The whole point of the posted article is to _not_ guilt people in to doing the right thing. You should push positive emotions about doing the right thing, not negative emotions.
From the article:
"These findings suggest that inducing people to consider positive rather than negative self-directed emotions might recruit more people to a climate-change mitigation agenda, and to prosocial behaviour more broadly."
There are more emotions than guilt and thankfulness. They also aren’t even the apparent dipoles you appear to imply. Being thankful doesn’t mean you’re not guilty. I’m sure there are plenty of scenes of Lex Luther being thankful on YouTube of something he should feel guilt over-might even.
There certainly are more emotions. To add on to what you're saying, being thankful doesn't mean you're not guilty. However, it also doesn't imply guilt either.
I think that what you're saying about how skin color doesn't make you immune to adversity is true. I also think that they are trying to say that you shouldn't focus on guilt and instead should focus on gratitude, that relatively speaking and from their perspective, white people are privileged.
I can see how in some ways, some subset of white people have had much better fortunes than others and people of color. There are, like you said, other subsets of white people who've had it worse or suffer similarly.
You know that skin colour doesn't make you immune to poverty, or disease, or any adversity?
Your comment comes across as supporting the parent comment; and as exceptionally racist.
Almost certainly some kids living in USA didn't eat today. Your comment sounds like "well starving white kids can just eat their privilege".
I don't understand why you're all so obsessed with skin colour and not with actuality of real people.
Are the powerful people in USA principally white men, I don't doubt it. Don't let your ire at such inequality make you racist.