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  • An interesting perspective

    Found this on Facebook this morning.

    I want nothing about Trump in this thread. I don't even particularly want any discussion, but if you must, there will be no "but it's Trump's fault!" or anything that might denigrate the person in the post speaking.

    Meet Brandon Tatum
    Brandon Tatum is a former Tucson Police Officer and served as the Director of Urban Outreach at Turning Point USA. He is the Founder and CEO of The Officer Tatum, LLC.

    His open letter :

    “Woke” white people, I’d like to ask you a favor:

    Please stop asking for forgiveness for your “white privilege.”

    You’re not fooling anybody. You’re not helping black people—or any other minority. And your public confessions don’t make you look virtuous. They make you look disingenuous, which is a really nice way of saying fake, phony, and fraudulent.

    For starters, what is “white privilege” anyway? Because you were born with white skin, you have all these advantages that I don’t have?

    Like what?

    Like, you can get a mortgage loan that I can’t get?

    Hmm. I got a loan—at a great rate, by the way—and I got the house. Why would a banker not give a loan to someone who met the loan requirements? He doesn’t want to make money? I’ve never heard of such a banker.

    Or, how about this: You can enter a store and not be looked upon with suspicion, but I—a black person—cannot. Except...that has never happened to me.

    But if I was a young dude with my pants hanging down to my butt, I could understand why a store owner would be concerned. I used to be a cop. Believe me, I understand. If I owned the store, I’d be tracking that kid, too—whether he was black, white, or anything else.

    Or, what if I had a store that had a history of being shoplifted by young black women, and a young black woman with a bad attitude walked in. Would I be suspicious? Yeah, I would. Who wouldn’t?

    I call that common sense, not bigotry.

    But there’s another way of looking at this: In many ways, in today’s America, blacks have more privilege than whites. It’s been my experience that whites bend over backwards to give blacks every possible advantage.

    If two people are equally qualified for a job, the black person will usually get it. Big companies and prestigious universities fall all over one another trying to sign up talented black people.

    If you deny this, you are denying reality.

    Which is what the person who dreamed up this whole thing did—a professor of women’s studies at Wellesley College by the name of Peggy McIntosh. She wrote an article in 1988 about all the “white privilege” she thought she had. She listed 46, including this one: “I can choose…bandages in ‘flesh’ color and have them more or less match my skin.” Wow, that’s some kind of privilege!

    Soon others took up the cause.

    Today, these so-called progressives dominate our colleges and universities, imposing this absurd notion of white privilege on their students. That’s too bad. Because it does nothing good for white students. And it does nothing good for black students. But of the two, ironically, the white students get the better of the deal.

    Let me explain:

    To acknowledge your white privilege is supposed to make you feel bad. Only it doesn’t. It makes you feel good because by acknowledging your white privilege, you’re declaring yourself to be enlightened. And as a virtue-bonus, it also makes you a better person than those whites who don’t acknowledge their privilege.

    White privilege, which is supposed to make you feel bad, ends up making you feel good. Meanwhile, the real damage is to blacks. What makes whites feel good makes blacks angry.

    More than 50 years after the start of the Civil Rights movement, the message is: “You’re still oppressed.” How can this not create a victim mentality? And anyone—of any color—who sees himself as a victim gets angry.

    Now, I wouldn’t deny for a second that there are privileges in life. They’re all over the place. There’s two-parent family privilege (that’s huge); there’s being lucky to be born in America privilege; there’s good gene privilege. But white privilege? Doesn’t it depend on the person?

    Let’s take this, for example: A black lawyer and his wife have a baby. And a meth addict, single white woman has a baby. Which kid has privilege? The white one? Because he’s white?

    Come on now.

    And here’s the kicker: Even if it were true—all those claims about white privilege, so what? Would it change a single thing I did? If white people apologize for being white, is that supposed to help me? In what way?

    So, let’s be real: White privilege is an attempt by the left to divide Americans by race.

    It’s all theory and all nonsense. If you want to fall for it, go ahead—it’s a free country. But don’t try to sell it to me.

    I’m an American who deals with my fellow Americans one-on-one.

    Try it. It works.

    I’m Brandon Tatum for Prager University

    ***** I will not engage in or tolerate ANY negative comments. I will delete any comments in opposition.... this is offering a new and different perspective from a BLACK MAN... you will not change anyone’s heart by posting defensive opinions ******. There are A lot of people who need to hear this !!


