White Privilege posters at work

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VintageRose

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Recently, where I work, new posters have been appearing. There are check-boxes in these reading: “Check your privilege:” White, Male, Class, Christian, Able-Bodied, Heterosexual, Cisgender* (a description for a person whose gender identity, gender expression and biological sex all align.) We are an HIV/AIDS residential health care facility. I’ve no idea what this is about, yet as a Catholic Christian lady, what does my faith have to do with my place of work anyway…? Has anyone else noticed such posters appearing where they work…? Thank you…!
 
If my workplace displayed signs like this, I would be complaining about the anti-Christian bias. That is just me. You are not obligated to get yourself fired from your job, if your superiors are anti-Christian.
 
To me that seems to fit the definition of a “hostile work environment.” Unfortunately, in this day and age, some people’s complaints about “hostility” get taken more seriously than others.’ Good luck.
 
VintageRose said:
Recently, where I work, new posters have been appearing. There are check-boxes in these reading: “Check your privilege:” White, Male, Class, Christian, Able-Bodied, Heterosexual, Cisgender* (a description for a person whose gender identity, gender expression and biological sex all align.) We are an HIV/AIDS residential health care facility. I’ve no idea what this is about, yet as a Catholic Christian lady, what does my faith have to do with my place of work anyway…? Has anyone else noticed such posters appearing where they work…? Thank you…!
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I keep hearing about white privilege and I reiterate what do they mean by white? Do they count Hispanics most of which identifiy as white for the US Census? Do they include Arab-Americans or Arabs which are considered white by the US Census for the most part? Do they include Asian Indians who have been considered both white and Asian during different times in US history? I keep hearing about white privilege yet no one can seem to tell me what white means in this context.
 
“Privilege” is a word used by the bitter to excuse their mediocrity.
 
thestudentAD said:
By ‘white privilege’, I think they mean Caucasians.
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Caucasian is a meaningless term. As a white man I detest it. Its a remnant of a now outmoded racial theory with no basis in genetics.
If you mean people of European descent, than why wouldn’t you include Latinos, most of whom have European ancestors (as well as indigenous and/or African ancestors). My wife is Dominican…she has brown skin and black hair and wouldn’t be classified as white, yet from what I’ve read, genetic studies demonstrate that Dominicans have more European ancestry than they do African…🤷
 
Discussions of white privilege are extremely sensitive, given to misunderstanding, and it is really not helpful to try and convey awareness about such topics in a poster. All they are going to do is offend people. That being said, privilege certainly exists and should certainly be discussed among the staff at a facility that works with AIDS/HIV patients.
 
These are posted by employer? Or by a rouge co-worker? I would contact HR.
 
Cisgender* (a description for a person whose gender identity, gender expression and biological sex all align.)
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So that’s what a “cisgender” is! I would have just called them “normal”! Silly me! 😛
 
Posters won’t help. If you want people to develop empathy for others who are in situations they won’t be in (ie a straight man trying his best to be empathetic to a gay man), then teach that. To everyone. Telling people that they have privilege without following up just makes these people annoyed and in some cases, do the opposite (eg look at a post here).

And Christian? Really? Go to a public school and ask someone if they believe that gay people should get married. You will see the ones who disagree will be scared of telling you their views. I genuinely do not get why Christians are privileged. It would seem that we are constantly attacked for our views, even if say it in a way that shows we still love and respect the other.
 
robertmidwest said:
These are posted by employer? Or by a rouge co-worker? I would contact HR.
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It was posted on the door of a social worker for public notice. “Privilege: unearned access to social power based on membership in a dominant social group.” In small print it reads, “Developed at the University of San Francisco by Dr. Walker (Psychology).” My question is what does all this have to do with Christian faith…?
 
Allegra said:
Discussions of white privilege are extremely sensitive, given to misunderstanding, and it is really not helpful to try and convey awareness about such topics in a poster. All they are going to do is offend people. That being said, privilege certainly exists and should certainly be discussed among the staff at a facility that works with AIDS/HIV patients.
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It’s partially a sensitive issue because of the poor choice of words, but ever since the term was published in academia, it stuck, and it’s almost too late to correct it to more a more accurate description.

The reason it is a poor choice of words is because ‘white privilege’ means the social group having access to things that any person is suppose to have in a egalitarian society. And a marginalized group is a group that has not.

So the correct description would be that whites have been treated normally and other groups have not been treated normally. This is a much better description because it recognizes social realities but without - even if unintentionally - passive aggression towards whites, which I will give Walker the benefit of the doubt in assuming he didn’t want (although sales tactics do exist in academia).

I’m not sure if the two words 'white privilege" put together have advanced dialogue or done the complete opposite.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
To me that seems to fit the definition of a “hostile work environment.” Unfortunately, in this day and age, some people’s complaints about “hostility” get taken more seriously than others.’ Good luck.
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^ This. Your city, county or state has a division of worker’s rights. An email or even an anonymous call would at least initiate an inquiry.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
To me that seems to fit the definition of a “hostile work environment.” Unfortunately, in this day and age, some people’s complaints about “hostility” get taken more seriously than others.’ Good luck.
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Well, if a white, heterosexual, able-bodied, cis-gendered Christian male is the one who complained, I bet that complaint would be tossed right out. Unless someone not meeting those criteria can be offended for us, it wouldn’t get any attention.
 
Such posters are highly offensive.

Interestingly, I just came from an open mic last night which involved something hardly unique at such events–rants about white men, white people, heterosexual people. Really? The rants never actually say what all these people did to the ranter (excuse me, poet). They just rant about how hard their lives are and for mysterious, unnamed reasons, it’s all the fault of white men.

Last night’s rant involved not liking her doctor’s advice and instead of thinking about why his advice might have been at least a start (it was fairly obvious to the audience why she should have at least considered it), she just accused him of being…white. And male. And therefore I guess all his medical knowledge of human beings doesn’t apply to her.

My point, though, is that I would have been hounded off the stage and never welcomed back had I gone on a rant about homosexuals, or women, or transgenders, or any other race, or blamed all my problems in life on any such group, or accused a doctor of giving me bad medical advice merely on the grounds that he’s black or Asian or Indian.

So I have to wonder who really has the ‘privilege’ when there’s a very different set of social rules that allows the supposedly victimized class to routinely launch public attacks and castigation on other groups, knowing full well the reverse would not be allowed.

BTW…I read over and over again that gays tend to be better educated and in much better financial shape than heterosexuals, so I don’t buy that there’s all this privilege anyway (for that and other reasons.)
 
VintageRose said:
Recently, where I work, new posters have been appearing. There are check-boxes in these reading: “Check your privilege:” White, Male, Class, Christian, Able-Bodied, Heterosexual, Cisgender* (a description for a person whose gender identity, gender expression and biological sex all align.) We are an HIV/AIDS residential health care facility. I’ve no idea what this is about, yet as a Catholic Christian lady, what does my faith have to do with my place of work anyway…? Has anyone else noticed such posters appearing where they work…? Thank you…!
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I have not seen them but they are part of the liberal agenda. Many Catholics vote for Democrat candidates on the basis that they are “for the poor” and “for the workers”, but when they do so they also enable this other aspect of the liberal agenda.
 
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