Meet the man behind “Stuff White People Like” at Racialicious

Meet the man behind “Stuff White People Like”

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

A ton of you have been writing to me about a new blog called Stuff White People Like. It’s a hilarious, satirical Wikipedia-esque guide to exactly what the title says, filled with dead-on observations that make you laugh in surprise and recognition. And when I say recognition, I mean not only that I’ve noticed a lot of the behavior mentioned in white people I know, but also that I recognize myself (hey, I am half white) in a lot of the posts.

One of my favorite posts is “Top Ten Hip Hop Songs White People Love,” especially this part:

I was preparing to write a post about how white people love “old school” hip hop, and take it very seriously. Or perhaps how they love “conscious” hip hop that so vitally addresses the problems of a community that they don’t belong to. Remember, they aren’t dancing or jogging to this music for fun - it’s for a social cause.

I’ve always wondered why it is that most audience members at “conscious” rap concerts are white - a question tackled by Bakari Kitwana a couple years ago in a piece he did for the Village Voice titled “The Cotton Club“. The title is “a reference to the 1920s and ’30s Harlem jazz spot where Black musicians played to whites-only audiences.”

Isn’t there something condescending about non-black people telling black people what kind of hip hop they should listen to when hip hop is arguably a black art form to begin with?

Anyway, I mention all this because from the first time I saw the site, I’ve been wondering who the hell started it all. And now we know, thanks to The Assimilated Negro, who just landed a two-part interview (part 1, part 2) with the man behind the blog. Here are some interesting excerpts:

SWPL: ok. I am white. here is another non surprise. there are pictures of me on the site. I’m the dude recycling. and the guy at dim sum. and the guy holding the iphone. and the bicycle picture is my bicycle.

TAN: ha…. SCOOP!

SWPL: I work here in Los Angeles as a Copywriter/Corporate Communications person.

…

TAN: do you consider yourself aligned with the white people you profile? You’re white, but are you whom you describe/study?

SWPL: oh yes. this site pokes fun at ME. that’s why I use pictures of myself. those aren’t taken out of irony. this is the shit that I do. I need to call myself out for all of the stupid shit that I take for granted. why do I need $300 bike rims? why is a $10 sandwich considered normal?

TAN: When did you become self-conscious about your “whiteness”? When do you think the white liberal guilt kicks in? Is there an age? a rite of passage? do you need to see some black comedians talk about it? all of the above?

SWPL: Well remember a lot of the white people I’m lampooning (including myself) always can laugh at the comic view stuff because we’re like “yeah, those OTHER white people, they are ridiculous.” I grew up in Chinatown, in Toronto East Chinatown. a neighborhood bordered by a housing project, greektown, and little india. the neighborhood was always safe, but it’s gentrified like crazy in the past ten years. but I would say growing up there made me aware of whiteness right away. I knew most chinese slurs for white people by age 10. but at the same time, I wasn’t isolated. Toronto produces some pretty diverse crews of friends.

…

TAN: Do you see any difference in response between whites and minorities/ethnics?

SWPL: not really sure. They are all email responses, so people could be lying. For the most part the response is positive from everyone. Most of the white people who write in are the ones being satirized, and they get the joke. The minorities who write in usually love the blog, they are also usually the first to go after white people who say that the blog is racist. The best response I’ve seen so far is someone who said, “there’s a big difference, you haven’t been denied a job because you like Yoga and Expensive Sandwiches.” I think that put things into perspective pretty quickly.

Trackbacks & Pings

episcopophagous - del.icio.us links for 2008.02.24 to 2008.02.28 on 28 Feb 2008 at 11:42 am

[…] Meet the man behind “Stuff White People Like” at Racialicious - the intersection of race… […]
Wow, Nobody Saw That Coming . . . « Dork Nation on 27 Mar 2008 at 3:28 am

[…] Then: The author of Stuffwhitepeoplelike has his “whiteness studies” jargon down pat, but the thing about whiteness studies is that it exists to dismantle white supremacy (or at least purports to). In contrast, Stuffwhitepeoplelike in the main seems to exist to display the author’s erudition and self-regard. (Is a trade paperback book deal far behind? Will Racialious blurb the back cover? ” A hilarious, satirical Wikipedia-esque guide to exactly what the title says, filled with dead-on observations that make you laugh in surprise and recognition?”) […]
Stuff White People Like « Reconciliation Blog on 08 May 2008 at 1:32 pm

