Saturday, January 30, 2010

On Stuff White People Like #132: Ironic Self-Awareness

Okay, so as apology for the rather heavy post I just flung at you, I present a lighthearted romp following a recent visit to that blessed repository of Stuff White People Like. I actually found that site after following a link sent by a "friend" to Things Marketing People Love, at which I laughed and laughed until I got down to "Threadless t-shirts." ("But--but they're--It's not because--I don't--Oh, man, I suck.)

I had that same reaction running down the list at Stuff White People Like: "I mean, yes, but I'm not like that. The thing with Ed Hardy is--" "Yeah, but high school--" "I don't treat my dog--" But the fact is, there's no way around it: I am she about whom that Web site is written. It's terrifying. Nobody likes to think that someone else's utter stereotyping of your particular psychosocioeconomic group would so stultify your personal sense of individuality, but there you go.

So here, without excuse or explanation, without any further weak attempt at self-defense, is a list of Stuff that I, as a White Person, Like, whether I like it or not:

#128 Camping
#127 Where the Wild Things Are
#126 Vespa scooters
#124 Hating people who wear Ed Hardy
#115 Promising to learn a new language
#113 Halloween
#111 Pea coats
#109 The Onion
#106 Facebook
#104 Girls with bangs
#103 Sweaters
#101 Being offended
#99 Grammar
#97 Scarves
#94 Free health care
#92 Book deals
#88 Having gay friends
#84 T-shirts
#83 Bad memories of high school
#78 Multilingual children
#77 Musical comedy
#76 Bottles of water
#72 Study abroad
#69 Mos Def
#64 Recycling
#57 Juno
#55 Apologies
#53 Dogs
#51 Living by the water
#50 Irony
#49 Vintage
#44 Public radio
#40 Apple products
#39 Netflix
#35 The Daily Show/Colbert Report
#29 80s night
#24 Wine
#19 Traveling
#13 Tea
#12 Non-profit organizations
#8 Barack Obama
#2 Religions their parents don't belong to
#1 Coffee

That gives me 43 items out of the current list of 131, making me 32.8 percent Stereotypical White Person. Give me a North Face jacket and a townhome in Williamsburg, and I'll get back to you in a couple of months.

I did it; now it's your turn. Run down the list, white people, and see how uncomfortably close to home it may actually hit. And POC, you might want to give it a try, too--it won't make you white, but you may discover you're actually a hipster and you never knew it.

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