The OA : This show is what "White Privileged People" think suffering is about

There were so many plot contrivances in this that were supposed to be "so deep" that were handled so hamfistedly that you can tell that no one involved in creating this has ever suffered. These are people who live very privileged lives who "talk to other people who suffer" and try to replicate it but fail because they do not understand it at all. They essentially use people's stories about horrible things in their lives to "prop up" their story line. It is glaringly inauthentic and crude and even at times, morally irresponsible.

You can actually see the wheels turning in their heads trying to figure out a "motivation" for all of them to do the movements. Then someone in the writers room says "What about a school shooting!" And then they all go "Oh my god, that's BRILLIANT! That's so profound." And that's why there was a schools shooting. There's no other reason for the school shooting other than to create a plot device that will cause them to do the movements. First facepalm.

Some other points.


When Prairie's parents go to the Russian house to buy the baby, they decide (both of them) that they want Prairie instead of the little baby. The woman is willing to let them take both and to pay more money. But "meh" they can't afford both so they leave the freakin' baby there and just take Prairie. So essentially these good people leave a baby in a house with drug addict hookers, and take their "purchase" and go home. They never even call anonymously to try to save the other baby.

Uh huh.


There are two moments where Brit Marling actually talks authentically about being held captive. One is when she says the first day you wake up still thinking you are free. The second is when she's talking about the mindset of being captive for so long. But beyond that they play fast and loose with the experiences of the prisoners.

And namely it's just "off." You can tell they "Studied" someone like Elizabeth Smart. And so they dig into the emotional part, but leave out the reality. It's a gross gross appropriation.


For example if they are all these noble angel types why do none of them try to warn the prison by screaming when they are in the house? Remember how they are all able to see someone at the door. If they know he's back and can see he brought anther captive with them they should at least be screaming. None of them know how remote they really are or if the person could escape. But they don't even try.

Homer having sex with Renata was also not the behavior of an "Angel." He essentially raped this woman by having sex with her under false pretenses. And she also thinks he's mentally ill. So she essentially raped him.


All Homer wants and begs and pleads through the whole episode is to let is son know that he didn't abandon him. (This is why I was thinking French might be his son in some sort of time warp plot device) But the OA never goes and does the one thing the love of her life is so traumatized about while inprisoned? That's just sick. Who wouldn't go immediately and let his son know that? Or even just mail him a letter anonymously that says "I saw your father and he didn't walk out on you.'


Nope.


Next, it's very bizarre that were are supposed to sympathize with Steve. I get that they are his friends, but there is something psychologically wrong with him. What in the world were the writers thinking by perpetuating the idea that a violent aggressive male like Steve is somehow "misunderstood" by everyone around him and needs people that won't give up on him?

How sick is it that Brit Marling is perpetuating the idea that what a woman should do if she's hugging a man and he stabs her with a pencil, is stick it out and keep hugging him. Why? Because he's not personally responsible for the violence he imparts on people around him. Noooo it's just that he's an angst ridden, misunderstood boy.

Um no, he's pathologically violent. He destroyed the Glee club singers voice box, he beats up French, the mocks Buck's transgender issues, he attacks the OA. And then when he gets confronted by his dad about being sent away, he starts smashing the wall with his head until blood runs down it.

What do the writers do with this character? They actually try to make him "connect" with his *beep* buddy" from the beginning of the film and then find love with the girl in the detention class.

This man is a ticking time bomb and the writers totally gloss over this male violence.


The sickest part of the whole thing is that they are so utterly clueless about real suffering and violence, that they think writing these plot contrivances and characters is edgy and profound instead of a grotesque perversion of real suffering.

The "visiting homer's child" would have been a great scene. You made a valid point there. The director says it was based on a novel. I didn't know that.

I don't think they're white privileged people, I think they're all extremely *beep* up white people.

http://www.slashfilm.com/tv-show-running-times-the-oa/

A solid B+ troll, OP. Well played.

