White people like kitchen utensils, Sarah Silverman, Toyota Prius, Apple, ...

[Tesha]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080328.wlwhite27/BNStory/lifeMain/home

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com

Kitchen utensils, Sarah Silverman, Toyota Prius, Apple, Obama...

Christian Lander and Myles Valentin were joking around about why white
people don't watch The Wire when they came up with the idea for a
satirical blog about the specific tastes of the Caucasian population.
The site, Stuff White People Like (stuffwhitepeoplelike.com), has
become a viral sensation, and the Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based
Mr. Lander recently landed a book deal with Random House. We talked
to Mr. Lander about how he vets his posts, the people who hate him
and the stuff white people like, which apparently includes sarcasm.


Your blog has only existed for two months
and already it's become so huge there's a backlash.
The Washington Post called you pasty.

I got a book deal and the publisher told me I can't talk to American press.
They didn't want me getting overexposed. {The Washington Post reporter}
got in touch with me the day the book deal was finalized and got all pissed
off. Gawker hates me and The New Republic and Slate. They all wrote mean
things about how I'm really not very funny and it's not a very good site
and that I don't deserve any of this.

Are you surprised by how many people do like it?

To say the least. After the site got about 15 posts I thought, 'This is kind
of funny, I'm going to send it to my friends.'

And they really responded and started sending it to their friends and the
next thing I knew it was on the Good Magazine blog and the Comedy Central
Insider. It got bigger than I could have ever expected and none of it feels real.

Why do you think it struck such a chord?

Part of it is weird timing. The people I'm talking about on the site are back
in power in the U.S. After eight years of Bush and the Republican right wing,
the Democratic race is really showing that these people are taking over again.

You mean bourgeois white liberals who enjoy
gentrification and having gay friends?

Yeah. So there's an interesting reaction to that. People on the right like
to poke fun of those kind of people, and for left-wing liberals, it's fun
to skewer your friends. It's just a new take on an old subject. People have
written about yuppies forever.

<more>

[DemoTex]

1. I'd give Sarah Silverman a ride in my Prius any day!

Know what I mean, Vern?

[DainBramaged]

2. What a great site. Serves us right

:rofl:

[Matariki]

3. I'm going to make a site called 'whitepeople makingfunof whitepeople.com

ever see that Simpsons episode where Homer is watching some black comedian say 'black people drive like this' (comedian in a laid back, one hand on wheel posture), 'white people drive like this' (hunched up, two hands tight on the wheel). And Homer cracks up and says happily 'yeah, we're so lame'.

[Tesha]

4. If yu read more of the article, the web site developer clearly states that he's...

Wow! meta-mockery!;)

Anyway...

If you read more of the article, the web site developer
clearly states that he's making fun of himself; that most
of the stuff he mentions is stuff that he himself likes.

Tesha

[Clark2008]

5. I'm white and I think Toyota now makes the worst cars on the road

I also think Sarah Silverman is trashy.

:shrug:

[Mandate My Ass]

6. trashy and monumentally unfunny

I'm guessing she must know someone...;-)

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Consumer Reports doesn't agree with you.

According to them Toyota is far an away the most reliable auto manufacturer. I knew that before, from personal experience.

I'd sooner set my hair on fire than buy an American Car. They blow.

[texshelters]

7. Sarah Silverman is a shock jock comedian

She gets by because she's attractive. Her show was one of the worst comedy efforts ever.

Her movie, "Jesus is magic" was mediocre. The title was the funniest thing about it.

Toyota are great!

Why am I wasting my time here....

Tex Shelters

[Tesha]

8. I have no idea who Sarah Silverman is, but in my further newspaper readings...

I have no idea who Sarah Silverman is, but in my further
newspaper readings, I just cam across this from Vancouver's
The Province...

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=f9c4b8ca-d4b6-45d3-a714-f6b88e7c7d2a&k=5709

Tesha

[frazzled]

I'm a white person with many kitchen gadgets, a Prius, and an Apple ibook ...but

I can't stand Sarah Silverman. Someone should wash her mouth out. Lowest form of humor, and mean to boot.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. I prefer PCs. But then again, my surname ends with a vowel. -nt

[martymar64]

19. Is he singing Motorhead?

I thought so.

