Posted on 05/20/2003 6:19:49 PM PDT by fhardesian
Out of the many lies that attempt to steer and modify us everyday is the myth of "white privilege." I believe that there is nothing so destructive as this prevarication. It implies that all Caucasians are born with a silver spoon in their mouths and that anything they are given is the result of our "racist" society. This misassumption has created a predisposition among many Caucasians to apologize for everything that they do and to act as if they are lucky to have escaped punishment for crimes they never committed.
Let me first unequivocally state that this is the least racist society in the world. I do acknowledge that there are racists in America but they, particularly the white racists, have absolutely no power whatsoever. In my thirty-three years on this earth I have never met a Klansmen and the only time I ever hear the n-word is when I hear blacks refer to other blacks by that name (although it's usually with an "a" on the end as opposed to "er"). There is no place where blacks live a better life on this planet than in America. Indeed, as has been argued by D'Sousa and Horowitz, if America were a racist society then blacks that move to this country from Africa or Jamaica would not do much better than indigenous blacks economically. It is the reverse racism, low expectations, unearned benefits, and lies about "White America" that has retarded some of their growth. Of note is the fact that we now live in a time when the majority of blacks are middle class or better and possess a standard of living better than the average Swede. To be in America is to be affluent even when you are poor.
The Trent Lott debacle infuriated me as it implied that we on the Right secretly wish for the days of segregation. This is patently false as we on the Right just wish people would stop talking about race every other second and begin formulating ways in which to motivate people to succeed on their own. Hysterical denunciations and the myth of white privilege do nothing to increase quality of life and that is what the race baiters who attack the white male should really be concerned with. I've never heard a person say one good thing about segregation in my life and cannot believe that people are so uniformed about their neighbors as to think that someone would seriously entertain such a notion in the year 2003. Trent Lott's imbroglio was not precipitated by racism. It was precipitated by a man whose beliefs are so hollow that he has to try to pathologically please whatever audience he addresses. I'm sure he said what he said because he thought Strom Thurmond's fans would like it. His words are not in any way indicative of what anyone else on the right side of the political spectrum thinks or believes.
Certainly I have committed numerous acts in my life that I feel guilty about but all of these acts and the guilt derived from them were due to the actions of Bernard Chapin the individual. None of my guilt comes from my macro level status as a "white, straight, male." I have committed no crimes or personal foibles due to my race, sexual orientation or gender. I absolutely refuse to apologize for my identity. I am proud of it and do not easily tolerate affronts to my ancestry. In 1900 I did not have one relative in the USA. By 1920 both sides of my family had arrived. They came with nothing but became solidly working class by the 1940s. Even during the Great Depression, not for one moment did any of my ancestors wish to move back to Ireland or Russia. Being free and poor is better than living a life without the blessed American Constitution. Eventually, through hard work and devoted family relationships we were able to rise to the position of middle class where the majority of us are at the present day. We've never held any slaves and never tormented anybody. We never kept anyone down or conspired to entrench a Caucasian patriarchy. I, nor the majority of you, have not done one thing to warrant a racial apology.
Richard Poe mocked the whole reparations industry in his spoof essay about how he wants payment from Outer Mongolia because his relatives were enslaved by the Mongols before the Duchy of Muscovy was founded in the 14th century. Perhaps if the Mongolians can't send him a check an inquiry should be made to Vladimir Putin. I'm certain he'll be very sympathetic to the cause. My cynicism is valid on this issue as the majority of blacks do not even support reparations but lawsuits regarding companies that profited from slavery are slowly proliferating across the legal landscape.
The frequent maligning of "white males" has had a profound impact on this nation. The need to put up with people lamenting all the "white males" in power is what caused me to disassociate myself from the Democrat Party and the left in general. They absolutely do not represent me in any of their politics. I want nothing to do with a party, who at their 2000 convention, booed the Boy Scouts and had a speech from one of their Senators stating that the several female Senators already elected were not enough and that more of a battle needed to be fought until more and more females filled the ranks. I do not support the idea of electing officials based on gender or color as a major determinant. Barbara Boxer and Chuck Schumer both illustrate that a person can be a completely irrational basket-case and that gender has little to do with it. Color also is meaningless. I read a speech by Clarence Thomas delivered on February 15th 2001 at the American Enterprise Institute and, frankly, I would have a very hard time not voting for him in any election no matter whom he ran against. I hold that few men or women on the right would better represent me than Clarence Thomas.
We live in days where the past has been completely forgotten. There never was a time of absolute white privilege in this society. Whites, and all racial groups, have always been fractured. You had days when signs read "No Irish for Hire" in America and, in those same days, my forefathers were considered to be only riff, as opposed to riff-raff, because they were Protestant Irish as opposed to being Catholic Irish.
