Breakdown:

1. Introduction: Privilege and Personal Success
   • Reflect on personal privilege: being a white heterosexual male born in 1960s California.
   • Describe the advantages experienced, including a high admission rate to UCLA and professional success during the rise of the internet.
   • Acknowledge that much of this success was due to being in the right place at the right time, and not due to personal merit alone.
2. Understanding Privilege and Timing
   • Discuss how privilege based on skin tone, sexual orientation, and timing can significantly impact success.
   • Emphasize that these factors were not under personal control but played a crucial role in one’s opportunities and achievements.
3. Empathy as a Non-Zero-Sum Game
   • Critique the notion that empathy is a zero-sum game, where helping one group supposedly diminishes the support available to another.
   • Argue that civil rights advancements and gay marriage have not harmed normative marriage or white people but have promoted broader equality.
4. Challenges Faced by Young Men
   • Highlight the specific challenges faced by young men today:
     • Four times more likely to commit suicide.
     • Less likely to attend college.
     • Higher rates of addiction and incarceration.
   • Stress that addressing these issues should not detract from the ongoing challenges faced by women and other marginalized groups.
5. Balancing Empathy and Equality
   • Advocate for empathy towards all groups, recognizing that addressing the struggles of one group does not undermine the struggles of others.
   • Encourage a more nuanced and inclusive dialogue about privilege and societal challenges.
6. Conclusion: Moving Forward with Understanding
   • Conclude by reinforcing the idea that success and privilege are complex and multifaceted, shaped by a range of factors beyond individual control.
   • Call for a balanced approach to addressing social issues, where empathy and support are extended to all who need it without diminishing the importance of others’ struggles.