I don't think OP is trolling. I actually 200% with the stuff about Steve. It's sick and the woobifying of him is really disturbing.

And quite frankly, it does reek of Privileged White People trying to be so deep. You just have to look at Marling's prior work. And her approach to her work. She is the epitome of privilege. On the one hand, you have to give her props for being so relentlessly self-centred ad focused only on her own vision. It takes balls as a woman in the industry to be so unrepentant and driven. But she's blessed with a lot of opportunities most women, and POC couldn't even dream of. And it shows in her "deepity" work. (Someone here mentioned deepity in another thread and it fits so well with her.)

The school shooting was in poor taste and poorly executed on top of that. It does reflect a sort of disconnect of the writers with the reality of that violence amongst other things.

It might have been me that referenced the word "deepity" in another thread. It is such a useful word since I've come to know it. I recommend people look up the history of this word and why it exists. It fits this show and a lot of new age "spiritual" things so well.

Anyway. About Steve. I had not thought too much about his character before but you guys are right. And I think you guys are right because of the way they developed (or rather didn't develop) him in this show. He COULD have been a sympathetic character but it was really hard for some people to do this because they never gave us enough back story on him and his behavior. I'm sure a ton of bad stuff may have happened to him that made him the way he is but it's never elaborated on. We just have to except that his parents are at a point where they actually want to send him away. Any justifiable sympathy I had for him had to be based on the fact that he could be a decent guy on occasion, that he wants that girl to be his GF instead of being used, and that he doesn't want to be sent away. Basically only on the fact that he is human is all we really have to go with. A human with a lot of flaws that are never explained to us why he is this way. Is it not his fault he is such a bad person so often? It would help to have some information about that otherwise he just comes across as an a-hole, which he did huge majority of the time.

Similar issues apply to all the teens in generalespecially about why they would ever even believe anything The OA was saying or why they would bother to keep going to hear her speak. If we knew more about them that would help us believe they would follow her.

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[steve] COULD have been a sympathetic character but it was really hard for some people to do this because they never gave us enough back story on him

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SPOILER





I think what actually disturbed me most was when he didn't even thank his teacher for blowing $50,000 on his freedom because he couldn't pull off a simple act in his own best interest.

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I'm not sure the term "white privilege" is used appropriately by the OP since the type of trauma used to the OA has been experienced by many whites: school shootings, kidnapping, rejection based on LGBT issues, forced into military and alternative schools. As another poster put it, everyone experiences suffering.

There's definitely a disconnect between the writers and the real world, but there's got to be a different word to describe it besides "white privilege"

The only privilege here is the privilege we have to watch this.

Whew you must be a fun date at the movies.

1. Your very title is rude.

2. It's supposed to be a messed up story.

3. Frankly it's boring me and I'm almost done episode 3.

4. Why are you such a horrible person?

People like you make me wish the nazis won.

looks like youre way into the new white bashing trend I see

I kind of agree, but I think the overall message is pretty good for a low budget show written by young people.

Insane Messages: I have read countless books, love rock music, and so on. I have a long career in mental health and can see that a lot of very mentally unstable people get into the arts.

Many songs are clearly, to me, written by people with Borderline Personality Disorder, which is something that develops due to abuse. These people are filled with surging emotions and so they have the passion to write and create.

However, their work tends not to promote the idea that they are messed up and not to be like them. Rather it's PROPAGANDA created by an insane person promoting insane thinking about behavior.

The whole thing with the OA getting attacked by the guy's dog, getting stabbed by him, and he's an "angel" is the dysfunctional woman thing I've seen a million times in reality. Girls who idolize "bad boys" who abuse them is perpetuated by these writers.

In reality, a guy who is a violent explosive person will ruin your life, ruin kids' lives, and teach the whole family to be crazy, much like a virus. That's why we have collections of white trash crazy people across the country.

Tired of movies promoting this over and over.

Meanwhile, for men in stories, they always meet awesome women. They never fall in love with violent druggie females who dress poorly and have no direction in life.

