White privilege is in the news and as usual progressives have emasculated the ordinary meaning of the word “privilege,” that is, an advantage that one person or group has relative to others. In the full phrase, as used by progressives, it means that white persons, based on their color alone, have a privilege that other colors do not. Yet save for royal prerogatives, the advantage associated with privilege, according to the Cambridge dictionary, is “usually because of their position or because they are rich.”

So ex-President Obama is black privileged. So is Oprah Winfrey ($2.5 billion net worth), Michael Jordan ($1.9 billion), Robert F. Smith ($5 billion), and David Steward ($3 billion) to say nothing of multimillionaire Rap artists, NBA (70% of the players are black), NFL (60%), MLB players and Hollywood stars. Of course, what is meant by those who condemn white privilege is privilege by virtue of color alone. These black persons are privileged not by their color but by their accomplishments. The term “white privilege” has been distorted to mean invidious privilege – solely by virtue of being white. This is curious since there were 14 million white people whose income was below the poverty line in 2017. Obviously, they are not privileged based on their color. Nor are they beneficiaries of affirmative action programs that privileges them, like blacks.

The elitist academics have warped the word privilege just as they warped the word discrimination that once properly meant to choose among items or persons. In the ‘60’s only invidious discrimination was proscribed, and properly so. Perhaps we should proscribe invidious privilege. But proving that an action or statement is invidious is too difficult to prove. So the word mavens have made it easier to identify political opponents.

Those poor whites without privilege are unknown to the children who attend private and expensive public elitist universities. The narcissism and privilege of these children leads them to believe that all whites are “like me.” And in the narrow culture they inhabit they are indeed white privileged because these elitist schools favor rich applicants – legacies (Harvard – 43%) and prospective donors.

Can they abjure their privilege by confession to the black community that they are depraved and debased whites seeking absolution for their ancestors’ errors? That is a bizarre notion. If you are rich, if you come from a wealthy white family, there is only way to overcome your privilege: voluntarily give away all your money. The line for doing so is very short.