There’s an hilarious new blog called Stuff White People Like, but by “white people” he means limousine/latté liberals under the age of forty. Each post is titled with the name of something that “white people” like. Each post generally includes a stock photo, which means that the mysterious blog author is putting a lot of effort into his project.
For Example:
#5 Farmers Markets
White people like Farmers Markets for a number of reasons. The first is their undying need to support local economies (see future post), and the idea of buying direct from the farmer helps them assuage the fears instilled in them from reading Fast Food Nation (and yes, every white person has read this book).
White people also like Farmer’s Markets because it is outdoors (they love being outdoors), they can bring their dogs and children in expensive strollers, and they get to see other white people. If they are single, this is a good place to meet other single white people who share their passion for sustainability.
The idea of calling these limousine/latté liberals just “white people” is brilliant because, not only is it true that they are nearly all white, but it will make them feel extra guilty about being white, and perhaps make them aware of how stupid some of their beliefs are.
I believe that the whole limousine/latté liberal lifestyle is a substitute for religion, which explains the strange liberal dietary restrictions. Liberalism-as religion explains why the liberal feels as smug about being vegetarian as the evangelical Christian feels about his belief in Christ.
The web site's name is a good lure for Liberals. They'd just ignore it if it were called "stuff white urban liberals like."
A good number of commenters argue, very plausibly, that the site is run by another subculture, the Angry Asian Male.
Posted by: PA | February 17, 2008 at 09:23 AM
If you look at #1 all the way at the beginning the guy says he's Asian.
Posted by: SFG | February 17, 2008 at 09:40 AM
Not "substitute for religion", rather, both religion and memberships of other "fictive kinship groups" are substitutes for tribe.
Posted by: michael vassar | February 17, 2008 at 10:21 AM
I went ahead and posted on it already. It's #40, the Apple post. (I think it's their Jan. 30th post.) I always like dumping on that company and its pretentious customers.
Posted by: Kirk | February 17, 2008 at 10:24 AM
Smug White Liberal vs. Angry Asian Male Smackdown! Can you get that on regular cable, or is it pay-per-view?
In all honesty, though, the guy(s) writing this website don't seem all that angry - the humor is pretty low key and mordant, although spot-on. A lot of the commenters are angry, though; white liberal hipsters are NOT used to being made fun of, and they take themselves VERY seriously indeed, which makes the whole thing even better.
If the guy writing SWPL doesn't turn this into a book, he's missing a great opportunity.
Posted by: tschafer | February 17, 2008 at 10:25 AM
I looked at the first post, and it doesn't say that the guy running the site is Asian.
Posted by: Peter | February 17, 2008 at 10:36 AM
A very detailed argument for "Angry Asian Male" authorship is found on #62 - Knowing What's Best for Poor People, comment 45 by Tom Sawyer.
Posted by: godparticles | February 17, 2008 at 12:20 PM
I think 'white people' in that blog aren't any different from the mythical 'black people' bandied about here. I really thought the rule was if some people do something you get to say the whole race did. Who knew there were different rules for whites and blacks? Oh wait, yes, I knew that.
Posted by: Vim | February 17, 2008 at 12:23 PM
(I won't even bother bringing up the whole HS and the jews issue. Obviously if 99% of a people do something like support Israel, it's still not valid to paint them all with the same brush.)
Posted by: Vim | February 17, 2008 at 12:26 PM
A very detailed argument for "Angry Asian Male" authorship is found on #62 - Knowing What's Best for Poor People, comment 45 by Tom Sawyer.
He makes a good point, though I'm not entirely convinced.
What was most remarkable about Mr. Sawyer's comment was its extreme length. I simply cannot understand why anyone would spend a considerable length of time - probably over an hour in this case - composing and writing a blog comment, one of the more ephemeral and inconsequential forms of writing out there. "Get a life" is the only expression that comes to mind.
