The Evolution of Racist 'Privilege' to 'Entitlement'

The Evolution of White/Chinese PRIVILIEGE TO White/Chinese ENTITLEMENT

IN consideration of the way the racism thing is going on in the west, and amongst the chinese, i think its time we move a bit on from the idea of White Privilege or Chinese Privilege. In singapore, non-chinese people for decades had spoken about Chinese Racism, or how the chinese are advantaged or priviliged over others. However, singapore chinesecentric and governmental voicebox chinese media only noticed it when some indian girl put the word 'chinese' and 'privileged' together to form the phrase 'chinese privilige', and then, all of a sudden, it became significant and she was credited with coining the term and bringing to light an issue that was otherwise quite hidden? Ridiculous that.

Alright, in consideration of Chinese Priviliege as opposed to Chinese Entitlement

I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel by calling it a whool. There is an overlap, but it isn't the same thing. Yes, there was a period when the chinese were advantaged/priviliged, and there still is officially endorsed chinese supremacy (singapore must always be a chinese majority state, singapore not ready for a non-chinese PM, etc, etc), but this ailment has progressed to one of Entitlement, or normalisation, standardisation, or whatever else you want to call it. It is not a recent occurence though. The Supremacist/Advantaged/Priviliged stage that resolutely begin in 1987 lasted, i would say, up till the 2000s with the young of all races being reared to fit themselves into the aspirational trajectories mapped out of them by the racist government and media. Well, i'll go on in the following....

Stage 1 - Privilege

Simply, Chinese, or White, privilige, refers to a claim to more and being superior to others. It is a custom, convention, commonly-held view, and largely consciously accepted. You got a culture, i got a culture, but i'm superior to you because i say so, because i'm superior in number, because i've got guns as opposed to your spear, because i wear a tie instead of your loin cloth, etc.

Such a period can also see infighting amongst the 'superior' as they wrestle with each other to see who is more superior. An example of this can be seen in the west at war with the nazis. It was actually an infight between the colonialists who saw themselves as the He-Man in relation to the world, and the German Nazi who saw himself as the He-Man amongst He-Men. If it wasn't for the white supremacist racism of the west, the Nazis wouldn't have thought the way they did. The Japs also clashed with the west, and largely ousted them. But the west really didn't like a yellow guy besting them in anything, so they tossed a few atom bombs on them for revenge. That is what you get in a 'Privileged' period. "I'm better than you, and no matter how hard you try, or even if you are as good as me, i'm still the master, and at best, you can be the House Negro." That's is the White/Chinese Privilege mentality. 

 

Stage 2 - Entitlement

Then comes Stage 2 where the claim to supremacy moves on to a claim of normalcy - that they are normal - as opposed to others who are 'not just there yet but can in time'. There is a move from thinking that they are special and hence deserving of more than others, to their being ordinary whilst others are simply deserving of less. This is not largely consciously felt or acknowledged. Racism moves on from a conscious 'better-than-thou' phase to 'thou can be as good as us if you try'.

When such stage is reached, 'harmony' can ensue. People aren't as aware of racism anymore as they've all taken their 'rightful' place within the 'natural order of things', underdeveloped in accordance with the standard of the 'privileged'. That is when we can see lots of interracial marriages; black and white sitting down and talking about the western 70s as if the western version was the only one that existed; or indians justifying the past racism they had to endure with the chinese because now they've got lovely overpriced flats to dwell in, or 10001 places to eat the same thing, and have the wisdom of knowing where to get the 'best mee pok'....even though the only difference is variation in the amount of MSG used or a fishball or two more...sheesh.

Or how about if you type, 'best musicians/artists/philosophers/thinkers/etc' on google. What do you think you're going to get? I've done it. Go see for yourself. Even the google search formula or algorithm has a sense of White Entitlement built into it, and nary a soul notices anything amiss. Same thing goes with the Ecclesiastical White Boys KKKlub, also known as the Vatican and Papacy. People all over the world reach out to him and worship the git as if he is the 2nd Coming itself. Or how about both the chinese and whites laughing about the song and dance in Indian films, but queue up and watch Mama Mia where they sing about everything from having a belly ache to scratching their arse - which i couldn't tolerate for more than a few minutes. Or how about indian girls in both singapore and india condeming indian guys for behaving 'so local', meaning, typically indian, meaning not typically white or chinese. Or how about the chinese bloke who is sitting a couple of tables from me at this very moment, and who addresses every indian who works in the coffeeshop, or even patrons whom he knows, in a way that pokes fun at their language, with head shakes, fluctuating his voice in an indian way, and laughing at the same time, with NONE of the Indians taking issue with it.....one more time, and and this chinaman is going to get fucked by me.

This isn't white or chinese Priviliege. It is white and chinese Entitlement, and perceived as such everywhere by most on all sides.

But the main point here is that the 'privileged' will not feel that they are 'privilieged' at all, and also deny that there is such a thing as racism, or that if it exists, it doesn't matter because it exists everywhere (90% of the chinese i've spoken to about this in 3 decades say that....which is why while racism does exist everywhere, with the chinese, it is one of their defining features.)

