"Why I’ll Never Apologize for My White Male Privilege" (not The Onion but Time.com)

[alp227]

Yikes. Time has sunken to a National Enquirer low, publishing this essay by a Princeton University freshman named Tal Fortgang. Time.com notes: "This piece originally appeared on The Princeton Tory," and ThePrincetonTory.com describes itself as "a journal of conservative and moderate thought".

excerpt:

I do not accuse those who “check” me and my perspective of overt racism, although the phrase, which assumes that simply because I belong to a certain ethnic group I should be judged collectively with it, toes that line. But I do condemn them for diminishing everything I have personally accomplished, all the hard work I have done in my life, and for ascribing all the fruit I reap not to the seeds I sow but to some invisible patron saint of white maleness who places it out for me before I even arrive. Furthermore, I condemn them for casting the equal protection clause, indeed the very idea of a meritocracy, as a myth, and for declaring that we are all governed by invisible forces (some would call them “stigmas” or “societal norms”), that our nation runs on racist and sexist conspiracies. Forget “you didn’t build that;” check your privilege and realize that nothing you have accomplished is real.

Fortgang goes on to describe his grandparents' background as Jewish immigrants escaping Nazi Poland and then some:

Perhaps it was my privilege that my own father worked hard enough in City College to earn a spot at a top graduate school, got a good job, and for 25 years got up well before the crack of dawn, sacrificing precious time he wanted to spend with those he valued most—his wife and kids—to earn that living.

TL;DR this is a big ol' irrelevant Gish Gallop.

PZ Myers summarized this stupid load of dogshit in one sentence: "Tal Fortgang, a freshman at Princeton University, gets published in Time magazine by complaining that he resents being told that he’s a privileged white man." Jezebel goes even further.

I can only hope Princeton can make this ignorant young man think, after leading him to information challenging his worldview.

Furthermore, this guy's delusions show:

It was their privilege to come to a country that grants equal protection under the law to its citizens, that cares not about religion or race, but the content of your character.

Pfft. Religion? Excuse me, but when the Christian Right has successfully framed religion enough to associate "belief in Christ" = "good person" and anything not illegal but "sinful according to the Bible" as "bad person", you can't say we're a truly religion-blind nation.

And since he goes to an Ivy League college, does he not realize he surrounds himself daily with people who got in not via their merits but rather connections, in other words "it's not what you know, it's who you know"?

And so the fuck what if:

I am privileged that values like faith and education were passed along to me...It’s been made clear to me that education begins in the home, and the importance of parents’ involvement with their kids’ education—from mathematics to morality—cannot be overstated. It’s not a matter of white or black, male or female or any other division which we seek, but a matter of the values we pass along, the legacy we leave, that perpetuates “privilege.”

Sure, the individual can succeed this way. But when right wing media like Fox News perpetuate scare tactics like the "knockout game" to demonize black youth, Hollywood perpetuates stereotypes like "the nerdy Asian" or "gay best friend", etc., these "values" mean squat.

Fortgang is a product of a narcissistic, ignorant American culture that puts feeling better about oneself over thinking critically about society.

[el_bryanto]

1. Salon had a pretty good take down of it.

We don’t need your apology, Princeton kid. Worth reading.

Bryant

[m-lekktor]

3. yup i read that earlier today when it came through my facebook newsfeed.

there's a link in that salon piece to an excellent rebuttal on jezebel as well!

[AceWheeler]

66. Exactly, no one asked for an apology

Says a lot about him that he projects that on others.

[RobertEarl]

2. What?

There is an idiot white male out there, still?

Remember when raygun spoke into the mic saying he just ordered missiles to be launched? Now that is some serious shit. Some kid in college saying something, is just not important enough to think about.

But i guess if one likes to paper over DU with 'stuff' any bit of pulp will do?

[MO_Moderate]

6. Those who don't conform, must be silenced

[alp227]

10. And where exactly does this "silencing" come from?

If mere criticism is enough to silence you, your ideas...suck donkey balls.

