****
Apologies for posting this blog a few months back, P.H and Peacemaker were quick off the mark to notice what I didn't... thought it was an innocent blog. Was awarded the toilet rabbit and an animated .gif for my clumsiness, punishment enough I'd say.

Will be more weary in the future.

Peace
B.L
*****

The Chronicle of Higher Education
From the issue dated April 18, 2008
CRITICAL MASS

Stuff White People Like
Compiled By EVAN R. GOLDSTEIN

What do the Sunday New York Times, Barack Obama, knowing what's best for poor people, having gay friends, and arts degrees have in common? According to Christian Lander, they are all "stuff white people like." A mere three months ago, the 29-year-old Internet copywriter started a blog by that name Stuff White People Like with a post satirizing white people's affinity for coffee, noting that they are fond of sayings like, "You do NOT want to see me before I get my morning coffee" and are happy to pay a premium for fair-trade coffee because "the extra $2 means they are making a difference."

That item struck a nerve. Stuff White People Like averages around 300,000 hits a day, and its numbered catalog of the cultural, political, and social predilections of highly educated, middle-class, liberal, white people is nearing 100 items. At the end of March, Random House announced that it had signed Lander, who is himself white, to a book deal widely reported to be worth around $300,000.

The blog's emergence as a cultural phenomenon has triggered a wide-ranging discussion about race, humor, and whether Stuff White People Like is a trenchant critique of white cultural mores — or a backhanded celebration of white cultural superiority.

Gary Dauphin, writer and blogger: Stuff White People Like … smells like a classic racial con job. It goes without saying that the specific entries (Oscar parties?) don't really apply to anyone. That makes Lander's overall pose — and the uncritical response to it — the real action. You'd think from the approving hubbub that SWPL had discovered (white) America or something, but white comedians, academics, and artists have been thinking and cracking wise about "white" culture since before Lander was in, well, the short pants he's posted about. Usually even jokey talk about whiteness has a whiff of danger to it, but SWPL is likely the safest, most-affable racial satire ever, a loving high-five between friends passing as critique. (The Root)

Dean Rader, associate professor of English, University of San Francisco: One more reason SWPL has resonated is due to its very smart awareness of what I call "Overculture," which is the subject of my next book. Stuff White People Like is fantastic at mapping the icons of Overculture — those popular texts that indicate a ubiquity in American consumer and popular culture. For example, Starbucks plays music heard on The Wire, which gets written about in Slate, which has an agreement with NPR, which reviews books available in Borders, which sells coffee and expensive sandwiches. Overculture is a new kind of cultural map that circumscribes everything that has hit a tipping point, everything educated people should either consume or be aware of. (The Weekly Rader)

Gregory Rodriguez, senior fellow, New America Foundation: As unusual as Lander's site is, it is also part of a sociological trend among whites who live in increasingly non-Anglo cities and regions: their transformation into a minority group. Whites used to think of themselves as standard-issue American — they had the luxury of not having to grapple with the significance of their own racial background; they were "us" and everyone else was "ethnic." Not anymore. (Los Angeles Times)

Adam Sternbergh, editor at large, New York: Even as an admitted yoga-practicing, public-radio-listening, Wrigley Field-visiting, Wes Anderson-movie-watching, Arrested Development-championing white dude — i.e., someone squarely in the targets of Stuff White People Like — I don't feel even mildly chastened about yoga, NPR, Wes Anderson, or Arrested Development after reading this blog. In fact, all the site's entries, while superficially chiding, can actually be divided into three very comforting categories:

1) Entries that don't reflect your lifestyle choices … and therefore make you feel superior.

2) Entries that do reflect your lifestyle choices … and therefore make you feel like you're in on the joke.

3) Entries that nod to commonly held comic stereotypes … and therefore, because you recognize them, make you feel superior. (The New Republic Online)

David Mills, screenwriter: The No. 1 biggest thing white people like is pretending to poke fun at themselves. … Here are a few things that white people don't like:

1. Black bosses.

2. Mexicans.

3. Being told they're wrong.

4. Panhandlers.

5. Black people on magazine covers.

6. Islam. (Undercover Black Man)

Megan McArdle, associate editor, The Atlantic: All right, let me add myself to the list of white people who don't like Stuff White People Like. Leave aside the arrogance of declaring "white people" to be equal to a rather small group of self-satisfied, overeducated, affluent poverty vultures. And I actively applaud its purpose — my demographic is a rich vein of humor. One that should be strip mined.

Unfortunately, SWPL just isn't very funny. How can you take a target as rich and inviting as people who deliberately buy ugly shoes and produce … a dull thud? (Asymmetrical Information, The Atlantic Online)

Alex Jung, blogger: Its cleverness is getting stale because it hasn't exhibited ways to think differently; one can predict the rest of the posts — white people also like to dress their pets … and watch Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and think about how "real" it is. [Lander] recognizes the dumb things white people do, such as believing they know what's best for poor people, but just as he will still spend 10 bucks on a sandwich, white people will still think buying a Gap T-shirt will end poverty in Africa. It's a critique followed by a shrug. (Race Wire, Colorlines)

The Chronicle of Higher Education
Section: The Chronicle Review
Volume 54, Issue 32, Page B4

---------------------------------------
s. e. anderson is author of "The Black Holocaust for Beginners"
Social Activism is not a hobby: it's a Lifestyle lasting a Lifetime
Black Educator
---------------------------------------

I have to say one thing about that site:

There are more comments on every entry than I have see on any other blog.

Maybe she pisses off more White people than anybody else.



um