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UofT Student Union President: heterosexual white males don't need representation. They had it: it was called the KKK. (twitter.com)

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[–]withstain 180 ポイント181 ポイント

I feel like this is a growing problem in academia. While the majority of 20 something heterosexual white men are no longer racist, homophobic, hate filled shitheads, we still have to live with this bullshit legacy. I get that we have privilege that comes with being white male heterosexuals. Shit, it's probably the most privileged demographic in the world. This doesn't mean that our opinions are worthless because we have privilege, or that we aren't equal to formerly oppressed people. I also find it troubling that academics who fancy themselves as forward thinking, introspective and generally supremely intelligent can't see how fucked it is to champion equality for all, meanwhile saying fuck straight white guys. I'm sorry my great great grandfather was an asshole to black people, but I don't think that should affect the way I'm perceived or understood, cause I never did any of that shit.

[–]ScrimpsCanada 133 ポイント134 ポイント

A legacy many white men and their families had no part in. The Irish were slaves for hundreds, upon hundreds of years. Sold for less than Black Slaves, their women raped, towns pillaged, starved into genocide so on and so forth.

It doesn't matter though, their skin color is white, so they must be slave owners.

[–]KenadianCSJOntario 44 ポイント45 ポイント

Hell, my family has only been in Canada since the 60s really. Before then they were half-literate peasants in a mountainous region in Italy.

Edit for grammar fail

[–]nottodayfolks 3 ポイント4 ポイント

Check your privilege. LOL naaa just kidding. Enjoy your life and ignore those idiots.

[–]AghaChrisCanada 128 ポイント129 ポイント

In Eastern Europe around the 18th century, the Crimean Tartars traded Ukrainian and Russian slaves for decades with the Ottoman empire and middle east. It's estimated that more than 2 million Ukranians, Russians, Belarusians, and Poles were captured, traded, and enslaved by them. Source. But nope, apparently this doesn't count, white ppl were never slaves.

edit wth ppl downvote this?

[–]notreddingit 18 ポイント19 ポイント

Reddit automatically adds some downvotes fyi.

[–]ehManiacalBritish Columbia [score hidden]

I think the effect is less pronounced on comments though, but yes.

[–]rgq 1 ポイント2 ポイント

Yeah it's vote fuzzing to help stop vote bots.

[–]nutbuckersBritish Columbia 7 ポイント8 ポイント

What did you expect? The hive mind thinks categorically, so currently "Crimean Tatars = good, Russians = bad, Ukraine needs more freedom".

[–]monkeyscannotbiteme [score hidden]

This. I'm Ukrainian and am so offended when I'm basically grouped with American slave owners from the 1800s. My people (for lack of a better term) have had their own problems for the past, you know, 1000 years. Learn your history before you incorrectly use the term 'white' to cast a gigantic net.

[–]grimwaldOntario 7 ポイント8 ポイント

Actually an interesting bit of history: In the States during the first wave of Famine immigrants there were political cartoons in most newspapers pushing that Black-Americans and Irish were actually genetically related and equally as horrible.

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/tanehisicoates/Scientific_racism_irish.jpg

This wasn't the exact image I saw but it gets the point across. Everyone has been oppressed at some point in history.

[–]MulderScullyFBI 13 ポイント14 ポイント

This is me. One half of my ancestry is Irish, and like you said lots of turmoil faced throughout history. The other half is Georgian Doukhobor, and one quick read up their history and you'll get upset. Their children were taken from them and put in residential schools for fuck sakes.

Even if you are a direct descendent of Chris Columbus or James Cook, you still have worth and an opinion.

[–]Bender248Québec 5 ポイント6 ポイント

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

[–]nottodayfolks 2 ポイント3 ポイント

Hail Crom.

[–]GroceryBagHead 2 ポイント3 ポイント

https://www.google.ca/search?q=etymology+slave

Slavic people, not African people.

[–]WyWyZe [score hidden]

A legacy many white men and their families had no part in. The Irish were slaves for hundreds, upon hundreds of years. Sold for less than Black Slaves, their women raped, towns pillaged, starved into genocide so on and so forth.