DISCUSSION

This is a highly interesting period, or just about final milestone in the fascist-racist underdevelopment of things. What has actually transpired is that the privilieged race has underdeveloped further due to their learnt aversion to significant cultural and even visual differences through their being turned away from other races during Stage 1 Privilieged period. The racism becomes normalised, the other races become underdeveloped, muliculturalism is destroyed, and the power of the elite is entrenched as a result. Thereafter, there is no more need for Stage 1. We can have all the equality because the aspirational development of the people has been lowered to the same trajectory of the previously 'privileged'.

In the 'ideal' circumstances, they can have similar aspirations and similar access to the resources required to aspire equally, though they are all aspiring to less because they have all been underdeveloped during Stage 1.

In less 'ideal' circumstances, they can have similar aspirations BUT not similar access to the resources to aspire equally. In that, we get an illusion of equality, but people will generally tend to take up different positions in such a society. But it's a-ok, because they can still have similar aspirations.

In the least 'ideal' circumstance, they can have similar aspirations, but WON'T, because they've been taught to aspire differently. So, in singapore for instance, the Chinese can aspire to being a Prime Minister, but as one racist chinese PM after another from Lee Kuan Yew to his son (surprise surprise) Lee Hsien Loong have said or implied, 'Singapore is not ready for a non-Chinese PM" (because we are bunch of knuckle-dragging hicks from the hickland of s.e.asia known as china and when it comes to difference, it simply requires too much brainwork that our history has not prepared us for, so velly solly hokay.....well mate, if you're going to behave in a typically racist way, you're going to be deservedly stereotyped....but hey, let us at least have that since we can't be prime minister...pretty please.)

But the basic point is that 'privilege' or a white/chinese privilege period is a period of cultural and economic colonialism. It is conscious, systematic, institutional, and supported by a largely apathetic population that thinks its not going to lose anything (like the chinese in s.e.asia, or the whites in the west in relation to the world....especially the whites of the USA). Entitlement is where their standard becomes the standard maximus. All others can aspire to it through learning what is required for citizenship tests, or being dispersed through housing policies so that they can be bred white....or yellow in character, or attend schools where the curriculum normalises all that is theirs as opposed to others.

SUM

Very few will find an issue here. They will all don ties whatever the clime, wear sackcloth and ashes and cry and bawl when David Bowie falls of the twig, or support one american president or another as if it makes any difference, call fascist and racist twats 'founding father' when he drops dead, say they listen to all kinds of music and prove it by showing you their MP3 collection of ONLY western music, and so on and so forth, left right left right seig heil and all that.

There is little sense of anyone being privilieged in such a milieu. The previously downtrodden will not identify with those whose foot marks are still fresh on their backs against 'foreigners', they will all wave flags and take it down when told to do so, think that racism is no big deal because they've got 'friends' with whom they have tea from the allegedly 'privileged' race, and married chinese or white women, though they mainly do the white or chinese thing when they're off work.

In such a milieu, there is only two sorts of privileged people. One, the political and social elite like those lame musicians, actors, sports people. And Two, people like myself whom have been thoughtfully privilieged to not have become like the rest of the dumbos and now can enjoy ourselves by being socially alienated for want of intelligent lifeforms for company.

The problem at such a time is no more one of chinese or white 'privilege' but chinese or white Entitlement, where they think it the norm that they get more, and most others will blame themselves, bad picks for the lottery, not working hard enough, etc, for not being able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the privileged. A very good example of such a 'person' is an indian bloke in his 30s i spoke to recently, who married a chinese girl, spoke chinese dialects, knew where one could buy the 'best' noodles or chicken rice, and who actually blamed the black slave in the field for not working hard enough to be a slave in the master's house - when i told him about Malcolm X's tale about the House vs Field Negro. To him, the field Negro had not proved his right to be Entitled to more. Or how there was another Indian bloke i spoke to in his 50s, who said that racial discrimination was good because it made the indians less complacent and work harder. To them, they've been possessed by the Chinese ethos of now questioning the way things are, and just doing your best within it - which, logically, is what animals do to. To such people, racial discrimination is nothing. The only thing that mattered was what you did to make a success of yourself within it. All the evils of man is taken as a given, and people just do their best within it, whilst being their worst as legally allowed.

That is past the period of Chinese and White priviliege. It is a Period of Chinese and White Entitlement. On the one hand we have the human, doing you best to get rid of evils so as to maximise your development. On the other, we have the inhuman, doing your best despite evils. The latter leads to a much lower version of you, and hence, a lower version of human identity and aspiration and definition of success and self-realisation. The good thing about the latter is that you won't know what you are missing for want of the personality to appreciate and miss it. The bad thing is that whilst ignorance may be bliss, it will not absolve you from its consequences.

edX

#racism #whiteprivilege #chineseprivilege #whiteentitlement #chineseentitlement