Funny? Accurate?

edited to add:

Having cross posted with 1234567, I should note that I am open to the unique experience of being wrong.

I hope a fight doesn't start, because I'm going to be off line for the rest of the day.

[ 28 February 2008: Message edited by: oldgoat ]

Did I say "can be"? Hell, we're self involved. So comparing in terms of whites and other non white groups, I wonder if you're evoking the fallacy of reverse racism.

Anyhoo, it's not fair to engage in a comlex issue and run, so just take that as a random thought thrown out which may have little value, 'cause I really gotta go now.

Did you know if you're a white women who happens to have an Asian boyfriend you're a Rice Cake? According to most of the posters on that blog, it is simply wrong to date outside your race, and to do show, makes you a racist.

Lots of nasty stereotypes of all races in that blog.

ETA: I have to take some of this back. I read more on the blog and I think it's actually pretty funny, and the offensive comments are not from the blog originator.

Take this for example, now this is funny:

Top 10 Rap Songs White People Love

Upon reflection I think this blog is satire, pretty much the same way Black People Love Us is.

Black People Love Us

[ 28 February 2008: Message edited by: Stargazer ]

I think the blog is mostly meant to skewer the dominant culture (and dominant skin colour) and I don't believe in "reverse racism" so I think it's funny for the most part. BUT...I seem to remember seeing some stereotypes of people of colour and certain ethnic groups that I wasn't crazy about.

I do think that some of the entries are more about class than race. But for the most part, it's about white, middle class "liberals".

No time to look for them now though - just taking a quick babble break before getting on with what I'm getting on with today.

Well, okay, I'll make an exception for this, which made me burst out laughing:

White Americans threaten to move to Canada. White Canadians threaten to move to Europe.

Haha!

P.S. Holy crap. I didn't see that first comment after the post when I posted it. That's the unfortunate thing about this type of satire. It can be a racist pig magnet.

[ 28 February 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

quote:

---

BUT...I seem to remember seeing some stereotypes of people of colour and certain ethnic groups that I wasn't crazy about.

---

Reading the blog:
Often VERY funny, sometimes over the line. I hate it when that happens...

Does seem to be geared more towards your stereotypical white Liberal, than white Conservative.

Oh lord, I'm better than 60% reading though this list, and I nearly choked on my lunch after reading this under "Threaten to move to Canada":

quote:

---

Canadians threaten to move to Europe.

---

[ 28 February 2008: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]

[ 28 February 2008: Message edited by: marzo ]

No, unless for some reason he emphasized the neighbour's skin tone.

"If the black guy says the white guy is racist, does that make it so?"

No, not by itself. But it doesn't mean that he isn't either.

"In a public place, a very unpleasant Jewish woman is raving (...) Do you think that I deserved this kind of treatment?"

To comment on the latter, I would have had to be there to see how you conveyed the fact that you found her "very unpleasant" and "Jewish". Don't think I want to be, given your self-presentation. (Isn't that chip a bit heavy?)

IMHO, "reverse racism" makes as little sense as the notion of "reverse abuse".

[ 28 February 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]

quote:

---

To comment on the latter, I would have had to be there to see how you conveyed the fact that you found her "very unpleasant" and "Jewish". Don't think I want to be, given your self-presentation. (Isn't that chip a bit heavy?)

---

Does it ever get boring being a pedantic asshole with a Saint Benidict complex Martin?

[ 01 March 2008: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]

quote:

---

I’m still not entirely convinced that Canada is not some mythical Shangri-La and that the North Pole is only an few hours hike past the Boundary Waters. Existence of actual Canadian people is debatable. I believe that the term “Canadian” is an honorary title bestowed upon only the finest of the endless stream of sketch comedians that come to NYC and Hollywood from the Chicago comedy scene.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by martin dufresne:
"For example, if black guy plays really loud music at 2 in the morning and wakes up white neighbour, is the white neighbour racist for complaining?"

No, unless for some reason he emphasized the neighbour's skin tone.

"If the black guy says the white guy is racist, does that make it so?"

No, not by itself. But it doesn't mean that he isn't either.

"In a public place, a very unpleasant Jewish woman is raving (...) Do you think that I deserved this kind of treatment?"

To comment on the latter, I would have had to be there to see how you conveyed the fact that you found her "very unpleasant" and "Jewish". Don't think I want to be, given your self-presentation. (Isn't that chip a bit heavy?)

