What I meant by riled up is frustrated by people pointing out actual white privilege in action.
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YouTube Video: "Dear White Beg-packers..." (See Staff Post)
- Thread starter Segafreak
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What I meant by riled up is frustrated by people pointing out actual white privilege in action.
Here I am thinking what I need to do and how much I'd need to save up to go to the countries I want to see one day, and these guys just shrug and decide to do it by handouts. And they smile about it too in their Instagram photos.
It takes a special kind of privileged shamelessness to pull that off.
It takes a special kind of privileged shamelessness to pull that off.
Well the weebs using it are definitely creating a separation between themselves (experts on Japanese culture) and the other 'uncultured' foreigners. And this is the exact way I have seen it used in Indonesia by Dutch people who used the word 'Belanda' (which just means Dutchman) amongst eachother when describing other Dutch tourists. It was definitely used because they found themselves more cultured and understanding of Indonesian culture and wanted to diffirentiate themselves from 'the other Dutchies'.
Not saying Zakie is using it in that way btw. Just sharing some anecdotal observations. I am very aware those could actually just be exceptions to the rule.
But I'm not? I'm in full agreement that white privilege, in action, is why the majority of beg-packers are probably white. For the sake of the argument, I'll even pretend that I'm omnipotent and know for a fact that literally every single beg-packer who has ever beg-packed was white. Heck, let's throw male privilege into the mix and say that all beg-packers are definitely white men. It still seems weird to me to make privilege the focal point of a video against beg-packing.
Privilege in this context of beg-packing means being able to engage in the practice with lower risk, and getting more generous treatment than those without privilege. Are we trying to argue that the risk should be higher for white men, or that people need to be less generous to them? Obviously not, we want the inverse... we want the world to be more generous and safe for minorities. But in the context of beg-packing, are we trying to argue for minorities to be able to beg-pack?
The problem with that being the motivation behind this type of content (IE, clicks rather than awareness). You're always going to have an audience among liberals by demonizing entitled white people irrespective of whether or not the activity that is being criticized is practiced by multiple races. Simultaneously, there's a good chance you'll piss off white conservatives who will angrily watch too. You'll also generate clicks via mechanisms such as this thread where people get heated because they're being called fragile for calling out obviously negative and unfounded racial implications.
You have to open it on youtube, like 90% of videos won't play on here
But your posts show that you are. We are not trying to argue any of those things.
The phenomenon of begpacking is one thing, the phenomenon of white people doing this is another. And this is what the video focuses on. This is a prime example of white people being blind to their privileges. And white people being blind to their privileges is a huge issue that helps perpetuate all kinds of social issues.
This is a specific thing that should be spoken about, it highlights white privilege in action in a clear cut way.
As the One True Lord God King Fuhrer President of All White People Caeser Forever, I feel an obligation to remind those viewing this thread of a few things.
1. I don't have to watch this video to fully understand how it is racist against me.
2. You can never understand my privilege so you aren't allowed to talk about it.
3. It hurts my feelings when I agree with the point you're making but you question my authority when I quite fairly point out that you rudely reminded me of my whiteness and only my income bracket is allowed to do that so stop kay thanx.
4. I don't have a fourth point but I would like to reiterate that I am super woke and you are being the real racists, and you really shouldn't respond with images I don't understand because they're from the video I didn't watch.
Respect.
1. I don't have to watch this video to fully understand how it is racist against me.
2. You can never understand my privilege so you aren't allowed to talk about it.
3. It hurts my feelings when I agree with the point you're making but you question my authority when I quite fairly point out that you rudely reminded me of my whiteness and only my income bracket is allowed to do that so stop kay thanx.
4. I don't have a fourth point but I would like to reiterate that I am super woke and you are being the real racists, and you really shouldn't respond with images I don't understand because they're from the video I didn't watch.
Respect.
White beg-packers may or may not be blind to their privilege. It's entirely possible that they're fully aware of their privilege while engaging in the practice. If they're scummy enough to beg-pack in the first place, stopping to think "gee aren't I lucky I'm white?" probably isn't gonna get them to stop.
Seen them quite often in hk and Taiwan, I think I prefer the missionary that ride around on bicycle and actually learned Chinese and taiwanese trying to convert you to their faith instead.
It doesn't matter if their aware of it or not, the fact is this is a prime example of it. This is not hard to understand. The video explains itself clearly.
beg-packing is a nothing burger - it wouldn't even exist if the levels of scorn displayed in this thread were evident in the people passing them by.
User Banned (3 days) Driving Thread Derailment Over Series of Posts
Admittedly I haven't watched the video yet, as I already have a decent enough grasp on what white privilege and beg-packing are, and my internet is garbage-tier mobile hotspot so I probably won't watch it until I go back to work.
But are you basically saying that the video is essentially just using beg-packing an an example of white privilege's existence? If so, that's pretty obvious. And for those in denial about white privilege being a thing, I doubt a racially charged clickbait title is gonna get those kinds of folk to listen... it'll almost certainly just get 'em to double down on their ignorance.
