White Privilege

There has been a lot of talk about "White Privilege" in the news and social media lately.  I think white privilege does exist, but most of what is written makes it seem like it is the only type of privilege and that if you have it you can't fail and if you don't have it you can't succeed.  Here are some other types of privilege I came up with.

Tall privilege

Financial privilege

Beauty privilege

Smart privilege

Talent privilege

Politically connected privilege

Athletic privilege

Stable family privilege

Moral privilege-taught good morals when we are young

Christian privilege

No substance abuse privilege

Work ethic privilege

Born in the US privilege

All of these type of privilege have an effect on your chances of success.  But not one of them, or even the combination  of them is the only determinant.  It is hypocritical  when a very successful black athlete or actor talks about white privilege; but they benefited from tall privilege, and athletic privilege or beauty privilege.  

On the other side consider Johnny Manziel.  He had white privilege, financial privilege, beauty privilege, smart privilege, athletic privilege, and stable family privilege yet he was still a colossal failure.  

How many people are there around who had almost no privilege and were successful anyway?

Talk of privilege removes personal responsibility.  We are all different in many ways including the type of privilege we start with.  But we have an enormous amount of control in how we turn out.  Everyone born in the US has a level of privilege that much of the rest of the world dreams of having.  White privilege is just another way some people want to divide us and make it seem like others have it so much easier than we do.  We know there is some truth to it; that makes it even easier to sell the lie that we are just a product of privilege instead of a product of our decisions.