I feel that McIntosh made some great points in her piece on white privilege. I especially liked how she brought attention to the fact that public education fails to directly teach students about white privilege. There are white, privileged kids out there who don't even know what they are. It's not until those kids grow older that they begin to understand how privileged they are, simply because of the color of their skin. But, as an essay overall, I found McIntosh's piece to be extensive and borderline boring. Although she provided many excellent examples that proved the existence of white privilege, I find it hard to believe that most readers would be convinced of her views after reading a paper that is presented so formally. I believe, in order to genuinely make someone see the effects of white privilege, one has to be put in the shoes of someone who does not have white privilege. In other words, a convincing essay, to me, would assign the reader the role of a non-privileged individual of another race to simply make them feel, as opposed to being overwhelmed with facts. That being said, I found the style of the "World of Warcraft" essay to be much more effective. Now, don't get me wrong. McIntosh wrote a very nice piece that truly does explain the effects of white privilege and I believe that anyone who is heavily interested in this topic would find this essay to be marvelously useful when arguing that advantages of the white man do exist.
I have been thinking quite a bit about my final essay. Although I am currently unaware of what life event I will choose to write about, I definitely want to choose something that I have not really thought about as life-changing (as the prompt suggests I should do). I have had many life-changing events take place in my eighteen years, but trying to choose an event that has changed me, that I have also not given much thought, will be fairly difficult. However, I am certain that I will recall something that has changed my identity significantly because I am definitely not the same person I was, even just a year ago. I am most definitely looking forward to this essay; I believe it will be my favorite of the semester.
I agree with you that I bet it was hard for McIntosh to convince many people about her views. Oftentimes, the more formal the paper is, the less a reader can find passion and emotion behind the words. That being said, I don't think her paper was super formal, but it was fairly formal, and that made it harder to see just how important her argument was to her, which led to it being less convincing for some. The World of Warcraft essay wasn't exactly incredibly passionate, but the use of layman's terms made it easier for a reader to see that there was a clear issue that needed to be recognized. I felt compelled to re-examine my own life as a game more than I felt compelled to create a list of my privileges just because the second paper was less formal.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the second essay is more easily approachable. While both are useful and knowledgeable, McIntosh's essay to me seems like a lecture in a sense, and I feel that for those unaware of or in denial of their own privilege may be more likely to dismiss what McIntosh is trying to say because it feels more objective and less personal.
ReplyDeleteWhile I feel that Scalzi's essay was geared more towards the straight white male audience, I do think that this essay can be applied towards talking about other privileges including class and disability. In fact, I think that both essays do play an important role in talking about privilege, because despite how it is discussed, it is something that we have to discuss regardless.