Why is 'white knighting' seen as such a bad thing?

[MeChaNiZ3D]

There is nothing wrong with defending your values. White knights are not people who defend their values. White knights are males who try to appear noble and sensitive by being overly feminist or politically correct. Although when I use the term I don't intend to imply that they are doing it for show or for admiration of females, that is sometimes the case.

 

[infohippie]

I thought the term was Pink Knight. When a male takes the side of female even when the female is clearly wrong.

I've see a ton of girls be bitches on servers and there is always that pink knight that stands up for her. Most of the time the girl starts the argument herself.


White Knight on the other hand is when a person goes to another persons aid when need it. Which is the good version which no one has problems with.

That is the behaviour I have always seen referred to as "white-knighting".

 

[Combustion Kevin]

I don't really tend to take anyone seriously who tries to use it as an insult.

supposedly, the internet white knight defends women to get in their pants, which seems quite silly to me since I think they'd realise they might as well be living on the other side of the planet.
I always thought it was the go-to rebuttal when someone takes the moral high ground in a discussion.

 

[Ryan Minns]

I only heard about the term a few months back. A friend of mine demonstrated it by making a very stupid comment that had nothing to stand on but a great many people agreed and somehow it 'made sense' despite what she wrote being pathetic. It was defended by many people for pages and pages which just made her quite sick apparently. It was going to be her subject for her speech before "The forgotten woman" idea came up.

 

[88chaz88]

Haters be jealous of my sabotons.

 

[Eleuthera]

What about dark knighting?
You know, the popular practice of acting like batman around women on the internet?

So, being a billionaire, dating supermodels and then having your butler drive them home unfulfilled (and possibly drugged) at the end of the evening?

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Moral and basic human empathy aren't the same as white knights.
And why do they/I hate them? Because they are the biggest sexist out there. They help women because they are women. Not because they need help, but because of the gender.
Helping someone simply because she is a woman is the same as discriminating against here. You're basing your actions solely based on their gender.
And the worst part is that they don't even think whether it's okay what they are doing. They will pick the side of women even if they are obviously wrong.

Anita is the perfect example of why white knights are stupid. They threw over $150k away for her to make biased and awfully informed videos on fucking youtube. With those $150k they could have saved god knows how many children who actually needed that money, saved several families from starving for a year or 2... but nooooooooo... it's more important that she makes obviously bad and uninformed videos on youtube.

150k well spent.

tl.dr. white knights are trying so badly to not be sexist that they end up being sexist against women and men.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Moral and basic human empathy aren't the same as white knights.

tl.dr. white knights are trying so badly to not be sexist that they end up being sexist against women and men.

The question is how do we tell the difference? You see if i see someone, anyone, abusing or being horrible to another person and the victim is CLEARLY being offended or upset by it (in other words they dont seem to be handling it well themselves or it seems to be hurting them) ill say something about the other person being an asshole. I mean hell even if the person doesnt mind at all ill still call the other person an asshole.

But how do you distinguish my reaction from a sexist reaction? Arnt they almost identical? You dont know what i do outside of an argument. I might go stand up for anyone of any race, gender or sexuality after this one. Its hard to call someone a white knight because it implies you know ALL people they have defended past and future. When all you know is present.

 

[AuronFtw]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=white+knight

White knighting has very little to do with ideals, unless the "ideal" is to get into a woman's e-pants by defending her on the internet.

It's not the same as defending someone with a good idea because you agree with the idea - white knights defend the idea simply because it came from a female (regardless of any merit the idea has on its own). Their personal interpretation of the idea plays into the situation very little - they aren't defending the idea, they're defending the person. To score brownie points. To get into that person's e-pants.

That's why it's pitiful and frowned upon.

 

[Legion]

I thought the term was Pink Knight. When a male takes the side of female even when the female is clearly wrong.

I've see a ton of girls be bitches on servers and there is always that pink knight that stands up for her. Most of the time the girl starts the argument herself.

That is pretty much what I thought was meant by a "white knight".

Basically a "Nice Guy TM" who always jumps to a girls defence, even when completely unnecessary and/or in order to get into her good books.

There is nothing wrong with defending your values. White knights are not people who defend their values. White knights are males who try to appear noble and sensitive by being overly feminist or politically correct. Although when I use the term I don't intend to imply that they are doing it for show or for admiration of females, that is sometimes the case.