What about Italians? Where I live many of the old Italian neighborhoods of Chicago have been transplanted to spacious suburbs just outside the city limits but those who inhabitant the opulent homes were once considered untouchables by the elite of the nineteenth century. Now an Italian-American winning elected office means absolutely nothing to us but at one time it was front-page news.
In America, signs once read: "No dogs or Jews allowed." Jews excelled and achieved even despite the quotas that were set for them at universities and institutions. They never excelled by blaming others. They excelled through hard work and effort. Hopefully the anti-semitism and blind hatred of Israel will convince many Jews that the Democrat Party and, the leftists who march with them, offer nothing but misery.
Anti-Catholicism was once so strong people thought that Al Smith should never have been nominated in 1928 because his religion precluded any chance of victory. Thirty-two years later this nation demonstrated its tolerance when John F. Kennedy was elected President and his Catholicism did not matter to the majority of Americans.
A subsidiary of "white guilt" is the illogical assertion that blacks have no power in our society. I had an argument with someone about this the other day. I told them that Colin Powell has more power in one finger than I have in my entire body. He replied by saying that Colin Powell "looked white." I was taken aback. I think he looks racially mixed, which he is, but I would not say that he looks white. Regardless, I jumped to another one of the thousands of examples that disproved his position. I said that Condi Rice, National Security Advisor, and Rod Paige, Secretary of Education, have more power in one cuticle than I have in the entire Chapin ancestral line. Yes, not one of my ancestors was ever as successful as Rod Paige and none of us probably ever will be. The person did not have any more ammunition but I did, how about Norm Mineta or Elaine Chao? If we lived in a racist society they wouldn't be draped in power and six figure salaries.
Now there are some things for which they don't expect us to apologize. Let's start with democracy and freedom and equality. Every one of these concepts were the offspring of Western Civilization and I'm happy to take ownership of them right now. What about antibiotics, sulfamides, indoor plumbing, clean water, agricultural miracles, classical literature, architecture, art in general, the semiconductor, the computer, the automobile, heck-for that matter- the horse and buggy, steel shipping, refrigeration, and the art of environmental cleanup? Yes, we created them all. We're even better at purifying the environment than the rest of the world is. It's something to be proud of and also something to shove into the face of your accusers. I like to think of Mozart, Beethoven and Bach as being our 4th of July display. No other culture ever produced composers anywhere near their level of talent.
What about the bad stuff like slavery? Slavery is something that we in the United States ended over a century ago but it still continues in the Sudan and Mauritania. We shipped 500,000 slaves to the new world while the Arabs shipped ten million. Does the left ever write papers about the Arabic past? No, they only want to attack the white male. I tell people all the time that Idi Amin killed more blacks than any white man did in the history of the world but I've heard many people praise him as being a "great" African leader. I guess in some circles time heals all history.
The very nature of evil is exploited as well. Evil acts are an undesirable byproduct of humanity but they are not unique to one group of people. The world's biggest murderer? Adolf Hitler? Wrong. Chairmen Mao and his 30 million overture of slaughter. And what about the old "oppressive" British Empire? What has happened in Africa since the empire ended? Rhodesia was the richest place on earth compared to modern day Zimbabwe. Look at what's happened to South Vietnam since we left its shores. Look at what happened to Algeria. All the western bashers in the world who talk of how imperial we are never have to deal with empty stomachs or the bloated bellies of the starved left behind in their own kleptocracies.
Before the Supreme Court we now have two cases in support of the deleterious federal policy of affirmative action. This policy asks the taxpayer to send funds to the government so the government can then in turn systematically discriminate against you. I truly believe that where you discriminate against one, you discriminate against all. This conclusion is obvious to the majority of the American population but it is white guilt that causes us to submit to this racial degradation. Obviously the government's position does not just apply to race as, under federal hiring practices, my sister would be considered more favorably for employment than I. This is true even though we have exactly the same background and were brought up in the same "privileged" household.
My advice to those Caucasians who parrot this white privilege buffoonery is "stop apologizing before you kill us all."
To comment on this article or express your opinion directly to the author, you are invited to e-mail Bernard at bchapafl@hotmail.com .
Yah hey, I'm as lily white as they come. Where's MY silver spoon? Where's MY trust funds, home in the country, and automatic tax shelters?
I've been robbed, I tell ya! I'm a victim! Call the NAAWP!
ANSWER: Har! Har! Har! The reports of our demise are greatly exaggerated!
Can't argue that but I really don't want him to leave the Bench.
Excellent article.
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