::slow clap:: I’m not a writer, but I applaud this blog, you, and everything you have written.

I was told last week that I am not “allowed to have any opinions on any sort of political discussion whatsoever” because I am LDS and therefore cannot contribute to a reasonable adult conversation. I thought that was terribly insightful for that person to let me, a 45 year old college graduate who has raised three children to maturity successfully and have a strong 22 year marriage, know that I am completely incapable of contributing to society based on my religious beliefs.

I have wondered many times over the past few months of reading your blog (which I LOVE, btw) why you want to subject yourself to these types of comments. You must have thicker skin than I do to be sure. I would be bawling like a baby if I read that stuff being directed so personally towards me. Bless you young man.

Like always, you took the words right out of my mouth. And you probably said them more eloquently than I would have. I am a female and I have yet to be offended by your comments.

Matt, if you’ll remember there was a somewhat popular song back in 1998 by a group called Everlast called “What’s It Like” that included these thoughtful lyrics:

“Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom who said he was in love
He said, “Don’t worry about a thing, baby doll, I’m the man you’ve been dreamin’ of.”
But three months later he said he won’t date her or return her call
And she sweared, “God damn if I find that man I’m cuttin’ off his [edited by commenter].”
And then she heads for the clinic and she gets some static walkin’ through the door.
They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner, and they call her a whore

God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes
‘Cause then you really might know what it’s like to have to choose
Then you really might know what it’s like”

I still hear it on the radio from time to time, with some of the words bleeped out. I’ll let you guess which. Anyway, it was an earlier, and overly catchy, expression of more than a few nasty stereotypes and what you’ve blogged about here. I’ve been more than half-tempted to blog about this particular song on my own, but I’d be willing to bet that they did not catch flak for Opining While Male. And I’d be more than willing to bet that it muddled the issue for quite a few youth that grew up in the late 90′s and early 2000s.

I agree with the three ladies’ comments above and I thank you for speaking up for the “privileged” among us. I have a very large family, (shame on me) we homeschool, (our poor kids-they will be socially inept) and we are Catholic, (horrible!) so I know some of what today’s white male feels like. Keep up the good work!

I applaud your position on this issue. While I don’t always agree with your positions on some topics, you have every right — if not responsibility — to express your opinion and to fight for what you believe to be correct.

The very same argument could have been used on many Abolitionists pre-Civil War. Harriet Beacher Stowe and Abraham Lincoln were priveleged white northerners, neither black nor slave-holders. They knew nothing of what life was like in the South, and were completely distanced from what they were fighting against. If the “you aren’t X so you can’t use Y” argument were valid, then they would not have been able to do what they did to fight that terrible situation, nor would many others.

And if experience is required in order to speak on such things, then why, pray tell, are the many voices of women who have gone through abortions and believe them to be wrong now (such as Norma McCorvey aka Jane Roe)? Ultimately, the argument narrows down to the belief that the only people who are permitted to speak on a topic, and whose opinions are accepted as “true,” are those who believe what the listener believes. And that’s pretty much a way to silence any and all debate on pretty much any topic.

I’m glad you are standing strong. After working in a African American business with African American customers, the strain of being singled out as white, having the race topic was constantly brought up for conversation and debate by customers, and having to laugh off painful comments by calling myself cracker, honky, bleach, etc. (these were the names they called me when they didn’t think I could hear them anyway) to maintain a pleasant atmosphere, sent me into early labor… That was thankfully delayed… But, forced me into bed rest for nearly 4 months and cost me my employment.

And now, years later, I’m sharing this with you… So obviously, I’m still struggling to let it go.

I had been raised to treat people equally, and I had ample opportunities to mingle and be apart of the lives of many races, so it never occurred to me that I would be singled out specifically. I believed that if you treated people with honor, they would respond in kind. Now, I have a unique perspective, which allows me to understand racism from a very personal point of view… And I will never willingly put myself in that situation ever again. And I can’t imagine the pain that people who have been subjected to lifelong racism experience, but I have an idea that it is debilitating.

Undeniably fabulous – said a white woman : )

Heard these kinds of things when I was young, middle aged, and old. Heard them when I was Mormon, and now that I am Catholic. Heard them from people who did not know much if anything about me. Didn’t know that I lived in a broken down bus, in a 2 bedroom mobile home with 6 other people, on couches of friends, etc. Because I am a white woman married to a white man does not make it ok to say I have no right to think, or say things. I hate prejudice from white people, and every other color people. It is the same wording, and it is sick.