[MO_Moderate]

15. It comes from those who hate those with differing views

Those who will equate his essay to being dogshit and only being worthy of being in a tabloid, do so only to discourage others from listening to his point of view.

[alp227]

21. Can you not acknowledge some ideas are just...dogshit?

Geez. Duck Dynasty fans were making the same complaints after people complained about Phil Robertson's anti-gay comments.

[alp227]

50. So what if he "wrote a good essay" with "good points"?

Anyone who knows how to put together a sophisticated enough word salad can justify the least thoughtful ideas. Just look at all the "right wing columnists" on a site like Townhall.com for instance. Fortgang could've written at this level to defend creationism, chemtrails, UFO sightings, or any other kooky POV, and his essay still would be a bunch of lofty rhetoric.

Don't you accuse me of being narrow-minded just because I am willing to filter junk thought outta my head.

[starroute]

55. It's not a "good essay" -- it struck me as semi-literate

His syntax wanders all over the place. He uses big words that don't mean quite what he thinks they mean. It's really amazing to me that he could have gotten into a top college if that was the quality of his applications.

[angel823]

88. this ^^^^^

in a nutshell.

Angel in Texas

[jtuck004]

68. "made some good points" No shit? What were the good points? It sounded to me like someone

who has taken advantage of privilege and is too daft to recognize it. Yeah, his ancestors arrived on the bones of the people who were already here. Yea for them. And everyone worked hard. Yeah, everyone did. In fact, about the time his relatives were embarking from the upper deck, there were people of color working very hard, dying in fact, to profit the country those people were coming to.

Those slaves weren't his color and were, and still aren't by some, not considered people. And they worked hard, still work hard, like nothing that wealthy little turd has EVER had to experience, (I suspect), only to have their labor stolen by plantation owners or bankers or presidents or neighbors, and very often, nearly almost always even, those people are white. Fucking worse, those people then give the fruits of that labor, largely, to people who are wealthy like him, many times white like him. And that's not enough, so there are a variety of cultural and legal obstacles thrown in their way that this kid could likely never even conceptualize, since he obviously doesn't have the background to understand it, or chooses not to. Whether he has the backbone to recognize it or not that gives him one HELL of an advantage. To say no is somewhat akin to the whole "Earth is 6000 years old" belief. It's a belief, an opinion, but one which is controverted by so much of substance that it is not surprising one might think a person is a bit loony for espousing such a position. If you are gonna talk like a comic book character, expect to be treated like one, eh?

His massive incorrectness makes him, unfortunately, so common that it really doesn't even rise to the level of a tabloid. More like the stuff in the bottom of the parrot's cage. I mean, really, he hasn't added a thing we can't get from one of tens of thousands of other people, if we can get them to stop and take their hood off for a few minutes so we can understand them.

Vocabulary aside, there is not a thought in that piece which rises above the level of a 7th grade gym class. He is absolutely clueless about privilege, he misuses the term racist, he wants to be rewarded for screwing people over then passing the booty to his heirs without paying his fair share. (He should note: We told Mi$$ RobMe to get lost for similar behavior). I mean, seriously, he truly can't comprehend that people may just be trying to be kind when they say "check your privilege". Perhaps they should just say "What don't you get about this you arrogant asshole?", but that would probably make him go whine on his blog about being picked on.

He is a two-bit phony, a fraud, a little brat who is getting too much attention for too little effort. He thinks that when people point out to him that he has an advantage other people don't, that they are belittling his effort. They aren't. They are trying to get it through his soft-shell head that it's about others, about the fact that there is no way life for them will ever be like his. That the place he lives in is a myth created around him by people with wealth, often taken from the very people whose experience he wants to ignore. It's about "them".

NOTE: This is his BIG mistake. He thinks it is all about him. (you get that it's not, right?).

Then again, we graduate people who can't read, so to have someone like him who can't empathize isn't surprising. (I'm sure there's a word for that - wonder if he will learn it in his excursion through higher learning?).

But I digress. What did you think the good points were?

