I must admit that I felt more than a mild irritation reading the article written by Peggy McIntosh. Personally I can say that I have always worked for what I have and my position at work and grades at schools weren’t as a result of my race nor my sex as far as I can determine. However, I decided to put my annoyance aside and try and learn as much as I can; I did not have much of a choice in the matter. I normally read with the TV on in the background, I found the coverage of the democratic nominations somewhat ironic. Seems that being of the ‘wrong’ skin color and sex is less of an obstacle in politics than in everyday life and business as Peggy seems to imply.
Considering that at least half of the American population were more than happy to choose either a woman or a minority for president, I made the assumption that racism and sexism would be more prevalent internationally than locally. I switched over to BBC news to look at international news. The story that appeared was of Yi So-yeon, the first South Korean astronaut. Funny thing was, Yi is a 29 year old female. Was that right? Couldn’t be. Not in this male dominated world.
Ah ha. The next story brought me to a familiar territory; middle aged, white and male and privileged. Now I could see what the life of privileged was all about. But there was something wrong here too. The gentleman being interviewed was not an executive, but a working class man from Easington in County Durham, UK. In spite of being poor and needy, the people of Easington do not qualify for any social help programs because they are neither immigrants nor minorities. Mmmmm. I guess Peggy is unfamiliar with American voters and with the BBC.
Discriminating on the basis of race and sex is wrong, as is all other types of discrimination. But it is also wrong to elude that lack of performance is due to discrimination when it is not. I have a number of colleagues that are female and/or minorities that have done very well for themselves economically. That shows me that the biggest factor in achievement does lie with the individual him or herself, irrespective of race or sex.
And now this privileged white male is signing off to watch Oprah ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7286989.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7281107.stm
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