Powerful white men regularly claim to be among the most persecuted, oppressed people in society. Except they’re clearly not. Why do so many feel otherwise?

You know who has it worse than anyone right now? Powerful white guys! No matter what they do, powerful white men are subjected to relentless criticism and oppression from those who don’t like them.

A powerful white man from a privileged background can’t spend seven years running a country, sowing discord and inequality before making a disastrous short-sighted political move that plunges everything into chaos, without being forced to resign!

A wealthy powerful man can’t resort to openly bigoted and sexist attacks on people he doesn’t like while running for the most powerful position on Earth without being criticised for it!

A powerful white man can’t persistently and constantly say derogatory things about world leaders in print and not be questioned about it later at embarrassing moments!

Powerful white men aren’t even safe from claims that they helped to encourage hordes of people to send racist abuse to an innocent woman without being banned from the free-to-use privately owned social network whose terms of service they had already violated several times..

Seriously, is there any group more oppressed or marginalised than powerful white men? The answer is, obviously, yes. Pretty much all other groups of people that make up Western society are less powerful and privileged than white men. Particularly rich and influential ones. So, why do they so often play the victim?

Facebook Twitter Pinterest You’d think the homeless man would be the obviously downtrodden one in this image, but many would argue it’s the guy with the briefcase. What’s going on there? Photograph: Janine Wiedel/REX Shutterstock

Firstly, despite the fact that many people reading this are almost inevitably going to assume it’s claiming that ALL white men are privileged and other unlikely absolutes, it must be made clear that not all white men, powerful or otherwise, are cruel power-hungry maniacs with sociopathic tendencies. It’s entirely possible to be a white man and be a victim of physical, mental, social or economic mistreatment, deliberate or otherwise. If anything, given how relatively few rich powerful types there are in the world, white men are more likely overall to be just normal everyday people, like anyone else. There’s also other factors, like disability, sexuality, class and so on, which could take the edge off any societal advantages. Similarly, someone’s race or gender is no guarantee against them being a vile individual.

Despite this, evidence points to powerful white men having it easier than everyone else. Logically, this should make them more secure and resilient against minor inconveniences and criticism. But it doesn’t seem to. Why not?

As is always the case with human psychology and behaviour, there are many factors tied up in this. For instance, if you live a life of privilege and wealth, then studies suggest our brains really struggle to empathise with those whose lives are very different (i.e. poorer people). Coupled with our brains having a strong egocentric bias, meaning we have strong tendencies to think better of ourselves and big up our positive traits (unless we have a mood disorder like depression), then this would add up to a strong tendency to minimise other people’s claims of hardship, and amplifying our own.

Examples of this can be seen with the way terms like “free speech” and “censorship”, matters of life and death to many people in the world, are regularly co-opted to describe far more minor concerns, like criticism or lack of access to a specific outlet. Are people who do this exaggerating for effect, or do they genuinely believe their experiences warrant such strong terms? Hard to say, as it all looks the same from an objective point of view.

But why? Why do powerful, wealthy types so often perceive minor inconveniences as existential threats? One possibility is that a very privileged life is something you get used to. The brain is a very adaptive organ and quickly finds even initially alarming things familiar and predictable, so whatever your regular experiences are, they become “the norm”. Hence, soldiers can still fall asleep in warzones, a situation that would be utterly terrifying for someone new to it.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest “Yes, I’m sure systematic prejudice and poverty aren’t nice, but thanks to a downturn in my company’s sales forecasts I’ve had to switch to the ‘68 vintage, not the ‘49. So don’t talk to me about suffering!” Photograph: Image Source / Alamy/Alamy

It also means that if you’re immersed in privilege, power and people who dare not criticise you, you get to expect this as the norm. And you end up with some seriously warped ideas of what’s acceptable, or your “due”. It may not be conscious, but it’s there; the underlying assumption that everything should be going your way. So when it doesn’t, when you’re criticised or something happens that is beyond your control or isn’t intended for you (e.g. a female reboot of a franchise you like) this is perceived as a “threat”, of sorts.

Neuroscientific studies suggest that a lot of threat detection and subsequent motivation is goal orientated, meaning you have goals and drives (e.g. “I want to have access to everything”, “I want to say whatever I want and not be criticised”, “I want the rest of society to agree with me”) and anything that blocks or thwarts these is perceived as a “threat”, however harmless or inconsequential it may be in real terms. And when you’re “threatened”, you either instinctively hide away, or lash out. Powerful men seem to prefer the latter.

But our lives are a lot more public now. Social media has linked us all into each other’s activities on a 24-hour basis. As well as egocentric bias, we have the contributions of social awareness where we’re compelled to be liked and respected by those we identify with, and cognitive dissonance where people try to rationalise their behaviour with their belief that they’re a good person. How do you square that circle? Attacking and persecuting those who threaten you while still maintaining the idea that you’re a good and decent person in the eyes of those whose opinion you need/value?

What if… YOU’RE the victim! Of course! That’s a perfect solution; it’s not bullying and harassment, it’s self-defence! Regardless of how much wealth and power you have at your command compared to those you take issue with, you’re totally fine to use it if it can be argued you’re the injured party in this dispute. And so, vast wealth and influence becomes a burden, not a huge privilege.

This isn’t the whole story obviously. There are many personal, social and cultural factors at play and each case is different. I’m just giving a brief psychological perspective. What more do you want from me? I’m just a white guy with a high profile media platform, LEAVE ME ALONE! I DON’T NEED TO TAKE THIS FROM YOU!!!

Dean Burnett is nowhere near as insecure as that last passage implies, he promises. His first book, The Idiot Brain, is released in the USA as Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To, on 26th of July, as a hardback and audiobook.