White Rich People Ideas:If you want to prevent school shootings, modern dance isn't the answer.

The answer is being nice to everyone around you on a daily basis. That means talking to people, not caring about materialism, people's hobbies, status, who you are seen with, and so on.

White people seem to love magic and "spiritual" solutions to things they don't want to do the work to achieve in real life. Projecting love at people will actually work to reduce or destroy stuff like school shootings, but we all have to do it daily, not in some showy egotistical display.

That is the biggest white people problem in this show. It's not magic and dancing around that changes things but rather mental discipline and work.

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White Rich People Ideas:If you want to prevent school shootings, modern dance isn't the answer.

The answer is being nice to everyone around you on a daily basis. That means talking to people, not caring about materialism, people's hobbies, status, who you are seen with, and so on.

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So would you say that 'be nice and be open' isn't (one of) the message(s) of this series? Keep in mind we're talking about something artistic / a movie here, the modern dance I'd say symbolises being nice and open for each other.
Prairie was the one who taught these people to be nice and open towards eachother and if you retrace every step in the end Prairie was the reason they prevented the school shooting.
I see Prairie not as an actual person, but as the embodiment of an open mind and love.

You also said you work in mental healthcare? This interest me a lot, as I myself can see how problematic it is to on the one hand keep an open mind while on the other hand not to get carried away by a 'crazy' persons' story. (?)(coming from a psychology and philosophy student who'd like to work in mental healthcare as well)

P.s. I've sent you a personal message, you might want to read that one first. ^^

In psych the idea of being a "role model" was invented. It's a more complex idea than the way we use it in everyday language. To make a long story short, everyone is watching what you do and what you say and they are influenced by it.

I am a therapist in real life and when you are, you have to watch your behavior 24/7. That's because being a therapist is a positive "con game". A con game means "confidence game" because a bad guy tries to inspire others and give them confidence in the lies he is telling. A therapist is a good guy and needs to give people confidence that the stuff he says, since he has no material goods to give, is true and worth trying.

If you are out getting drunk, you may affect the confidence others have in you. If you are fat, people may not believe you. If you doing anything people find highly questionable, then they will lose confidence. So, you have to be mindful of being a role model all the time. If you take even that too seriously and are stiff or no fun, that will undermine you. It is tough!

But, that is what is needed to spread love and connect with other people. It is tough work to see some weirdo at school and get to know them and then to keep it up. It take courage and thoughtfulness.

If the writers knew that they would have written that story. For instance, there's a great German movie called Wings of Desire, which is about angels and that topic.

The angels are invisible to us but hang out with us all day. They listen to us think and enjoy it. If we are sad they try to make their presence felt. They are our companions. Then, an angel wants to be human and god lets him. He really tries to be nice to others, enjoy life, and so on.

This show was about microwave solutions that many white people seem to love. And, they are kinda rich white people solutions on top of it. Oh there's homeless people laying in the street, let's get the art school to paint a mural in the alley so they can like it. They had a fight, lets pipe classical music (no one really likes it) into the alley because that's high culture and good for you!

I live in Philly. A few years ago a rich college girl started a morning running group for homeless people. Running each morning is good discipline for them she said. Meanwhile, I've known countless homeless people and most are extreme trauma victims. running is awesome, but it's meaningless. I believe she moved away after school and the running club died out. She got on TV though!

These guys made a show, so they can get rich about interpretive dance being the angel language to stop suffering! Haha!

Same sh!t.

A board-certified doctor practicing in a first world country doesn't have to state they are a "real" doctor "in real life." It sounds rather lowbrow and unsophisticated. Plus, it reeks of self-validation.

Let me guess, you downloaded your degree off the internet.

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She got on TV though!

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A "real" therapist just condescended a person in a public forum. Doesn't that open you up to a lawsuit for emotional abuse? Or, is that the professional, mature opinion of a "real" therapist? Do you know so many multitudes of women who started "homeless running groups" which ended up on TV that you / they can't be identified?

