Yeah, stopped reading at this point. Your "intersectional social justice theory" is just casual sexism and racism to me.
That is the only definition that matters. Everything else is subjective, relative and open to abuse by bad people from all sides.
>"I as a white male can underachieve my way into anything while other genders and people of color must work much harder for the same."
Have you seen white people in poverty? They are no different than black people in poverty, and are just as needing of our help. To make a distinction and help one over the other is plain old racism according to the dictionary/textbook definition and has no place in an inclusive society.
#Edit. Formatting.
However ignoring that black people face different challenges and are in fact differentialy affected by prejudice because of the existing power structure is itself perpetuating racism.
The end goal is to treat everyone the same. Calling for colorblindness doesn't achieve that.
Edit: Also, yes I have seen white people in poverty. Poverty is no different for them.
However they are still treated better by the police, other institutions and large sections of society.
This is exactly my point, thank you.
I don't disagree that this is a huge problem but consider what it's like for someone trying to work their way out when they obviously, unavoidably don't fit in. The key point here is simply recognizing that different areas of discrimination have different impacts and they combine super-linearly.
If you're poor but white and male, once you get started on the skill ladder you'll be able to quickly adopt many of the other cultural trappings and start getting breaks, which are self-reinforcing.
In tech, say you go to a local OSS developers meetup. You're hiring and there's a bearded white guy with a messenger bag who sounds interested in ES6 — do you stop to quiz them about whether they grew up in Palo Alto or the more dismal parts of upstate NY before telling them to apply? The same process often goes down a different path if the person in question is female, latino, black, etc. and someone subconsciously wonders whether they're as qualified and that conversation doesn't happen at all if someone came to a meetup or two but felt out of place and decided not to keep attending. That kind of thing happening a couple of times early in someone's career can have a massive impact on their lifetime trajectory and because so much of it is subconscious it can happen even if everyone involved would have chosen otherwise if asked.
In much of the business world, someone from a poor white background has to watch their accent and learn to wear a suit, etc. An African-American can do the same thing but will also have to deal with being confused for lower-level staff or even the security guard, caterer, etc. Sure, someone motivated can rise above that but simply having to think about it, or spend time ensuring that you're always bringing your A game to your attire, social negotiation, etc. is a distraction from the actual business that some people are fortunate enough not to have to deal with.
I'm an impoverished white in a diverse area that is regularly passed on jobs because I don't fit in to another type of white or because I'm not black in jobs where workers are almost entirely black. I got laughed at one time by a room full of them for even trying to apply. There will be close to zero comments by the liberals on threads and tangents like this looking out for us even though there are at least hundreds of thousands... maybe millions... suffering white and non-white against white discrimination ensuring poverty or other ill effects. They don't care, though, because we're white. :)
It's what we nicknamed reverse racism. You're seeing a form of it in action where effort is only put into protecting minority or trying to understand their issues while rejecting effort into "majority" (please, I'm a white minority...) and/or no exploration into discrimination issues they face.
I don't wish anyone to suffer. As a white person I realize that the power structure overall still benefits and lifts up white people while generally crushing people of color. You may have experienced racism, prejudice or discrimination but I very much doubt you've experienced the systematic destruction of livelihood that people of color have and continue to experience.
> I got laughed at one time by a room full of them for even trying to apply.
Sorry about that but it's a very small example and doesn't prevent you as a white person from going almost anywhere else in the world and benefiting from your skin color. I.e. the rate of occurrence of what you experienced is very small vs what people of color face. It doesn't mean you should be laughed at, but it's isolated and not a systemic problem.
Edit: of course, down vote all you want but please also show me what's not true about this.
I lived in an area where government, jobs, and schools were largely dominated and controlled by blacks. You bet I experienced systematic overt and subtle discrimination that held me back. It shocks your subset of liberals to discover this but it's a human group not race issue that merely manifests as race. If blacks are the majority, the same problems show up against any other player. Whites are majority in most areas, so the problems usually show up against non-whites. So, in mostly black areas, we get unusual expectations, more punishment more often for offenses, ganged up on, laughed away from jobs seen as appealing to blacks, served later at a food place "randomly," and so on. Same shit. Just nobody fights for us and liberals don't acknowledge it happens without... it's like a refrain... "may have experienced" prejudice/whatever in "small examples" vs (non-whites here).
Of course, you people conveniently ignore that there's different types of white people. Matter of fact, my Irish ancestors in this country and many other European immigrants would be very confused at your assessment given they got lots of discrimination. Still do if 1st generation. I like citing anti-Irish articles from history in front of blacks talking about "discrimination of the past" and why things had to change. They shake their heads yes until I tell them it was about Irish whites. They get confused because nobody told them English whites discriminated against all other whites and vice versa. Refrain was "one thing called white" vs "everyone else." Then, they either adjust their thinking or go into denial.
Even so, I still don't have to go that far. See, intellectual white people that love computers are called "nerds." We experience the exact kind of systematic discrimination and profiling you describe. We're filtered out of upward mobility in most business circles due to lack of social fit. We're excluded from all kinds of social activities because we're different. We're shoehorned into jobs they think are best for "our kind" then not given gratitude or equal treatment by upper management. I'm so good at blending in with normal people that I get to hear all kinds of negative stuff by whites and blacks alike about what they think of my social class. White "privilege" among "nerds?" Only if the privilege is one kind of job in a specific pay range with less of everything else. That's not a privilege. It's like a peaceful, passive form of indentured servitude. Similar to what blacks claim about many of their job results.
So, yes, many whites do face systematic discrimination if they're not of the popular variety in terms of appearance, speech, ethnicity, or whatever. This has been true since American began far as I can tell. It goes back to the battles and issues I read about in World History among Europeans. You've probably seen it yourself but explained it off as... typically... "isolated and not systemic problem." No, it's just a series of isolated problems that repeat upon specific attributes throughout the system by white and non-white oppressors alike. Not systemic or regular, though. Just coincidentally pervasive. ;)
Note: I upvoted your comment because it's the kind of claims disconnected from reality that people need to see addressed with specific counterpoints.
Maybe on the level of that they're both human, but the white person still benefits from the system made for white people.
Edit: relying only on the dictionary definition is impractical. While useful it avoids the deeper impacting levels.
And in that regard, perhaps yes, the dictionary definition should be the only thing that matters and we can then agree on the dictionary definition of the system of white supremacy that keeps people of color down. Yes, lots of white people in poverty too, but again, they aren't seen as a threat, they're given the 'benefit of doubt' while people of color are shot dead in the same situation.