For this week’s assignment, I needed to talk about stereotyping and generalization. Surprisingly enough, this came up between me and a friend on social media not two weeks ago. As she pointed out I might not understand something because I am a “privileged white male” which pretty much set the tone for a conversation that could have been very productive. Being who I am and all the places that I have visited and lived I feel like I understand a lot more than the average person. Unfortunately, as soon as she said that I knew she did not want to hear me at all. She wanted validation that I would just agree with her, which I do in some respects, but I knew that it would not end well for either of us.
So, for those who don’t know me very well I try to keep my religious and political opinions to myself. I was raised that it is a personal matter, but I do not shy away from the subject at all. I am also open to admitting that I am wrong or getting my mind changed if the information provided to me is accurate and it can be proven. I am not the type of person that believes what I see or hear on the internet from some random person with multiple trusted and verified sources.
So, this conversation came that I started to speak of at the beginning was a random message from an online friend that I have talked to for a few years back and forth. She started with how are you and how is your travels?. Which is normal for us since she is intrigued by my unique lifestyle choice of living in an RV and traveling. After I answered and reciprocated, she then asked me if I am ok with what is going on? I tried not to get into the conversation because I was pretty sure she wanted to talk politics, and I did not but then she made the mistake of saying that as a “privileged white male” that you wouldn’t understand anything anyways. For anyone that wants to have a substantive conversation please never do that. It puts people on the defensive immediately and now I cannot listen to anything that you say because you won’t take my opinion into consideration. This is my mind is saying that all white men are privileged which I don’t agree with. I am not wealthy, and I came from a poor family relatively. Nothing special about my upbringing at all. I worked for everything that I got and did not get a hand up due to being a white male. My firsthand up was given to me by my first boss in the Marine Corps and she gave me that because she saw potential in me not because I was a white male. She was not white either.
I do see this often in the world that we try to lump groups together but if we really look at it we are all people. We all have different priorities, lives, and examples in our lives that shape what we believe over time. I do not look at anyone and think that they are who they are because of what they look like. I think being in the Marine Corps taught me that due to being around people from all over the world.
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