[Kelvin Mace]

37. He had his say

now other folks have their say.

Where's the problem?

[Scootaloo]

43. The part where other people have their say

The rich white man has spoken; some people clearly believe that should be the final word on the subject.

[Kelvin Mace]

87. Well, they are entitled to believe anything they wish

that doesn't make it so.

[CreekDog]

82. sometimes I wish you were mo moderate

[CreekDog]

93. MO is no Mo

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=310886

[CreekDog]

22. you mean be liberals and Democrats?

and stand up for civil rights?

did you read the Terms of Service or skim it?

[sufrommich]

7. And yet you felt compelled to comment. nt

[Orrex]

11. I remember when this site went crazy after Reagan's "launch the missiles" gaffe

That was a great time to be on DU.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

16. ? ... lol ... !

[cherokeeprogressive]

42. Absolutely. Heady days to be sure... n/t

[Egnever]

61. Hah!

[quinnox]

4. It's not a matter of apologizing, its a matter of being aware of it

I don't and wouldn't apologize for it either, but you would be putting your head in the sand not to be aware of its presence.

[Blue_Tires]

5. How does an 18-year-old with such a laughably narrow world view get on Time.com?

Or is Time just shamelessly whoring for traffic again?

Does Time even have any dignity left after that breastfeeding mom and her way-too-old son squickiness?

[sufrommich]

9. He's probably related to some big shot a Time Warner. nt

[Blue_Tires]

13. Yeah, I wasn't going to 'go there' at first

but I did wonder whose cousin/nephew he is, or which professional networks from his parents or the University he utilized to get published...

His reasoning doesn't even strike me as overly intelligent, and based on his arguments, this piece is barely good enough to run in a college daily paper...

But mission accomplished because he got his name out there, and conservative think tanks will be pounding his door to give him a cushy internship this summer...

The living, breathing example of privilege at work...

[nomorenomore08]

25. I'm wondering the same thing myself. He certainly didn't get *this* gig on his own merits. n/t

[ctaylors6]

34. Time picked up & changed title

Time picked the article up from the Princeton newspaper, and, I believe, changed the article title from "Checking My Privilege: Character as the Basis of Privilege" to the (IMO) more inflammatory one they used.

Here's link to original: http://theprincetontory.com/main/checking-my-privilege-character-as-the-basis-of-privilege/

After reading the entire article a few times, I think he makes a more subtle point (certainly more subtle than's Time article title!) that "check your privilege" is an expression that's becoming more and more common without any regard to a person's specific background or actual actions.

[Blue_Tires]

36. So Time is so bankrupt that they can't afford to

produce full-time content anymore?? Pulling op-eds from college papers? FFS...

They can at least admit the only reason they pulled this was to draw traffic...

He might have a point on the supposedly overused "check your privilege" line, but it's not something I've ever used or heard used, so I'm wondering how much of a cliché it really is...Doesn't excuse him from being monumentally wrong on everything else, though...

[ctaylors6]

44. they definitely were trying to draw traffic

over the weekend, I saw the article referred to on another website with the link directly the princeton paper

[Marr]

40. It seems to be very easy to get the corporate media to discuss your opinions, so long as you have

the "right" opinions... so to speak.

[lunasun]

81. +1 !! exactly

[Enrique]

90. great question

the only explanation is they have some affirmative action policy for idiocy

[Blue_Tires]

91. You might be right

since he's also made the New York Times and BBC(!)....

Who knew such a shitty column could get someone that far? Ironically all of the coverage he's gotten only serves to disprove his point...

[TreasonousBastard]

8. Every so often somebody posts something like this...

and the rightwingers nod their heads in sage agreement while our heads explode.

It's really not that important. Another college kid claims to have worked himself to where he is now. Big Deal. Him, his parents, and most people he knows probably did work pretty hard to get where they are.

The only important thing to note, though, is that they were not stopped in their way the way some people are and that not knowing or caring about discrimination against others is discrimination in its own way.

What happened to his grandparents was far more horrific than anything happening here today, but that does not give him the right to ignore the faults in the present.

