I agree that the white, heterosexual, middle-aged man should not be the bar by which "equality" is set, but that same man should not be vilified for what he is. That only makes him angry and makes him push back against others instead of reaching out to help them, as it were.
Hubby & I are both white, heterosexual and middle-aged. That doesn't mean that we have every advantage. Watch our kids try to get into college if the school hasn't met their "minority quota" or hubby or I try to get a job if the business hasn't met their "minority quota". No matter if we are more qualified. That's not equality. For anyone.
Everything hubby and I have, we got because we worked hard for it and still are, just to keep our heads above water. Because of who we are, we don't get help, even when we did need it. That's not equality, either. We will never truly be "equal" until we don't look at if someone is white or not, heterosexual or not, Christian or not, male or not. We are all who we are by an accident of birth and we are the ones who determine our future to many extents.
Sorry for the (off-topic) rant--just tired of being responsible for all of society's ills and being told that MY hard-earned money should be used to better the lives of people who are NOT working instead of being used as I see fit.
I'm sorry that I didn't make myself clear and used a random and silly expression. You and hubby are certainly not responsible for that society's ills.
I'm white, middle-aged etc myself. OK, if I dig deeper I'm probably not all Swedish and all heterosexual all the time. But hey, I live in a very privileged country (still) and with privilege comes responsibility. I love this country and a lot of what we do, but just because we do some things good, it doesn't mean that it's good for each and everybody, here or all over the planet. We have a huge pride and ego, neither serves us well when it comes to advicing others. 'If they only did like us...' It's never that easy. Besides, if they did, the planet would be drained really quickly.
If anything, the white middle-aged majority HERE is spoilt by our wealth and security, but that doesn't mean I personally swim in money; I don't and I need to work hard for all of it. Being a woman means that there is less full time occupation and if you live alone, it's really expensive to live here. So people ARE unequal here as well; financially, because of gender, place of birth, sexuality etc. We can never sit back and say 'things are OK and will always be OK because we made it OK'.
If anyone's to blame for society's ills, it's greed. It shows its ugly head everywhere and ruins society bit by bit. Those who have will grab after more. I find it terribly amoral. It's not wrong to work hard and want things. But grabbing and cheating to get it? Awful.
And I won't lie: I firmly believe that if we go on treating the planet the way we do, we won't leave a good place for the next generation to live in. It's like steatling from your own grandchild, in my eyes. Sharing the planet's resources equally would be beneficial in every way. There is enough for everybody. The privileged part of the world have a responsibility to make it happen, in my opinion. Not for my sake, I will have enough and moments of luxury. But for the world and for the future.
LOL! We all get our rants. Love you, too, hunny bunny. Just don't know how to make the heart symbol. :D
I am just a little on edge after getting a soliciting phone call the other day. They wanted me to donate money to underpriveleged kids and got upset when I said I couldn't afford to give them the money they were asking for.
I give locally, helping out kids that I know and helping with local programs. I give of my time, I give to clothing and food drives, I give to local charities that help kids. I'm always dropping five bucks here and five bucks there--adding up to hundreds of dollars a year.
There will be no retirement money for hubby and I & we have no savings. If the pooh ever hits the fan, we're in trouble. It just annoyed me that this person who called had the gall to judge me and my life without knowing me at all.
P.S. I didn't think you were blaming hubby and I for society's ills. :D
*HUGS* Many of us with little, do too much while others... Yeah, hear my rant about greed again.
And others have NO right to judge. That's one of the things that annoys me too! As you may know/guess, my heart is to the left. The ideal is that we see to these things by taxes and solidarity - which also means that we must have politicians who haven't been overtaken by greed. Grrr. >:-E You see homeless and beggers here, it was extremely rare 20 years ago.
Hubby & I are both white, heterosexual and middle-aged. That doesn't mean that we have every advantage. Watch our kids try to get into college if the school hasn't met their "minority quota" or hubby or I try to get a job if the business hasn't met their "minority quota". No matter if we are more qualified. That's not equality. For anyone.
Everything hubby and I have, we got because we worked hard for it and still are, just to keep our heads above water. Because of who we are, we don't get help, even when we did need it. That's not equality, either. We will never truly be "equal" until we don't look at if someone is white or not, heterosexual or not, Christian or not, male or not. We are all who we are by an accident of birth and we are the ones who determine our future to many extents.
Sorry for the (off-topic) rant--just tired of being responsible for all of society's ills and being told that MY hard-earned money should be used to better the lives of people who are NOT working instead of being used as I see fit.
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I'm white, middle-aged etc myself. OK, if I dig deeper I'm probably not all Swedish and all heterosexual all the time. But hey, I live in a very privileged country (still) and with privilege comes responsibility. I love this country and a lot of what we do, but just because we do some things good, it doesn't mean that it's good for each and everybody, here or all over the planet. We have a huge pride and ego, neither serves us well when it comes to advicing others. 'If they only did like us...' It's never that easy. Besides, if they did, the planet would be drained really quickly.
If anything, the white middle-aged majority HERE is spoilt by our wealth and security, but that doesn't mean I personally swim in money; I don't and I need to work hard for all of it. Being a woman means that there is less full time occupation and if you live alone, it's really expensive to live here. So people ARE unequal here as well; financially, because of gender, place of birth, sexuality etc. We can never sit back and say 'things are OK and will always be OK because we made it OK'.
If anyone's to blame for society's ills, it's greed. It shows its ugly head everywhere and ruins society bit by bit. Those who have will grab after more. I find it terribly amoral. It's not wrong to work hard and want things. But grabbing and cheating to get it? Awful.
And I won't lie: I firmly believe that if we go on treating the planet the way we do, we won't leave a good place for the next generation to live in. It's like steatling from your own grandchild, in my eyes. Sharing the planet's resources equally would be beneficial in every way. There is enough for everybody. The privileged part of the world have a responsibility to make it happen, in my opinion. Not for my sake, I will have enough and moments of luxury. But for the world and for the future.
There, sorry for MY rant. ♥
Reply
I am just a little on edge after getting a soliciting phone call the other day. They wanted me to donate money to underpriveleged kids and got upset when I said I couldn't afford to give them the money they were asking for.
I give locally, helping out kids that I know and helping with local programs. I give of my time, I give to clothing and food drives, I give to local charities that help kids. I'm always dropping five bucks here and five bucks there--adding up to hundreds of dollars a year.
There will be no retirement money for hubby and I & we have no savings. If the pooh ever hits the fan, we're in trouble. It just annoyed me that this person who called had the gall to judge me and my life without knowing me at all.
P.S. I didn't think you were blaming hubby and I for society's ills. :D
Reply
And others have NO right to judge. That's one of the things that annoys me too! As you may know/guess, my heart is to the left. The ideal is that we see to these things by taxes and solidarity - which also means that we must have politicians who haven't been overtaken by greed. Grrr. >:-E You see homeless and beggers here, it was extremely rare 20 years ago.
Again; equality. Not just about gender. Though it's easy to see where the money is. It's with our parts of the world, but not with either of us.
♥ = & hearts; without space between & and hearts; :-)
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