    IMG_1300.JPG


    Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

  • #2
    Look, you can't have black people demanding reparations for American slavery and the ensuing social disparity without some white people having sympathy for their position. There are black people who think white privilege is a real and pervasive thing.

    Brandon Tatum doesn't.

    Is he right where other black people are wrong? I don't know. He's got an opinion on the subject just like other people do, so I'm going to listen to it just like I listen to those other people.

    Beyond that, I don't see his letter (above) as some kind of devastating takedown of white-privilege / white-guilt. He's just a dude with an opinion worth considering.

    Comment


    • #3
      I don't expect Tatum's open letter to change the minds of anybody who is bent on so-called social justice.

      You are welcome to your opinion, as I am to mine. That's probably about the only thing we might agree on.


      Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by mossrose View Post
        Found this on Facebook this morning.

        I want nothing about Trump in this thread. I don't even particularly want any discussion, but if you must, there will be no "but it's Trump's fault!" or anything that might denigrate the person in the post speaking.

        Meet Brandon Tatum
        Brandon Tatum is a former Tucson Police Officer and served as the Director of Urban Outreach at Turning Point USA. He is the Founder and CEO of The Officer Tatum, LLC.

        His open letter :

        “Woke” white people, I’d like to ask you a favor:

        Please stop asking for forgiveness for your “white privilege.”

        You’re not fooling anybody. You’re not helping black people—or any other minority. And your public confessions don’t make you look virtuous. They make you look disingenuous, which is a really nice way of saying fake, phony, and fraudulent.

        For starters, what is “white privilege” anyway? Because you were born with white skin, you have all these advantages that I don’t have?

        Like what?

        Like, you can get a mortgage loan that I can’t get?

        Hmm. I got a loan—at a great rate, by the way—and I got the house. Why would a banker not give a loan to someone who met the loan requirements? He doesn’t want to make money? I’ve never heard of such a banker.

        Or, how about this: You can enter a store and not be looked upon with suspicion, but I—a black person—cannot. Except...that has never happened to me.

        But if I was a young dude with my pants hanging down to my butt, I could understand why a store owner would be concerned. I used to be a cop. Believe me, I understand. If I owned the store, I’d be tracking that kid, too—whether he was black, white, or anything else.

        Or, what if I had a store that had a history of being shoplifted by young black women, and a young black woman with a bad attitude walked in. Would I be suspicious? Yeah, I would. Who wouldn’t?

        I call that common sense, not bigotry.

        But there’s another way of looking at this: In many ways, in today’s America, blacks have more privilege than whites. It’s been my experience that whites bend over backwards to give blacks every possible advantage.

        If two people are equally qualified for a job, the black person will usually get it. Big companies and prestigious universities fall all over one another trying to sign up talented black people.

        If you deny this, you are denying reality.

        Which is what the person who dreamed up this whole thing did—a professor of women’s studies at Wellesley College by the name of Peggy McIntosh. She wrote an article in 1988 about all the “white privilege” she thought she had. She listed 46, including this one: “I can choose…bandages in ‘flesh’ color and have them more or less match my skin.” Wow, that’s some kind of privilege!

        Soon others took up the cause.

        Today, these so-called progressives dominate our colleges and universities, imposing this absurd notion of white privilege on their students. That’s too bad. Because it does nothing good for white students. And it does nothing good for black students. But of the two, ironically, the white students get the better of the deal.

        Let me explain:

        To acknowledge your white privilege is supposed to make you feel bad. Only it doesn’t. It makes you feel good because by acknowledging your white privilege, you’re declaring yourself to be enlightened. And as a virtue-bonus, it also makes you a better person than those whites who don’t acknowledge their privilege.

        White privilege, which is supposed to make you feel bad, ends up making you feel good. Meanwhile, the real damage is to blacks. What makes whites feel good makes blacks angry.

        More than 50 years after the start of the Civil Rights movement, the message is: “You’re still oppressed.” How can this not create a victim mentality? And anyone—of any color—who sees himself as a victim gets angry.

        Now, I wouldn’t deny for a second that there are privileges in life. They’re all over the place. There’s two-parent family privilege (that’s huge); there’s being lucky to be born in America privilege; there’s good gene privilege. But white privilege? Doesn’t it depend on the person?

