You can never miss it, especially if you study in a non co-ed private school. There will always be people flaunting White Privileged Problems everywhere, but particularly in Twitter and Instagram. In these social networking sites, the irony and pettiness of these “problems” are more hidden, and therefore more dumbly praised by others, through thick pretty filters and supposedly comedic ghetto language. Because if something of an expensive blessing comes to one of us privileged teens, acquiring a new iPhone for example, it will always have to be exalted to the public in a way something like this:
Or this:
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(Shout out to my model ~vintage~ iPhone 3. Hate on that.)
And of course, there are also these spotted, immediate-classic ones:
“Waaah there is so much food in the fridge! How will I start my diet now? #Problems”
“Ugh, having so many shoes is giving me a headache! Roshe, Flyknits, my Keds…what do I pick now?”
“I just overused my credit card! Fuck I hate feeling poor!!”
Aside from being plain annoying, this worst thing about this phenomenon is that the people who do this can’t see through their own ignorance. I’m not necessarily generalizing—of course there are some who recognize this and are more sensitive, and there are as well those who recognize this and use the language/filters to flip the purpose into sarcasm—but it’s safe to assume that if you belong in the category of More Than Middle Class Wages < Exclusive Private School < Listen to Phoenix/One Direction < Can Actually Pay For Concert Tickets, then you belong in this phenomenon as well. A brag-a-tweet, as I will temporarily call it until someone thinks of a better name, can go from as simple as “Usual tea and macaroon date with my bestie at Bizu J” to something as unbelievably whiney as “Ugh the Starbucks line here at Starbucks BGC is sooo long! All I ever wanted was a PEPPERMINT MOCHA why is that so hard to get??”
Now, I occasionally have tweets like the former one, and that’s OK (or tolerable at least) I think, not because I and a million other people do it as well, but because it’s just that: a tweet. Saying something you may have sincerely thought of or really wanted to tell the world. And it may be stupid (because who the fuck cares if you’re having macaroons at Bizu?) but it’s never disarming, ignorant or insulting. The latter tweet on the other hand is what you want to avoid. Read my example above again. If you can’t see the fault in it then you must be a hardwired privileged coño, which I hope to goddess you aren’t. If you do however see what’s wrong with it, then I urge you to please stop doing it. It’s insensitive, considering that, as much as you don’t want to acknowledge it, you live in a third world country. Literally just meters or miles away from where you’re standing is a homeless child or a raggedy beggar. Do you really still feel pissed off for not getting your peppermint mocha? DO YOU REALLY FEEL LIKE IT’S STILL SO HARD TO GET? But more importantly, do you fellow Filipino, really feel the need to feel like a white girl with white problems? Because if you do then don’t read on further. Please, bash on this article and click it off. But even if just a tiny part of your insides make you feel like you want to change, as I truly hope you do, then I insist that you be just a teeeeeny bit more sensitive to your position, to who and where you are.
I’m saying this because I can stand privileged people having it better than the most of us here in the Philippines. It’s great that we get to buy good coffee and good clothes, and instead of complaining about it why don’t we just be thankful (to God, that star above the sky, Beyoncé, or whoever/whatever you worship) that we got the better end of life? I hate to sound like your mom when you refuse to eat your veggies, but what she says is true: you better be thankful for whatever you have in the table, it’s much more than what others have.
I’m not asking you think about the millions of needy children the next time you bite a Krispy Kreme Original Glazed donut or sip a grande cup of Starbucks Café Latte, because that would just be taking the fun out of eating! Which is so fun! Nor am I demanding guilt as you buy you’re next phone or pair of kicks. I’m just asking you to, if you please could, stop complaining about what you already have in abundance. If the line is ever too long in your precious Starbucks, or if you have way more food in your fridge than you wanted, try altering your perspective a bit into something less narrow and more positive. The way I see it, waiting in line will just make obtaining your drink that more special, and having much food (so good, very taste) in your fridge is never a bad thing. Never. So, yes, instead of getting your white girl on, non-white people, how about trying your own skin on for a change? A little empathy in exchange for you rants?
- Renee C.
And of course, there are also these spotted, immediate-classic ones:
“Waaah there is so much food in the fridge! How will I start my diet now? #Problems”
“Ugh, having so many shoes is giving me a headache! Roshe, Flyknits, my Keds…what do I pick now?”
“I just overused my credit card! Fuck I hate feeling poor!!”
Aside from being plain annoying, this worst thing about this phenomenon is that the people who do this can’t see through their own ignorance. I’m not necessarily generalizing—of course there are some who recognize this and are more sensitive, and there are as well those who recognize this and use the language/filters to flip the purpose into sarcasm—but it’s safe to assume that if you belong in the category of More Than Middle Class Wages < Exclusive Private School < Listen to Phoenix/One Direction < Can Actually Pay For Concert Tickets, then you belong in this phenomenon as well. A brag-a-tweet, as I will temporarily call it until someone thinks of a better name, can go from as simple as “Usual tea and macaroon date with my bestie at Bizu J” to something as unbelievably whiney as “Ugh the Starbucks line here at Starbucks BGC is sooo long! All I ever wanted was a PEPPERMINT MOCHA why is that so hard to get??”
Now, I occasionally have tweets like the former one, and that’s OK (or tolerable at least) I think, not because I and a million other people do it as well, but because it’s just that: a tweet. Saying something you may have sincerely thought of or really wanted to tell the world. And it may be stupid (because who the fuck cares if you’re having macaroons at Bizu?) but it’s never disarming, ignorant or insulting. The latter tweet on the other hand is what you want to avoid. Read my example above again. If you can’t see the fault in it then you must be a hardwired privileged coño, which I hope to goddess you aren’t. If you do however see what’s wrong with it, then I urge you to please stop doing it. It’s insensitive, considering that, as much as you don’t want to acknowledge it, you live in a third world country. Literally just meters or miles away from where you’re standing is a homeless child or a raggedy beggar. Do you really still feel pissed off for not getting your peppermint mocha? DO YOU REALLY FEEL LIKE IT’S STILL SO HARD TO GET? But more importantly, do you fellow Filipino, really feel the need to feel like a white girl with white problems? Because if you do then don’t read on further. Please, bash on this article and click it off. But even if just a tiny part of your insides make you feel like you want to change, as I truly hope you do, then I insist that you be just a teeeeeny bit more sensitive to your position, to who and where you are.
I’m saying this because I can stand privileged people having it better than the most of us here in the Philippines. It’s great that we get to buy good coffee and good clothes, and instead of complaining about it why don’t we just be thankful (to God, that star above the sky, Beyoncé, or whoever/whatever you worship) that we got the better end of life? I hate to sound like your mom when you refuse to eat your veggies, but what she says is true: you better be thankful for whatever you have in the table, it’s much more than what others have.
I’m not asking you think about the millions of needy children the next time you bite a Krispy Kreme Original Glazed donut or sip a grande cup of Starbucks Café Latte, because that would just be taking the fun out of eating! Which is so fun! Nor am I demanding guilt as you buy you’re next phone or pair of kicks. I’m just asking you to, if you please could, stop complaining about what you already have in abundance. If the line is ever too long in your precious Starbucks, or if you have way more food in your fridge than you wanted, try altering your perspective a bit into something less narrow and more positive. The way I see it, waiting in line will just make obtaining your drink that more special, and having much food (so good, very taste) in your fridge is never a bad thing. Never. So, yes, instead of getting your white girl on, non-white people, how about trying your own skin on for a change? A little empathy in exchange for you rants?
- Renee C.
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