Stuff A Lot Of People Like
March 21st, 2008 by ANGELA WINTERS
Some things should make everyone laugh like the picture of a puppy & kitten locked in an embrace/fight/whatever they’re actually doing.
Some things aren’t as funny to certain people as it is to others. Try race. One of the reasons I think race is still such a big issue in America is because a lot of people lack a sense of humor. Look, people like to laugh and, for some, safe stuff just isn’t that funny. We like to laugh at things that straddle the line and sometimes we like to laugh at things that cross the line. While I see some people get so upset over Obama’s statement about his grandma, some of us just laugh because we all have a nana or uncle who is kind of racist and/or crazy, but we still love them despite disagreeing with 90% of what they say or believe. A lot of us actually think they’re the funniest person in our whole family.
People like us think this blog, Stuff White People Like, created by white people, is actually pretty funny. The ability to laugh at yourself is actually a good thing as is the ability to laugh with each other about all of us. Black people do it all the time. Check out any black issues blog and you’ll see what I mean. The comments section will include a lot of joking with the ocassional comment that this is racist, isn’t funny, how can you say that about your own people, yada yada yada. We ignore those people.
Some of the “Stuff White People Like” - Expensive Sandwiches, Having Gay Friends, Sushi, Outdoor Performance Clothes, Bottles of Water, Musical Comedy. “Being Near Water” is my favorite because I love that more than anything short of Jesus. I guess I got that from my Irish grandmother. That was a joke. Okay, so some people got upset with the post titled “Asian Women,” but none of this is mean-spirited and its sarcastically poking fun at generalizations.
“Dean Rader, a pop culture critic who authors weeklyrader.blogspot.com, says readers flock to Stuff White People Like because it’s hip and hot and the place to be seen and heard online. ‘It’s just as much about class and coolness and yuppiness and consumption (as race).’ And yes, if the some of the posts push far beyond the boundaries of good taste, readers seem to find liberation in an environment unfettered by political correctness.”
Other sites like The Assimilated Negro or The Angry Asian do the same thing and most people find them very entertaining. The only mean-spirited aspect is in the minority of comments. But now, Stuff White People Like has become so popular that mainstream media is picking up on it and will do what they always do; mess everything up by blowing it out of proportion and analyzing it to death. This comic site will now become controversial, offensive and will likely get labeled as an instigator in our country’s quarrel over race. Well, it was nice while it lasted.
From Blog To Riches? The Stuff of White People - washingtonpost.com
Race-related blog drawing white-hot reactions - Chron.com
This entry was posted on Friday, March 21st, 2008 at 8:23 am and is filed under As Yet Unassigned. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
