In White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, author Peggy McIntosh argues that she, and other white people, are not overtly racist but instead are just oblivious to their own privileges.
McIntosh uses the metaphor of a knapsack that is filled with survival materials that can help you get through and tell you what to do. She says that white people have this knapsack and minorities do not. White people are privileged with every day things that they take for advantage, things like just knowing that you won't be out numbered in most given situations that you enter into or not having to worry about their race counting against them in various situations.
I really liked the way this article was written. I like the way the author discovered her views on racism through advantages of being a male. It seems simplistic and obvious but for me, as a reader, it gave me a new angle at which to view the topic. After the unique introduction of her argument, I was able to read through the rest of the article with out being put off and feeling accused.
I’m surprised that you say you didn’t feel put off by McIntosh’s article. I’m not a man, but I don’t like what she says about male privilege. “They [men] may say they will work to women’s status, in the university, or the curriculum, but they can’t or won’t support the idea of lessening men’s.” (McIntosh 1) As a person surrounded by many wonderful men who I love, I have a huge problem with this statement. I don’t deny McIntosh’s assertion that there is a disparity in the treatment of woman and minorities that needs to be corrected. But the status of groups who are better off shouldn’t be brought down. What McIntosh suggests is privilege communism: make everyone equal, but as a result have everyone worse off. What she suggests is comparable to suggesting that the solution to hunger is to forcibly take food off the table of people who do have enough to eat.
ReplyDeleteGood start with this Conor... say a little more (and use one of the BLOG ASSIGNMENT types to help focus you).
ReplyDeleteI agree with you - I like the way the article was written... I like how she used the knapsack metaphor. It makes her point easier to understand. If you're "privileged" you already have all these materials packed in the knapsack. Although it's sad that you have to be "privileged" to have access to them.
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