The Irish were horribly treated, but it's inaccurate and misleading to suggest that they were ever "slaves" in the same way that Africans were. /r/askhistorians and /r/badhistory have damn-near weekly posts debunking that shit....

[–]totes_meta_bot 0 ポイント1 ポイント

This thread has been linked to from elsewhere on reddit.

Respect the rules of reddit: don't vote or comment on linked threads. Questions? Message me here.

[–]Amir616Canada [score hidden]

While I agree with your point overall, it's not only about slavery/oppression. My family is Jewish, my grandfather came to Canada after surviving the Holocaust. Despite that, I still live a highly privileged life due to the colour of my skin and my gender. People make better assumptions about me and the system is built for me to succeed. Things like affirmative action aren't done out of guilt, but to fix a broken system of structural violence against minorities. We need to overcorrect the underrepresentation of minorities in the higher echelons of society so that it may become balanced in the future.

That being said, I still deserve fair representation on my student union.

[–]beanbrownie -1 ポイント0 ポイント

Hey, the only thing hetero white males love to do more than oppress others is doing it to fellow hetero white males. Its like getting gold in the Olympics of racism.

[–]ScrimpsCanada 23 ポイント24 ポイント

Whites have been slaves all over the planet, the Irish for example were not just sold as slaves by the English, Vikings and so forth, but by Arabs and all over the Middle East as well.

The Irish church for example has been opposed to slavery for over 700 years.

[–]Thucydides1987Outside Canada 6 ポイント7 ポイント

And the Romans probably enslaved more gauls and Germans than they did other peoples in Africa or the middle east.

[–]bort_sampson [score hidden]

And I'm still teased for being "ginger".

GUYS I HAVE A SOUL AND IT HURTS WHEN YOU SAY THINGS!

[–]Iburinoc 40 ポイント41 ポイント

Why am I oddly reminded of a certain speech? "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

[–]Dear_OccupantOutside Canada [score hidden]

I think this guy must have gotten it mixed up, he seems to want us to judge him by the color of his words and not by the character of their content.

[–]Thucydides1987Outside Canada 5 ポイント6 ポイント

Not only that. Many white people's ancestors never even took part in colonialism. Not all white people are from the former European colonial powers. Even if they were, many of their ancestors were peasants who were probability living in conditions as bad as African American slaves, in some shithole part of a European town or city.

[–]revolting_blobOntario 11 ポイント12 ポイント

I was fucking poor. Dirt poor by Canadian standards. I had no help from anyone. I had to work really goddamned hard to get out of the poverty. I am very offended when people say i am only successful because I am a white male. As if my decade of severe poverty isn't enough for them. Well fuck them. And fuck the university of Toronto, too. Fucking bigots.

[–]loltbBritish Columbia 6 ポイント7 ポイント

Well they're right; being white and male entitles you to the most race and gender specific scholarships and bursaries of any demographic. Oh wait...

[–]Sasin607 [score hidden]

Affirmative action also benefits the majority group. /s

[–]codydoddOutside Canada [score hidden]

When I tell my friends from abroad (say chinese or indian friends) about my mother's upbringing, they are often surprised how similar it was to their grandparents, or worse it was from their own parents. She grew up in a rented farm in the outskirts of Calgary with 11 brothers and sisters, with no floor in their house (it had dirt), she slept in the rafters, the kitchen had a swinging door which led immediately to the cows, her breakfast cereal (if she was lucky enough to have some) was eaten with milk that came immediately from the cow's teet, and she never knew what 'new clothes' looked like. Her pa' showered once a year (on his birthday), and everyone was skin and bones, and she had 3 brothers/sisters that didn't survive past the age of 3.

It was only a short while ago that people out west stopped living in sod houses even.

Then there is the 'redneck' communities on the sides of the highway. (I can call them that, because I was one). We all know the communities I am talking about. Canada's ignored shanty-towns.

[–]h76CH36Outside Canada 9 ポイント10 ポイント

I get that we have privilege that comes with being white male heterosexuals.