[…] White People Like (SWPL) earlier this year through TheRoot.com and another interesting blog called Racialicious. At the time, I wondered whether or not I should blog about SWPL. I decided not to because, while […]
White People Like taking credit from Asians: Who is Myles Valentin? « Restructure! on 06 Sep 2008 at 6:41 pm

[…] blog about race written from the perspectives of people of colour, credits Christian Lander as the “The Man behind Stuff White People Like” and makes no mention of Myles […]

Comments

Cynthia wrote:

I don’t really get the issue with the whole gentrification of so-called “ethnic” neighbourhoods. Are children of immigrants seriously expected to move to the suburbs once they “make it”? IMHO, it’s kind of passe to do that, at least in Toronto. Everyone’s moving back downtown now, with all the condos going up.

Also, I’ve read in several message boards and blogs that “Stuff White People Like” should really be “Stuff Yuppies Like” but the guy called it the former title because it would get more attention.

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 8:57 am ¶
j wrote:

The website is definitely more about “yuppie” than “white” but hilarious nonetheless. I especially like the post about expensive sandwiches. It explains the curious looks I’ve received when trying to suggest a place for lunch that *wasn’t* the cool sandwich shop in town.

What do other think about this constant equating of ‘white’ with ‘young, middle-class, trendy, urbanite’? I don’t think this is unique to the SWPL website.

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 9:33 am ¶
mistersquid wrote:

It’s not an issue of whiteness; it’s an issue of affluent, educated liberals who happen mostly happen to be white.

As a non-white, many of the things named as aspects of whiteness appeal to me because I’m a relatively affluent educated liberal.

The whole schtick is basically a naive narcissistic reification of white privilege. From the perspective of us non-white folk, it’s really pretty disgusting.

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 9:37 am ¶
Orville wrote:

I guess I see the blog differently. I can see how some will view the blog as entirely offensive because it does deal with generalizations about white culture. However, I think there is some truth to the blog to. The blog is definitely highlighting issues of race but also class and privilege are important topics the blog focuses on. I think this blog is important in some ways because the actual person behind the blog is white. Maybe this blog is a way for non white people to peek into the minds of white, upper, yuppies?
I just heard about this blog it is definitely satirical kind of humor with some truth to it. I have heard that some white people are upset about this blog though. The blog definitely seems to be focusing on a certain section of white society the upper to middle class college, university educated crowd.

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 12:08 pm ¶
Orville wrote:

I am Canadian and the post about Canada was hilarious! We do have universal health care here but Canada definitely has social problems. Canada is NOT PERFECT.

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 12:11 pm ¶
Cynthia wrote:

Orville,

I saw the blog as a yuppie thing, period, regardless of race. I don’t see how it’s a white yuppie thing. Maybe you can explain to me?

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 12:22 pm ¶
ebogjonson wrote:

It’s sad to see so many otherwise intelligent people of color tripping over themselves to jump on this mediocre little bandwagon. Maybe we can call it the “Heroes Effect” where POC desperate for mirroring in the mainstream media (i.e., by white folks) rush to call any lame old thing since, well, white sliced bread brilliant and insightful.

Black gay writer Hilton Als has a riff about “faggots without faggotry” (his words) where he writes that one of the unintended consequence of the civil union movement is that it imagines a gayness where all gay men are tall strapping blond veterans with state-approved marriages and two adopted kids. (Perhaps adopted transracially?) Don’t get him or me wrong; civil unions and access to benefits are critically important legal issues. But Als argues that for queens interested in less legalistic questions of gay culture there’s something critical, paradoxical and foundational about being a gay man that relates to the problem of marginalization, and that one unintended, undertheorized consequence of progress is that someday there will be generations of gay men who have no relationship to that paradox.

I think that there’s something similar at work around “race” in the current culture. Stuffwhitepeoplelike represents a trajectory where it becomes increasingly possible to imagine “color without coloreds.” The title of Greg Tate’s recent anthology Everything But the Burden gets to a similar point:

Q: What is it white people are taking from black culture?

A: Everything but the burden.

