In 2013 strait white males will still enjoy their privilege at the expense of women and minorities

The four homophobic strait white male firefighters who sued the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department to maintain white male privilege

With the start of a new year it is sometimes interesting to reflect back on past happenings and see if they have shaped our world for the better or the worse. 

I came across an article from way back in 2009.  The article dealt with four Santiago firefighters who were ordered by their department to take part in the city’s gay pride parade.   The four men where only expected to drive their fire engine down the road in the parade i.e. they were not even expected to get out.

As a result of this the firemen went to court.  In 2009 the court awarded them each USD 5,000.00 for emotional damages from the event.

A number of commentators who took their side likened their situation to business women who are forced to go to strip joints by their male boss's or male colleagues for a meeting or are expected to attend a meeting with male clients at a lap dancing club.

This companion really concerns me greatly as there are huge differences.

Lets not forget that the four firemen were all white heterosexual males who enjoy the benefits of white male privilege   These men have absolutely no idea what it is like to be oppressed   

Women in the workplace face sexism and other forms of discrimination on a daily basis   Been forced to attend a meeting with her male colleagues at a strip club is just one of many forms of sexism she will be expected to face while working in a male dominated business world and for just being a woman in a male dominated world.

Lets now look at the four firemen.  They are white heterosexual males operating in a white boys club - the fire department in the US is just one of many white boy clubs hostile to anyone who is not a strait white male - Suddenly these white boy firemen are told that out of their privileged life they must now go and spend four hours just driving their fire truck in the parade.  They are not expected to get out or interact with any of the parade participants.  All they have to do is just sit in their fire truck.

Even though the idea of getting them involved was to try and show the gay and lesbian community some support from the fire department.  It was just too much for these white male fireMEN to spend just four hours out of their entire privileged life to be with a minority whom they had spent their whole life oppressing.

Unlike the business women who are forced to go to strip clubs, these fireMEN do not have to continue enduring discrimination and oppression after the event, they simply go back to a life of white male privilege    

Another difference is that the women are being forced by their oppressors to attend the strip clubs for the benefit of the oppressors.

In this case it was suppose to be the oppressor trying to do something decent for a minority that they have been oppressing for years.

But these homophobic white male firefighters had no intention of doing anything decent for the people who they oppress and took the matter to court.

In my opinion this should have been thrown out of the court and these firemen should have been charged with homophobia.  But that did not happen and they went on and won their case.  One can only assume it was because the laws and courts are all for the benefit of strait white males.  

This happened in 2009, so does it have any relevance in 2013.  Well based on this judgement white males are all to aware that the law and courts are on their side.  It means that no governmental body or corporate or business will try to get any of their white males to do something decent for women or minorities for fear of what the strait white male courts will do to them.

This tells me that women and minorities cannot relay on laws, courts and even government which is dominated by white males to be of any help.

The only way to get rid of sexism, racism and homophobia is not to wast our time working with oppressive laws and courts but rather to have the laws changed and of course the destruction of white male supremacy.