Forget the idea of privilege, it's horribly flawed. It reduces humans to a few poorly chosen descriptors for the purpose of comparing who should feel most oppressed.

1) Race is a scientifically bankrupt and indefensible idea. Humans exist on a very messy spectrum and there are no lines where one 'race' begins and another ends.

2) Sexuality also exists on a spectrum and (as politically unpopular as the idea is) can change throughout life.

3) Humans are incredibly complex animals who cannot be reduced to a few descriptors and any attempt to do so is a dehumanizing exercise in stereotpying.

4) 'Privilege', even as described by inter-sectional feminists, is situationally contextual. There are many instances in which being a type of minority is hugely advantageous. Depends on what you want and your immediate environment, really.

5) Most people who blather about privilege tend to ignore the privilege of BY FAR the greatest importance, which is class. Consider the relative privilege enjoyed by Oprah versus a white, heterosexual, homeless man.

[–]onelovelegend [score hidden]

Agreed. I essentially can't help but to cringe every time 'privilege' comes up in these discussions.

It's like a fix-all for craptacular arguments about social justice.

[–]DeckerR 11 ポイント12 ポイント

Because let's blame all the negative things in history on straight white men, right?

Pretty sure the 'legacy' you talk about is in your head.

[–]ZippityD 0 ポイント1 ポイント

Most of the problems of massive death and destruction seem to be about concentration of power in the hands of the few. The most dramatic examples have been white men who elevate those like them, but the problem is not inherently race.

[–]ben1105 9 ポイント10 ポイント

Most of the problems of massive death and destruction

The most dramatic examples have been white men who elevate those like them

European and North American legacies have nothing on the dictatorships of Asia throughout the centuries.

[–]ZippityD -2 ポイント-1 ポイント

Good call, and further illustrates the point I think. The modern problem had been mostly white men at the top, but the history of violence everywhere is pretty discouraging all around. And yeah, even modern issues like Cambodian genocide... Not looking like we handle power very well as a species.

[–]don_pace [score hidden]

If your opinion is that atrocities are generally only perpetrated by powerful white men then you very seriously need to go read a few history books. In this regard, almost every cultural group or demographic has some pretty damn horrible things on their track record as far back as the record books will even go.

"The most dramatic examples have been white men..."

That is cherry picking if I ever saw it.

[–]DeckerR [score hidden]

White men like Genghis Khan, Pol Pot, and Mao?

K.

[–]AghaChrisCanada 26 ポイント27 ポイント

probably the most privileged demographic in the world

Let's see, when I went to university what tuition benefits/grants did I receive for being part of a minority/status race? None. I was the first in my family to attend university and yet I had to pay for it completely by working part time and studying part time. I actually at one point worked all night at a loading dock, unloading trucks, then studied/went to school during the day, then back to work again at night. This lasted for a semester before burning out and finding another job. Sure didn't feel privileged. In fact, I felt like shit while most other students had mommy/daddy pay for everything. But guess what, I worked my ass off and graduated with cum laude. While it is not the highest distinction, I sure as hell worked hard for it.

[–]thencaapawardgoesto 9 ポイント10 ポイント

I was the first in my family to attend university and yet I had to pay for it completely by working part time and studying part time.

Really? There are actually a number of actually pretty substantial scholarships. Admittedly a lot of them are typically institutional - like Western's or a number of entrance scholarships at Queen's requiring you be the first in your family to attend post-secondary. But that's just true of most non-corporate scholarships in Canada it seems.

It seems like either you weren't made aware of them or they didn't exist when you first went to college. Either way that's a huge pity - it sounds like they could have helped you out. You'd have been kind of an ideal candidate!

[–]GuyOnToilet 3 ポイント4 ポイント

Hey man, there are a TON of scholarships that you could have applied for and gotten. I had my entire tuition covered and I know many more people who did, and not one was a race based scholarship. No offense, but if you couldn't find any, you weren't looking hard enough, and in all honesty I don't see how you could've have found race based scholarships but not regular ones, as they are way easier to find.

