I've read a bit of the media and blog coverage of the "stuff white people like" web page and I keep seeing one comment over and over again.
People write "Hey, this is stuff that UPPER MIDDLE CLASS white people like!"
Um, duh?
It's a stereotype?
Y'all don't think the stereotypical white person is a yuppie?
Of course not every white person matches the stereotype, any more than every black person could be a logical addition to a Tyler Perry play
Though I think a lot of the commenters are protesting too much. You don't see a little of yourself in the site's claims that white people love to feel like they are saving the world, love to get graduate degrees and/or love to feel like they are more enlightened than everyone else on cultural issues?
Really?
CC
5 comments:
I have actually really enjoyed looking at it. Its a good look at stereotypes, and a good chance to question ourselves about the stereotypes we fulfill. And on top of that, its really well written. I don't get why people are so up in arms about it.
I agree with all of that.
CC
I haven't spent much time at the site, but from what I saw, white people did come up with a lot of those social mores and preferences. I mean, come on - "Oscar parties?" White people def. came up with that. I have been to a few (and maybe only ONE of the attendees was well off), and except for two Asian looking guys (one of them being my husband), I was the only person of color every time.
Some of the things they listed I appreciate or enjoy (e.g. Oscar parties) but having gone from a pretty low income inner city life surrounded by POC to a mostly white, suburban middle-to-upper middle income lifestyle, I can definitely tell you that I've learned those tastes through my interactions with white folks.
It's not like any of these things are bad, anyway. (Except gentrification; that's kind of bad. And standing still at concerts - except they forgot to mention the one wild chick who will be doing her pilates dance moves as close to the stage as she possibly can, regardless of the musical genre). I mean, Michel Gondry and Mos Def are both pretty awesome.
Of course, it's more socially acceptable to enjoy a site about the stereotypical white person than the stereotypical black person -- because yuppie stereotypes are essentially positive (traveled! educated! intellectually curious!) and ghetto stereotypes aren't.
Which is why we have this instead of the uneducated one.
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