So straight white science fiction author dude John Scalzi has created a bit of a hubbub amongst straight white dudes on the interwebs with a blog post called Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is. The post, later reposted on Kotaku, is basically an attempt to talk to fellow dudes in their own language about the concept of privilege “without invoking the dreaded word ‘privilege,’ to which they react like vampires being fed a garlic tart at high noon.” (And they do.)
Scalzi’s thesis:
Dudes. Imagine life here in the US – or indeed, pretty much anywhere in the Western world – is a massive role playing game, like World of Warcraft except appallingly mundane, where most quests involve the acquisition of money, cell phones and donuts, although not always at the same time. Let’s call it The Real World. You have installed The Real World on your computer and are about to start playing, but first you go to the settings tab to bind your keys, fiddle with your defaults, and choose the difficulty setting for the game. Got it?
Okay: In the role playing game known as The Real World, “Straight White Male” is the lowest difficulty setting there is.
This means that the default behaviors for almost all the non-player characters in the game are easier on you than they would be otherwise. The default barriers for completions of quests are lower. Your leveling-up thresholds come more quickly. You automatically gain entry to some parts of the map that others have to work for. The game is easier to play, automatically, and when you need help, by default it’s easier to get.
Scalzi should have added “cis” to “straight white male,” but otherwise I’d say that’s fairly spot-on.
Of course, as Scalzi himself points out, life for straight white (cis) dudes is not always peaches and cream. They may have any of a number of disadvantages in life that make things difficult for them. They may have been born poor, or in a war zone; they may have been abused as children or the victim of crime or violence as an adult. Or faced any number of other problems and conditions and disadvantages.
Scalzi deals with this issue a little more obliquely than he could have, noting that some people begin the grand game of “The Real World” with more points than others, and that this can make a good deal of difference.
But do straight white cis males face disadvantages stemming from being straight white cis men? I honestly can’t think of any that have affected my life in any serious way, and these small disadvantages pale in comparison to the many advantages. Yeah, I had to register for the draft when I turned 18. Of course, when I registered there was no draft, and there still isn’t one, and the draft has virtually no chance of being resurrected in the foreseeable future, so I can’t say this requirement has affected my life in any tangible way.
As Scalzi puts it:
If you start with fewer points and fewer of them in critical stat categories, or choose poorly regarding the skills you decide to level up on, then the game will still be difficult for you. But because you’re playing on the “Straight White Male” setting, gaining points and leveling up will still by default be easier, all other things being equal, than for another player using a higher difficulty setting.
Anyway, Scalzi got a lot of responses to his post, many of them from straight white dudes outraged by his assertions. So he wrote a followup taking some of these critics to task. He was particularly amused by the criticism that by “picking on” straight white males he was being racist and sexist.
This particular comment was lobbed at me primarily from aggrieved straight white males. Leaving aside entirely that the piece was neither, let me just say that I think it’s delightful that these straight white males are now engaged on issues of racism and sexism. It would be additionally delightful if they were engaged on issues of racism and sexism even when they did not feel it was being applied to them — say, for example,when it’s regarding people who historically have most often had to deal with racism and sexism (i.e., not white males). Keep at it, straight white males! You’re on the path now!
I am sure there are many gems of obtuseosity in the comments, and in the Reddit thread on his original post. But it’s Friday night, and I have a migraine — which sucks, but it’s not because I’m a straight white cis dude — so I’m going to let you guys find them for me.
EDITED TO ADD: Thinking a bit more about Scalzi’s central metaphor here, and I don’t think it completely works: he assumes that obstacles other than racism, sexism, and homophobia can be explained as the equivalent of having started the game with fewer points. But it you have, for example, a disability, that’s something that makes you life harder every day; it’s more akin to raising the difficulty level than to starting off with fewer points. (Not to mention that you’re likely to face bigotry because of it as well.) This doesn’t erase the privileges a straight white male with disabilities gets from being straight, white, and male, of course, but it does ratchet up the difficulty.
“ever had a long term relationship with a member of the same sex? Did you discuss it at work the way many coworkers will discuss silly things their partners did? No? Welcome to discrimination!”
I don’t discuss my relationships with others, because that is how I roll. The only other LGBT person I know of is open, popular, and happy. So, on the surface, things seem fine.
Still not sayings LGBTs don’t face discrimination, despite what others claim.
“ever gone out in drag? Try it some time, see how far from your door you get before someone honks, yells “hey baby” or something else along those lines. The college students may be particularly rude, but no, I’m not exaggerating.”
Still not as bad as not having food on the table, or being unable to afford a medical procedure, or being homeless.
“implied by the verbal vomit about how we care too much.”
Do you even comprehend how much of the world suffers? Do you know how small that portion is LGBT?
Also, I was orginally pointing out that orientation, race, and the rest of the listed factos should not be the only ones considered when considering the “difficulty level” one starts out in life.
And to edit a post I made like a million years ago, I just realized the problematic phrase Shadow was referring to was likely the “white of you” one. Which, yeah. When I first read it I just blankly stared at the page for a while, thinking “That can’t possibly mean what I think it means…can it?”
