The lack of context of this article has been bugging me all night.

It's not hard to dig into the empirical grab bag of facts and figures related to race in order to come up with countless concrete examples as to how and why white men have it easier than everyone else. I've done it countless times. These conversations are usually not about "privilege" per se, they're about equality and justice and they usually devolve when "what can be done about it" comes up. A semi-reasonable person can look at the socioeconomic status of minorities vs. the socioeconomic status of us evil white oppressors at the top and acknowledge that we've got a leg up.

But "white privilege" rarely comes up in those discussions until someone uses it to nullify the arguments of someone else. "You lack the moral authority to have an opinion" because white privilege. "I don't have to listen to your facts" because white privilege. "Your argument is invalid" because white privilege. "White privilege" is a shorthand for dismissing another person based on their gender and skin color. Once you use the phrase, you're no longer debating the facts, you're debating the moral authority of the combatants and an argument of logic should be immune to its participants.

I first encountered the phrase "white privilege" in '98. I was putting my girlfriend at the time through grad school to be a social worker. Her instructor was decrying the persecution he faced because of his religion and the tribulations his guru, Osho, experienced at the hands of the patriarchy. He began to describe the stunted life of a poor immigrant, forced to wander the seas after his philosophy of love and universal understanding was disregarded in Oregon and he was persecuted in the courts...

My girlfriend raised her hand and said "You mean Rajneesh? That guy who collected Rolls Royces and poisoned a salad bar to swing an election so they could take over a town?"

The teacher immediately decried her position as one of "white privilege" because obviously someone with such lily-white skin couldn't understand the tribulations of minorities in the United States. My hair is a bird. Your argument is invalid.

That was going on 20 years and I have yet to see a discussion of "white privilege" not used as some form of "I don't have to listen to what you're saying, you're white." Which, let's be honest, changes nothing. I'm never going to stop being white. I'm never going to stop having white privilege. But every time someone decides that not only are my thoughts and opinions irrelevant because of it but that I somehow haven't been responsible for the things that are right in my life, I care a little less about people without white privilege.

I still believe everything I wrote here. I'm all up in the concept of white privilege and why it should be reduced. Unfortunately everyone I've ever discussed "white privilege" with wants to use it as a rhetorical wild card for "STFU." And that's never going to change anything.