The Honest Life

One site I like to occasionally visit is "Stuff White People Like". The number of items on the list is now just a shade over 100. Here are a few items on the list:

• The Onion
  
• Grammar
  
• Outdoor Performance Clothes
  
• Bad Memories of High School
  
• Graduate School
  
• Threatening To Move To Canada
  
• New Balance Shoes
  
• Marathons
  
• Wine
  

Now Justin hates this site because he feels it's filled with hate. Take the show The Wire. I know quite a few people that will tell you this is the best show on TV. They all happen to be white. I find that amusing. However, the site claims people only like The Wire because they are pretentious.

That is, they pretend to like The Wire and proclaim it good because everyone else does.

And this is what offends Justin.

Because isn't it possible that people really do like the show because they really do think it's the best show, not because a few select people like the show and they want to join the bandwagon. It's much like the people who bought A Brief History of Time, one of the most successful science books ever published, who have, nevertheless, never read it.

Now I have said most people don't read Stuff White People Like so deeply to believe the criticism that may be dished out. They have the superficial view of "Oh god, I love marathons too" rather than delve into the article which talks about how such people are insufferable and how hard they work to train.

Indeed, the articles seemed aimed at people who know "white people" and really "white people" could be extended to highly educated folks. The reason "white" is used is because people often look at the US as black/white, and many of the things white people like, African Americans don't care for, even those that are in the highly educated bunch.

You see, the kind of person that looks at Stuff White People Like isn't even typically white. It's someone with education, who likes to read books, discuss topics amongst their friends, believe they live a life that befits the research they've done. This isn't red America.

But then who is on the web all time, looking for information, reading sites like reddit, trying to find information outside the mainstream? Generally the same folks that stumble on Stuff White People Like.

Although the author seems to have disdain, it's our short attention span that ignores the attitude expressed in these articles, though clearly Justin reads it carefully enough to be offended. Most skim through the titles and wonder "how are they so right about me?" and chuckle.

Is the argument reasonable? Are white people filled with the kind of pretense suggested by the articles? I don't think so. But it is aimed at people who want to poke fun at such white folks by pretending to be them. And for the people that it represents, well, for as much research as they do, they seem to take it all in stride as something humorous.