[Anansi1171]

14. Well said!

[Blue_Tires]

24. Anytime an 18 year old (much less a privileged one)

starts lecturing me smugly about the way the world and society works while he's still living off mommy and daddy's allowance money, deserves all the venom he's got coming to him...

Yeah, he probably worked hard to get into Princeton, but I bet you dollars to donuts that either his dad/rabbi/academic advisor/etc. called in a favor to get him published by Time...(of course he wouldn't dare recognize that as 'privilege')...And Time only published him because he pitched an against-the-grain opinion piece on a hot-button topic which would guarantee a spike in web traffic...

But as most have noted (including myself upthread), the kid is just trolling for attention, and it turned out to be a great success...

[PADemD]

12. Jezebel is worth reading. n/t

[OKNancy]

48. yes.. it's the best one IMO

the race against a one-legged man was a good zinger

[Iggo]

17. Nobody's asking you to apologize for it, college boy.

[nomorenomore08]

28. +1

[Spider Jerusalem]

18. Jewish? It's not all that long ago he wouldn't have been considered "white".

Wonder if that's ever occurred to him.

[Jamaal510]

26. Even to this day,

I've seen quite a few online in the Alex Jones/Stormfront circles who don't consider Jews to be white.

[markpkessinger]

74. That is exactly one of the poitns I made in a comment to the piece on Time.com

markpkessinger

The cognitive dissonance in this piece is simply amazing. A good portion of this young man's essay focuses on the many advantages his parents and grandparents were able to provide for him, and yet somehow, in his entitled brain, that translates into his being uniquely entitled to those advantages over kids whose parents were not able to so provide (and Mr. Fortgang, there are many whose parents worked just as hard as yours, and got up just as early and sacrificed just as much time with their families as did your parents, but who, for any number of reasons, did not meet with the same financial success). And yet, he doesn't recognize this as privilege.

Being from the New York City area, I'm sure he has spent time in New York. I wonder how many times he has been stopped and frisked merely for going about his day-to-day, perfectly legal business? Actually, I don't have to wonder -- I can guarantee it has neve4r happened to him. Yet he doesn't see this as being privileged.

The young man is apparently Jewish, yet seems to be largely ignorant of American, and Jewish American, history.. He apparently has no awareness or understanding of the fact that in the not so terribly distant past, in many parts of this country (and in some parts even still), being Jewish was reason enough to find oneself excluded from the very privilege young Mr. Fortgang now has the luxury of pretending doesn't exist. What an arrogant little twit!

[Euphoria]

85. If it has/ever occured to him, his response is "I've got mine". Cause that's what this is allllllll

about.

[The Magistrate]

19. Born On Third Base And Thinks He Hit A Triple, Sir

[Donald Ian Rankin]

20. The best response to this is identical resume tests.

While otherwise identical resumes with male and female, or stereotypically white and black, names on them still produce statistically significant different levels of interest from would-be employers, it's hard to argue that the playing field is level with a straight face.

(I think that "non-white disprivilege" is a more accurate discriptor of the racial aspect of that tilt than "white privilege", but either way it's clear that it exists).

[AverageJoe90]

33. "I think that "non-white disprivilege" is a more accurate discriptor of the racial aspect......"

I honestly find this to be one of the most rational & intelligent approaches to the subject. Kudos.

[gollygee]

23. I have to roll my eyes at him.

That’s the problem with calling someone out for the “privilege” which you assume has defined their narrative. You don’t know what their struggles have been, what they may have gone through to be where they are.

He says this after recounting his GRANDPARENT's struggles. He hasn't had struggles or gone through anything horrible.

And then the part about how it was his grandparents' privilege to come to this country . . . Not everyone's ancestors had that privilege. A number were kidnapped and forced to come here under horrible circumstances and conditions. And then were enslaved for generations.

[Starry Messenger]

27. I wonder what his DU screen-name is?

[nomorenomore08]

29. And here I was really, really hoping he was a Republican... n/t

[Starry Messenger]

30. I'm sure he is, since he was published in the Tory.

However, there are many here who claim to be liberals who sound just like him.