The author of Stuffwhitepeoplelike has his “whiteness studies” jargon down pat, but the thing about whiteness studies is that it exists to dismantle white supremacy (or at least purports to). In contrast, Stuffwhitepeoplelike in the main seems to exist to display the author’s erudition and self-regard. (Is a trade paperback book deal far behind? Will Racialious blurb the back cover? ” A hilarious, satirical Wikipedia-esque guide to exactly what the title says, filled with dead-on observations that make you laugh in surprise and recognition?”) In the best whiteness studies, identification of what constitutes “white culture” treats unique/demographically distinct cultural practices and comes part and parcel with a sometimes difficult examination of things like white privilege. Here it mostly comes with a high five, a pat on the back and endless blather about how smart some random white dude is for making funny about sandwiches. Talk about lowered expectations. Talk about affirmative action!

During my day job I think about and build online communities, and I find it interesting how neatly praise for SWPL distinguishes between the posts and the site’s comments, which are actually chock full of incredibly stupidity and borderline racism. The author’s nice conceptual matrix for the website doesn’t really account for the internet dog whistle effect where inviting white people to talk about whiteness eventually brings out the racists. As I’ve written before, deliberately inviting unprocessed or undermanaged masses of white to play with certain racial concepts is like inviting small children to play with knives. Somebody inevitably gets stabbed in the face and, statistically speaking, they tend to be colored. Me, I’ll pass, thank you. But if hanging out with a bunch of white folks yucking it up about themselves floats your boat, have at it.

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 2:12 pm ¶
R. Prince wrote:

Some of the comments on there can get real nasty. Some whites aren’t too happy with the blog.

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 3:35 pm ¶
FranSky wrote:

@ ebogjonson- you rawk my world!

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 5:46 pm ¶
matt wrote:

I have read several of his posts in the last few minutes, and nothing there seems the least bit funny, or insightful. I just don’t get it.

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 7:08 pm ¶
dalia wrote:

i enjoyed the SWPL site. oddly enough, there was something about the writing that rang “canadian” to me… sure enough, the writer originates from toronto.

i got a bit of a giggle from it because my boyfriend is white, and a lot of those points DO remind me of him–but one would be wrong to consider/label him a yuppie… but for those who speak of affluence, regardless of race, it didn’t really ring true for any of my buppie friends.

meh.

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 7:20 pm ¶
merq wrote:

well said, ebogjohnson

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 7:55 pm ¶
Wendi Muse wrote:

i like the site for a light laugh, though maybe i find it funny b/c i know so many people who fit the descriptions in each entry…no matter their race. it’s called “middle class, recent college graduate, liberal, employed, major city-dweller”

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 8:09 pm ¶
Adisa wrote:

“I’ve always wondered why it is that most audience members at ‘conscious’ rap concerts are white”

The answer is easy. Black people don’t appear to look to popular entertainment as the soundtrack for the/an/a revolution.

Great blog, btw. Bookmarked!

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 9:51 pm ¶
Torontonian wrote:

Uh, Cynthia, isn’t gentrification basically about moving from the suburbs back downtown and displacing the poorer ‘ethnic’ neighbourhoods?

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 10:00 pm ¶
Torontonian wrote:

ebogjonson,

You’re probably right, but I was surprised that the author was white. Average white people are not so conscious of whiteness, and even average PoC are usually not conscious to the degree of SWPL. I wish more white people were SWPL-conscious instead of how they are currently.

On the other hand, there were also signs that the author was white.

With regards to using grocery bags as garbage bags, from personal experience living in different places in Toronto, I thought that PoC were the ones that used grocery bags as garbage bags, and that white people were the ones that actually bought bags designed for lining the garbage can.

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 10:33 pm ¶
Cynthia C wrote:

Torontonian,

It IS moving back downtown. But how is it displacing ethnic neighbourhoods if people of that ethnicity are staying/moving back?

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 10:50 pm ¶
Gandalf Mantooth wrote:

Yeah, ebog and Wendi et al, I’ve raised similar points in my own post about this site. And maybe not surprising to some, my least favorite bit on the blog is the stuff about rap. It’s interesting that 1) the post is written by someone other than the blog’s author 2) it’s the only post that hints at taking the piss of a non-Gen Y White subculture. Like one of my commenters asked, where’s Rush Limbaugh? etc.

White people don’t listen to conscious rap. If they did, Mos Def wouldn’t be on his little blog, because he’d then be too popular with White people for the mention of his name to be “ironic.” White people listen to Soulja Boy, Lil Wayne, the #1 Stunna, Cube, Snoop and Jigga. Only White people I know kicking old school are the White rappers name dropping in the interviews I do.