Posted by: Peter | February 17, 2008 at 12:33 PM
I like farmers' markets. The ostrich burgers are so good.
Posted by: dearieme | February 17, 2008 at 12:36 PM
"I like farmers' markets. The ostrich burgers are so good."
Racist!
Posted by: | February 17, 2008 at 01:20 PM
Vim,
Whine harder!
Posted by: Whinger | February 17, 2008 at 01:28 PM
Dennis Mangan has come out with a list of stuff white people dislike.
Posted by: Peter | February 17, 2008 at 01:46 PM
Whinger:
"Vim, Whine harder!"
1. I will!
2. Why pick on me? 90% of this blog is to whine about blacks, hispanics, rich people, poor people, feminists, liberals, the new york times etc etc
3. It's important to bring it up the double standard now when it's fresh rather than wait till it's stale in people's minds.
4. I like scoring rhetorical points!
5. You have no point.
Posted by: Vim | February 17, 2008 at 02:31 PM
Liberalism-as religion explains why the liberal feels as smug about being vegetarian as the evangelical Christian feels about his belief in Christ.
Oh man, not again.
Funny site, interesting how both Steve Sailer, Roissy in DC, and you all linked to it within the same one week period even though the blog started a month ago.
It would make sense if the poster is Asian, as when he says that white people support Obama or diversity, he says it very sarcastically. His overall vibe is like the typical Asian who is annoyed by white people but doesn't have the same dislike as AA and Hispanics.
And it's non-ethnic white people he's referring to. The Russians and Italians I encounter in NYC are pretty anti-diversity, racist, dumb, and close minded. Going out and seeing them with their armani shirts, slicked back hair, and orange girlfriends is eh.
Posted by: John Smith | February 17, 2008 at 02:32 PM
If you look at #1 all the way at the beginning the guy says he's Asian.
This is completely false:
"There is no doubt that white people love coffee. Yes, it’s true that asians like iced coffee and people of all races enjoy it."
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/1-coffee/
I don't know who the author is, but the sidebar of the blog contains a flickr stream that would seemingly belong to the author of the blog, or at least a friend. But the Jess lady who owns that flicker account is a white woman with seemingly all white friends.
This suggest the author is white: Jess or one of her white friends.
Posted by: Rain And | February 17, 2008 at 02:36 PM
Libertarian Girl must be at it again. But who are the accomplices (if there are any)?
Posted by: Cody | February 17, 2008 at 02:50 PM
"2. Why pick on me? 90% of this blog is to whine about blacks, hispanics, rich people, poor people, feminists, liberals, the new york times etc etc"
Why not? You are an easy target and it happens to be fun. I get a real laugh out of your comments. They are either wrong, naive, or just plain whining idiocy. But my favorites are when you combine all three. Please keep it up!
Posted by: Whinger | February 17, 2008 at 03:01 PM
I simply cannot understand why anyone would spend a considerable length of time ...composing and writing a blog comment
I've wondered the same about articulate leftie (anti-racist or what will you) posters who lately started being a ubiquitous fixture on conservative blogs, like our Vim here. I've wondered if they're ADL of SPLC interns at their assignments.
Posted by: PA | February 17, 2008 at 03:37 PM
Whinger:
I don't really know who you are. You don't really know who I am. If you have enough imagination to fill out the dots and laugh at what you hypothesize then great. Don't kid yourself, you aren't laughing at me.
It is a disease of our age that when people have issues, they work them out on the internet in ad hominem, rather than doing whatever deep introspection they are trying to avoid. It is of course self-evident that attacking 'easy targets' on the internet is pleasureable and worthwhile.
As far as what you think I am doing, whether wrong, naive, whining or idiotic, it is merely my online persona at this one blog at this time and place and necessarily one dimensional with all the attendant distortions of simplification and projection.
All you've provided me with is unsubstantiated ad hominen so there is really nothing for me to address in what you've said.
Yet again, you have no point.