[–]withstain 0 ポイント1 ポイント

I'm saying more so in the sense that white dudes can walk down the street without worrying about getting arbitrarily bothered by cops, getting unwanted sexual attention, being the victims of racism or hate crimes, etc. I also went to university and had to pay for it all, but white privilege is a thing. I think Louis CK puts it pretty well. something to the tune of "I'm not saying white people are better than other people, but BEING white is CLEARLY better. If you're white and won't admit it's awesome, you're an asshole." Now to be clear, i'm broke as fuck and being white isn't getting me rich and having a sweet life, but when i say we are a privileged demographic, i'm talking about the issue in macro terms. Obviously not every white guy has a great time, just like not every black guy gets to be president. I think we are on the same side here, which is fuck the jerkoff at UofT who said that we had the kkk so fuck us, right?

[–]andForMe 12 ポイント13 ポイント

I mostly agree with you, but just for the sake of friendly discussion:

white dudes can walk down the street without worrying about getting arbitrarily bothered by cops, getting unwanted sexual attention, being the victims of racism or hate crimes, etc.

Except all these things do happen to white guys, it just never gets acknowledged. My male roommate gets catcalled more frequently than any woman I've ever met, and just last week I had some dude in a bar tell me (a white guy) about all the things he "was going to do to me if he got me home" without even introducing himself. Additionally, that tweet about the KKK is pretty racist, and I get put down frequently by my "socially aware" friends because of my race and apparent privilege. And finally, there are a number of neighborhoods in every city I absolutely shouldn't walk around in even during the day because I'm white and that would be asking for trouble (that last would be victim blaming if I weren't a privileged white male, by the way).

Now, that's not to say that we white folks have it tough by any means, but I think that the idea that being white is "amazing" and makes your life so much easier is really quite a reach. I honestly think the concept of privilege is an entirely overblown idea that is largely used today to allow some white people to put down other white people for being "unenlightened", and to give social justice types an easy avenue to put white guys down if they ever try to argue.

[–]kinetik138 2 ポイント3 ポイント

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

[–]andForMe 1 ポイント2 ポイント

Well, you know how it goes, you never like absolutely everything about your friends. I like my social justice friends for lots of reasons, but I do try to avoid certain topics with them.

[–]BabalonRising 32 ポイント33 ポイント

I'm saying more so in the sense that white dudes can walk down the street without worrying about getting arbitrarily bothered by cops, getting unwanted sexual attention, being the victims of racism or hate crimes, etc.

"White privilege" becomes a really empty concept when it is aimed at the vast majority of 'white' males, who are regularly (and more to the point, systematically) fucked over for a whole host of other identifiable factors - like being working class, poor, too young, too old, gay, etc.

It's to the point that I think campus social-justice 'warriors' just need to shut the fuck up about "white privilege" at this point in time. Talking about people who are often as beaten up as everyone else like they're a mass of hereditary country-club members is not only idiotic, it betrays actual "social justice."

[–]AutisticGoyim 31 ポイント32 ポイント

talk to me about a white dude walking in north Montreal or Winnipeg after 11 not getting mugged.

[–]WhyAmISuchAJerk 3 ポイント4 ポイント

I frequently get sexually harassed by post-menopausal women who fixate on my hair. I've been sexually harassed by men at public events. I've been outright sexually assaulted more than once in my life.

I was stopped by police arbitrarily twice in April. This is unusual for me but I always get a lot of long stares.

But I guess we're talking about generalities. Still, I suspect white men deal with more of this stuff than other people expect.

[–]sun_tzu_vs_srs[S] 7 ポイント8 ポイント

I frequently get sexually harassed by post-menopausal women who fixate on my hair.

Feel free to elaborate on this one...

[–]WhyAmISuchAJerk 1 ポイント2 ポイント

They ask if it's natural, they try to touch it, tell me how much they wish they had curly hair, how it's such a shame for a man to have hair like that when they don't, etc. I don't like talking to people unexpectedly like that, I hate having to try to be polite and disengage without a scene, and it's super creepy when they're trying to touch me or staring at me like I'm a fucking lit up Christmas tree.