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If the writers knew that they would have written that story.

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Uhm, is this a real sentence you actually wanted to post?

"Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man." -tBL

Awesome and interesting post.

Perhaps I should edit the title and take out WHITE but I'm not bashing white people. But it is so obvious that Brit Marling is the one who contributed to a lot of this.

It is "deepity" as someone else said. My point is not about WHITE but that kind of "White Privileged Person that lived in the 50s and hung out at the jazz club on the wrong side of the tracks and thought it made them edgy and cool.

It's an appropriation of suffering. Not an authentic understanding.

I entirely understand what you mean.

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Next, it's very bizarre that were are supposed to sympathize with Steve. I get that they are his friends, but there is something psychologically wrong with him.

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I am not sure about that. He deals drugs and is a jock, which are his two ways of buying friends. In a way he feels like the character which the writers got the most, simply because they are much closer to him than to the others. He feels real to me.

Which just makes it worse that they indeed do nothing with him except for forgiving and "healing" him, as if his behavior was some temporary tantrum.

You're kidding, right?

Dealing drugs and being a jock are NOT the problem. His aggressive, violent behaviour and everyone's docile, woobifying attitude towards that is. Punching that kid in the throat for NO reason, bashing a wall, sicking his dog on Prairie with zero regard for her LIFE, stabbing Prairie with a pencil (and this is near the end of the series when he's supposed to be better!!) meanwhile the show is presenting him as some sort of helpless misunderstood boy who just needs a hug!

Those are dangerous behaviours and a dangerous message. Period. If someone is violent to you, just take it without complaint cos the person doing it is just upset and deep down wants hugs!

There IS something psychologically wrong with someone who uses excessive violence so thoughtlessly, so casually and so often. Should he be locked up and throw away the key? NO. He needs professional help and a completely different environment and a show that doesn't promote the idea that violent offenders just need a hug to get better. Sadly, that is never true.

edit: Indeed there is something wrong with him. I am just not sure the show wants us to sympathize with him at the beginning. In fact it does a good job not to. In that way that character is created much better than the others. You going through the roof just is evidence how perfectly they have nailed him, opposing to the other blue-print characters.

^^^^ This I completely forgot about the dog attack. That was no joke, he could have killed her and the boy he punched.

Or let me put it this way: Does every main character have to be a good guy? And did you stop disliking him towards the end (since I did not and maybe for that reason have less of a problem with him)?

The initial question however was: is the character authentic? Because this is were the show does not necessarily do a good job for the other, more sympathic characters, which appear rather constructed at this point, while this a$$hole is pretty much threedimensional.

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His aggressive, violent behaviourPunching that kid in the throat for NO reason, bashing a wall, sicking his dog on Prairie with zero regard for her LIFE, stabbing Prairie with a pencil (and this is near the end of the series when he's supposed to be better)

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Come on, now.kids will be kids!

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Homer having sex with Renata was also not the behavior of an "Angel." He essentially raped this woman by having sex with her under false pretenses. And she also thinks he's mentally ill. So she essentially raped him.

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Formerly OneLeggedHershel. Poor Hershel.

I have to respectfully disagree with your assessment of Steve's character, his role in the story, and his purpose for the themes of the show.

I am not sure the show is trying to perpetuate the idea that violent aggressive males are merely angst-riddled, misunderstood victims that just need hugs and extra TLC. I don't even necessarily agree that Steve is always supposed to be viewed through a sympathetic lens, and I definitely do not think that he is supposed to be seen as a victim overall (the only exception is when he is almost kidnapped by those recruiters, but other than that I dont think so). His propensity for extreme personal violence coupled with his brash personality, to me, is very purposefully designed to evoke feelings of anger and disdain in the viewer. I didn't feel that Steve being a ticking time bomb was glossed over at all. I felt the opposite actually that his aggressive, violent behavior is the center point of his whole character arc (which is still unfinished).

