or executive leadership gigs over to POC, LGBTQIA+, or Native American thought leaders in your field. You didn't earn it, so GIVE IT BACK. Remember, you have white privilege, you'll be fine! You will get other gigs you don't deserve due to your whiteness.
* Sell your home to a buyer from a historically marginalized community, donate the profit difference to a HSBU, and move to South LA. This way, you can live in the community, support the community via consumerism and charity, and see the limits of your where your white privilege ends.
You can't revel in the benefits of white privilege and criticize others, when you haven't sacrificed one iota for this belief.
2) Obviously, white man were privileged in the past to the detriment of my antecedents, women, and the LGBTQIA+ communities. We agree on the dark underbelly of America's sordid past. However, in the last 20 years, the progressive overreach to correct past injustices against minority groups has now simply flipped the racism totem pole against white men, and men overall - which is not right either!
Look no further than:
* The current white male class action air traffic lawsuit.
However, Jeff, you don't care because it doesn't affect YOU, as a "rich, privileged white guy".
Methinks if you had skin in the game and actually led by example through your sacrifice, you might not be so smug on this topic.
CONCLUSION
Projecting outdated or banal stereotypes and sweeping, divisive, generalized assumptions about other socioeconomic communities are inaccurate at best and intellectually dishonest at worst.
Worse, your erroneous presumption does not bring people together.
There's other ways to uplift marginalized communities without being racist or sexist in return!
If we don't figure it out, this "Hatfield vs. McCoy" cycle will be endlessly perpetual to the detriment of us all!
DEI went too far and now there's a huge backlash, undermining the whole concept.
3) I don't believe in the American Dream either anymore, but it's more involved than just one factor holding all non-elites down. Sometimes, it is racism. Other times, it's the individual's fault. Still others, of all stripes are poor, and have little competitive advantages as such.
* Sell your home and come here to my section of South LA, live in the community, and volunteer with our local organizations that could use help.
* There is plenty of vacant housing here in South LA, we'd love to have you. You can not only live among a diverse population, but you can use your white privilege to uplift our community.
can see how far your white privilege will take you here.
Well, Jeff, I'd invite you over except that I don't make a mean lasagna . . . or any other culinary delight for that matter. Always enjoy your newsletters even though I am long retired. However, this one disturbs me a little. You did say that everyone has this projection bias to some degree, some more than others, so maybe I'm on the extreme low end of the spectrum, but I absolutely do NOT assume that everybody else thinks, feels, and acts like me, or even that they should in many cases. In fact, it's pretty much just the opposite. It's almost insulting to say that I would hold down anyone based on gender, race, etc. My psychoanalyst might disagree, but for now I'm calling BS on this projection bias for at least some people.
Thanks for the comment, David. But it’s virtually impossible to not have projection bias in some way or another. This can manifest itself in a variety of unconscious (or subconscious) ways. For instance:
Have you ever bought something thinking you’d use it a lot but barely ended up touching it? That’s the belief that your future self will feel the same as your current self. Thats Projection Bias
Have you ever recommended something you thought was great and were surprised when someone didn’t like it?
Have you ever been upset when someone didn’t do something for you that you would’ve done for them?
Have you ever been surprised when someone seemed upset at something even though you thought everything was fine?
Have you ever finished somebody’s sentences or jumped to conclusions about what they were saying/doing, only to find out you misinterpreted them?
I've been in the workplace for 40 years and I've seen all of what you talk about. I was briefly in charge of D&I in one of my roles and I'd never do it again. It's like beating a dead horse with stick.
A couple of examples for an Everyday Sexism workshop designed (not by me, but delivered by me) to raise awareness:
Attendee - "I don't have any unconscious bias"
Me - "But didn't you say last week that women don't want to be engineers so we shouldn't hire them?"
Attendee - "I'm not sexist, but a woman turned up to an interview for a surveying in job in high heels. I didn't hire her because how will she go round the building site in shoes like that?"
Me - "Were the men you interviewed wearing steel cap boots or dress shoes with their suits?"
