The debate about white privilege online isn’t constructive. In fact, the way we frame the discussion bothers me because it only helps center the world around the West and treats everybody as if they’re largely irrelevant or helpless in a world full of important white people.

The biggest problem with the debate is that it supposes that the power structures existing in Western society also exist throughout the rest of the world. It bothers me when someone refers to me as a person of color. Nobody once told me in Pakistan or in the Maldives that I was different or distinct because I'm not white. So when one of my friends at NYU Abu Dhabi urged me to learn more about minority issues in the US, I was puzzled. The friend reminded me I should do this because I am a PoC. In Pakistan, I am not. I am a Punjabi.

And by virtue of being a Punjabi — a middle-class male Sunni Punjabi — I am among the most privileged members of society in my country. I don’t get hunted for being Shia, and I don’t fear being kidnapped, because I’m not a Balochi. My city is well looked-after because it’s the center of the Punjabi establishment, and I have to worry a little less about being blown to pieces by a terrorist. These are the immense privileges that I receive for being born in the right place and at the right time. When somebody calls me a PoC, it is because they’re too unwilling to look beyond the debate that’s happening in the US. It’s almost as if being called unprivileged makes me feel guilty for the privilege I have and angry for not being allowed to have the privilege of being Punjabi.

It’s also bothersome that we seek to remind individuals of their privilege, even when it isn’t warranted. By this I don’t mean we shouldn’t remind someone of their privilege when they seem to be unaware of it, just that it is unnecessary to spend every living moment reminding white people how privileged they are. Because if that became the norm, then every person typing angry tweets and Tumblr posts on a laptop should remember their immense economic privilege. We don’t constantly remind people on Twitter or on the streets of how much privilege they have just by making a decent, middle-class living.

Discussions on Tumblr, Twitter and Reddit aren’t revolutionary. These websites are largely echo chambers, with everyone rallying behind certain values. Though they are important in furthering conversations, they are also susceptible to two major problems. The first is that because of globalization, all discussions are framed within a US American context, as I have lamented before on various occasions. The second is that Internet mobs attack individuals. This is useless since the problems these forums focus on are structural problems, and hunting down a white, old man on Twitter won’t really change much.