Bullockist wrote:
It's a privilege in this day and age to be able to go out and kill people as part of your day job, more white people do it than black people, so I guess that white privilege in the army is a thing.

Also in order to stamp out white privilege in the US i think the white house should be renamed the indeterminate colour house and painted in all the colours of the rainbow...oh wait.

 kronk wrote:
Fight the foreign fethers, not each other.

I suppose the USA could declare war on Luxembourg

 Frazzled wrote:

I suppose the USA could declare war on Luxembourg

Credible threats that I will sacrifice and lead our forces against:

*Tahiti
*Cancun
*Greece
*Brazil but only during samba season.

 Talizvar wrote:
The military strives for cohesive fighting force, each special snowflake just throws planning out the window.
Standardization and consistency is the way to go.
Trying to differentiate between various colored strategic assets is pointless.
Funny how some person decided to be special and appeared to have no idea how loaded the word "privilege" is now.
I would have figured by now the only privilege that mattered was one of rank.

The Army is investigating allegations by soldiers in an Alaska platoon that the unit leader encouraged soldiers to use racial slurs against each other every Thursday as a way to build morale and camaraderie.

Lt. Col. Alan Brown, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Alaska, confirmed that the Army has begun an inquiry into allegations into the practice, known as "Racial Thursdays."

Two soldiers in the platoon described the possible racial hazing to the Army Times. They asked that their names not be used to protect their privacy.

"An informal complaint was made through command channels, and the commander has already assigned an investigating officer and the investigation is ongoing," Brown told the Army Times. "The command is extremely sensitive to any allegations that involve equal opportunity or discrimination and will investigate every allegation."

Brown, citing the ongoing inquiry, said he could not provide any more details.

One of the soldiers who filed a complaint is an African-American staff sergeant who said his platoon leader encouraged "Racial Thursdays."

The platoon is with the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Wainwright in Alaska.

The soldier said he was told members of the unit could make racist slurs without consequences, although none was directed at him. He said he filed a complaint to stop the practice.

The second soldier told the Army Times that hurling racial slurs at other members of the unit was voluntary, not compulsory. He cited one case in which a Hispanic member of the platoon was called demeaning names based on his ethnicity for an entire day and nearly got into a fight over the slurs.

Brown, the spokesman, said that until the investigation is completed, "it's important to emphasize that these allegations are just that … and that's what the investigation has been assigned to find out, exactly what happened and if anything happened."

The platoon under investigation is part of a company involved in a controversy over ethnic hazing of a Chinese-American member who later committed suicide.

Pvt. Danny Chen committed suicide on Oct. 3, 2011, while deployed to Afghanistan. The Army ruled that Chen killed himself because he was hazed over his Chinese ancestry.

Investigators told Chen's family he was called names while in training and hazed in Afghanistan.

"Our son died, and there is no reason why he should have died," Su Zhen Chen, the soldier's mother, told the Associated Press in 2012.

On the day of his death, Chen was forced to crawl about 100 yards across gravel carrying his equipment while fellow soldiers threw rocks at him, his family said.

At least eight soldiers were either court-martialed or administratively punished in the case.

Brown said there is "absolutely no connection between this current investigation and the case of Pvt. Danny Chen." He added: "Treating all soldiers with dignity and respect is something this command takes extremely seriously, and when there are any indications that those values are not being followed, the command will absolutely make inquiries, conduct appropriate investigations and take action as necessary."

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
It's kinda true, being white in America mean you have certain advantages, but it doesn't mean you have any sort of privilege.

 Talizvar wrote:

I would have figured by now the only privilege that mattered was one of rank.

 NuggzTheNinja wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
There is a difference between advantage and privilege.

What exactly do you think "privilege" means, if not "advantage"?

They have completely different meanings according to the dictionary.

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

I suppose the USA could declare war on Luxembourg

Credible threats that I will sacrifice and lead our forces against:

*Tahiti
*Cancun
*Greece
*Brazil but only during samba season.

What's your beef with the Greeks? Don't tell me they owe you money as well?

 d-usa wrote:

 Talizvar wrote:

I would have figured by now the only privilege that mattered was one of rank.

What about the privilege of being married to rank?

"My Husband is a Major, show me respect!"

 Jihadin wrote:

Like these idiots in Alaska

Spoiler:

The Army is investigating allegations by soldiers in an Alaska platoon that the unit leader encouraged soldiers to use racial slurs against each other every Thursday as a way to build morale and camaraderie.

Lt. Col. Alan Brown, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Alaska, confirmed that the Army has begun an inquiry into allegations into the practice, known as "Racial Thursdays."

Two soldiers in the platoon described the possible racial hazing to the Army Times. They asked that their names not be used to protect their privacy.

"An informal complaint was made through command channels, and the commander has already assigned an investigating officer and the investigation is ongoing," Brown told the Army Times. "The command is extremely sensitive to any allegations that involve equal opportunity or discrimination and will investigate every allegation."

Brown, citing the ongoing inquiry, said he could not provide any more details.

One of the soldiers who filed a complaint is an African-American staff sergeant who said his platoon leader encouraged "Racial Thursdays."

The platoon is with the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Wainwright in Alaska.