Remember guys, if there are people starving in Africa, you can’t complain about LGBT suffering in the first world. So sayeth super bloop.
You know going out in drag and encountering the wrong people can get you killed, right?
Am I not allowed to try to shame you for something no one was doing? In all seriousness look at you, you are minimizing queer discrimination. You are allowed to say no I am bisexual but don’t try to guilt trip people…you are very see through you know. XD
cop out much? XD
Also you only know one other lgtb person. Dude there are lgtb here on this very forum including me who have dealt with shit. I have never met one lgtb person that has not faced any discrimination.
Duh.
The people you are arguing with have said the very same thing.
Even the original article pointed out that lacking in the “wealth” stat can make “Easy Mode” harder than other people on “Easy Mode” have it.
Then 200 comments in you walk in and accuse Libruls of only caring about one thing ever and you wonder why people aren’t behaving “civil” towards you?
I am not sure what is so hard to get that oppression has layers. Certain things may suck more than others but that doesn’t mean the ones that are not as sucky don’t matter or should be sidelined for the “real” issues. I don’t ID as a liberal but most of them don’t only care about just the lgbt so I am not even sure where you are pulling that out of your ass.
Maybe we should use another metaphor. See, oppression is like an onion. They both have layers!
“You know going out in drag and encountering the wrong people can get you killed, right?” — no I don’t think he does. And that it’s more likely to result in everything else he listed?
super bloop —
“The only other LGBT person I know of is open, popular, and happy. So, on the surface, things seem fine.” — a sample size of 1! That is not a fucking statistic. (Is it just me or do I end up trying to teach ALL our trolls basic stats?)
“Still not as bad as not having food on the table, or being unable to afford a medical procedure, or being homeless.” — see above, and then go have a look at youth homelessness and the percent that are LGBT. Intersectionality, you fail.
“Do you even comprehend how much of the world suffers? Do you know how small that portion is LGBT?” — so why are you wasting time online, don’t you have starving children to be feeding? (A large portion is LGBT than is you, seeing how you’re 1:6,000,000,000~)
Gods a billion is a lot of zeros.
“Also, I was orginally pointing out that orientation, race, and the rest of the listed factos should not be the only ones considered when considering the “difficulty level” one starts out in life.” — which we already did back on page *1*
“Maybe we should use another metaphor. See, oppression is like an onion. They both have layers!” — like Orges! (Shrek, not LoTR)
I was making that reference actually. XD
(not the best metaphor but its the first one that came to mind so I ran with it)
We could also use cakes as an example. Or parfaits.
Blinkered libruls only care about Onions.
For a minute there, liberals only cared about cakes, then they only cared about parfaits.
THERE IS MORE TO COOKING THAN THIS, LIBRULS!
Why can’t liberals either make up their minds or be super-enlightened about everything, like me?
Tulgey — yep, they really bring the liberal sauce together.
Affirmative Action is only rarely a matter of law to begin with, you fuckwit.
No, it isn’t.
http://econ.duke.edu/~hf14/teaching/povertydisc/readings/bertrand-mullainathan2004.pdf
White dudes get more attention in hiring, for the same effort.
I did present my argument, I’m just capable of writing well; that means not announcing everything I’m doing in the most bombastic way possible. Most readers possess comprehension beyond that of a concussed gibbon; if you insist, I can lower my writing to such a level, but I will make sure you regret it.
Because it isn’t. There are black women, after all. But if a white person in the same basic situation doesn’t have to put up with shit a black person does, that very strongly suggests that blackness is the reason for it.
Learn what intersectionality means, and thenspeak.
And make less money for it on average.
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/05/26/explaining-gender-gaps-by-education-and-age/
Notice that this already is accounting for full round workers, and women are actually more likely to pick a profitable major, not less.
You have no idea how many people you just erased with all those qualifiers, do you?
Not in my quick availability folder, not going to do your homework for you. Fair enough if you don’t believe me, but the data exists and is not kind to your argument.
If you need a citation for “women default to being primary caregiver before divorce”, you’re a dumbass, but that actually is in my quick links folder.
http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/content/39/2/150.short
http://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/Abstract/2002/12000/Informal_Caregiving__Differential_Experiences_by.12.aspx
Women actually win less than they should, because they are so disproportionately primary caregivers, and allegedly this is the largest factor in custody determinations.
Seeing as I’m a human in a deeply bigoted culture, that’d be correct, it’s just also true for you and I actually try and correct both myself and my culture, unlike you; you’re too busy making excuses for the majority. Now, that said, nothing about what I said is bigotted, you just do not understand something before attempting to parody it.
You are digging your hole deeper. And no, that does not remotely approach what ‘taboo’ means.
Yes, it is, for you. You’ve erased the pain of me and mine. Find some private little corner of the internet before wanking rather than choosing to try to do it in front of me.
Oh what if your parents or friends asked if you were dating someone and you were going out with someone of the same gender? I mean would you still hold back? what if you were marrying someone of the same gender? Would you feel any fear about inviting your coworkers/friends/family to the wedding?
