Comments on: Stuff White People Like

By: Exposing Prejudice or Peddling Racism? « Reconciliation Blog

Exposing Prejudice or Peddling Racism? « Reconciliation Blog — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:15:25 +0000

[...] Racialicious post on Ku reminded me of the discussion we were having here a few weeks ago about the blog Stuff White People Like. The questions posed then arise once [...]

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:17:02 +0000

I originally chuckled a bit at the SWPL but it grew old and unrelatable fast for me. It seemed to be a stuff white people with money and alot of ignorance like.

Anyway, in response to the premise I think this site is acceptable because as it always is in society it is acceptable to poke fun at the majority with the power. Whites have not endured the oppression that other minorities have that may provoked a sensitivity to being jested by other racial groups. Is that fair? No, but neither is the fact that as a white person I benefit daily from white privilege and the former oppression of a myriad of other ethnic groups which allowed that.

That what I think about the site. Pretty heavy.

By: Dave Bennett

Dave Bennett — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:11:57 +0000

Ahem, continously chosen. (That’s what I meant)

By: Dave Bennett

Dave Bennett — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:01:58 +0000

Honestly, I loved the site. My friends and I are subject to many of the articles, it was creepy, as if this guy had followed us around with his notepad.

If I take myself so seriously that I can’t laugh at myself, then something has gone awry. I think it’s when we become so brittle that a joke will break us, that we need to reflect on how tightly we cling to our ideas. Some people become so bound up in their ideas that they can no longer understand that an idea is continuously chose it. As a white anglo-saxon protestant male, that’s exactly what I have the ability to do–choose my life.

By: Leon Wynter

Leon Wynter — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:46:55 +0000

Yes, the website can be seen as innocuous by today’s standards (like Saturday Night Live is supposed to be innocuous) but that’s not saying much. I think the points made above referring to Rev. Jeremiah Wright should be kept in mind. What’s the difference between joking about a ‘genetic’ white affinity for NPR and Wright’s assertion (made in his mostly sickening address to the Detroit NAACP) that whites lack the gene for clapping on the two and four beat? And did you hear the (presumably) majority black crowd laughing in agreement?

When considering SWPL, just consider it taking on Rev. Wright as a regular contributor.

Hey, maybe that could be the premise of a great SNL skit!

By: John Bird

John Bird — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:52:52 +0000

That shouldn’t hurt racial reconciliation. If we can’t laugh at ourselves, we have problems (especially if we’re Christians.) My only problem with the list is that I don’t like most of what’s on there. Except coffee.

By: Gina Dalfonzo

Gina Dalfonzo — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:18:22 +0000

I think my comment must have got blocked because I had a link in it. I was just saying, I think the site is hilarious. And I was going to direct everyone to an even funnier takeoff site called Stuff Christians Like, but I guess you’ll have to find it for yourselves!

By: Gina Dalfonzo

Gina Dalfonzo — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:18:12 +0000

I think the site’s hilarious. But I enjoy this one even more:

http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/

By: bax

bax — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:12:55 +0000

SWPL is really not that clever because it’s not just white people who like those things but pretty much anyone who fits into a certain tax bracket or are a product of a certain education. The writer seems to have selective memory/observations, as theRoot article EG referenced mentioned.

The fact that it is written by a white male in his 20s makes it less funny (beyond the fact that the posts aren’t even that insightfiul).

The use of humor in race relations is a topic I will let wiser minds than mine address.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:11:19 +0000

If anything, transparency is almost always better in the quest for true “reconciliation,” I feel in America’s complex and troubles racial landscape. This website is basically innocuous. We are all one humanity and, in a real sense, we don’t acknowledge enough, through our troubled and distorted history, thatwe share a common history. Otherwise, the symbols that push our buttons wouldn’t be able to affect us so deeply. Humor is a key way we acknowledge our broken and complex humanity and commonality in its specificity. It can be a prelude to the type of “confession” and open dialogue we need to have. What we need is a type of national confession/exorcism. We are not their because in order for people to be tranformed, our racial “demons” have to be confronted and faced. (In this regards, the most Christian collective act of this sort was the Truth and Reconcilation Commision in South Africa. The image of Achbp. Tutu torso stretched out on the table sobbing uncontrollably after hearing testimony is permenantly etched in my memory.) Real reconciliation comes at a high price–the price of the cross (the social implications of which most Christians don’t have a clue about)–which we get squemish with.

My favorite comedian of all time was Richard Pryor, who had the ability to skewer white racism and “white” behaviour and have whites and blacks laughing about it. (He did the same for blacks also.) What made him different was his basic Christian, if you will, insight on depravity: all have sinned…and we are all finite, struggling creatures trying to make it this world. Out of this grows real humility, a simple recognition of our common humanity. Pryor would talk about his personal brokeness and failures as much as he would take on white supremicist behavior and black misdoings.