Stuff White People Like
Came across this website earlier (thanks Kosmopolit). I find it hilarious – mainly because it’s such an accurate depiction of the stereotype known as the American, white, college-kid (in all ages). And as such, it is also a quite clear adumbration of a certain segment of Denmark (you know, the Politiken/Information reading, humanities/social sciences/artsy-fartsy-business studies/teaching-/pedagogue-studies enrolled, pseudo-intellectual, “critical”, “enlightened individualist”). The author is also part of this particular segment, which is probably why he’s got such a thorough grasp of its nature. The sub-title of his book says is all: “The Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions”. A clever oxymoron. It’s a site about the typical, “post-modern” identity-seeking youth, whose mantras are individualism (not economic individualism, heaven forbid) and authenticity. Some of his observations say it all – a few excerpts:
#108: Appearing to enjoy classical music
Though white people do not actually listen to classical music, they like to believe that they are the type of people who would enjoy it. You can witness this first hand by going to any classical performance at your local symphony where you will see literally dozens of white couples who have paid upwards of $80 for the right to dress up and sit in a chair for hours reading every word in the program. [...]
#107: Self aware hip hop references
Among the wrong kind of white people, there are few more hated than the wigger or whitethug. Though it is very acceptable and common for the right kind of white people to dress and act as though they were Japanese, Chinese, or European, it is completely unacceptable for them to act like rappers.
This distaste caused a dilemma for white people who had to show both that they loved hip hop but also that they were aware they were white. The brilliant solution they came up with was to appropriate hip hop words and mannerisms and filter them through a white appropriateness system. [...]
A favorite of mine:
#105: Unpaid internships
In most of the world when a person works long hours without pay, it is referred to as “slavery” or “forced labor.” For white people this process is referred to as an internship and is considered an essential stage in white development.
The concept of working for little or no money underneath a superior has been around for centuries in the form of apprenticeship programs. Young people eager to learn a trade would spend time working under a master craftsman to learn a skill that would eventually lead to an increase in material wealth.
Using this logic you would assume that the most sought after internships would be in areas that lead to the greatest financial reward. Young White people, however, prefer internships that put them on the path for careers that will generally result in a DECREASE of the material wealth accumulated by their parents.
Priceless. And this one:
Statistics
White people hate math. If you want to befriend white people, mention “that weird Asian calculus teacher who drew perfect circles” and how much you hated his class (bonus points if you mention how your parents made you get an even worse tutor who was more clueless than you and smelled bad). However, white
people are fascinated by “the power of statistics” since the math has already been done for them. Some magazines, like TIME, have a section in each magazine that has some interesting statistics ($80 trillion: the amount spent by the US in the Iraqi war) followed by absurd, barely related ones (4,317 yards: the
distance covered if you were to take all the ammunition shells fired by US soldiers in Iraq since the war started). White people who read TIME will quote these statistics, but even non-TIME reading white people will throw in stats they read in a less-than-credible study. It’s not unusual to hear such things
as “I don’t mind this neighborhood since I’m not Republican. 80% of them are anti-minority, you know” or “I don’t think you should let Sally play softball because 70% of softball players are lesbians”.
Anyways, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I think this stereotype is a bit more common and pronounced in North America, but it is definitely rearing its ugly head in Europe as well. To be honest, some of those things found on that site is true of me also (obviously, being a typical white college-boy who grew up in a suburb) For instance, I have quite a few soundtracks too – and thats about the only “classical” music I own (apart from some Wagner and Strauss records which I never play)! Talk about superficial taste in music! And I also enjoy sushi – herd mentality galore!
Anyways, read it.
Thanks for the link.
I loved #108; but I doubt people are as shallow (both here and in the US) as the author seems to think. Unless you play poker on a regular basis, your bluffs will eventually get called quite easily by a more experienced player, and most people know this. But maybe I am mistaken. If I was ‘a rich white guy’, and I thought that the only people who can afford going to classical concerts are rich white guys who know next to nothing about classical music, I would tend to think that the likelihood of someone calling _my_ bluff would seem to be quite small.
But then again, what benefit would you derive from pretending you know something you don’t to people you don’t know and actually would prefer not to meet again? Where’s the shame in admitting to a complete stranger that you don’t know much about classical music? That’s the part I don’t get. Or is the shame not related to the lack of knowledge per se, but rather to the fact that you pay to hear ‘the very best’ musicians, even if you bloody well can’t tell the difference (which would be equivalent to admitting that you weren’t there for the music _at all_)? But then we’re back to the whole ‘are people really that shallow’ question again…
I don’t get a lot of these status games people play. They just don’t make any sense.
“but I doubt people are as shallow (both here and in the US) as the author seems to think. Unless you play poker on a regular basis, your bluffs will eventually get called quite easily by a more experienced player, and most people know this. But maybe I am mistaken.”
Hmm yes and no. I think that there are a lot of people who are that shallow, since in some sense we are talking about a sort of “fashion” here (part that, and part identity seeking, I think). But yes, the bluff is easily called by a more “experienced player”, but to be honest, when it comes to classical music, I don’t think there are a lot of them around. The same could probably be said of, say, political attitudes – lots of opinions out there, a lot of them more or less unreflective repetitions of left-wing predjudice (which you automatically pick up in the media or in high school), but fewer attitudes that people developed on their own, through rigorous scrutiny of the “facts”. On the “no” side: this is a stereotype, obviously, and meant as a joke – so no, the great majority of people are not that mindless – but there is some truth in it, and I would even admit that I am (or have been) guilty of some of them myself.
“But then again, what benefit would you derive from pretending you know something you don’t to people you don’t know and actually would prefer not to meet again? Where’s the shame in admitting to a complete stranger that you don’t know much about classical music?”
It may seem odd, but I think that a lot of people do (or think they do) generate af lot of “social capital” on conveying an image of being “wise” or “well-informed” (on subjects of high prestige in these circles, of course, probably not on, say, sports. High-prestige subjects are often politics or arts, I think). People who have these characteristics are being admired (or think they are) by others in their social circles. And I think it is kinda common among college/university students, at least when they are very young. I wouldn’t be surprised if you would run into quite a few of them if you attended a first year party at either sociology or psychology. Anyways I am not a psychologist or sociologist so I am just guessing, based on my own experience.
A kind of nasty allegory would be the “cultural and political establishment/elite” of Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged (it’s not my impression that people are nearly that bad though), if you ever read that book.