That being said, he is definitely at times presented in a more sympathetic light, and I think there are a few reasons for this. On a meta level, I think the show is playing with the emotional experience of the viewer, using contradictory feelings to explore the concept of the invisible self. Not just Steve's or OA's invisible selves, but our own as well. All humans are comprised of contradictions to a certain degree. Personalities are complicated structures that consist of both emotional beauty and emotional ugliness. I think the writers want for the show and the characters to resonate with the viewer on a deeper level.

Using a character like Steve is an extreme way of doing this, but I am not terribly upset that they decided to use this kind of character. Steve is representative of a real kind of person that really exists in the real world, and one that I dont see psychologically explored in a meaningful way that often in media. Usually bullies and aggressive males are used as mindless antagonists that are cruel for the sake of being cruel. I think presenting a bully character and asking the viewer to see something beyond just the typical bully trope is not at all meant to be exaltation of aggression and violence. In fact, I think its the opposite. I think its meant to put things in a more psychological perspective, and to remember that even bullies are humans, and some of them are possibly worthy of sympathy and redemption.

Also, Steve is young, which is not to say that his behavior is inexcusable. What I mean is that, from a psychological and neurological standpoint, he is still being formed. His future as a violent psychopath is not yet written permanently in stone. However, it will become a more rigid pathology in adulthood if not mindfully taken care of while he is still young. If anything, I think the show is suggesting that maybe we should be treating troubled children and teens in general with a more psychological mindset. And that maybe dismissing the violent kid with rage issues as being nothing more than someone with "something seriously psychologically wrong with them" is perhaps the wrong way of looking at a human who is still in the process of emotional and mental development.

I dont know if I 100% agree with OAs method of unwavering compassion either, though. The point is, I think part of Steves character function is to serve as a point of reference to explore and discuss the various solutions that have been proposed for dealing with someone like Steve. For example, the show makes a stark contrast between the violence of the reform school to OA's approach of compassion. The show is suggesting that, for humans to grow beyond their flaws and fully realize the possibilities of life, society must throw out the heavy handed "spare the rod, spoil the child" mentality. It is suggesting that anguish in the young be handled with care, compassion, and mindfulness.

I also think the interactions between Steve and OA are part of a larger theme within the show: the concept of being seen versus being merely looked at. Before OA came into his life, people only looked at Steve without really seeing him. His parents call him a bully, his teacher calls him a problem/terrible student/sociopath, his FWB tells him hes nothing more than a hot body that smells nice. None of these descriptions are necessarily wrong (though I dont see Steve as a sociopath for a number of reasons), but they are all reductive and dismissive of the rich emotional life that exist within a person. Similar to objectification, these descriptions only focus on Steve as a single-dimensioned character without any real depth, a broken human that cannot be repaired, little more than an object that needs to be discarded.

This experience of being looked at but not truly seen is a very real experience for many people across many different backgrounds for probably an endless number of reasons. Through Steve (and most of the main cast, but were talking about Steve right now), the show is suggesting the psychological importance of seeing (starting with OA, eventually expanding to BBA and the rest of the group, Steve begins the process of truly seeing others for who they are), allowing yourself to be visible (him developing a relationship with the girl from the alternative learning class shows how he is opening himself and allowing someone to see another side of him; also there are a few playful interactions between him and the others, which I think also indicates that he is opening himself to being seen), and the experience of truly being seen (as OA sees him from the beginning and how the others eventually see him).

This concept is also shown through several of the other characters:

-Buck's transgenderism: His father looks at him and views a girl, instead of seeing him as a boy

-French's relationship with his mother: His mother looks at him, acknowledges his accomplishments while simultaneously dismissing them as being practically meaningless to her, without seeing how much effort and heart he has put into his life, and without seeing how much of a burden he carries with him

-OA's psychosomatic blindness: This one is more of a literal representation of the theme

-Nancys relationship with OA: She looks at OA and views a child who will always need and love her, instead of seeing OA for the complex woman that she is

-BBAs existence: Although they dont explicitly express this, the contrast of this frumpy, overweight, plain, unmarried woman [aka, a woman who is many ways invisible in society] versus the very palpable rich emotional landscape that dominates her internal world to me was a very obvious representation of this theme

just to name a few.

