Listen, I get that I’m white and male and some privilege came with that.

It didn’t feel that way when I was a kid and the factory closed, my parents lost their jobs, and food stamps and the food pantry kept us from starving. It didn’t feel that way when I’d see friends with four or five pairs of shoes and I only had one. As I got older, when I was out on my own, it made me angry. I spent years being angry. I wasted those years.

Eventually things clicked for me. I got my shit together, went back to school, stopped calling into work every time I felt like sleeping in or playing video games all day. I worked hard. This brought rewards. Nobody gave me my vehicles, no one gave me my home. They were earned. My wife and I work hard for our stuff. There are times where the $3 paperback I picked up at Half Price Books a few weeks ago gives me as much joy as a ride on my far more expensive Harley Davidson.

So it pisses me off when I see shit saying I can never be offended by something because I’m white and male and don’t know the struggle of other people. You’re right, I don’t know their struggle. But I can see some of it. I’ve seen some of the shit my non-hetero and non-white and non-male friends have to put up with and it’s pretty goddamned awful just from the outsider view.

But this concept that if you are 1) white and 2) male, you can never be offended and if you are, you’re a sexist and/or racist, makes zero sense.

Let’s disregard the newest trend where everyone has to be offended by all things at all times. If I see something that offends me, I will point it out if I choose. There are times where it’s not needed, because I can’t take someone serious that makes a racist/sexist meme but doesn’t have basic spelling or grammar capabilities. But if I want to, I will. And if you get offended by my being offended, that’s just too fucking bad.