So yes attack me. Feel better about yourself. Forget your inattentive wife, your surly children, your dead-end job, your hairloss, your stutter, your weight problem or whatever demons are undermining your peace of mind.
Posted by: Vim | February 17, 2008 at 03:47 PM
PA: "I've wondered the same about articulate leftie (anti-racist or what will you) posters who lately started being a ubiquitous fixture on conservative blogs, like our Vim here. I've wondered if they're ADL of SPLC interns at their assignments."
Wow, that means someone thinks my blog is important enough to pay an intern to write comments on it.
Posted by: Half Sigma | February 17, 2008 at 03:52 PM
I remember thinking the guy was Asian too, especially reading the post on "Asian girls." Overlooking the entries again, I now think he's Chinese.
Clearly not Japanese since he's clearly angry at how Europeans love Japan but not any other Asian countries. Also not Korean since there are no references to Korea or Korean ways at all. There are, though, plenty of references to China, and Hong Kong in particular.
Plus he says Whites do harbor some ill will towards Japan, for "whaling, killing dolphins, and Nanking." I've never heard White people care about the Rape of Nanking -- only a Chinese person would put this in an entry.
Posted by: agnostic | February 17, 2008 at 04:04 PM
Vim,
Thanks so much. Your little rant at 3:47 is priceless, a hat-trick, no less! However, you forgot to mention how smart you are. Please try and work that into your next comment.
Posted by: Whinger | February 17, 2008 at 04:05 PM
I really thought the rule was if some people do something you get to say the whole race did.
Humans, by nature, thin slice and group people based on any categories they can use. The most popular are gender, race, and composure.
Look, if 20% of black men have committed assault at some point in their life, and 5% for whites, people are going to be more averse to large amounts of black people in their neighborhood. Deal with it. People thin slice. Differences in outliers usually imply differences in the means.
Posted by: John Smith | February 17, 2008 at 04:18 PM
HS:
You should see my pay check! I'm doing good work here I think. I'll have the lot of you converted in no time.
Posted by: Vim | February 17, 2008 at 04:20 PM
JS:
I deal with it. Doesn't mean I can't also comment about it on blogs.
More importantly I was pointing out where HS sliced even thinner in one case while habitually failing to slice any thinner in other cases.
But it is has probably been adequately demonstrated that HS has very strong in-group versus out-group biases.
Posted by: Vim | February 17, 2008 at 04:28 PM
One of the things I think you guys have trouble understanding is that some people just like to argue. I could go hang out on Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo all day but what fun would that be? "Bush sucks." "Yeah, he really sucks." Doesn't require any thinking on my part. Going here and arguing with you guys actually requires me to think and is somewhat far off from my actual viewpoints (though HS shares my angsty Jewish fuck-the-cool-smart-people vibe, even though he's technically on the other side of the political fence). And it's nice to find someone else who reads Steve Sailer who's not a Nazi.
I would agree with Vim that HS tends to be somewhat blind when it comes to his own prejudices, but that's true of 99% of humanity.
Posted by: SFG | February 17, 2008 at 05:55 PM
"Forget your inattentive wife, your surly children, your dead-end job, your hairloss, your stutter, your weight problem or whatever demons are undermining your peace of mind"
Boy I'm sure glad that liberals never stereotype people.
Posted by: tschafer | February 18, 2008 at 11:46 AM
tschafer:
"Boy I'm sure glad that liberals never stereotype people."
1. Don't take what I've said too seriously. It was just a bit of teasing on my part.
2. But it's actually not an example of stereotype as stereotypes are shared, ingroup conceptions of an outgroup. I do not believe that stereotypes of a race, gender or culture carry the same moral weight or the same practical costs and considerations as speculation on the psychodynamics of an individual person in response to actual things they've actually done but I digress.
3. That is not to say I do not sometimes find myself falling into stereotypes, just that this is not an instance of it. The stereotype is a lazy form of thinking and should not be used in any kind of serious analysis.