Of course as we’ve said, he means a specific kind of White, a White experiencing the kind of hand wringing guilt that only comedic irony can soothe.

Well, the dude’s got a future on Def Comedy Jam.

Posted 25 Feb 2008 at 11:37 pm ¶
Orville wrote:

I am actually surprised the writer of the blog is a Canadian and not American. I made the assumption that he was American. Now that I look at the blog entires again I can kind of see how this guy is Canadian.

Maybe since the writer is Canadian he views himself as the other in American? Although the writer is white he is still a “foreigner” he seems himself differently from Americans and American culture? Toronto is the most multicultural city in all of Canada it is also Canada’s largest city in terms of population. Although some Canadians rag on Toronto it is an important city.

Posted 26 Feb 2008 at 12:32 am ¶
Sam wrote:

There have been some great responses to this post. kudos to mistersquid and ebogjonson.

I stumbled across this blog a few weeks ago and as a young, white, man raised with urban hipster values a lot of things on the blog were right on target. But at the same time, as a white person struggling to claim an antiracist identity, this blog didn’t exactly strike me as a helpful tool for that struggle.

I don’t think that someone whimsically blogging about elements of their white privilege is helpful. Most folks with common sense or conscience realize that $10 sandwiches are ridiculous. Blogging about it using the type of humor that is stylish for the same type of materialist folk that love to laugh at themselves while cashing their enormous paychecks seems counter-productive to me. Cynicism and irony sure do seem like awfully awkward ways to critique exoticizing, White liberals. Recognition in order to laugh rather than to critique or change (which, after reading SWPL’s interview, seems to be the point), strikes me as new-age nihilism. Maybe that can be his next post.

Posted 26 Feb 2008 at 3:23 am ¶
Umm Zaid wrote:

Wow. That is so hilarious. No one has ever made fun of White yuppies before. My sides are splitting. Now I have so much insight into (rich) people. Insight I never would have gotten from Dave Chapelle or Chris Rock. Or any stand up comedian who is 1000x more original and clever.

If only someone could also tell me when to clap and applaud this hilarious effort. If only someone could tell me at which moment I should pat him on the pack for his keen social insights. Rich White people threatend to move to Canada! They like Michel Gondry films! They like Mos Def (but he forgot there is something about Mos Def for Whites and everyone else to hate — he’s a Mozlem). Wow. My eyes have been opened to some sort of social condition that has been fitted with a snappy acronym.

Posted 26 Feb 2008 at 7:02 am ¶
j wrote:

ebogjonson,

Yes, it is interesting to note the dramatic difference between the site’s content and the comments, but I’m not sure all that can be laid at the foot of the site’s creator. The situation reminds me of Dave Chappelle - the fact that so many white folks laughed *at* him and his skits (and simply just didn’t ‘get it’) does not undermine his *intent* to take a critical look at race in this country through comedy. While SWPL is no Chappelle’s Show, I think it’s suffering from a similar predicament. So I think it is fair to distinguish between the site creator’s intent (however poorly carried out) and the results. Whether SWPL will take the more scripted and focused approach to discussions on race that you suggest is a whole ‘nother issue, especially when comedy is involved.

I’m still fascinated by the (unintentional?) assumption that ‘white’ equals ‘middle-to-upper class hipster urbanite’. Clearly the website is not about whiteness in that it not at all relevant to working-class or poor whites and that it in some ways says just as much about folks of color in the upper-educated-liberal parts of society.

Posted 26 Feb 2008 at 7:28 am ¶
jayjay wrote:

ebogjohnson-

granted, letting white people talk about race has certain risks, but I think the fact that the site attracts borderline (and open) racists is not entirely bad. If someone decides to angrily react to a short blurb about how white people like mos def by going on some inane, childish tirade about the glories of white culture or how the Jews are responsible for all of the world’s problems, are they doing anything but parodying themselves?

Posted 26 Feb 2008 at 8:35 am ¶
Persia wrote:

Clearly the website is not about whiteness in that it not at all relevant to working-class or poor whites and that it in some ways says just as much about folks of color in the upper-educated-liberal parts of society.

Can’t we say the same thing about the stereotypes of ‘blackness’ and ‘asian-ness’ as well?

Recognition in order to laugh rather than to critique or change (which, after reading SWPL’s interview, seems to be the point), strikes me as new-age nihilism.