[etherealtruth]

38. This is the second time I have seen this response from you!

it has made me laugh out loud each time

[Starry Messenger]

39. It was my first thought when I saw this story a couple of days ago before it was posted here!

Sad, but true!

[etherealtruth]

41. Funny, in the same way the Onion is funny

It may not actually be true, but it certainly is well within the realm of believability.

Again

[Number23]

51. + like, forever

[AverageJoe90]

52. Unrec. Why are you whining about DU?

Seriously, get a clue.

[Starry Messenger]

59. It's not a whine, it's a factual observation.

If you don't like it, too bad. DU doesn't revolve around you.

[AverageJoe90]

62. "DU doesn't revolve around you." Never said or implied such.

However, though, one must wonder if you yourself aren't guilty of the same thing you've accused me of.

[Starry Messenger]

64. I've been here since 2005.

If the owners were unhappy with my output here, I wouldn't still be here. I'll file your comments, now and in the future, where they'll do the most good.

[AverageJoe90]

65. "I'll file your comments, now and in the future, where they'll do the most good." Sure, whatever....

Doesn't bother me.

But it is kind of bewildering as to why some people whine about DU so much. And that's what it came across as. I was just calling it as I saw it.

[Bobbie Jo]

67. Speaking of calling it and seeing it

I have to ask....

I've noticed that you frequently (and flippantly) include the word "privilege," (of the white or male variety) in many of your posts in response to completely unrelated threads/topics.

Now I'm not going to go and dig up a bunch of your posts, it's just that I've wondered why you do it?

Serious question....thanks.

[AverageJoe90]

70. Occasionally, it's just something I mock whenever I see something stupid.

I've seen other DUers(no, don't recall any specific names and wouldn't release any if I did)do similar things, so I assumed it was probably okay, and not against Community Standards. Can't really explain further than that, though, TBH.

(BTW, I don't ever recall mentioning "male privilege", though, TBH. So in that regard, at least, you've probably confused me with someone else).

[Bobbie Jo]

71. Mocking.

I see...

It just doesn't make sense when it's in response to a completely unrelated thread. Seems a little strange, IMO....

Oh well, I've been meaning to ask.

Thanks

[CreekDog]

84. she's not whining about DU, just the handful of DUers

who try to make DU suck.

big difference.

[LeftyMom]

57. His buddies from the Oppressed White Dudes Drum Circle and Fedora Appreciation Society

sure found this thread.

[Starry Messenger]

60. Striking a blow for neckbeards!

How they suffer.

[CreekDog]

83. he has only one?

[AverageJoe90]

31. I'm not going to apologize for my imaginary "privilege", either. But with that said, however........

I have an entirely different set of reasons for doing so, because I actually really think critically about things, unlike Mr. Fortgang.

Perhaps the most important of which is....."privilege" was, and is, nothing but an illusion anyway. A tool to divide & conquer. To make a very long story short & sweet, by convincing the ordinary "white" man, or at least a certain type of "white" fellow, that they were somehow "special" because of their "race", etc., the .1% were able to sway them to their tunes....while also picking their pockets & otherwise fucking them over, at the same time. It's a tactic that's been used since time immemorial.

And then good men like Martin Luther King, Jr. came around. And MLK Jr. was a man who recognized that institutional racism and other evils perpetuated by TPTB, hurt *all* people in some way. To TPTB, MLK was a threat and had to be neutralized. So, too, did Malcolm X become a target after he rejected his own racism, and became a true fighter for equality and justice. They couldn't stop the successes of the Civil Rights movement, however, so they chose to go underground in a way. And with Ron Reagan, they found the perfect useful idiot; his blusters about "state's rights", his deregulation delusions, and his fantasies about what America should be, helped give rise to the new hypocritical "Moral Majority" type conservatism.

