disturbing the comfortable

[sophiaserpentia]

Stuff White People Like

Oh, this new blog ruffles the feathers in all kinds of ways. It's brilliant. The comments on each post are proof that it's working. Yes, the criticism that this really mainly applies to yuppies is true, but since they are dominating a lot of the urban cultural dialogue it's still funny and informative to observe the squirming.

Recycling is a part of a larger theme of stuff white people like: saving the earth without having to do that much.

Recycling is fantastic! You can still buy all the stuff you like (bottled water, beer, wine, organic iced tea, and cans of all varieties) and then when you’re done you just put it in a DIFFERENT bin than where you would throw your other garbage. And boom! Environment saved! Everyone feels great, it’s so easy!

... If you are in a situation where a white person produces an empty bottle, watch their actions. They will first say “where’s the recycling?” If you say “we don’t recycle,” prepare for some awkwardness. They will make a move to throw the bottle away, they will hesitate, and then ultimately throw the bottle away. But after they return look in their eyes. All they can see is the bottle lasting forever in a landfill, trapping small animals. It will eat at them for days.

Comments

*snickers*

[azaz-al.livejournal.com]

"It is a poorly guarded secret that, deep down, white people believe if given money and education that all poor people would be EXACTLY like them. In fact, the only reason that poor people make the choices they do is because they have not been given the means to make the right choices and care about the right things."

This is probably best heard in the Ralph Wiggum voice.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

It's funny because it hurts my sense of entitlement.

[revulo.livejournal.com]

That just makes me think of the Penn&Teller BS episode on recycling. lol

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

I think the writing there is a good kind of mirroring for some of our assumptions in this culture.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I shouldn't be laughing the way I am right now. I'm going to end up in some race-determined land of eternal torment, I just know it.

[sable-twilight.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that so many people feel they need to emphasize that it's about "yuppies" or "upper-middle class culture" or that they are in some way or another a person of color...

[idealforcolors.livejournal.com]

I think the problem with it is it does apply so specifically to yuppies/urban liberals/whatever you want to call them in particular...so if you're a white person who isn't urban or liberal or yuppie then you get to go, "Haha, I don't buy into this helping the earth or society bullshit! I'm a cool enlightened minority!" Which isn't a great reaction, either. If it were a bit less politically slanted, it would be better as satire.

[dorisp.livejournal.com]

Reading that makes me feel bad about myself! :(

[zensandy.livejournal.com]

I started laughing, and then I realized, "Hey, wait a minute...I like Mos Def..."

And then I laughed some more.

[evergrey.livejournal.com]

Oh noes, I am TEH EVIL PRIVELIDGED WHITE PERSON!!!! Quick, hide the children!

[el-christador.livejournal.com]

That's an awesome blog! It's telling me that if I actually worry about the plight of marginalized underclasses, I'm being a jerk, and they actually like being poor and marginalized. I haven't felt this positive about the state of North American society since Titanic told me it's a nonstop party being poor and being rich is awful and miserable and an unendurable living hell. So no need to start being concerned.

[el-christador.livejournal.com]

I think some of the entries are also more US-specific. (Although I do see some entries making reference to specifically Canadian things.) For example, the race landscape is totally different in Canada than in the US; we have nothing corresponding to the US black population (blacks in Canada are AFAIK typically immigrants from Africa or the Caribbean), nor US immigrant Latino populations. Major non-white ethnic groups in Canada are east Indian, Asian (especially Chinese), and North American native. And then the race and class interaction issues are completely different, since Indians and Asians are (AFAIK) not really perceived as having particular barriers to entering the middle class or professional class, i.e. they're not perpetual-underclass minorities, whereas with natives, it is something much more like a perpetual underclass excluded from the middle class mainstream. So things such as "having a black friend" don't really apply in the same way in Canada because it just wouldn't have the same significance, and because there are much fewer blacks and they don't form a distinct culture the way American blacks do, but are just another among many small ethnic minorities. And "having an Asian friend" or "having an Indian friend" wouldn't be anything like equivalents either.

[stacymckenna.livejournal.com]

As an adult, I started seeing my "white culture" in the terms of hearing my non-Scandanavian heritage pastor discuss the foibles of the largely-Scandanavian descent congregation she was serving (I'm 1/4 Swede). I saw my self/family in everything she said. It was all done lovingly, and sometimes jokingly, but she also pointed to the potentially self-damaging trends of martyrdom and silence in my cultural background - especially when living in a society where other people don't share the unspoken assumptions about obligation/responsibility. It's an eye-opening experience realizing that other people from only the most slightly different backgrounds often have VERY different perspectives on how the world should work, what's good/bad, right/wrong.

It's also eye-opening to see how differently things are interpreted when using ostensibly the same language - what is an obvious cry for help in the stoic Scandanavian background I find familiar, for others is only a mild request for assistance. If such apparently similar populations have such huge gaps in understanding/communication, what are the differences between very obviously different backgrounds like?