Mick Cearnes makes a frustratingly common category mistake when he suggests that labeling “old white men” as “grumpy”, or blaming them for being over-represented among opponents of social progress, can be equated with the kinds of prejudice experienced by black women, Muslims, or other marginalized social groups (Discussion, Sunday Mail, 06/08/17).
Sexism, racism and other forms of bigotry are not simply about saying ‘mean’ or offensive things to people of a particular gender, nor making stereotypical generalisations about certain racial groups. Such personal slurs are also part of broader political issues involving systemic forms of discrimination and disadvantage.
So, while older, particularly rich, white men can be stereotyped and (choose to be) offended by mean things people say, such ‘slurs’ carry none of the same connections to real social disadvantage, cultural erasure or historical dispossession as they might, say, for a homeless teenager, a queer woman, or an Indigenous Australian.
This is because white men, as white men, are not the victims of any systemic prejudices in our current society. But perhaps we should begin making the grumpy ones demonstrate commitment to our shared values of cheerfulness on pain of deportation. That would be a step toward ending prejudice, surely?
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