It is truly sad to see the level of hatred that people display, especially when they can do so behind the anonymity of a computer or smart-phone, and don’t have to say such words to someone and look them in the eye while doing so. I dare say some of them may curtail what they say if they had to do so face-to-face with another human being.

Sadly, we have lost the ability to dialogue, to discuss, to debate and to (agree to) disagree, and all that we are left with now is vitriol, insults and hatred shouted by people. There was a time when people discussed and debated, and new ideas might, and often did, spring up from this sort of discourse. Alas, it is no more. And the world is a worse place for it.

I’d love to read the rest of the article but I’m on my iPad and can’t get past the crazy ad pop up…..

Thank you for refuting this today. I always look forward to reading your insightful blog.

Matt, I completely agree with everything you say here and with most of your blogs. I think that you are the voice for those men that are afraid to speak the truth and I think all of your viewpoints on feminism, abortion, and affirmative action are valid, logical, and true. Thank you for doing what you do, and this is coming from a 28 yr old hispanic female. So i guess i have all the right to have an opinion on all these issues :-), and i agree with you on all of it jaja. No but seriously I admire your courage and your faith and I pray thst God will keep blessing you and your family.

I’m LDS as well, and while the church itself is politically neutral, we should be free to form our own opinions of culture, politics and social issues. In fact, growing up LDS in east Texas myself, surrounded primarily by southern Baptists, I know a thing or two about the types of persecution he’s referring to. Sure, no mob has ever torched my home and belongings, but high school kids were cruel and often mocked my religion to my face. I think a lot of members understand that feeling.

As an LDS missionary for two years I often faced persecution and insults on a regular basis. Someone even once hurled an unopened can of soda at my head from a moving car as I rode past on my bike. It missed, thank God, or I might not be writing this right now. But I chose to see those persecutions as a sign that I was doing my job, and that I was on the right track. Keep up the excellent work Matt.

Also, let us not forget that abortion, feminism, and racial issues have an impact on everyone in society, including us white men.

Why are there no hater comments here yet? So far this is still a boring article… (not at all, really, but it’s always more interesting to see how the haters respond.)

What makes your point even more interesting is that Everlast is a white-as-white-can-be Irish dude.

For once I agree with you. I could probably find some nits to pick here. However, there are plenty of other targets for snark on the innertubes.
I find the authority angle to be interesting. People don’t seem to be confident of themselves, and so need to cite an authority. The authority argument is up there with hypocrisy™ when it comes to cheap shot tactics.
Has anyone commented on your new format? It has a lot more ads than before. There is also a connection to something called the Liberty Alliance. Have you sold out?

“No doctor, I don’t think you’re qualified to treat my cancer. You’ve never had it.”

Such a flawed argument…

My father suffered because of affirmative action. He came from a very poor family, and he was the first in his family to go to college. He couldn’t get the readily available scholarships because he is white, so he needed the endorsement of a teacher to qualify for one of the more exclusive ones. The teacher’s response, “No, poor people have no business pursuing higher education.”

And when he does business in England, he has to be careful with his last name, you see, we’re of Irish descent, and that doesn’t always go over well on the opposite side of the pond.

My white father-in-law was abandoned by his wife to raise their three children on his own. He had no family to help him. He was blue collar. He didn’t even have money for electricity. He applied for welfare. When he went to receive the food stamps for which he had been approved, the woman behind the counter refused to give them to him and closed the window on his face. Why? “Your white. Go get a job.”

My white husband and I were newlyweds. We were college students. My husband was looking for scholarships and grants to help him through school, since he had just lost his job. There were none for white males.

My husband got a job in the oil industry as a dispatcher. When he explained that he’s Jewish, and so can’t work on Saturdays, he was told that’s why Jews shouldn’t work oil jobs. Before that, he had been written up for asking his coworkers to stop talking loudly about their sex lives at work. Why? His being Jewish made them uncomfortable.

My husband had a job once working with children with autism. We lost friends. Why? The only men who want to be around children are pedophiles.

I’m a white woman. I lost friends and was disowned by some family members when I married? I married a white man (how racist of me!). I’m not lesbian (it’s not like I made any pretense otherwise!). I married a Jew (they’re just a bunch of bigots). I participated in a marriage (those were just invented to keep women down!).

Bigotry is alive and well. And it has nothing to do with the person on the receiving end of it. Or the color of the bigot’s skin. Bigotry is about the content of the bigot’s character.

Matt, I really wish you’d stop generalizing about college campuses. I’m a college student who uses logic in just about every case (incredible, I know), and I’ve come to many of the same conclusions as you. Generalizing that college students are stupid, emotional brats is as bad as those people generalizing about us white Christian males being too”privileged” to comment on racism or abortion.