The soldier said he was told members of the unit could make racist slurs without consequences, although none was directed at him. He said he filed a complaint to stop the practice.

The second soldier told the Army Times that hurling racial slurs at other members of the unit was voluntary, not compulsory. He cited one case in which a Hispanic member of the platoon was called demeaning names based on his ethnicity for an entire day and nearly got into a fight over the slurs.

Brown, the spokesman, said that until the investigation is completed, "it's important to emphasize that these allegations are just that … and that's what the investigation has been assigned to find out, exactly what happened and if anything happened."

The platoon under investigation is part of a company involved in a controversy over ethnic hazing of a Chinese-American member who later committed suicide.

Pvt. Danny Chen committed suicide on Oct. 3, 2011, while deployed to Afghanistan. The Army ruled that Chen killed himself because he was hazed over his Chinese ancestry.

Investigators told Chen's family he was called names while in training and hazed in Afghanistan.

"Our son died, and there is no reason why he should have died," Su Zhen Chen, the soldier's mother, told the Associated Press in 2012.

On the day of his death, Chen was forced to crawl about 100 yards across gravel carrying his equipment while fellow soldiers threw rocks at him, his family said.

At least eight soldiers were either court-martialed or administratively punished in the case.

Brown said there is "absolutely no connection between this current investigation and the case of Pvt. Danny Chen." He added: "Treating all soldiers with dignity and respect is something this command takes extremely seriously, and when there are any indications that those values are not being followed, the command will absolutely make inquiries, conduct appropriate investigations and take action as necessary."

 Slarg232 wrote:
A Black person is more likely to get aide for college tuition than a white person.
A Black person wins all ties in employment jockey-ing simply for being black and "promoting diversity".

 Kilkrazy wrote:
To be honest there is a vast amount of well founded research that shows the comparative advantages or privileges of being white in the USA. That is not to say there are no poor whites or rich blacks.

As for the army case, I believe it is counterproductive to blame white soldiers for being white, it simply emphasises the differences and leads to stronger group formation. It would be better to ignore differences and concentrate on everyone being part of the same team.

 djones520 wrote:
That is the point of the military. To help dampen the individuality, make us all "the same". This type of training is bad, because it tears that down. It's going to make non-whites jealous, it's going to piss whites off. That can in no way help. Especially if it leads to an undercurrent of thought that the "privileged" helps white service members advance over their peers.

This EO needs to get gak canned. It is their job to keep racial divides out of the services, and stuff like this only helps to heighten them.

 Breotan wrote:
Mindy Kaling's brother pretended to be black in order to get into a University medical program. Should he be shamed and forced into sensitivity training or admired for his ingenuity in overcoming obstacles?

 Sigvatr wrote:
Any sort of "sensitivity training" where you have people sit in a room and listen to others is the most stupid thing you could do. All that you achieve with such an idea is that you force people to sit in a room for 2+ hours, listening to a boring presentation that has no purpose but to rub you in how bad you should feel. The consequence? You further reinforce the attitudes you wanted to get rid of because you create further negative connotations and the only good feeling people have is when the lesson is over.

 Talizvar wrote:
Leave it to objectively producing results on what kind of communication military personnel get.
If I am to have someone watch my back, they at least need to know I think of them as a squad-mate and little else.
Pointing out differences is just a way of creating us-them scenarios.
Pretty sure "military culture" is to take front seat compared to anything recruits bring with them.

 Jihadin wrote:

 Talizvar wrote:
Leave it to objectively producing results on what kind of communication military personnel get.
If I am to have someone watch my back, they at least need to know I think of them as a squad-mate and little else.
Pointing out differences is just a way of creating us-them scenarios.
Pretty sure "military culture" is to take front seat compared to anything recruits bring with them.

We crush that "Back on the Block" attitude with extreme prejudice

Chokalingam was motivated to commit the fraud by the fact that he had a relatively low Grade Point Average of 3.1. Suspecting that certain US universities were employing affirmative action and positively discriminating in favour of candidates with an African American background, he decided to "test" his theory by rebranding himself as a black man.
As well as shaving his head and trimming his lashes, Chokalingam also applied to colleges using his middle name, Jojo (his parents were inspired by the African American basketball player Jo Jo White) and emphasised the fact that he had spent time in Nigeria as a child in interviews.
According to his website, as a "black" candidate with a 3.1 GPA, Chokalingam was considered by medical schools including Harvard, Pennsylvania and Columbia, and was eventually accepted by St Louis University in Missouri. He later dropped out, after changing his mind about pursuing a career in medicine, and now works (in a somewhat ironic twist) as a resume writer and graduate school application consultant. He has made it clear that he lied only about his race: all other details on his application were correct.

 Manchu wrote:

'To be white in America means not having to think about it.'

That's ... correct. But I can see how it might be bad to tell soldiers the truth. Along the same lines, the military wouldn't spend a lot of time showing soldiers slides about how unpopular wars are.

 djones520 wrote:
If the discussion was a fair and open one, then I'd say it might not be a bad idea. I've spent plenty of years undergoing military training though... that is not how it goes.

For years and years, I've had it beaten into me that I am a rapist because I am a man.

That is how the military conducts its EO training...