A Sheltered White Man is a white man whose experience rarely goes beyond that of well-to-do White Americans. The power of his class, race, sex and country shelters him from much of the bad done in the world.
True, most people’s experiences are limited by class, race, sex and country. And most people understandably avoid experiencing the bad in the world as much as they can.
What makes Sheltered White Men different is their power:
- Power at a personal level to avoid bad circumstances, like high rates of unemployment or living in a violent ghetto.
- Power at a mass level to shape society, culture and even the world to suit themselves.
- Power to get their viewpoint across. They do not agree on everything, but what most do agree on they repeat so many times – through film, television, schoolbooks, universities, the news, the Wikipedia, etc – that it no longer seems like a mere point of view but a mere fact.
This leads to:
- Viewpoint blindness – they hear their own point of view so much and barely hear that of others, that they do not even see their point of view as just that, a point of view. They do not see how limited it is. They do not see how it is shaped by their race, sex and culture. So much so that many see themselves as raceless and think White Americans have no culture.
- Weak reality checking – who is to disagree with them and be believed? If most of them agree on something it is very hard to set them straight.
- Moral blindness – they want power, wealth, material comfort, etc, but they also want to think of themselves as good people. There have been times in the past when they faced up to the wrongs they have done and tried to set them straight – like by freeing the slaves – but these days most of them just lie and deny. A perfect example are those who are more upset at being called a racist than by their own racism.
- Just world doctrine – they assume that their society is more or less just. First, because they want to and are too morally blind and too weakly rooted in reality to see how laughable that is. Second, because have never found themselves at the wrong end of their own power. That is what being sheltered means. So, for example, the high crime rate and bad education in poor black neighbourhoods is not blamed on the police and the schools, like you would expect, but on blacks! American society is so fair and just in their minds that African genetics, say, seems a likelier reason to them.
So in addition to being limited by their class, race, sex, etc, like everyone else, their power makes most of them profoundly blind in certain ways.
Therefore it is unwise to depend mainly on them for your knowledge of the world at large.
See also:
Right on the money!! I know some of these and have met even more, some even in USA. What is really scary about these idiots is that they really do not believe that things are not that bad, solely based on their own experience. And then they go and make desicions that affect us all ina very weird and negatove way. In Finland these concrete skulls are known as politicians.
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Sometimes I think things and attitudes like this have a lot to do with the size of your… um… country! I mean, people of a vast and powerful nation seem to tend to look inside. Like introverted narcissists, who have all they need (and for some, more than enough) within their borders. They think all they see is all they need, and all there is. Nothing noteworthy or significant exists outside their immediate vicinity.
Whereas in smaller countries, people tend to look outside, because foreign forces might have an immediate affect to their well-being and their country.
All of that said… I suppose I’m somewhere in the middle… standing on the “pinnacle of human evolution”, ie, a nordic male (you understand I’m just jesting with you people), I also come from a predominantly blue-collar family with a lot lesser financial resources than even our closest neighbors with less off-spring.
So, I think I was born with my eyes open, and was couraged by my parents and siblings to keep them open. Still keeping and loving it!
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One name comes to mind when I read this: Rupert Murdoch.
Right on point as usual Abagond. Somehow, someway, this has to end. The world can not revolve around them forever, and it won’t despite pleas from those that believe otherwise.
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@ Will…..”Somehow, someway, this has to end. The world can not revolve around them forever, and it won’t despite pleas from those that believe otherwise….”
If only in my lifetime…….. (heavy sigh)
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i’m sorry anybody that believe in self so much is a devil. apparently they don’t believe in god. they believe in themself. damn devils. i can’t stand people like that .its a shame dispite all that privellage and wealth they are ignorant. yes knowledge come from god.
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just looking at both of them in that picture i would love the chance to slap them back into reality
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Those people are totally estranged from reality. They think however that all others who are not like them are estranged because the only reality the “sheltered white men” are willing to accept as real is theirs.
They really are delusional enough to believe that all they have and stand for is based on merit.
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Femi,
Exactly, and if they face any truth to the contrary by those on the outside of their “world”, denial, anger, anxiety, and withdrawal are usually the responses. It’s nothing short of a mental disorder.
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“It is unwise to depend mainly on them for your knowledge of the world at large”
Exactly.
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For some reason, whenever I read the term “sheltered”, I think of women. But of course men make more sense in this context.
Members of privileged groups tend to be sheltered, at least in some aspects. I think it’s one of the main things that separate privileged and unprivileged people. What I’m saying is, you can belong to a privileged group but your life can still suck (or be unprivileged but have a great life). It’s individual. However, those that belong to privileged groups tend to be sheltered, at least in some aspects, which is something unprivileged people don’t share.
In this sense, a white male heterosexual person can complain about the problems he has in his life (which can be completely true: he, as an individual, might have problems). But chances are he’s still sheltered the way no rich, successful black lesbian is.
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I have 1 but not 2 or 3. I think. I’m not sure what “at a mass level” means. I mean, any kind of mass can usually get something done if it’s massive enough. But perhaps it is unjust that there are more white people than black people in America?
Also maybe I really do have 3 because I am commenting to you on a blog.
“So, for example, the high crime rate and bad education in poor black neighbourhoods is not blamed on the police and the schools, like you would expect, but on blacks!”