Also have you ever seen people bash someone for liking someone of the same gender in real life?
I have heard people say a LOT of nasty things about liberals in my life (I live in AZ), but “you don’t care enough about classism or ableism” has never, EVER been one of them.
WTF, dude? Seriously???
You’re dumb, even for a troll. Try harder.
“Most readers possess comprehension beyond that of a concussed gibbon; if you insist, I can lower my writing to such a level, but I will make sure you regret it.” — I think a concussed gibbon probably still has both more brain cells knocking together, and more empathy (admittedly I know my bonobos better than my gibbons)
“You have no idea how many people you just erased with all those qualifiers, do you?” — and he doesn’t care because there are starving children in Africa, or whatever it is we’re supposed to care about (and this is the point where I note if you actually care about starving children in Africa super bloop, try MSF, they’ll be happy to put your donations towards feeding children in need)
Seriously super bloop, this is why I want you put on mod — “Yes, it is, for you. You’ve erased the pain of me and mine. Find some private little corner of the internet before wanking rather than choosing to try to do it in front of me.” — and “put on mod” =/= banned, it means David has to approve your shit before you can spew it on the rest of us.
Is being on mod the one thing NWO doesn’t complain about? He is on mod isn’t he?
“You’re dumb, even for a troll. Try harder.” — or just go bother people somewhere else
“no you used a word that is wildly considered an insult…”
If one is insulted when the word is being used by someone who says he doesn’t care what you wear, then, frankly, the person needs to take a chill pill.
“being persistently annoying is though, and oh boy are you working on digging that hole. “If you’re especially, or persistently, offensive, disruptive, or tedious, I’ll put you on moderation””
I’m not particularly offensive, nor disrupive. Tedious maybe, but that’s very suggestive.
“Also superbloop, David is not the gov’n, he can censor people all he wants. It’s one of the perks of running your own blog. Why don’t you go comment on anti-manboobz or something.”
I believe in morals. Also, I didn’t see the sign that said “Fanboys/girls ONLY!”
“More like almost all social circles and that fact there there is only a few niches of acceptance doesn’t sound oppressive to you? and its not only social shame, its being disowned by family and friends, its being fired form your job, beaten and harassed on the streets, and so much more. All from just being trans.”
If you can find the place where I said it wasn’t, I’ll give you a million dollars. Indeed, that is terrible. But you know what else is terrible? Dying of a preventable disease. And what else? Starving to death.
“Not thats not what it means. Go look on wikipedia you idiot. It refers to crossdressing only while identifying as your assigned birth gender. The word you are looking for is trans or transgendered.”
I already corrected myself, lol.
If I used wikipedia, I’d be called a N00B.
“Why do you keep referring to bisexuality as actions? You don’t even understand your own orientation. Plus if you were an actual out bisexual than you would know that its not 100% accepted anywhere in the world at this current time.”
Because the actions are what are directly obserable to the public.
I live in a good place. Some people disagree with it, but that is the same for all socially unacceptable things. Its really part of a much larger core of human thinking.
“Can you openly talk about your relationships with the same gender without any repercussions/gay bashing? Can you get married to a person of the same relationship if you wanted to? Do you ever fear the possibility of being harassed or beaten for admitting you like the same gender? Did you fear coming out to your friends and family due to rejection? ”
I never said gays suffered no oppressition. I was just being honest about the question at hand. Stop putting words into my mouth. The only thing that is bad around here is that there is no gay marriage. But there is also no polygamist nor incestual marriage. All three are wrong, but only the first gets talked about.
Wasn’t I debating that gender orientation and similar factors weren’t the only ones affecting difficulty setting in life? Why have we wandered so far from that point?
“No I am questioning it because you know nothing about sexuality or even your own sexuality. You also deny widespread oppression against the queer community and pretend its only a few people in a few places.”
Where have I denied it? Where did I say a few places (I said some).
Simple question.
“You said: never said they were completely irrelevant. I said they existed for all sexes, races, and taboos. But other factors are FAR more important than these. ”
Comepltely different from what you say I’m saying. I’m saying there is a problem, but there is worse ones out there. Sorry for thinking that not having access to health care, money, or education are worse than being discriminated against.
“No one said we should only focus on one or a few groups.”
Then why do you?
And before you pretend that your personal answers to these all being positive means gayness is fine and hunky dory, I have refrained from introducing my girlfriend to my dad because being disowned at the moment would be very inconvenient, and we are currently basing plans over how gay marriage turns out in her country (It exists, but it may be under some measure of threat. And would still be more complete than meriken rights if their conservatives win). If we were basing it around Merika, where *I* live, we ‘d have to call them off, because of the sheer number of restrictions placed on us.
And if you are meriken, don’t forget your marriage stops counting if you visit 60% of the country while gay, because it is not a real marriage. Even if your state recognizes absolutely zero barriers, other states will take the highly illegal choice to not recognize it.
I’m hoping “try harder” will result in “understanding intersectionality”.