There's no way to talk about white privilege without upsetting white people because the concept itself is inherently insulting to them. The video host being nicer and dancing around the point would solve nothing.
It's not a nothing burger, it's an example of gross privilege in action. The white people doing it more so because of inherent privleges that come with being white, especially if they're traveling to poorer countries.
Have been backpacking through 30 or so countries and have never actually seen this... Only from maybe someone who had an accident and needs money to get home on facebook or something.. Most backpackers are not like this and i would say this is extremely rare.. Abhorent yes, but rare.
I'm not mad, but I also don't think "worse things are happening" is a legitimate argument against me questioning the practice.
I've had some time to reflect, and I believe what bothers me is the exclusivity of the terms.
What I mean is:
Remember that one brit who said something like "A Brit is never a foreigner, wherever he goes"? This reminded me of it. These terms don't simply mean foreigner, they usually mean "foreigner.. to me", in a way. This way of phrasing things in English makes it so that its always a term for "others" (when used by a native speaker), never for yourself.
I'm not entirely sure why, but that rubs me wrong. And like I said, I see no purpose in using these terms in English besides "othering".
Sorry about the derail though, feel free to retort via PM if you want to argue semantics with me, I feel bad distracting from the discussion.
The biggest problem is obviously that these people are usually lying. They have money, they just don't want to spend it while traveling.
And when they aren't lying and spent their last money on a plane ticket to fucking Thailand or wherever, which can be pricey, then they're just stupid and should be ignored so they learn a lesson.
And when they aren't lying and spent their last money on a plane ticket to fucking Thailand or wherever, which can be pricey, then they're just stupid and should be ignored so they learn a lesson.
True. I've just been wondering if it was necessary to alienate those folks by making white privilege a focal point at all if the video's just about highlighting how crummy the practice of beg-packing is, but my initial vector for joining the conversation was just based off of its title... and apparently the video might be less about beg-packing and more about white privilege?
As I haven't seen the video and it has apparently been delisted, I don't think I have any other thoughts worth contributing to the thread, so I'll duck out.
In a world where 80% of the population hasn't taken their first flight, you get this weird privileged reverse colonialism. It's utterly baffling. Incidentally, it reminds me of the enormous spike of people who would brazenly ask you for 20 bucks for gas when prices went over $2.00 for the first time, when they obviously wanted it for cigarettes, alcohol, or meth. It took the better part of a decade for people to stop doing this.
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Why did you try so hard to argue when you hadn't even watched it? All your questions would have been answered if you had, why didn't you just wait instead of working on assumptions?
That was a bit ridiculous, right?
Can we stop acting like this is a new trend? It's just a fancy new word to describe a decades-old phenomena really. I'd be willing to bet this is on the rise however, sure, YT/social media giving these f*ckwits a new level of exposure.
Also, talking from experience: definitely not an exclusively white-dude trend. But omg the most ballsy/obnoxious/disrespectful ones I've seen sure as f were 100% white lol, let's not pretend otherwise.
Also, talking from experience: definitely not an exclusively white-dude trend. But omg the most ballsy/obnoxious/disrespectful ones I've seen sure as f were 100% white lol, let's not pretend otherwise.
White people are ALWAYS aware of their privilege. Why do you think they get so upset ehn minorities try to do the same things? Just to even travel I have to be prepared for "the treatment" you know those helpful people in customs or the police that make sure every single step and rule has been followed perfectly for my own benefit of course.
They benefit from it always, they're not necessarily aware of it.
It's a good way to dodge discussion about the actual issue and make it about white people's feelings :)
It's especially funny when people who obviously haven't watched the video come in to argue the "white" part exclusively
Except the video didn't state "white people are dumb".
Why even bother to post if you're going to be so absurdly dishonest?
Should this woman have not made the video in your opinion? What were some of her points you agreed with?
Oh spare me lol
Perfect example of it though
It's a nothing burger.
Gross priviledge is hyperbole.
Yeah it's well off white kids doing stupid shit - ignore them and they'll fuck off.
Guess what, the vast, vast majority of people in the countries they're dicking around in couldn't give a flying fuck and just get on with their daily lives and if they come across them probably look on with the mild disdain they probably deserve.
It's nothng.
I am honestly blown away that this exists.
Going from a very wealthy western country to most less developed countries the currency exchange rate already makes me feel like I am a millionaire, I wouldn't dare go there and beg the locals for handouts.
Going from a very wealthy western country to most less developed countries the currency exchange rate already makes me feel like I am a millionaire, I wouldn't dare go there and beg the locals for handouts.
Staff Post: Please don't just respond to the thread title
Official Staff Communication
This video addresses a specific observable trend and provides clear explanation for its commentary. Please don't respond with only reactions to the thread/video title and its framing device.
No, it's not, and your instance that it is is pretty gross.
White Privilege is a real issue no matter how much you want to deny that.
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