White privilege officially has a new spokesperson, and boy is he a (white and privileged) doozy.
Princeton student Tal Fortgang has elicited outrage for an essay he wrote in the conservative-backed Princeton Tory about why he's not sorry he's been given certain opportunities as a white male, because—cue the world's tiniest violin—he's worked hard to get where he is too, boo-hoo.
Adding insult to injury, Fortgang's essay includes pretentious words like "Weltanschauung" and utterly random, politically inflammatory references to things like "Obama-sanctioned drones." Oh. He also called those opposed to the Zimmerman verdicts "fat-faced idiots."
The fact that such a human being exists should come as no surprise—though the extent to which Fortgang embodies the douchebag stereotype is almost startling in its totality. What is horrifying is that his extreme opinions are far from unique.
It doesn't take long scouring the Internet to dig up a shit-trove of "white privilege is a myth!" howlers. This story in The American Thinker trots out a horror story about a hard-working white man denied a job because it had to go to a "woman or a Black," while lamenting the fate of a poor, hapless golf commentator who was suspended for two weeks after he used the word "lynch" in reference to Tiger Woods.
Or take this "charming" blog, which decries "discrimination against white children" (?) while arguing that non-whites and women are actually the privileged ones because...umm...actually we can't really decipher what his argument is. But remember, white children are being discriminated against, you guys!
Then, of course, there are the opinions of Fortgang's cheerleading followers. On a Fox News repost of his essay (surprise!), comments include "I guess Obama is president because of his white privileged half" and (wait for it):
The black community has had more privileges than I can count. Just think, they never have to work. They don't pay for their health coverage, and they are taken care of from cradle to grave.
We could go on, of course, but for the sake of escalating blood pressure, we'll stop here. (Oh, and in case you need a primer on why this is so infuriating, click here. And here. And here.)
Just know that Fortgang isn't acting alone in his ignorance. He may be a convenient spokesperson for the aggravating "white privilege is a myth" trope, but keep in mind that he's pimping on behalf of a larger ideological movement. And that's the scariest thing of all.