IMHO, "reverse racism" makes as little sense as the notion of "reverse abuse".

[ 28 February 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]

---

quote:

---

I've been compared to Adolph Hitler before so watch out. I'm a really mean crazy guy who's out to get everybody.
I would like to add that I took the black guy to court because he uttered a threat against me. I won my case, he was charged and had to sign a peace bond. I saw him on the street some years later and he looked like he wasn't doing very well. Too bad for him.

---

I'd say that it's pretty racist to use your white priviledge to punitively use a racist justice system against someone and then to seek pleasure in their decline.

Racism to me has to include an element of structural power. White people are protected by the state power structure as marzo has shown us.

I guess I see two things here...

If you want to be anti-racist you can't use your priviledge that way. Getting into a he-said-she-said scenario in a Canadian court room will 9 times out of ten result in a predictable outcome if the accuser is white, middle-classed, male, etc. and the accused is not white, or native, or poor, or recently immigrated, or doesn't speak unaccented english or french, or speaks french in english canada, etc.

There is an enormous amount of evidence of this from the first time a gavel struck a bench in these parts.

And second would be if the response equal to the assault?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sineed:
Assholes are everywhere, marzo. I've been called a racist for refusing to fill dodgy prescriptions for Oxycontin, and I just let it go in one ear and out the other.

White people aren't victims of racism. Sometimes false accusations of racism are used as a bullying tactic, but I wouldn't call that 'reverse racism." I'd call it just being a jerk.

---

"White people aren't victims of racism?"

In North America maybe, though I would say that is debatable too.

Is racism when you don't get treatment in the hospital because they are afraid to touch you?

Is racism when the whole class is planning a party in front of you without inviting you?

Is racism when people laugh at you in the street because you look different?

These are things that happened and happen routinely to white people in some parts of the world.

"White People Like...threatening to move to Canada." Then at the end, "NB In Canada they threaten to move to Europe. In Europe they can't threaten to move anywhere."

quote:

---

Originally posted by Le Téléspectateur:
I guess I was actually assuming that marzo was white. I apologize for that assumption.

I guess I see two things here...

If you want to be anti-racist you can't use your priviledge that way. Getting into a he-said-she-said scenario in a Canadian court room will 9 times out of ten result in a predictable outcome if the accuser is white, middle-classed, male, etc. and the accused is not white, or native, or poor, or recently immigrated, or doesn't speak unaccented english or french, or speaks french in english canada, etc.

There is an enormous amount of evidence of this from the first time a gavel struck a bench in these parts.

And second would be if the response equal to the assault?

Should marzo have just shot the noisy neighbour? Or would s/he have been able to find the same vengeful pleasure looking at the lifeless body of the perp that s/he found when noticing that the neighbour "wasn't doing so well"?

---

quote:

---

Sineed: If you are abused by someone, should you take their race into account before determining how you should retaliate?

---

[ 29 February 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]

quote:

---

"White people aren't victims of racism?"

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Stargazer:
Upon reflection I think this blog is satire, pretty much the same way Black People Love Us is.

---

And marzo, despite the fact that your ex-neighbour was obviously an asshole, who may also have been mentally ill, you did have the power of the courts behind you to punish him when he crossed the line. Some might consider this an element of structual racism. You needn't take pleasure in his fall as you observed him as an ill person on the street. That is simply malicious. For shame.

[ 29 February 2008: Message edited by: Makwa ]

quote:

---

White people aren't victims of racism. Sometimes false accusations of racism are used as a bullying tactic, but I wouldn't call that 'reverse racism." I'd call it just being a jerk.

---

Precisely.

I think its important to keep this pragmatic and as simple as possible.

I'm sure that philosophically/technically, white people can equally be the object of racism- even if they outnumber people of colour 99 to 1.

But considering our history in North America it renders the term racism useless to include in it what white people are or can be subjected to.

quote:

---

If you are abused by someone, should you take their race into account before determining how you should retaliate?

---

Certainly. Even when your concern is only a practical one of not wanting to enflame a situation... I would say a white person is obliged to make some significant allowances for how racial dynamics are playing into how the other person is behaving.

How much allowance? That's a judgement call. And it is easy to end up being so condesending that its more racist than if you called the person on the abuse.