Maybe I’m just a crazy optimist (okay, I am) but I don’t see the nihilism there. It might not be productive or ideal, but I don’t find laughing at the absurdity you find in your own life particularly nihilistic or antithetical to change.

Posted 26 Feb 2008 at 9:59 am ¶
ebogjonson wrote:

@ Torontonian: Yes, the Canada thing is confusing. Canadians, like many Japanese nationals, are on some other racial ish that I don’t fully understand. Vice Magazine comes from Canada, and so does my cousin Bernard, who lives in LA and is passing for Chicano. All my people are whitish-looking Haitians (we’re not newfangled “multiracials” thank you, being instead the end-product of a 500 year genetic experiment) and he has this thick, wavy black hair that fits right in on the east side.

When Bernard’s brother got married (to a very nice Italian-Canadian woman) the party DJ did this thing where he whipped out 30 Afro wigs and lead everyone in a medley of Jackson Five hits. All my cousins who had grown up in Canada ran up for wigs and started line dancing away with the Italo-Canadians, whereas the American cousins huddled in an aghast circle, pressing our shoulder blades against each other for safety. Later we had a big family fight about it, and the Canadians told the Americans we needed to “lighten up.” I pointed to my (then) white girlfriend who had accompanied me to the wedding and said, “I’m trying, dog! I’m trying!” My dad laughed but the Canadians weren’t amused.

Moderator’s Note: Ebog, please watch your use of language. The phrase we’re not newfangled “multiracials” thank you could be offputting to people who identify as multiracial - many of whom read our site. Keep this in mind for next time.

Posted 26 Feb 2008 at 5:00 pm ¶
ebogjonson wrote:

My phraseology accurately represents my thinking and sentiments, but your site, your rules.

Posted 26 Feb 2008 at 6:19 pm ¶
Lisa wrote:

Wait, is he Canadian, or “Canadian”?

The blog’s paradies of white self importance is fun, nothing brilliant, but I feel that anything that gets white Americans looking at themselves with more perspective is a good thing.

I’m always amused how the people who defend Imusishness with “you people can’t take a joke” are the same who go nuts when anyone makes gentle jokes about white folk.

Please, mock us, it’s good for us.

Posted 27 Feb 2008 at 4:55 am ¶
Lisa wrote:

Okay, I read some more, and now think the blog is pretty obnoxious behind the cloying cleverness. Particularly: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/01/20/11-asian-girls

“Take for instance the fact that asian women well into their 30s and 40s retain teen / college girl looks without the help of botox, yoga or a trendy diet (future posts). Asian women also avoid key white women characteristics such as having a mid life crisis, divorce, and hobbies that don’t involve taking care of the children (also future posts). Should white guy / asian girl marry, they produce hybirds that are aestically pleasing, but are very annoying. This practice is also a means by which white people can catch up to the asian peoples in the population race, as most of the hybirds often act white rather than asian.”

It gets back to the discussion of whether something is parodying stereotypes, or embracing them under the cover of pretending to parody them.

The more I read of that blog, the more I think it crosses quite quickly from mildly funny to offensive and obnoxious. Celebrating white privilege under the cover of mocking it.

Posted 27 Feb 2008 at 6:41 am ¶
clayton wrote:

Lisa, for what it’s worth, my feminist, Asian American girlfriend thought that entry was hilarious.

To your last point, maybe you’re right. Maybe the author is, if not consciously, celebrating white privilege, but I can guarantee it’s making many white people of privilege rethink at least some aspects of their privileged lives.

Posted 27 Feb 2008 at 9:55 am ¶
ebogjonson wrote:

ka-nuh-dian but my cousins are all from Montreal though. Do they count?

Posted 27 Feb 2008 at 8:18 pm ¶
L-K wrote:

“It IS moving back downtown. But how is it displacing ethnic neighbourhoods if people of that ethnicity are staying/moving back?”

The major issue with gentrification is that the primary residents before the changes are not staying/moving back; they are being displaced and are moving out because they have been priced out.

Posted 28 Feb 2008 at 11:21 am ¶
Jay wrote:

You’re probably right, but I was surprised that the author was white. Average white people are not so conscious of whiteness, and even average PoC are usually not conscious to the degree of SWPL. I wish more white people were SWPL-conscious instead of how they are currently.