This is another aspect of it as well. It's kind of like a person who does something good, not because they are a good person, but because they want to be seen as one.

Obviously the flaw is that it is not always obvious when this is the case, or the person is just being a decent human being. Normally I tend to assume they are "white knighting", if they are being particularly obnoxious about being the "good guy".

Although some people just like being cynical and assume that anybody being nice has an ulterior motive for it.

That said, I barely ever come across it any more anyway, mainly due to not playing online very much.

supposedly, the internet white knight defends women to get in their pants, which seems quite silly to me since I think they'd realise they might as well be living on the other side of the planet.

Nobody claimed it was logical.

 

[rosac]

Screw white knighting, black knighting is where it's at! 'Tis but a scratch!

But I think they're people who come to women's aid over men's every single time, eit was necessary/wanted or not, in the hope of being "rewarded." I used to be a bit like this in real life, before I found out that making a move is a far better option.

 

[newingtonnew]

why doe's everyone think /b/ and /v/ is all of 4chan?

 

[Colour Scientist]

The question is how do we tell the difference? You see if i see someone, anyone, abusing or being horrible to another person and the victim is CLEARLY being offended or upset by it (in other words they dont seem to be handling it well themselves or it seems to be hurting them) ill say something about the other person being an asshole. I mean hell even if the person doesnt mind at all ill still call the other person an asshole.

But how do you distinguish my reaction from a sexist reaction? Arnt they almost identical? You dont know what i do outside of an argument. I might go stand up for anyone of any race, gender or sexuality after this one. Its hard to call someone a white knight because it implies you know ALL people they have defended past and future. When all you know is present.

This.

I've often seen guys arguing points for feminism and other such topics, only to be accused of "white knighting". It seems like the default response to dismiss a man arguing a point in favour of women/feminism/whatever the fuck, even if there aren't any women involved in the discussion/argument.

 

[BeerTent]

Looking through this thread, I see so many definitions for the term. Though, when somebody mentioned "Nice guys" I think that took the cake for the term. You know, that "Nice guy" who will be super nice to you, and then walk home super pissed you didn't "put out." I think the White Knight aggressively inserts himself in a situation where he's not needed nor wanted to try and "defend" her so that she'll "put out."

Unfortunately, the term has devolved so badly to the point where even it's mere mention is just used to win an argument. "What are you, some kind of fuckin' White Knight?!"

 

[Eddie the head]

It used to be an effective label that - like many things when too many people get a hold of it - was overused and applied to the wrong situations.

What used to need a certain criteria: defending someone's actions for an unrelated reason, is now used as a term to insult someone who takes a more "moral" stance on an issue. That is not to say the situations are mutually exclusive or mutually inclusive but the misapplication frequently remains true.

White knighting is far more prominent in MMORPGs like World of Warcraft where someone would have their raid spot defended because they had gained the sexual attractions of an influential member despite that individual's performance being sub-par.

Yeah I agree with this for the most part. I got and still do get called a white knight for basically saying "What you just said was incredibly insulting to a lot of people." So that makes me a white knight? It just seams like what "Straw man" is now the de facto response when you don't have much of an argument. Not to say it can't be used well, but most of the time it's not.

Hell someone the other day said someone else was "white knighting" for EA. I am 90% sure EA is not female.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Not to mention it seems kind of stupid to declare someones underlying intentions and then attack them for it. Sure if you have evidence they are only defending them because they are female and for NO other reason then go for it. But if they are just responding to your points rationally and some member of the conversation on their side is female its ridiculous. its equally as valid to call you a racist on the basis of "Youre only attacking them because they are white, what are you some sort of KKK knight?" You cant assign motivations to people at a whim and then attack them for it.

"DAMMIT YOURE ONLY SAYING THAT THE DUDE IS RIGHT ABOUT VIDEO GAMES BECAUSE YOU WANT TO BURN DOWN AN ORPHANAGE YOU SICK FUCK!"

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Snip.

White knighting is pathetic. Your definition is different to everyone else's. A white knight is someone who rushes to the aid of a woman because she's a woman in the hopes of being rewarded for you behaviour. It extends to nice guys who later get upset that behaving like a normal person didn't get them laid like they wanted.

 

[Subscriptism]

That's not White-Knighting.
White-Knighting is someone who stands up for women on the internet under any circumstances because they are desperate virgins who think women will shag them for it.