[–]ben1105 0 ポイント1 ポイント

That's... not sexual harassment.

Just because you aren't comfortable in a social situation doesn't make that situation harassment.

[–]WhyAmISuchAJerk 3 ポイント4 ポイント

Not every action I mention is sexual harassment. Unwanted touching and sexualized attention is sexual harassment. You don't touch strangers! I have had my butt grabbed more times than I can recall. Every time I go to a bar women think it's cool to touch me and it's not. The thing with the older women is more annoying because it can happen anywhere I go, not just bars, and these older ladies seem to have less of a sense of personal space and propriety somehow, they can get really vulgar.

[–]ben1105 -3 ポイント-2 ポイント

Unwanted touching and sexualized attention is sexual harassment.

You're stretching the definition of harassment to absurdities. A touch that YOU are uncomfortable with isn't the same as a touch that would be reasonably and universally understood as sexually inappropriate.

A butt grab (generally) crosses the line. Touching someones hair, on the other hand, is not overtly sexual. It's impolite, but not it's not harassment unless it persists after you've made your wishes clear.

EDIT: You've edited your post since I last replied, so I'm going to clarify since you're still very incorrect.

You don't touch strangers!

That's not the law of the land in Canada or anywhere else that I know of for that matter. Nor are most people so unnerved by touch that they would consider any physical contact from a stranger to be harassment. You don't need to acquire prior verbal consent for all physical contact, but you are required to respect someones wishes when they make themselves clear.

[–]WhyAmISuchAJerk 0 ポイント1 ポイント

Look, I understand that having strangers touch your hair doesn't sound like a big deal. Especially if for you sex is pure awesome, just titties and bums and gumdrops and love. A lot of people don't feel that way about sex. Sex is a fucked up thing for many people. I'm not trying to compare my experiences to anyone else's. What I'd like to say is that the sensitivities you would extend to someone you know has been abused should be extended to everyone because you simply can't tell what is going on inside another person. All big strong men were little children once.

[–]ben1105 -2 ポイント-1 ポイント

Look, I understand that having strangers touch your hair doesn't sound like a big deal.

I never said it's not a big deal. I said it's not, in and of itself, harassment.

What I'd like to say is that the sensitivities you would extend to someone you know has been abused should be extended to everyone because you simply can't tell what is going on inside another person.

I agree with you to an extent. I don't agree with you to the point of absurdity. I'm not unsympathetic to your inner demons, but they are your own, and it's your job to adapt yourself to reasonable social situations; barring that, it's your job to make your wishes abundantly clear to those around you so they can accomodate you.

[–]shibbidybibbidy 8 ポイント9 ポイント

not being arbitrarily bothered by cops

Yup, that happens to white people

getting unwanted sexual attention

Yup, that too

being the victims of racism or hate crimes

That happens too.

What else you got? Anything that actually sticks?

[–]withstain -3 ポイント-2 ポイント

I don't think you get what I was trying to say. Obviously those things happen to white people, I wasn't trying to allege that white people are free of bad things happening to them. I'm just saying that being a white male rules compared to being of a different group that might take more bullshit than we do. This has gone all off course though, the point I was trying to make was that academics have gone way overboard about this white privilege nonsense. I agree that it exists to some extent, but frankly in this part of the world I'm not sure if it's much of an issue at all.

[–]Manwich3000 15 ポイント16 ポイント

White privilege really isn't a thing anymore. If getting attention from the police is the only thing that gives white people "privilege" that's total bs, I've been stopped by the police out at night multiple times. There are so many black police officers now too. And white people can also be victims of racism and hate crimes. Stop this false belief that we can't.

[–]AghaChrisCanada 4 ポイント5 ポイント

Oh yea for sure I agree with you completely, I just meant to explain life can be difficult for all of us. Def. other struggling minorities that face significant struggles.

I like what Edward James Olsmos said after he did Battlestar Galactica, there's no race but the human race. We're all similar so the whole distinction between skin colour is kind of silly. It's a shame we're not all colour blind yet.

