WHITE MAN BAN Straight white able bodied men banned from attending top equality confe

It's one thing to want to gather a certain group of people to have their experiences, it's entirely another to ban a certain category of people and disallow their experiences. And why should they just want minority views, that seems to be suggesting only minorities can experience inequality which is factually incorrect.

Ah yes, it's entitlement to want everybody to have equal treatment. Disabled people should be encouraged to speak up and discuss more in the groups. Doesn't require banning other people. See ya.

That is illegal discrimination.

There are many legitimate reasons why someone who doesn't identify as possessing one of those characteristics might be interested in attending (to hear the discussion, to demonstrate solidarity).

This is plain old discrimination, and in the 21st century it's illegal to discriminate on the basis of race or sexuality. That applies to white people and heterosexuals too

A privileged person's voice regarding an oppression they don't face doesn't add anything to the discussion. Privileged people take over discussions about oppression and talk over the marginalised people who experience that oppression. This drowns out the voices of the people who's voices are relevant to the discussion.

They aren't banning people based on privilege though, are they? They are banning an entire race of people, regardless of how privileged or disadvantaged the members of that group may be.

An upper class, black student from a wealthy family will be allowed to attend this conference, and speak about whatever percieved "oppression" he thinks he faces. But a white student from a poor, working class background will not be allowed to attend or speak about genuine hardship he has faced. Is the latter voice not more relevant in a discussion about disadvantage and oppression than the privileged black student?

They aren't banning people based on privilege though, are they? They are banning an entire race of people, regardless of how privileged or disadvantaged the members of that group may be.

An upper class, black student from a wealthy family will be allowed to attend this conference, and speak about whatever percieved "oppression" he thinks he faces. But a white student from a poor, working class background will not be allowed to attend or speak about genuine hardship he has faced. Is the latter voice not more relevant in a discussion about disadvantage and oppression than the privileged black student?

It totally doesn't work that way. Privileged people ask offensive questions (or ones they could just google but feel that marginalised people exist to explain the oppression they experience. Things like 'playing devil's advocate' are oppressive because privileged people are taught that marginalised people's experiences need to be 'debated' and that the opinions of privileged people are inherently more 'neutral' and are 'original', rather than part of the cause of the oppression.

Wow what a news
At least its not about Muslims

People whine about Islam being discussed all the time on TSR.
A thread has nothing to do with Islam and a Muslim brings up Islam.

The hypocrisy is real

People can be privileged in some ways and oppressed in others. Classism and oppression based on financial circumstances is an important part of discussions of oppression. Both the people on your example have privilege but also are marginalised or oppressed. However if the discussion is about racism the second student's voice isn't relevant. If the discussion is about classism then the first student's voice isn't relevant.

If as a marginalised person *laughs hysterically* you cannot be bothered to explain your "oppression" to someone, then don't expect them to care about it or help you. Its pure laziness. How can it be so important if you can't even take time to explain.

Anyways **** the rest of your trash in text format.

I was under the impression this conference was about oppression and disadvantagement in all it's forms? So why are white men in general being barred from attending, even when those from poor and disadvantaged white backgrounds would be able to contribute something meaningful to some of the discussions?

I am finding it very difficult to see the reasoning behind this ban as anything other than irrational bigotry and hatred towards white men, from organisers who have swallowed the old social justice propaganda that all white men just live the lap of luxury, exploit everybody else and never face any hardship whatsoever. "We can just ignore and exclude those white men, they couldn't possibly have anything useful to contribute, they would probably just say a load racist and sexist things anyway, as is their nature".

Racism against white people is not a thing. You can be prejudiced to white people, you can't be racist. Racism is based on systematic oppression and power structures that suggest that there is a race that is superior to others. White people have the power in society and do not experience oppression on the basis of their race, therefore it's not racism.

I do think it doesn't make sense to not allow straight, white, able-bodied men at all though; maybe they should have just had a maximum number or something.

But it's funny how if this was reversed and it was another all-white-guys conference and a minority group complained about it, they'd say people were overreacting and it wasn't a big deal.

The discussion groups are for the specific issues faced by ethnic minorities/LGBT/disabled people. The working class white person may have their own hardships, but the groups are not for them. It's like going to a cancer support group and talking about the hardships you face as someone living with diabetes.

If people feel like the hardships they face as working class people are enough to warrant a discussion group, they should start one.

That doesn't make it good - you can't punish people for the actions of what some of their ancestors may or may not have done. Yes, racism against whites is a thing, just like racism against other minorities is also a thing. Let's try and end it and in order to do that, you should be letting straight white males partake in the equality conference...

It's not the same lol

Because racism is prejudice + power

Living in one of the 'most tolerant' countries doesn't mean oppression doesn't still exist in a systematic sense. Women do not have equal pay, the majority of the higher ups in this country are white men, although it's under the radar and hard to prove, there's still high chances of people of colour losing out on jobs due to their race. Things are improving, I know that, but it's not fully gone at all.

Maybe people aren't actively saying 'these groups of people are bad', but saying that there is no oppression and that everyone is treated equally in terms of 'the system' would be ignorant.