        Let’s take this, for example: A black lawyer and his wife have a baby. And a meth addict, single white woman has a baby. Which kid has privilege? The white one? Because he’s white?

        Come on now.

        And here’s the kicker: Even if it were true—all those claims about white privilege, so what? Would it change a single thing I did? If white people apologize for being white, is that supposed to help me? In what way?

        So, let’s be real: White privilege is an attempt by the left to divide Americans by race.

        It’s all theory and all nonsense. If you want to fall for it, go ahead—it’s a free country. But don’t try to sell it to me.

        I’m an American who deals with my fellow Americans one-on-one.

        Try it. It works.

        I’m Brandon Tatum for Prager University

        ***** I will not engage in or tolerate ANY negative comments. I will delete any comments in opposition.... this is offering a new and different perspective from a BLACK MAN... you will not change anyone’s heart by posting defensive opinions ******. There are A lot of people who need to hear this !!


        [ATTACH=CONFIG]45489[/ATTACH]
        He's spot on. I'd like to hear his opinion on why it's happening. He argues that it makes whites feel good, but I don't think that's the complete cause behind this sociopolitical phenomenon.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by mossrose View Post
          I don't expect Tatum's open letter to change the minds of anybody who is bent on so-called social justice.
          That's not me. I'm not a SJW

          Originally posted by mossrose View Post
          You are welcome to your opinion, as I am to mine. That's probably about the only thing we might agree on.
          Oh come on... You implied your stance on white privilege; defend it. Don't just walk away saying "everyone has a right to their opinions" (<-- paraphrase) ...

          Tatum's one black person among many. Is his opinion in the minority among his peers? I think it is, in which case I don't find it particularly persuasive; tell me why I should reconsider.

          I'm not sure he's wrong, per se, but neither is my skepticism of it due to some kid of ideology (which is what you implied).

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Whateverman View Post
            That's not me. I'm not a SJW
            That's nice.


            Oh come on... You implied your stance on white privilege; defend it. Don't just walk away saying "everyone has a right to their opinions" (<-- paraphrase) ...

            Tatum's one black person among many. Is his opinion in the minority among his peers? I think it is, in which case I don't find it particularly persuasive; tell me why I should reconsider.

            I'm not sure he's wrong, per se, but neither is my skepticism of it due to some kid of ideology (which is what you implied).
            You implied your stance on white privilege, too. I don't really care if you defend it or not. But, your skepticism of what Tatum says is indeed due to an ideology, which is that white privilege is a thing, and that if the majority of blacks think it is, it must, most likely, maybe, be true.

            Even if Tatum's opinion is a minority among his peers, it doesn't mean that his opinion is wrong. The majority is not always correct, and is certainly not always morally responsible.


            Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by mossrose View Post
              your skepticism of what Tatum says is indeed due to an ideology, which is that white privilege is a thing, and that if the majority of blacks think it is, it must, most likely, maybe, be true.
              That's not an ideology; that's an opinion.

              Ideology: a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.

              Originally posted by mossrose View Post
              Even if Tatum's opinion is a minority among his peers, it doesn't mean that his opinion is wrong. The majority is not always correct, and is certainly not always morally responsible.
              Sure.

              All you did was present the opinion as right/correct/true - and then you refused to defend it. That's on you, not me. In the absence of any such defense, I'm correct when pointing out that such opinions are outside the mainstream, which gives us little reason to see the opinion as persuasive. I'm more than happy to continue discussing this, but not when your defense amounts to "you're a closed-minded social justice warrior".

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Whateverman View Post
                That's not an ideology; that's an opinion.

                Ideology: a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.


                Sure.

                All you did was present the opinion as right/correct/true - and then you refused to defend it. That's on you, not me. In the absence of any such defense, I'm correct when pointing out that such opinions are outside the mainstream, which gives us little reason to see the opinion as persuasive. I'm more than happy to continue discussing this, but not when your defense amounts to "you're a closed-minded social justice warrior".
                I presented Tatum's perspective. I am not interested in discussing whether he is in a minority of thought or not. I did not intend to accuse you of being a "sjw", pardon me if my comment came across that way.

                I thought his thinking is logical and reasonable. Much more so than those who claim that white privilege is a thing.

                That's all. As I said in the op, I'm not particularly interested in discussing the point. If other people wish to do so, that's fine.


                Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Whateverman you sound sane and I like to read your posts but your avatar is very distracting and annoying grr.

                  Comment

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