Lastly, I personally don't think Marling and the writers are perpetuating the idea that if a woman is stabbed by a man, she should just keep hugging him. Because of how specific that moment was to the context of what was happening in the show, I am not sure I see it as a statement on domestic violence at all. I mean, it was very distressing to watch, and distressing to watch her hug him even harder, but given the context of the show I thought it kind of made sense. That entire stab-hug sequence was very specific to this story about a woman who is either an emotionally disturbed person with complex delusions that is also capable of using unwavering compassion to heal others, or a powerful being who truly has some kind of supernatural ability to heal others. Regardless of which interpretation you choose, OA not only believes fully in her ability to heal those who cannot heal themselves she also believes in her duty to do so. That being said, the stabbing and subsequent hug was a truly terrible moment and for me it was hard to watch.

I really appreciate the detail that you've put into your response. So I'm going to post another reply after this one where I read it more carefully.

But your post, on surface backs up what I'm saying. It seems like you don't understand the reality of a person like Steve characterized by two statements:

He was "kidnapped."

and

" Usually bullies and aggressive males are used as mindless antagonists that are cruel for the sake of being cruel. "


First up, he was NOT kidnapped. That's like saying someone who was arrested was kidnapped. It was not heroic that he was prevented from being taken away, it was futile. The whole storyline that the teacher paid $50,000 to prevent him from being taken was STUuuuuuuuu PID. Mostly because his parents would know immediately that he didn't show up at the center. The idea that he just walked into school the next day like a regular student was also stupid. He would have been pulled out immediately.

He wasn't a bully, he punched the kid in his throat, not his face. He attacked the one thing the kid had going for him. He could have killed him and he didn't care. He is a violent predator seeking to cause the most damage possible.

As to your second point, this tells me that you don't actually understand what these kinds of sociopaths are like. They ARE mindless antagonists who are cruel for the sake of being cruel.


If they wanted to portray Steve otherwise, he wouldn't have been threatening Buck with withholding his hormones if he didn't let the attack dog attack Prairie.


Again, this is "Privileged People's" versions of these kind of people. They have no depth of understanding into why these kinds of violent aggressors act that way. It's their character, not confusion.

Anyone who actually has dealt with someone like Steve KNOWS that they get enjoyment in their violence. It is not a "cover" for something else.

Well said.

don't worry, right? Allah is comong to take all our stuff by cutting off our heads and converting our washers and microwaves to atomic bombs to cleanse the earth.

Steve is Peter.
The rockhead ahole with the most passion whose most wavering but ultimate faith proves to be the one who unites the group in the end.

To the OP: that's some fancy trolling skills you have. At least, I hope you're trolling because if you're not then you are a racist *beep* Have you ever heard of existentialism? It's sometimes referred to as the philosophy of the affluent. The world is indeed an unfair place but it's all about people's perspective. What matters to people in America is not the same as what matters to people in India, for example. Different cultures, different upbringings, different wants and needs. You should get off your high horse. You could have criticized the show without making it about race, by the way.

That being said, I didn't like the OA overall. The whole dance thing was embarrassing to watch and the school shooting didn't make much sense to me. I also really disliked the possibility that the entire season was just the ravings of a lunatic. That just felt really lame to me. Of course it was left open ended. All of the plot holes aside, what was the FBI counsellor doing at Prarie's house?

Let me start by saying "white privilege" is a phrase that needs to be thrown in the trash and never used again. Like YOLO. We get it, white people bad, they devil, all evil *rolls eyes*

Except we're not, and this "white privilege" *beep* is just another way of complaining about racism that the person benefiting from, has nothing to do with! Apparently if I go to a job interview and a black guy is interviewing too, and I get the job and he doesn't because the interviewer is a prick and actually bases his choice on race, I'M somehow evil and enjoying "white privilege". No, I'm *beep* happy I got a god damned job. And if I found out some *beep* like that happened, I would gladly try and demand they hire that person as well, or instead.