I should also, too, mention the fact that CoIntelPro also played a significant role in the creation and rising of some of the nastier black nationalist movements, at right around the same time they were suppressing the legitimate Afro-American empowerment movements(such as the old Black Panthers). Could it be that a similar, if perhaps far more secretive, and/or decentralized, effort may have been started in more recent years to discredit the new Social Justice movement? I find it all too strange that the rise in extremist literal "white privilege" B.S. suddenly started taking off right around the same time the New York General Assembly and other progressive grassroots movements started taking off circa 2011 or so.....

[Maedhros]

32. This pretentious git, and all others who parrot his silly argument, are attacking straw men.

...diminishing everything I have personally accomplished, all the hard work I have done in my life, and for ascribing all the fruit I reap not to the seeds I sow but to some invisible patron saint of white maleness...

Not at all the concept behind "white privilege." Nobody is saying that white males lack any ability or personal accomplishment, and nobody is saying an individual's success is owed only to one's race and gender.

It's that advantages considered "normal" for a white male are simply not available to others.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

46. To be fair, these idiots believe they're up against bomb throwing commies and stoned hippies.

[Maedhros]

47. They're petulant children with an overblown sense of entitlement.

Deep down they realize this, and lash out when confronted with the truth of it.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

49. That's because they know there are smarter people out there than them.

[AverageJoe90]

54. "Nobody is saying....." And most really don't.

Unfortunately, however, it must be admitted that there are those few that DO actually think that; I've actually seen stuff like this written personally(no, not on here, though, as far as I can recall). So it does happen.....that's where the far-right gets a lot of that from, sadly. And we do need to do a better job of combatting that when and where it does show up, not just because it's the right thing to do, but to cover our asses as well.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

45. Nothing like being a kid in a family where the income is equal to ten times the expenses....

Or a hundred,...or a thousand...

[KG]

53. anybody remember when Time was relevant?

[lumberjack_jeff]

56. Why? Because of ad-click revenue! That's why! n/t

[dionysus]

58. his family story is impressive, but he doesn't realize that for swaths of other ppl, the deck is

stacked against them from birth.

[GeorgeGist]

63. At the very least, Tal might apologize to his father ...

"... sacrificing precious time he wanted to spend with those he valued most—his wife and kids".

[MrScorpio]

69. No one is asking for an apology from this clueless fuck

Clearly, he's too brain dead to understand the problem.

[ismnotwasm]

72. I thought you had to have critical thinking skills to get into Princeton

Or a rich white Alumni Dad or something

[alp227]

73. LOL. George W. Bush is a Harvard & Yale graduate.

And among famous Princeton alumni is the cranky-ass, creationist, founder of Conservapedia, Andrew Schlafly. His website will promote basically every discredited conspiracy theory about Barack Obama being a Kenyan-born undercover Muslim agent among everything that can accuse the real world of being too liberal for the editors' senses.

[ismnotwasm]

80. Ah yes Dubya

This essay would be too perfect if he had gone to Princeton. I would have laughed for days.

[Jenoch]

75. I have not read the the link to this thread.

But on the surface, I agree with it,

"Why I’ll Never Apologize for My White Male Privilege".

Therw is no reason to apologize. What is done with that privilege is another matter.

[alp227]

76. uhh, whuh? nt

[Jenoch]

77. I do not believe anyone should be condemned for who they are

or from whom they were born, only be become who they are.

[alp227]

78. OK, but didn't you walk straight in Fortgang's strawman trap?

His essay was based off one hell of a strawman, basically whining that people are hating him for being white.

[Skittles]

79. put down the pipe and get some sleep

yes INDEED

[Euphoria]

86. Here's a link to an appropriate, nuanced response to Tal's (college) essay

[link:https://medium.com/p/12a3018d5abc|

[AverageJoe90]

89. This was honestly a well-thought out response to this.....

Thanks for posting this, Euphoria.

[Blue_Tires]

92. Yeah, if I was going to write a rebuttal it would read something like that

But privileged 18-year-olds who have never had to survive on their own and think they know how the world works always get a "rebuttal" from real life sooner or later...