[kineneb]

10. not much on their list for me

coffee
farmers markets (managed one for 12 years)
tea
no TV (since 1979)
arts degrees (music/music history)
kitchen gadgets
bicycles
recycling
multilingual children (me, and half my family)
grad school

guess I am more of a mid-70s hippie type.

[Tesha]

15. ;-) (NT)

[riverdeep]

11. I was going to start a thread on this site!

...but forgot.

First off, it's "stuff white, urban, educated, wealthy, liberals stereotypically like". You won't find the NASCAR mentality represented.

Basically, I was going to ask, "Is this site racist?" There are attitudes on that site that are certainly borderline. At what point does healthy self-mockery veer into despondent self-contempt? I think it does sometimes there. Especially from the commenters (which can number in the 700 range). I hear things like "white people like to say they have Cherokee blood in them to spice up their boring lineage." Huh, boring? What's wrong with being German/Irish?

Basically the gist is white people are phony and uncool and lucky. And pretentious. How could I forget pretentious? I have problems with that.

How would this look if black people were being made fun of in this way? There are already sites like that:

http://stuffebplike.com/ (stuff educated black people like)

http://stuffghettopeoplelike.wordpress.com/

So, it's not that it's aimed at black or white that I have a problem with, it's the attitude. Kind of the opposite of ethnic pride. I think healthy skewering about yourself is good, but I don't know, some of this stuff just doesn't seem healthy.

BTW, the guy supposedly got $350,000 book deal from the publisher. You WILL be hearing more about this phenomenon, for better or worse.

http://gawker.com/370412/stuff-white-people-like-ridiculous-book-deals

edit: fixed a link

[riverdeep]

12. One more thing.

On a pragmatic level, this kind of thing is disastrous. Talking about the people coming back in power as "bourgeois white liberals who enjoy gentrification and having gay friends" (even though it was the interviewer asked it that way, he got the attitude right), is a classic example of losing the framing argument. Not to mention inaccurate by omission.

One of the most successful intellectual/cultural campaigns ever waged by the right wing in the latter half of the twentieth century was the image of political correctness. With this nebulous charge leveled at anyone who questions the ways of the majority group in favor of an historically oppressed group, they effectively made it seem rebellious to engage in tradition. A tradition of shutting off debate from points of view other than mainstream. That's not rebellion. How successful was it? Not only did they convince their own side political correctness would bring down the country, but they convinced most of the other side as well. Without going too far into it, of course political correctness existed and exists. But it was used as a blunt instrument to bludgeon, rather than a precise tool to heal.

And political correctness was started by whom? You guessed it, us. It started as a joke amongst liberals themselves and was quickly picked up by conservatives when they recognized it as the goldmine it turned out to be for them. I see them salivating over this the same way.

[DainBramaged]

13. Like they salivated over The Onion or Steven Colbert before they "got it"?

[riverdeep]

14. Not comparable, really.

The Onion is more of an equal opportunity slasher, and Colbert is obviously making fun of conservatives (to all but the most slack jawed). This site is making fun of liberals exclusively. My feelings on the site are really mixed, not totally hostile, btw. Just some things on there that make me cringe.

[DainBramaged]

16. But making us cringe was the intent, wasn't it??

Colbert spoke at the Press Club dinner a couple of years ago and the pukes didn't "get" him till after that wonderful razzing of Booshe.

[girl gone mad]

18. Very funny.

I love the write up on San Francisco. lol.

[kimbo2612]

20. Stuff White People Like

I have to admit, it's gotten a little bit lame since he signed a $300,000 book deal. Good thing there are a few funny "knock offs."

http://stuffwhiteparentslike.com

Gave me a chuckle.

[Tesha]

21. Yeah, with more publicity, this won't be an "inside joke" any more. (NT)