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b_b
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b_b  ·  3234 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Shock European court decision: Websites are liable for users’ comments | Ars Technica UK  ·  

You most certainly did not write what white guilt "means". You interpreted an idiom literally and nothing more, and even in that case, I still don't understand the comparison.

We live in a historical context and a cultural milieu. I have Mayflower ancestors, for example. Therefore, it is quite likely that some of my forebears were slave owners. I don't feel guilty about that in the sense that I would feel guilty if I made some transgression against a friend. The term "white guilt" has become somewhat pejorative, because it doesn't imply that one actually feels shame or guilt about some else long ago committing a specific act against black people, but that whites go out of their way nonetheless to try to recognize and compensate for their better relative position in life (collectively). Sometimes this manifests itself in ways that seem silly or nonsensical--hence the pejorative. But really, what "white guilt" implies is that you have the ability to recognize the milieu and that you're not dense enough to think that we are born on equal footing due specifically to the context in which we're raised.

If you think that everyone is born with a more or less equal chance in life to succeed, then there's no help for you. I suggest reading some history. This is a fantastic place to start.