[–]reddelicious77 1 ポイント2 ポイント

can walk down the street without worrying about getting arbitrarily bothered by cops

yeah, don't go to the US. While minorities are hassled by cops, there's definitely no shortage of whites being hassled, as well.

I mean, when you're in a country where you're 8 times more likely to be killed by a cop than a terrorist, it really doesn't matter what race you are...

[–]WhyAmISuchAJerk -1 ポイント0 ポイント

How much more likely are you to be killed by a cop than by a tiger? It's a meaningless stat.

[–]flupo42 0 ポイント1 ポイント

"priviledged white male here

Full time job 8:30 to 5. Drive to school, do some homework Evening school classes 6 to 9. After class, course work 9 to 12-3 AM. Get up at 6 AM, repeat.

6 courses/semester - 1 class every weeknight, 1 class on Saturday. All weekend spent on class work. For 3 years, in a class with about 25ish mostly other "privileged" white guys - all doing the same thing.

[–]jsickSaskatchewan [score hidden]

White privilege does not mean white people do not work hard. Two men apply for a job, both with the exact same education and work experience - one white, one a visible minority. Statistically, the white guy has an inherent advantage of being chosen in our culture. That is white privilege.

As a fellow whitey who worked ~30 hours a week while I went to university, we don't really have it bad. Yes, visible minorities are afforded certain luxuries to help balance the social issues they face, but at the end of the day, it seems dishonest to complain about the societal ills that white males face...

[–]nottodayfolks -1 ポイント0 ポイント

And people in the business world know you worked harder for your degree than those that received help and you will be rewarded for it as you should be.

[–]Manwich3000 14 ポイント15 ポイント

As a white male, I'm still trying to figure out wtf this "Privilege" is that I have.. Seriously no idea. :s maybe white privilege was a thing in the 60's but I was born in the 90's and that shit hasn't happened to me at all in my life.

[–]nottodayfolks 5 ポイント6 ポイント

Is there a way for my privilege to pay off some of my debt? Can I cash it in or something?

[–]thencaapawardgoesto 9 ポイント10 ポイント

I think there are definitely subtle ways in which whiteness gets certain privileges over otherness even now in the 90s. It's not like the "whites only" laundromats of the 1960s but I think there are surely some ways in which I benefit from being white.

As a white person who speaks decent english with no accent nobody ever asks me where I'm "really" from yet that happens all the time. I've seen it - particularly to asian-canadians. It's often followed by a response like "Vancouver" and then the persistent "but, no, really. Where are you actually from?"

And certainly nobody ever tells me "Oh, you speak such good English".

It seems like a little thing but people assuming you don't really belong here or that you're somehow not really as Canadian because you're not white can be kind of shitty.

I'd rather have this a hundred times over than Jim Crowe laws of the past but I think saying white privilege doesn't exist is perhaps overly optimistic.

[–]chanhyuk 29 ポイント30 ポイント

This gets asked everywhere and to everybody because Canada is a multicultural country and it is normal for people to be curious of where your heritage is from. I ask this question to whites, Asians, Latinos, the racially ambiguous, etc and they ask me.

My race is hard to pin down and my last name is odd looking so this question gets asked a lot around me. To get annoyed over something so stupid and commonly asked makes me only see you as insecure. Everybody and their dog seems to have parents who came off some kind of boat. To me there is no "true Canadian" but the aboriginals. Everybody else came from somewhere else and it's natural to be curious as to where that is. This question will get asked even to whites. Have a Slavic sounding last name? Prepare to get asked about where you are from (or more correctly, your heritage).

Is there such a thing as "white privilege"? Probably, but to call the example you gave to be "white privilege" is rather pathetic. This "privilege" is over something trivial which is not an issue to the vast majority of people (white or non-white).

It seems like a little thing but people assuming you don't really belong here or that you're somehow not really as Canadian because you're not white can be kind of shitty.