But guess what? That's still entirely UP TO THE *beep* who was racist to begin with. And furthermore, you'd have to prove it was due to racism, and not just to me being better qualified. Throwing around this "white privilege" *beep* just makes people sound like whiny *beep* children (yes, I'm aware of the irony).

Anyways, having said all that, I agree with all your issues with this show. It does definitely come off as extremely teenage ansty emo levels of stupid ass drama, and doesn't portray the issues of these people at all accurately.

Actually I think you don't understand what white privilege means. It's not a competition between you and a black guy.

Try to understand what it really means. For years I used to have the same reaction that you did. I grew up in a very abusive dysfunctional home was in and out of homelessness when I went to school. Finally moved to NYC with $8 in my pocket and one way bus ticket to NYC and managed to build myself all the way with absolutely no help from anyone. So I used to get angry when people said I had white privilege, especially when I'd see black women who had much easier lives than me.

But this is because I misunderstood what it meant. It's not that YOU are racist. It's that infrastructure of our country has been built on Institutional Racism. And that's just a fact I'm sure you can't deny.

What White Privilege means is simply, you lucked into being born white in a society that has a lot of racism.

We're not supposed to feel guilty about it, just acknowledge that fact. It's not about me comparing my life to other black women who had an easier time than me. Or comparing my life to black people that had a harder time.

It's simply this, if I went through my exact same life, and I was black it would have been even harder. Everything is harder when you are born black in a racist world. That's not your fault or my fault, it's just reality.


Why the black community gets annoyed is we act like we both have it the same. It's simply not true.

For example, I was a 5 11, thin, blonde haired blue eyed, pretty white chick. So when I moved to NYC and got off that bus I worked very hard to find a job. But I got a job on the Upper East side of Manhattan as a waitress.

I can flat out tell you that a black woman would not have gotten the same job. I also got an apartment in a building with an old Italian landlord who was charmed by me.

Years later (just this past summer to be exact) when I was trying to help a young black woman get an apartment they wouldn't rent to her because she was black. The neighborhood I live in is diverse for all other ethnic groups but not black people. (I used to be a real estate agent and they will always find some reason not to rent to them. Even if it is a professional black woman many landlords are leery about renting to single black women because they are afraid that their boyfriends will be thugs.)

So that's what white privilege means. It doesn't mean that you have it easier than all black people. You DON'T. But it means that in your own life experience you lucked out in not having to deal with racism.

Hope you take a second to think about this distinction.

omg thank you

people hear "white privilege" and only hear privilege, wondering where theirs was this whole time

meanwhile, the privilege is simply being seen/treated as an equal that's the privilege, starting at level 1, and not with a negative

simply put, a white person will have a hard life like everyone else, for sure, but their life will never be hard because they are white. that's it.








It's mercy, compassion and forgiveness I lack. Not rationality

Yeah, no, I stand by what I said. Shall we start saying that you have leg privilege because you can walk and others were born without the use of their legs, or any legs at all??

How about pretty privilege when you're a female, but other females are hotter than you? Breast privilege? Dick privilege? That guy has a bigger dick than you, after all!!

Oh, I know, hair privilege! Guys who keep their hair should somehow have a label attached to them because there's balding men in the world. Amirite?

No. No to all of that, and it goes with race too. Are white people as likely to be victims of racism? Hell no. Is it still going to happen regardless? Yes. It is. And that's the *beep* point.

Just because certain people don't get it as bad as others in any kind of genetic sense, does not make them priviledged in any sense of the word. That's *beep* stupid. Do you realize there are people out there who have diseases where they feel like their skin is constantly on fire? Or they can't heal wounds properly, or their bones snap like they were made of thin wood?

Well golly gee, if you don't have those too, then you're *beep* priviledged, right?? RIGHT??