Attendee - "I've never seen anyone talking over women in meetings"
Me (& the other attendees) - "You've been doing all through the workshop".
Great thoughts. All of us should routinely challenge our assumptions and biases. And if you're having trouble doing that, find better opportunities to be challenged while working on your ability to have your beliefs challenged.
Some people believe familiarity breeds contempt. Sure, to some extent. But I think familiarity does much more to bring us together and find commonality.
Well said Adam. Thank you!!!
That cover image for this topic kills me Jeff, lol.
It took me more than a few minutes to perfect it on mid ourney
Well, it landed for me, accompanied with that headline.
I was aiming for maximum trigger value
lol.
Jeff, ironically, it sounds like you have projection bias in terms of projecting your white guilt from your presumably affluent lifestyle onto other white males.
Moreover, your circular logic doesn’t prove itself. “If you don’t agree with me…you’re projecting …and thus wrong.” That’s not persuasive.
I was also disappointed in your lack of statistical data/sources to back up your logic or a more insightful analysis that touches on new information to further your argument.
Instead, you bring up woke talking points, cliched stereotypes, and sweeping generalizations that no longer apply today without even mentioning how you claim your expertise in this field. #epicfail.
First of all, I’m guessing you’re a white male.
Secondly, I have absolutely no guilt for being a white male. None at all. Had you read to the end of the article you would have realized that. The article is not about feeling bad for being white - it’s about the bias that all humans have, regardless of race, gender, whatever.
Also, you called your comment above a “measured critique”. I’m not quite sure how this is a measured critique - all your doing is trying to insult me.
As for statistical data sources to back up my logic, what would you like statistic on?
You know what, read this, I’m sure there are some statistics here you’ll like…
https://open.substack.com/pub/bytitleonly/p/the-state-of-women-leaders
First of all, check your privilege about guessing my ethnicity in an attempt to discredit my criticism, due to my alleged whiteness and maleness. Your dismissiveness towards someone whom you perceive to be a white male is palpable.
I'm sure you would never address a reader, whom you thought was from a historically marginalized group (which in fact I am), in that manner.
1) I have met tons of self-righteous, allegedly progressive white guys like you, all the time here in LA. Such self-professed "progressives" like you - love to virtue signal to minority or marginalized communities like mine about white privilege to pander to us - and to feel better about yourselves!
Yet, when the rubber meets the road, it's OTHER white males of lower socioeconomic statuses and minority groups as well (from the unintended consequences of your "noble" social ideas like defunding the police) who ultimately make the sacrifices for YOUR unearned virtue.
Question: If you really believe you have white privilege, instead of obnoxiously BRAGGING how much you LOVE your privilege, "I recognize my privilege. I enjoy my privilege. It works in my favor all the time." I am left to wonder...
A) When will you give up YOUR unearned white privilege?
B) Where's YOUR sacrifice for your beliefs?
C) How come YOU get to profit from your white privilege?
Solutions: Here are some ways you use your "rich, white guy privilege" for good, if you truly believe in it...
* Transfer your next few months of public speaker or executive leadership gigs over to POC, LGBTQIA+, or Native American thought leaders in your field. You didn't earn it, so GIVE IT BACK. Remember, you have white privilege, you'll be fine! You will get other gigs you don't deserve due to your whiteness.
* Sell your home to a buyer from a historically marginalized community, donate the profit difference to a HSBU, and move to South LA. This way, you can live in the community, support the community via consumerism and charity, and see the limits of your where your white privilege ends.
You can't revel in the benefits of white privilege and criticize others, when you haven't sacrificed one iota for this belief.
2) Obviously, white man were privileged in the past to the detriment of my antecedents, women, and the LGBTQIA+ communities. We agree on the dark underbelly of America's sordid past. However, in the last 20 years, the progressive overreach to correct past injustices against minority groups has now simply flipped the racism totem pole against white men, and men overall - which is not right either!