You are from god damn Vancouver. Everybody here is from somewhere else. Even the white people! All my white friends have immigrant parents from Italy, South Africa or Eastern Europe.

Sorry if this post seems like I'm angry. It's just my 2 cents.

[–]freshskidmarkSaskatchewan 1 ポイント2 ポイント

Natives came from somewhere else as well. I usually don't ask where someone is from unless they have a definite accent. If I'm not sure I usually just ask if they're originally from the town that I'm living in.

[–]Sasin607 [score hidden]

I ask asians all the time where they're from. I work with about 95% 1st generation southeastern asians, and I love learning about they're culture and also getting better at telling where other asians are from. Before this job I would see asian people everywhere, now I see Chinese, vietnamese, laos, cambodian, filipino, japanese, korean.

[–]monkeyscannotbiteme [score hidden]

Natives came to North and South America thousands of years ago. That's different than someone's family immigrating to Canada 50 years ago.

[–]freshskidmarkSaskatchewan [score hidden]

What about 100 years ago? 400?

There isn't a difference. I'm a 6th generation Canadian and I feel that if you're born in Canada, you have as much a right to call yourself a Canadian as anyone else who was born here, regardless of how long your blood has been in the country. It doesn't matter if your heritage is Ukrainian, Egyptian, East Indian or Aboringal.

[–]klabob [score hidden]

You completly missed his point.

[–]freshskidmarkSaskatchewan [score hidden]

Not really. The first comment stated that "true Canadians" are First Nations. I think that a true Canadian is anyone who is born and raised in this country regardless of when your family immigrated. If someone follows that belief, it'd be hypocritical to criticize a 6th generation European immigrant for believing they are "more Canadian" than a 2nd generation Filipino. It's a dumb view to hold.

[–]monkeyscannotbiteme [score hidden]

I agree, I think if you live in Canada you are Canadian. But I also don't find it offensive if someone asks "Where is your family from?" because obviously my family did not originate from Canada. When someone asks "Where are you from?" they aren't implying that you don't belong here. They're asking a simple question to learn more about you.

[–]freshskidmarkSaskatchewan [score hidden]

Yeah, agreed. I love talking about everyone's heritage. Not to mention it makes good small talk.

[–]jsickSaskatchewan [score hidden]

As a 3rd generation, white Canadian, I can honestly say I have never been asked in my 28 years where I'm from. My Canadian-born and brown wife, however, gets asked constantly.

[–]codydoddOutside Canada [score hidden]

I grew up in a town that was easily 95% white, and asking one another 'where are you from' was extremely common. The answers were always fascinating, like, 'oh half italian half polish'. Or, 'some english, I think, french, and 50% native'. Myself, I'm a european mutt, with all somewhat disenfranchised poor white ancestral background (irish, scottish, italian, and german pow-era). I didn't realize it was offensive to some people to ask that until reddit told me so actually.

[–]monkeyscannotbiteme [score hidden]

I'm white, and I get asked where I'm from all the time. We live in a multicultural country, where it's assumed that if you're not Native, you must have come from somewhere else some time in the past 400 years.

[–]thencaapawardgoesto [score hidden]

I've never been asked based on how I look. When I go to Quebec I get asked if I am Quebecois because I have a French last name and the worst French skills imaginable. But that's not based on what my skin colour is that's based on the fact that there's this strange juxtaposition between hyper-French name and Anglo person.

On the other hand I've been in lines at the grocery store where the guy in front of me is quizzing the clerk on 'where they're really from' all the time.

[–]KTY_Québec 3 ポイント4 ポイント

Oh so can I claim white privilege when I go to the States and get asked about my Quebec accent?

[–]Ruleof2Alberta 3 ポイント4 ポイント

For me at least, I find the only difference is the wording. When asking a white guy about his ancestors, they ask where "your family is from". However for asian-canadians, people might ask where "you are from", which while it does imply that asians are less Canadian, I don't find it to be as big of a difference.

[–]klabob [score hidden]

How should I ask sensitive people where they are from?

[–]codydoddOutside Canada [score hidden]

I found myself asking, 'what is your family background?', so similar to Ruleof2.

