[DARISC]

Originally Posted by nostatic

for a group that loves to wave the "personal responsibility" flag, there seems to be a lot of whining and "poor me" going on.

I have worked very hard. But I also realize that many aspects of my life have been easier than those around me simply because of my race and gender. I have seen salary inequalities with my own eyes within my own departments. I have heard the offhand comments that people make that illustrate the sometimes subtle, other times overt bias and prejudice that lives in everyone (myself included).

I'm sure there are individual exceptions, but the bottom line is that historically if you are a white male you have a much better chance of getting ahead. This has changed in certain circumstances over the past few decades, in part due to specific efforts to "level the playing field." Are quotas right? Not sure I agree with them, but I understand why they were created.

I'm not saying that the "white culture" (a bit of an oxymoron if you ask me) has to disappear. But in fact US "culture" has always been a moving target, infused with a broad swath of diversity. Now the numbers are moving away from whites and that has them sick and nervous. I wonder how the native Americans felt when the whites started changed the demographics of the land?

Do we have to pay for the "sins of the father"? Well, someone usually does. There is no free lunch. And the white male by-and-large has had the cheapest lunch of any ethnic group in this country. That seems to be changing. You say it is bad. I don't say it is good or bad...it just is, but I at least am sensitive to the history of it.

Very well put.