Look no further than:
* The current white male class action air traffic lawsuit.
https://www.newsweek.com/faa-reject-air-traffic-controllers-race-airport-crash-2024097
* Kamala Harris offers forgivable business loans to black men, which is not only illegal but unconstitutional.
https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/harris-promises-1-million-forgivable-loans-for-black-businesses-kamala-tim-walz-men-voting-election-donald-trump-race-economy-november-politics
* The Supreme Court rules that Asian and white students were discriminated against by Harvard admissions.
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2022/20-1199
* Women are benefitting from DEI more than POC's and the LGBTQIA+ communities.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelleking/2023/05/16/who-benefits-from-diversity-and-inclusion-efforts/
* Men are now falling behind women in education, suicide, life expectancy, health, and in a whole host of other vital areas.
https://stanfordreview.org/young-men-in-crisis/
However, Jeff, you don't care because it doesn't affect YOU, as a "rich, privileged white guy".
Methinks if you had skin in the game and actually led by example through your sacrifice, you might not be so smug on this topic.
CONCLUSION
Projecting outdated or banal stereotypes and sweeping, divisive, generalized assumptions about other socioeconomic communities are inaccurate at best and intellectually dishonest at worst.
Worse, your erroneous presumption does not bring people together.
There's other ways to uplift marginalized communities without being racist or sexist in return!
If we don't figure it out, this "Hatfield vs. McCoy" cycle will be endlessly perpetual to the detriment of us all!
DEI went too far and now there's a huge backlash, undermining the whole concept.
3) I don't believe in the American Dream either anymore, but it's more involved than just one factor holding all non-elites down. Sometimes, it is racism. Other times, it's the individual's fault. Still others, of all stripes are poor, and have little competitive advantages as such.
* Sell your home and come here to my section of South LA, live in the community, and volunteer with our local organizations that could use help.
* There is plenty of vacant housing here in South LA, we'd love to have you. You can not only live among a diverse population, but you can use your white privilege to uplift our community.
can see how far your white privilege will take you here.
Well, Jeff, I'd invite you over except that I don't make a mean lasagna . . . or any other culinary delight for that matter. Always enjoy your newsletters even though I am long retired. However, this one disturbs me a little. You did say that everyone has this projection bias to some degree, some more than others, so maybe I'm on the extreme low end of the spectrum, but I absolutely do NOT assume that everybody else thinks, feels, and acts like me, or even that they should in many cases. In fact, it's pretty much just the opposite. It's almost insulting to say that I would hold down anyone based on gender, race, etc. My psychoanalyst might disagree, but for now I'm calling BS on this projection bias for at least some people.
Thanks for the comment, David. But it’s virtually impossible to not have projection bias in some way or another. This can manifest itself in a variety of unconscious (or subconscious) ways. For instance:
Have you ever bought something thinking you’d use it a lot but barely ended up touching it? That’s the belief that your future self will feel the same as your current self. Thats Projection Bias
Have you ever recommended something you thought was great and were surprised when someone didn’t like it?
Have you ever been upset when someone didn’t do something for you that you would’ve done for them?
Have you ever been surprised when someone seemed upset at something even though you thought everything was fine?
Have you ever finished somebody’s sentences or jumped to conclusions about what they were saying/doing, only to find out you misinterpreted them?
All of these everyday things are projection bias.
Love it.
I've been in the workplace for 40 years and I've seen all of what you talk about. I was briefly in charge of D&I in one of my roles and I'd never do it again. It's like beating a dead horse with stick.
A couple of examples for an Everyday Sexism workshop designed (not by me, but delivered by me) to raise awareness:
Attendee - "I don't have any unconscious bias"
Me - "But didn't you say last week that women don't want to be engineers so we shouldn't hire them?"
Attendee - "I'm not sexist, but a woman turned up to an interview for a surveying in job in high heels. I didn't hire her because how will she go round the building site in shoes like that?"
Me - "Were the men you interviewed wearing steel cap boots or dress shoes with their suits?"
Attendee - "I've never seen anyone talking over women in meetings"
Me (& the other attendees) - "You've been doing all through the workshop".
I could go on and on.