Kaiserschmarrn wrote:I'm not sure I agree that immigrants in Europe and Britain merged with the native working class. As far as identification goes, both sides viewed themselves as distinct, otherwise we wouldn't have needed to start a debate about multiculturalism after those immigration waves and the left wouldn't historically have been so opposed to immigration. You are obviously right that there are differences for historical reasons, but these are just variations of the same underlying concept: historical injustices and oppression that we have to repent for: slavery in America, colonialism in Britain and national socialism in Germany. It seems obvious to me that this movement is now for the most part independent of the underlying causes. Why else would a country like Sweden engage in the same types of behaviours as Germany?
No one is asking anyone to repent of anything.
Instead, people are just being asked to recognise how these historical injustices have affected society and how they still affect society.
In doing so, we can hopefully move towards a more egalitarian future.
I agree with you that we are dealing with inverted forms of historical relationships: anti-racism, anti-colonialism, anti-nationalism, etc. The categories that were established in the past are more important than ever. And again, the same is true for other types of relationships. What is "the patriarchy" other than the equivalent of white privilege with respect to gender relations? It's all the same and it can be summarised as identity politics which is the basis on which pretty much every western country is operating today. White privilege is not special or distinct in any significant way.
This is correct. It is not special or distinct. At times, it may have a more significant impact than other forms of bigotry or privilege, but this is true of all forms of bigotry and privilege.
Yes and note that all of these lie in the past. There's nothing comparable in the western world today which, in my estimation, should actually matter. Yet, we are supposed to believe that there is some obscure, vague and all-encompassing legacy of these that is operating in the west today which is just as horrible and causes just as much suffering. That's nonsense, plain and simple.
I think we need to distinguish between discrimination and privilege. Discrimiis something so overt that it is universally recognized, e.g. lynching, pogroms, apartheid, etc. Privilege is far subtler and is not necessarily noticed by those who are not directly affected by it.
Also, overt discrimination is still going on in the western world in many places.