Unfortunately, it not only takes sensitivity to make that judgement call as wisely as possible- I suspect it takes experience, and self confidence helps greatly. For example, even when I was very young, I was not someone prone to guilt trips that fog your judgement. If you know you have guilt trips, and/or confusion, it gets more difficult to "make wise choices".

[ 29 February 2008: Message edited by: KenS ]

I think it's funny. Period.

It get's boring at times [and I wasn't interested in reading back the older posts]... but I have a hard time seeing 'offensive' or even insensitive.

At least in my quick read, it looks like white people laughing at themselves. Not that it isn't obvious stuff anyone could have come up with- it just seems like that the 'voice' is of white people talking about themselves and just using the common artifice of third person.

[ 29 February 2008: Message edited by: RosaL ]

quote:

---

Published in 2000, No Logo has been responsible for more white person “enlightenment” than any book since the burning of the library at Alexandria. By reading this one magic book, white people are able to get a full grasp on the evils of multi-national corporations and then regurgitate it to friends and family....When engaging in a conversation about corporate evils it is important to NEVER, EVER mention Apple Computers, Target or Ikea in the same breath as the companies mentioned earlier. White people prefer to hate corporations that don’t make stuff that they like.

---

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/82-hating-corporations/

Let's face it. We love racism. We love Cops and America's Most Wanted. Why? There are lots of black dudes who get into trouble. We love Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, and Steve Wilkos. Why? theree are lots of black dudes who get into trouble by slappin' their "bitch ho's" and makin' 'n' abandonin' their babies. We love the racism because it's entertaining. We love the misery of others. We love the bad crooner, William Hung from American Idol because he's not one of us--not white. We also loved the tonically challenge Sanjaya because he's a South Asian American and not one of us.

I never liked Cops, America's Most Wanted or any of the other horribly degrading shows targeting 'criminals'. I hate Dog The Bounty Hunter and think it is immoral to hunt people down.

I liked watching Jerry Springer for the shock value, I admit that straight up. But it had nothing to do with the simple cheating on my spouse with his brother stuff. I was in for the guys who were fooled by their transsexual dates.

quote:

---

Originally posted by RosaL:
I'd like to propose, as a general rule, no "we" statements on behalf of large, amorphous groups. It's ridiculous and frequently offensive.

---

quote:

---

Let's face it. We liberal progressive white people love the misery of others, especially if they are not white. We are closet racists whether we like it or not.

---

That's one crazy ass generalization you got there pal. A lot of white liberals have racist tendancies, it's true( I'm one of them), but I think for many socially concious members of the dominent culture, it manifests itself in a desire to "help" a village in Botaswana or "help" Afgahn Women, rather then in schattenfraude.

[ 08 March 2008: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by CMOT Dibbler:

That's one crazy ass generalization you got there pal. A lot of white liberals have racist tendancies, it's true( I'm one of them), but I think for many socially concious members of the dominent culture, it manifests itself in a desire to "help" a village in Botaswana or "help" Afgahn Women, rather then in schattenfraude.

[ 08 March 2008: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]

---

It's quite amusing to see how hurt people get when things like this cut close to the bone. There are a couple of things on the list that make me wince, but for the most part they are generalizations of a class, not race, even if the blogger isn't really aware of it.

quote:

---

Modern furniture, Oscar parties, farmers markets, standing still at concerts, public radio, arts degrees, gentrification, plays, Apple products, recycling and microbreweries. Those are just some of the entries on the online blog, stuffwhitepeoplelike. The list was created by Canadians Christian Lander and Myles Valentin, and has been viewed by millions of people.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by M.Gregus:
This blog was featured on Sound Like Canada today, including an interview with the two bloggers behind it. One of them said that he based his contributions to the list on his time in grad school in Canada, and the things that his friends were enthusiastic about.

---

The inference from that experience to "stuff white people like" is (putting it as kindly as possible) astonishing. What was the guy studying???

[ 12 March 2008: Message edited by: RosaL ]

[ 19 March 2008: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]

http://stuffghettopeoplelike.wordpress.com/
http://stuffeducatedblackpeoplelike.wordpress.com/
Stuff Lesbians Like
http://stuffgayguyslike.wordpress.com/

And of course - http://stuffunimaginativebloggerslike.blogspot.com/

[ 17 March 2008: Message edited by: Doug ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Doug:
And of course - http://stuffunimaginativebloggerslike.blogspot.com/

---