I knew a few SWPL conscious types in my life. Most of them have to be self-reflective _and_ hang around a lot of non-whites to be able to do so, though. Which isn’t common (the former more than the latter).

Wait, is he Canadian, or “Canadian”?

He does provide pretty accurate pictures of downtown Toronto in his interviews (and experiences, not just descriptions of places) so I’m inclined to believe he’s actually Canadian.

Okay, I read some more, and now think the blog is pretty obnoxious behind the cloying cleverness. Particularly: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/01/20/11-asian-girls

Hmm, interesting that you picked that particular topic. Did you think it was obnoxious because of what it said about Asian women or because what it implied about white women? Or both? (You didn’t mention anything about the Bruce Lee/Paul Kariya comment, which is why I asked.)

On the other hand, that’s probably one of the few times I’ve actually seen Paul Kariya being “outed” as biracial. Most of the time I think most people see him as white.

ebogjonson: Nah, Montreal’s a universe unto itself.

Posted 28 Feb 2008 at 8:06 pm ¶
Jay Smooth wrote:

I think questioning the intelligence of POC who big up the site is a bit overboard, as is knocking the guy for a potential book deal, but I do share some of ebog’s misgivings..

particularly I wonder if for the sort of white liberal Lander targets, his site winds up giving them a chance to feel self-congratulatory for getting the joke and being able to laugh at themselves.. helps them feel more comfortable and complacent more than it challenges them..

So that basically the site itself exemplifies the phenomenon it was created to satirize..

Not saying this is the author’s intention, I do think he and the blog are pretty smart and funny.. but as we’ve learned from Chappelle and others, this kinda thing can easily play out differently than how you intend. I’d love to see Lander’s take on the discussion here.

Posted 04 Mar 2008 at 1:13 pm ¶
Cherie wrote:

I’ve seen a lot of knockoff sites for stuffwhitepeoplelike, all of which I found to pretty hackneyed except for stuffblackpeoplehate.com.

It’s so unmitigatingly hateful that it doesn’t even feel like a ripoff

Posted 05 Mar 2008 at 5:10 pm ¶
Michelle wrote:

have you guys heard of Stuff Asian People Like? my friend sent me the link a couple of days ago and now I’m addicted: http://www.stuffasianpeoplelike.net

Posted 08 Mar 2008 at 6:57 am ¶
Dolemite wrote:

Gandalf Mantooth, if you think the SWPL blog has hit on an obscure subset of whites, you need to meet and hang out with more white grad students. Do I have to point out that the Rush Limbaugh/Red State white culture has been done to death? Man, you’ve missed the mark entirely…

Posted 09 Mar 2008 at 9:17 pm ¶
Alexandre wrote:

ebogjohnson asks: “my cousins are all from Montreal though. Do they count?”
Possibly not.
I’m an expat from Montreal and an ethnographer. Can’t help but feel that many of the issues are treated differently in Quebec. Not that the situation is better among French-speakers than among Anglos. But, in terms of identities (cultural, social, ethnic, linguistic, religious, “racial”), Quebeckers are often quite different from other Canadians.
In fact, what you say about the Italian-Canadian wedding sounds quite Québécois (French-speaking Quebecker) to me.
It might be interesting to hear what Haitian-Quebeckers have to say about all of those blogs.

Posted 12 Mar 2008 at 2:27 am ¶
Kim wrote:

Unfortunately, the site has gotten a little lame since his book deal announcement. Luckily, a few of the “knockoffs” are pretty good. This one is really well written and funny!

http://stuffwhiteparentslike.com

Posted 30 Mar 2008 at 4:46 pm ¶
Jay wrote:

‘It’s not an issue of whiteness; it’s an issue of affluent, educated liberals who happen mostly happen to be white.

As a non-white, many of the things named as aspects of whiteness appeal to me because I’m a relatively affluent educated liberal.

The whole schtick is basically a naive narcissistic reification of white privilege. From the perspective of us non-white folk, it’s really pretty disgusting.’

You nailed it. I’m a ‘white person’ who has been living/working in Asia for the past eight years (aint that ’so white?!”).

This blog makes me feel bad for the educated, hard-working Thais here in Bangkok, who work very hard to enjoy *most* of the things list in the SWPL blog/book - things that ‘white people’ like. How SMUG of the author!! He deserves a kick in the nuts …

Posted 19 Nov 2008 at 5:21 am ¶