So far, 2022 is not a good year to be an entitled white man!

Honestly, I don't think the OP is racist, as the people concerned are in no way victims of their background or colour. Neither is being white shorthand for any kind of discrimination.

I am not someone who excuses racism even if it is accidental, but I don't see it in the OP. I think that in this case the accusations of racism are akin to those who feel that there are 'too many' black people in adverts, or (as pointed out upthread) on the lines of 'all lives matter'. People are so used to seeing white people as untouchable that they are triggered when they see any generalisations about them, forgetting that white people don't need protection from generalisations on the grounds of race. As individuals, many white people need protection on the grounds of poverty, lack of opportunity, lack of education and many other things, but they don't need protection from systemic racism.

Gwyneth

No you didn’t say that but by specifically listing four white men the implication for me was that only white men are entitled. Whereas a sense of entitlement extends across the spectrum. I can think of both men and women (white and non white) who display a sense of entitlement, think they can do what they like regardless and are particularly arrogant.

Actually, she only listed three, a minor point maybe but a fact. I'm being pedantic here but it's a tad irritating when people don't get their facts right. The fourth, Prince Harry, was mentioned by me.

Also GillT57 was referring to this year and as far as I'm aware there haven't been any displays of entitlement by other races to date. So her description was accurate.

Just had a rethink. Given the fact that the privilege displayed by those mentioned in the OP is mostly rooted in wealth, singling them out as white may simply be irrelevant rather than racist.

"So far there haven't been any displays of entitlement by other races to date" phew that's a relief I was rather under the impression there was a shed load of injustices going on around the globe, I expect the women of Afghanistan will be relieved to know that male entitlement in their country hasn't been a thing since the beginning of the year.

Pammie1

Just had a rethink. Given the fact that the privilege displayed by those mentioned in the OP is mostly rooted in wealth, singling them out as white may simply be irrelevant rather than racist.

Yes, the white men mentioned are hardly representative.

maddyone

Excellent analysis TerriBull.

Excellent analysis if you think "all lives matter" is a really clever riposte to BLM.

Otherwise, not so much.

So it is a privilege to be 'white'. Disagree!

No, some people are entitled, white and men. Some entitled people are women. Some white people are grateful for what they have.

Maybe we need a Venn diagram...?

I was merely trying to point out that this kind of generalising is not a good thing, IMO. It encourages further division in society. I can assure you that there are many black, Asian and other minorities in and around my area and they would certainly not feel that their white counterparts are privileged next to themselves.

Maybe we don't!

Given Venn was a 19th century mathematician, and being of his time, almost certainly a white entitled man, do we need to add yet another, albeit dead white man's analysis into the fray.

And.. "if you think all lives matter"........don't try and suggest what I think.

I have read most of the posts on this thread and very interesting I do think by posting entitled white man is a bit provocative and the poster could have found some better wording.

I am left wondering if my neighbours who are of black origin
have somehow got it into their heads that I am an entitled white woman if in fact that actually exists. My reason being that for 5 years every Christmas morning one of the family brings me a gift and as it was them that started I made sure to have a gift ready to give in return. I did not have them knock with any gift although mine was ready for them. Also the neighbour is divorced and her previous husband always goes to them on Christmas Day he lived at the house previously and he too knows me and will always knock and wish Happy Christmas. He is white. No sign of him either.
I had been unwell so did not go to their house to leave my gift. Anyway have not seen them since beginning of New Year only seen them when they leave for work. So perhaps they have got me down as an Entitled white woman and are putting a stop to my gifts.
Joking aside I never speak to many neighbours have made no remarks about them to anyone and feel a bit puzzled about their behaviour. As for the gifts I always accepted theirs and thanked them for thinking of me, although they always gave me wine and chocolates. I do not drink and always passed it on to someone else so will not miss it just do not know what was wrong with them.

Okey doke.

I know nothing about Venn except he came up with the idea for Venn Diagrams. So whether he was white, black or sky blue pink, it's his work that counts. Not his background.

Thank you for your magnanimous response Alegrias.

I would add that of course black lives matter, every time I hear about a young person's life lost on the streets through a stabbing, that's the first thought that crosses my mind. On a personal level I have a very close black friend who I met at work in the late '70s, we've seen each other through ups and downs of broken marriages, child rearing. She is one of my oldest and dearest friends, the first black person I met and came to know and who gave me as a white person an insight into how different life was for a black girl growing up in south London when the odds were stacked against her. She is by far the most gutsy and tenacious of any other friend I have and sharing an office together for several years, I knew right from the start we had an affinity that took us beyond the workplace. She had a horribly abusive childhood and a start in life that was so hard it would have floored most people. When I abandoned a working life to become a stay at home mother, she'd had her children before me and had returned to the workplace and was busy climbing the corporate ladder which she did very successfully, she wouldn't let anything stand in her way. A while ago she set up her own company. Blessed with a wicked sense of humour, she would often recount how in her words "I sound very white on the phone and sometimes if I meet someone for the first time in a work place scenario they get a bit of shock!" going on to recount how one guy actually said to her on their first meeting "you're very er......." to which she responded with every adjective under the sun "tall, loud, feisty, amazing, quirky, infectious, clever" leaving the most obvious hanging in the air and him visibly squirming like a fish on a hook stuttering away like an idiot. Like Sidney Poiter, she refusesd to be defined by the colour of her skin, because in her words "It's part of me but I'm not one dimensional" She took herself away from South London when her marriage broke up to raise her children in a quintessentially English village in Hampshire, because she worried about her boys being drawn into gangs once they hit their teens and south London can be dangerous place for black boys. When they moved they were the only black family there. Whilst she has in her life undoubtedly suffered from racism, particularly when married to her first husband being pulled over by the police umpteen times because at the time, if you were black driving a smart car then it was probably stolen. Nevertheless she has also told me, having been abandoned by her mother and step father, the latter regarding her as a cuckoo in the nest. With ongoing maintenance battles with her ex husband who mostly as she commented provided Jack Shit, whilst she single handedly provided for the family, the love and support she has received in life has overwhelmingly come from white people. We discussed that REL book when it first came out, she doesn't wholly buy into the main thrust of Ms Eddo Lodge beef and feels it presents a single faceted argument about being black which she doesn't embrace. My friend is of the opinion, possibly displaying attitudes of her age demographic, we are both in our 60s, and has spent much time mentoring in the workplace, that younger people of all ethnicities are the perennial victims right now and in her words, "if you behave like a victim" then you will be treated like one and sometimes you have to rise above that as I have done" but she is possibly through a difficult upbringing made of sterner stuff.

TerriBull

"So far there haven't been any displays of entitlement by other races to date" phew that's a relief I was rather under the impression there was a shed load of injustices going on around the globe, I expect the women of Afghanistan will be relieved to know that male entitlement in their country hasn't been a thing since the beginning of the year.

I was talking about this year - currently we're 19 days in.

Terribull Thank you for your last post. It's always good to hear how some people make such a success of their lives.

Yes so was I, I think it is feasible to consider that whilst the OP mooted three white men, who undisputedly have displayed exactly what she accuses them of and seemingly are getting their comeuppance, well in the case of Djokavic, at any rate, it remains to be seen what the fate of the others will be. Nevertheless there is entitlement acted out in many corners of the globe which is just ongoing. To subjugate citizens, be they women, different ethnicities, religions whatever, displays on the part of a ruling elite a sense of entitlement in that they can have such power over their own people, mere chess pieces to be moved around at will. Clearly the despots who wield the power, haven't met their own Waterloos yet, and probably won't anytime soon sadly.