The Concept of White Privilege in the Arguments of John Stewart and Bill O’Reilly

One of the great pursuits of contemporary society is racial equality; this idea, despite its feel-good connotation, is actually a lie. There is no such thing as racial equality; by separating people into races, one is consciously creating groups of people that are separate, but unequal. This societal paradox reveals that contemporary society, as a whole, tremendously mishandles race.

This is especially true when addressing the concept of “white privilege.” White privilege suggests that white people are inherently more likely to succeed in life because of their white skin.

This privilege occurs as a result of the residual effects of Jim Crow laws and slavery in the United States.

On Comedy Central’s Daily Show, liberal comedian John Stewart and conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly tackle this notion of “white privilege,” with Stewart as a proponent of its existence, and O’Reilly as an opponent of its existence. Both men present arguments that reveal society’s tremendous mishandling of race.

John Stewart, throughout his interview with Bill O’Reilly, strongly maintains that white males have created the legal and systemic “white privilege” in the United States. While this was absolutely true in the mid-1900s, as O’Reilly points out, it is absolutely not true now. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest a systemic approach to creating white privilege in today’s government. John Stewart later suggests that “healing” is a necessary component of getting over white privilege; but by suggesting that the 99% non-racist white population needs to heal the wounds it supposedly caused by doing nothing, John Stewart is mishandling race.

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Despite the validity of O’Reilly’s arguments, he is just as guilty as Stewart of mishandling race. O’Reilly’s fallback point here is the victim complex that he believes the black culture possesses. While there may be some cultural trends that suggest a victim complex within the black culture, this shouldn’t be used in anyway to deter from the reality of societal “white privilege.” White privilege exists within social interactions and basic elements of society, such as in cosmetics, advertising, and in socioeconomic trends. O’Reilly tends to ignore trends that don’t help his argument, such as how blacks are typically ghettoized in America.

This is a result of blacks being separated from whites during the Jim Crow period; these ghettos are culturally polarized to black people because black populations originally formed them. Yes, while it is true that these people don’t have to live in those areas, it is also true that vertical movement from an area like a ghetto is difficult.

The end result of the flaws in these arguments, combined with their limited validity, is that white privilege exists, but only as a cultural trend that is in no way influenced by the current white population. Bill O’Reilly and John Stewart are perfect examples of how this issue is often skewed and mishandled by the media. Yes it exists, but it is not any one person’s fault, let alone any one race’s fault. The “equality” that is being sought after in this situation doesn’t exist, as there is no way to change historical and cultural trends within a particular population. Therefore, pursuing this notion is a waste of time and energy for society, when it could instead be focusing on issues that it can change.