When you start elevating people simply because of what their skin color is, it just creates more stupid ass societal imbalances. And more racism. And more ignorance. Hence my statement - this *beep* needs to die, be burned in a hole, and never referenced again. Because it's stupid as *beep*, and it does nobody any good.

You want to see privilege, you look to the people born into this world where they don't have to work for anything, or know any kind of suffering whatsoever. Where they are born into money and won't ever spend a day of their lives, wondering if they're going to lose their house, or starve, or where their next meal comes from.

THAT IS WHAT *beep* PRIVILEGE IS.

You bring up a lot of good points. Are you privileged by not being born with any of the physical issues you are born with?

YES. That's the point. It's not just that life is "upsetting' and you "feel bad" it's the world is structured around the majority.

For example use your leg example. It's not just about "not being able to walk." That's a problem. PROBLEMS are not the same thing as not having a privilege.

So, take a shopping mall. The designer of a shopping mall is going to set up the mall for walking flow. It's going to make the lay out designed so that the majority of people are able to safely go through a mall.

If you can't walk there will be problems with maneuvering your wheel chair around.

What's interesting is that since a lot of people use baby strollers the malls are also designed to accommodate them with ramps and elevators etc.

Something that is under federal regulations to be accommodating will not slip into the privilege as much.

But if you have an older apartment building in NYC the majority of these apartment buildings are not designed with ramps or elevators. People just walked up the stairs.

So imagine if before regulations for people with disabilities were put in, a person in a wheel chair would constantly struggle just to do the same thing that everyone else does. Doorways would be hard to get through. Steps only. Narrow areas to move through.

Go to the movies, get an apartment, go to school etc. It's not about difficulties in life. We ALL have difficulties in life. It's that the system is designed around the majority.

Often times it's not done deliberately. Do you see? Most people who are building apartments buildings weren't deliberately trying not to accommodate the person in the wheel chair. They just didn't think about it.


With racism, THEY DID THINK ABOUT IT. It wasn't done accidentally. Plessy versus Ferguson was a law DESIGNED to segregate the school system by keeping black students OUT.

Jim Crow laws were DESIGNED to keep black people OUT.


To you this might seem like Ancient History but Plessy versus Ferguson was overturned in 1954 with Brown versus the Board of Education. This means my mother was alive when they actually decided to let black students go to school with white students.

These are DIFFERENT than just "problems" in life. This was a deliberate attempt by society to segregate black people.

It's not just racism, it's the infrastructure of society.

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Let me start by saying "white privilege" is a phrase that needs to be thrown in the trash and never used again. Like YOLO. We get it, white people bad, they devil, all evil *rolls eyes*

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Stop being a drama queen. Holding privilege (of which there are many kinds) doesn't make a group evilit's just an observation about the pecking orders set up in society.

If you have not noticed that whites as a group in western culture have (and have had) privilege, I would advise you to open your eyes and pay better attention.

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Suffering isn't "about" anything, least of all your skin color.

Suffering is a subjective experience. Some people suffer because the chemicals in their brain are out of whack. Some people suffer because of circumstances in their lives. Some people suffer for any one (or more than one) out of an infinite number of possible reasons. No kind of suffering is "more real" than any other kind of suffering.

If you did not think that this show sufficiently expressed the suffering felt by some of the characters, then you are free to make that criticism. That aside, the rest of your post is utter garbage and you should be embarrassed for having had those thoughts.

If you look really really hard you might get a life. Anybody that has to go on that long on these boards really really needs one.

what's race have to do with this? also, 'white' people have never suffered? please do tell you must have all five movements and be all-knowing.

Let me guess welfare and the dads are absent?

you are really over thinking everything. EVERYTHING

There was no writers room, stupid. How many writers you think worked on the story?

suffering is reading your dissertation on a tv show

There are plenty of black privileged people too.

And the ones who aren't assume all white folk have a much easier life than them.

Lack of intelligence really to think that. I guess they can't help it.

It's a wonder someone hasn't complained that there aren't enough black people in the show!