Surely a high crime rate should be blamed first not on police nor on blacks, but on criminals?
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Surely a high crime rate should be blamed on the POLICE who are NOT catching the criminals.
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Sagredo:
“Mass level” means sheltered white men as a whole, not just you personally by yourself.
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Mira:
“Sheltered” is applied mainly to women and children, not men. Example: “I had a sheltered childhood.” But it is also applied to white people.
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There is no reason to feel sorry for these white men. They may want our sympathy, but we have our own problems to deal with.
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I am aware of these types of men, and their nonverbal behavior. Not just around me but other Blacks/Black Americans, and to me, their behavior can be very imperious or magisterial(read: annoying and silly), as if ‘they’ are the humans, and all others are subhuman, or they, we, are out of H.G.Wellls, ‘The Time Machine’, walking, living ‘Morlocks’ and ‘Eloi’.
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All of this was true *before* the Civil Rights Movement, but not anymore.
What you’re talking about is the combination of possessing moral authority, plus political, military and economic power, at the group level.
Of those things, sheltered white men have been lacking moral authority for about 45 years now.
In your “What This Leads To” section, you seem to be focusing on the spoils of possessing moral authority, not anything else. Popular culture openly mocks and reviles sheltered white men often, and has been doing so since the late 60’s.
What sheltered white men *do* continue to posses are the other things I mentioned (which you did touch on briefly) – better schools, higher rates of employment, more physical security, better health, etc.
Moral authority is the big gigantic element of these discussions around race, class and gender in modern times that doesn’t get discussed much.
I believe that since the 60’s, minorities and women actually have had way more moral authority than sheltered white men do.
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That’s very true. I would even ask – which century?
I just watched again the film “The Game” with Michael Douglas. I think it would be a treatment that a lot of those men need. Without the happy ending though. They should remain stuck in Mexico, skint, no passport, no comprende senor…
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ramon Porter, Ankhesen Mié. Ankhesen Mié said: Wow…everyone's just knockin' em out today. http://fb.me/MZPZTkcL […]
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Surely a high crime rate should be blamed on the POLICE who are NOT catching the criminals.
The police are responsible, but only secondly. The first people responsible for crime are surely the criminals?
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Most of these “sheltered white men” are die hard believers in the Multi-Cult and the principal architects if the Western world’s decline from their safe whitopias. I think that rubbing their noses in the joys of diversity would be a very good thing.
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Abagond:
Whitemen have money and power, but it’s not gonna last forever!
1. Karma is real, and white people are catching hell all over the world because of it.
2. Whites are a minority population on the planet, and they act accordingly.
3. Whites don’t care about whiteness, they care about white priviledge.
4. White racism is not about racial superiority, it’s jealousy and envy cloaked in anger.
5. Whitemen create chaos in the world, whitewomen reap the benefits.
6.Whitewomen love the lifestyle whitemen provide for them, but they’re not in love with them. There is no such thing as “White Love” among whites……european, middle-eastern, north-american, and latin.
7. Whitemen are losing their power because of whitewomen, not black people. Most of the insanity that comes out of white culture is created by whitewomen with way too much time on their hands.
8. In closing, black people are blessed, Stay Strong!!!
Zen Aquarius
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I don’t want to make broad generalizations about ALL white men, but I will say that I’ve been around a few who definitely fit this description.
My husband, as dearly as I love him, can be a Sheltered White Man at times.
Not intentionally…it’s the way he was raised. Sometimes I have to remember that it must be difficult for him to overcome 40 years of his parents’ indoctrination about white being right and Christianity being the only “good” religion.
He struggles to be an anti-racist ally, but he fails sometimes. Conversations about race can often be painful with him because there are things he doesn’t understand.
After all, he is not female and he is not biracial…both of which apply to me. But I try to educate him anyway. 😉
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As a white guy, I fully agree that too many white men live a sheltered existence. I would go further and say they even lose touch with reality. Especially long-serving Democratic congressmen.
They are the liberal elites (AKA Limousine Liberals). You shouldn’t complain too much though. They all tend to vote Democrat. Isn’t that what most of you want?
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@ essbro
Down with the Democrats!
Down with the Republicans!
A pox on both your houses, because they have made worms’ meat of us…
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Cinnamondiva, I could have written what you said, minus the religious part. Though he is very much aware of and against racism and so on, there are things he does not understand and that is difficult for me to deal with as a biracial (Asian/White) woman. That, even though we understand each other on so many levels, he may never ‘get’ the part that has largely contributed to making me who I am today.
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[…] and more smaller media outlets in order to broadcast to the world the point of view of arrogant, sheltered white males for power and profit. We all know how News Corp’s brand of ”journalism” […]
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This is SO racist I can’t even…..
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Did your boyfriend just break up with you? Lose the armchair philosophy/psychology rhetoric.
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on point!
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this f*up is running for city council … maybe
we all do what we can
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Hey, if a clown like Rob Ford(mayor or Toronto), that crack smoking fool ,can run for re-election, why can’t this guy? At least he doesn’t smoke crack and is honest in his superiority complex.
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oh he gets high, but he’s on federal probation for being one of the leaders of our marijuana legalization proponents down in philly, not really part of norml,
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