I now live in multicultural Dubai, where the same question is asked to everyone, just like in Canada. Being a tiny minority (white), I do not suddenly find myself offended to be regularly asked, 'where you from?' It's a conversation point actually, because classic Canadian 'some whether we are having here' doesn't work here, given its the same every day.

[–]HaunterGatherer 2 ポイント3 ポイント

And certainly nobody ever tells me "Oh, you speak such good English".

I'm white as fuck, but I'm from the Maritimes. I get this all the time when I'm in Vancouver. Stereotypes aren't confined to race. You could probably find these little annoyances about just about any quality: beards, hair color, freckles, name, etc.

particularly to asian-canadians. It's often followed by a response like "Vancouver" and then the persistent "but, no, really. Where are you actually from?"

This is ironic. In the rest of Canada if an Asian person said they were from Vancouver, we would say, "Ah yes, I hear your homeland is beautiful in the Summertime."

[–]BodysnatcherBritish Columbia -4 ポイント-3 ポイント

Maybe it's a generational thing. I'm a 24-year-old white guy in Vancouver and assume anyone who insists upon the 'but where are you really from?' after the Vancouver answer to be bigoted on some level or another.

[–]OrganizedChaos [score hidden]

White people are atleast privileged enough not to have negative stereotypes associated with intelligence, savagery, extremism, crime, class, etc. This alone provides a significant advantage to progress in the work and financial field, where subtle/subconscious stereotypes can have a huge impact in forming trusted networks.

[–]Manwich3000 [score hidden]

White people absolutely have negative stereotypes, are you kidding me? And about class, intelligence etc? Don't tell me that white trash stereotype isn't a thing. As a matter of fact the idea of white privilege is a negative stereotype in of itself.

[–]andysparcs 1 ポイント2 ポイント

The only privilege white males have these days seems to be getting picked on for being white males. I understand that in the past there were lots of oppressed people and white folks (men and women) did have a societal privilege but not these days..

[–]nottodayfolks 1 ポイント2 ポイント

no longer racist, homophobic, hate filled shitheads,

You mean the same as women and other races also were/are? I hate that people try to rewrite history to say only white men were racist and homophobic. Just take a look at the skin colour and gender of a lot of homophobic people today for proof of that. Or look at how racist other races were historically racist or their racism even today.

[–]withstain 2 ポイント3 ポイント

I'm not saying that only white guys can be racist or sexist or whatever, I'm just saying that when this UofT dude says that our representation is the KKK, he's clearly out to lunch. racist homophobic shitheads was referencing the kkk, but I probably should have made that a bit more clear

[–]wcg66Ontario [score hidden]

As a Canadian I don't feel I have any legacy of racism at least against black people. That might be a white male American problem but not for me. However, as North Americans our treatment of Native Canadians/Americans is probably our shared shame. However, I doubt that even enters in this type of situation.

[–]GreenK [score hidden]

My life is fucking shit, so if all women, gays, and minorities have it worse than me because I'm privileged, then Canada must be a third-world country because holy shit

[–]StrawRedditor [score hidden]

oecdbetterlifeindex.org

[–]4nonymoOntario 1 ポイント2 ポイント

While the majority of 20 something heterosexual white men are no longer racist, homophobic, hate filled shitheads

I think you should stop and consider what you've said in this comment and why you might be perpetuating exactly what you seem to not want perpetuated.

To imply there is any blame to be given based on race, gender, sexuality etc. is no more offensive as implying any negative aspect onto race, gender, sexuality etc.

Blame is attributed to individuals only. Full stop. Don't apologize for your grandfather, unless you think you genuinely deserve to carry that burden.

[–]terath -1 ポイント0 ポイント

I agree save for one thing, our opinions are worthless because all opinions are worthless. Back it up with data or give a well reasoned response if it's a philosophical argument.

[–]sharilynj [score hidden]

While the majority of 20 something heterosexual white men are no longer racist, homophobic, hate filled shitheads

Be openly female on Reddit, and say that with a straight face.