Cheers.
Posted by: Vim | February 18, 2008 at 01:04 PM
But it is a stereotype - of white right-wing guys, which is your "outgroup", since liberalism is your "ingroup". The idea that right-wingers as a group are that way due to a struggle with personal "demons" and would be liberal if they were "well-adjusted" goes all the way back to Adorno's "The Authoritarian Personality" in the 1950's. You have no reason to believe that the gentleman you referred to is any of the things, or has any of the problems you stated. It's a sterotype called "white-trash loser", very common among liberals.
So while you may not believe that you are stereotyping, let me assure you, you are, "teasing" or not. Not that the world is going to end or anything. As you pointed out we all stereotype - it's one of the things that makes us human...
By the way, for an intelligent defense of stereotypes - by a person of color - go here...
http://therawness.com/in-defense-of-stereotypes-part-1-the-two-drives/
Posted by: tschafer | February 18, 2008 at 03:15 PM
Given Vim's apparently endless free time and pretensions of evenhandedness I would like to venture a few of guesses.
1. Vim works for a government or quasi-governmental organization.
2. Vim really believes that you are defective if you disagree with the agenda du jour.
3. Vim is utterly incapable of accepting an unpleasant truth.
4. Vim is not a shill for some liberal witch finder NPO but would love to sniff out a few if the offer were forthcoming....
Posted by: Tired of Smoke Rings | February 18, 2008 at 05:33 PM
Given Vim's apparently endless free time and pretensions of evenhandedness I would like to venture a few of guesses.
1. Vim works for a government or quasi-governmental organization.
2. Vim really believes that you are defective if you disagree with the agenda du jour.
3. Vim is utterly incapable of accepting an unpleasant truth.
4. Vim is not a shill for some liberal witch finder NPO but would love to sniff out a few if the offer were forthcoming....
Posted by: Tired of Smoke Rings | February 18, 2008 at 05:34 PM
tschafer:
"The idea that right-wingers as a group are that way due to a struggle with personal "demons""
Let me try this one more time. The last thing I was thinking was whether he was a conservative or not. If I was thinking of any group, it was 'angry people on the internet' which you can find commenting on youtube comments, flaming on email lists etc etc. And my ingroup would have been 'non angry people on the internet'.
But I'm not stereotyping, I'm basing this on him actually ranting at me and on saying he found this inherently pleasureable. This is completely apart from the fact that there is no 'non angry people on the internet' shared, constructed conception of 'angry peole on the internet' which is why it's not a stereotype.
Posted by: Vim | February 18, 2008 at 06:05 PM
Vim,
You are in a pretty deep hole. I suggest you stop digging. Just some friendly advice.
Posted by: | February 18, 2008 at 06:35 PM
blank:
I think you are probably right. All I can recommend is the Wikipedia entry on 'Stereotype'.
One time I tried to explain to some Christian friends that there was no tower of Babel. They laughed. I started describing language families and linguistic phylogeny. They laughed louder. I kept thinking that what I was saying was all very reasonable and if we were in a library, how easy if would be to lay the books out and show them.
Well, as I am now older and wiser, you are right, this should be THE END.
Posted by: Vim | February 18, 2008 at 06:47 PM
If anyone ever doubts feminists have no sense of umor, just read what the commenters wrote at a Feministe post about Stuff White People Like. I have never witnessed more uptight people in my life:
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/02/20/stuff-white-people-like/
Posted by: Days of Broken Arrows | February 23, 2008 at 04:19 AM
I like farmer's markets, and it isn't about dietary restrictions, it's about getting food that tastes like something. Fresh picked vegetables taste a lot better than something that has spent a week in a refrigerator truck, and local food is more likely to be fresh picked. And it's a lot cheaper.
Stop reaching for the political explanation when the obvious one will do.
Posted by: Mark | February 26, 2008 at 10:32 AM