[jbooth]

Dude, give me a break. If you're a white American male, and you're gonna whine about the discrimination you face in life, you need to wake the fuck up. Literally everybody else on earth has it worse than you. Grow up and take responsibility for your own situation.

[w00pla]

> If you're a white American male,

I am not a white American male. I am a young white South African.

> Grow up and take responsibility for your own situation.

This is a bullshit argument. You say that people who are discriminated against are responsible for their own situation. WTF?

If a white person cannot gain entrance into a university (because he is white) or he cannot get a job (government mandated quotas in the private industry and basically a moratorium in the public sector). Here is a simple example: I did really well in my school matric exam (in the top 3 in a province). I applied for over 30 bursaries for which I did not receive a response for an engineering degree. The same companies gave lots of bursaries to black people who cannot complete the degree in 4 years. In other words, they do an extra year of “pre-parationary classes” and then do a 5 year engineering degree (which is usually six). So people spend 6-7 years on a 4 year degree! (I passed mine in 4 years with an 88% average).

Luckily my parents dug deep and I could go to university (with difficulty). If they were just a little poorer, I would have been fucked (and would probably be doing manual labour or something).

By the way, afterwards I studied received a much more competitive and prestigious bursary to study further overseas. So apparently I was not good enough for SA universities but elite university in a foreign country is OK. That is what I am doing now.

What you should also bear in mind is that it is usually white people of lower socio-economic status that is the hardest hit. Not everyone can be an engineer, etc... Discriminatory policies create a lot of poverty among them and create a continual poverty trap. It also seems that there is a lot of hate (among both black and white people) for poor white people. It is even common to use slurs against them (e.g. white trash).

[jbooth]

Seriously. You follow up "white people don't have it so bad" with "I'm a white south african and I've had it so bad"? Is irony dead?

[w00pla]

Really? You know that my parents were piss poor, and it is just through luck (and hard work) that I've achieved anything in life.

But yeah. I was recently insulted by an American person (apparently referring to someone you just met as “[Racial expletive] are the worst people in the world” is okay as far as white South Africans go). Apparently my mere existence as a white South African is offensive to some. Two months ago someone said that my first language did not exist. WTF? 6 million people speak it, I am pretty sure that it is a real language.

What would you have white South Africans do? A third immigrated and almost a third is in squatter camps. The third that is rich doesn’t really help the rest that is dirt poor. Should we just organise a mass suicide like a sect or something? Would that be acceptable to you?

[jbooth]

Well, your parents being poor isn't a racial matter. If you were black, you'd catch more crap in most countries. In most countries on earth (and I believe this is true in south africa as well), it's just plain easier to be white. So good for you for achieving whatever you have in life and overcoming whatever obstacles you've overcome, but the world's racial intolerance of white people isn't one of those obstacles.

[w00pla]

> In most countries on earth (and I believe this is true in south africa as well), it's just plain easier to be white.

This is your naivety speaking. A poor white person in South Africa is fucked. Here is why: - It is impossible to get any type of government job (includes military, government owned institutions such as Transnet, Eskom, Telkom, etc…). - White people are not eligible for any scholarships or bursaries (government or otherwise). - Entrance into university is determined by racial quotas. For a white person going to a fancy private school, it is possible – but not for a poor white person that has to go to a government school. - It is very difficult for a young white person to get a job in the private industry. Because companies have quotas, they have to preferentially hire black people. White people with scare skills can get a job – but for manual labour, it is easy to preferentially higher a black person. - Rich White and black people look down on poor white people. - Many middle income white people received “severance packages” to make space for black people (both private and government jobs). This is basically their pension as a lump sum. Many had to start business in order to survive – some made it, some were screwed. Starting your life from square 1 when you are 50 is not easy.

> So good for you for achieving whatever you have in life and overcoming whatever obstacles you've overcome,

Nice sarcasm. The point I tried to make was that, if just one little thing went different in my life, I would have been fucked.

> but the world's racial intolerance of white people isn't one of those obstacles.

You assume that the world is exactly like where you are from. The problem is that SA is a black majority country with a black government. So their intolerance towards white people is much greater (than for instance the USA government).

The difference between rich and skilled white people and poor white people is that skilled white people still have a skill that is needed (so they are not as expendable as poor white people).

I also guess that you would not view a leading figure in the ruling government (and probably next president) encouraging genocide of white people.

---

I’ve recently come to the conclusion that hate for white people in South Africa – especially Afrikaans people is pretty high in the USA. It seems that the consensus is that white people do not belong in Africa and if they are poor it is either their fault or they deserve it.

The problem is that the poor are a lot less socially mobile and it is impossible for them to immigrate. They are simply stuck between a hostile government and bad economic situation.

[jbooth]

Well, I did qualify with "I believe" on South Africa. You'd obviously know better than I would about what it's like there, but most of what I've read indicates that there isn't a ton of discrimination against white people, especially considering recent history. Sure, there has been upheaval there -- upheaval from a ridiculously racist apartheid system. Trying to claim that whites have it worse seems pretty tough to me, how do you quantify 60 years of institutionalized racism? The whole truth and reconciliation thing seems to have gone about as well as anything ever, considering the alternatives.

Zimbabwe, you'd have a definite point. There's an example of bonafide economic discrimination against white people.

[nuclear_eclipse]

> Literally everybody else on earth has it worse than you. Grow up and take responsibility for your own situation.

So when I was trying to go to university and my family was too poor to pay my tuition, but I could only apply to <40% of scholarships available because I was white instead of a "minority", that's better off than everybody else? How is "taking responsibility" going to fix that sort of reverse discrimination? Why is it OK for scholarships to focus on poor minorities, but it's not OK for scholarships to focus on poor caucasions?

[jbooth]

Start your own scholarships if you're such a big believe in self-reliance.

More to the point -- yes, you still had it way the hell easier than you likely would have if you were black or hispanic. White males are not victims -- we have it easier than every other group. If you forget that, you're being an asshole.

[blasdel]

Because there are mutual societies formed out of need for minority groups to support one another — most of them initially just for information sharing, emotional support, and legal defenses. Scholarships came later to help the children in their communities go to college.

Hell, almost all scholarships were endowed by people to help the younger versions of themselves go to college, it's just that the identity-forming characteristic is different for everybody.

Given the state of things in the US, there aren't really non-shitheads that primarily identify themselves as white.