Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/

by jhuckestein • 14 years ago

13 15 14 years ago

whatever.scalzi.com

They mean intelligent, tall, handsome, straight, white, male.

mc322• 14 years ago

I think there's also a western bias. Put a white male outside their element and I'm not sure, an average, a white male would do much better than an equivalent local‡, if not worse.

For example, I lived in SEAsia for two years. In some places, you cannot own a business (as any foreigner). If you do want to own, you marry (a local) or get yourself a (business) partner. Due to cultural differences, the white male westerner would just not be able to compete with the local.

Living in East Asia, I saw two predominant types of white male westerners, those who tried to eke out a living in E asia (somewhat less educated) and the professionals (typically better educated). There was a third class, and that was hired guns (tantamount to high level consulting).

‡Of equivalent background, education, etc.

rdl2• 14 years ago

In most of the world I got treated as well as a particularly high status local by being a white educated American male.

(in some cases, sure, a huge security risk too, but they basically assume the white foreigner can solve their problems for them -- at least in Asia, Middle East, etc., which are lacking in white people.)

In the middle east this could cause some serious problems where people from Iraq/Afghanistan assumed any idiot from the US who happened to be white actually knew what he was talking about on any issue. They'd go with a totally uneducated or domain-ignorant white guy giving advice he made up on the spot, over a non-white (local or South Asian) credentialed or highly experienced expert.

In China (and some other places, Thailand, etc.) this leads to hiring white guys to act as public faces for organizations. It's also one of the things international management consulting firms have to rely on in some markets. It's really stupid.

rdl2• 14 years ago

This would account for why the highest scores recently, and most high scores we have a record of in history's leaderboard, were from people "playing on easy mode". Some of history's high scores were from people abusing bugs or using cheat codes, but outside of a few parts of the game now (finance...), a lot of those have been patched.

(As the game shifts to technology, I think at least some subset of Asians, at least those with access to the US and global markets, are on easy mode too, and showing up more and more on high score lists.)

unit_testing2• 14 years ago

Tell this to an unattractive, poor white male[1] who watches enviously as an attractive, middle-class black male is given a subsidized college education.

"Your life is easier because you're white. Feel guilty. Feel sheepish about any of your accomplishments, because they were made easier due to your lack of melanin."

Perhaps this white male – with his lack of melanin – has sun-damaged skin with several large, prominent moles, all of which contribute to his lower self-esteem.

"Your life is easier because you're white. Feel guilty. Feel sheepish about any of your accomplishments, because they were made easier due to your lack of melanin."

People in the past with his same skin color have done bad things, so belittle at him when he complains that it's acceptable and politically correct to be bigoted toward pale people. Call him backwards for feeling resentful and bitter. Remember, you are better than him—his life is easy.

Some people feel powerful and superior when they bash their perceived peers. John Scalzi is one of those people.

[1]: Excuse me—I meant "white trash".

Vitaly• 14 years ago

not buying. an "unattractive, poor white male" will still have it easier then an "unattractive, poor black male".

Re-read the article. People do indeed get different numbers of "points" to start with, and the variation within a group is still bigger then differences between the groups, so someone can be black, and yet attractive, physically fit, extremely intelligent and from a wealthy family - a very 'easy' difficulty level to play at, and yet, replace 'black' with 'white' and it will become even easier still.

blackjack160• 14 years ago

Alexis Ohanian said it better and in a less incendiary way @ HN's event in NYC last year:

Being a middle-class white male with loving parents is like playing the game of life on easy mode. One has an obligation to do good things for the world - in acknowledgement that there is more to be done and that others deserve the same environment you were born into. (Paraphrasing)

That's a balanced viewpoint, one that's hard to resent.

unit_testing2• 14 years ago

Why add the "white" qualifier?

Think about it: By many measures, all things being equal, it's actually (institutionally!) easier to be a non-white (non-Asian) male.

The all things being equal qualifier is extremely important, of course—being born white is correlated with being born middle-class with loving parents. But it in-and-of-itself, it does not make things easier.

If you are born black, it's less likely that you will be born middle class, and it's far less likely that you will have loving parents. But that's issue we need to focus on.

Being born white does not make your life easier. Being born middle-class with loving parents does. Love your kids—don't teach them to hate themselves (and their peers) if they're white.

MaysonL• 14 years ago

Why add the "white"? Because in general, it's true.

smarsh• 14 years ago

I would argue that it is in fact easy to resent having one's accomplishments belittled on the basis of race, gender and sexuality.

Even if it is, generally speaking, a true statement when applied to the demographic as a whole, individuals will always bristle at such language.

carsongross• 14 years ago

"Straight white guys don't react well to being told they are privileged. I will, therefore, come up with a condescending, stereotypical metaphor in order to tell them they are privileged, in hopes that this will...

well, get some clicks anyway."

gtg092x• 14 years ago

That would be the nail you just hit on the head there

astrofinch• 14 years ago

Society's stereotype is that straight white men have it easy, but I haven't seen any careful analysis supporting this conclusion.

For example, I would guess that gay men have an easier time getting laid. Was that factored in? See also "female privilege" lists like this one: http://www.feministcritics.org/blog/2008/06/08/female-privil...

Is there any point in arguing which faction has it the worst? Let's just help each other out without regard to demographics, eh?

baxrob• 14 years ago

What is this, slashdot?

Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is

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