Post #4263231

2026-07-31 02:41 UTC

@muddle@infosec.exchange @emeb@society.oftrolls.com It amazed me the flames Scalzi ignited with his post about how being a white male in the USA was playing life on the easiest skill setting. He wasn't claiming that white males in the US "had it made," or anything like that. But change any part of that, and it clearly could only make life more challenging. A bunch of white male US crybabies objected. I'm a white male in the US, and my life isn't the best, but I fully agree with Scalzi's statement.

Replies (2)

@muddle@infosec.exchange 2026-07-31 02:58

@brouhaha@mastodon.social @emeb@society.oftrolls.com As I said, this was my first time coming across it. I can understand why he might have got a negative reaction. People feeling threatened by it and feeling uncomfortably like he's referring to them, I guess. It didn't bother me at all, but I get the idea that some people have such fragile egos that if "cleverness" (not necessarily even theirs) is attacked, they take it as a personal attack on them. Also, yeah, it's good to acknowledge the privilege of being able to play "easy mode." I've read pluralistic talking about it regarding his relatively easy path to citizenship (actually, really fucking hard). It's a show of solidarity... recognising that other people have it much worse. So, from what I've gathered from this conversation, I'm also 100% in agreement with Scalzi. Thanks for filling me in on the history.

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@muddle@infosec.exchange 2026-07-31 03:03

@brouhaha@mastodon.social @emeb@society.oftrolls.com Actually, related to that, I'm reminded of Joan Westenberg's thing about "unstatus." Rephrase it or recontextualise it in terms of white privilege (you, me and her are all white) and contrast it with why other white guys feel so threatened with loss of privilege and so much of the modern world (eg, the deliberate fuelling of grievances) makes sense. There has got to be a better way. So, yeah... being an asshole is a privilege. Nobody has to be one, though.

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