tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481685117023521386.post3044442271613419436..comments2023-09-20T05:14:16.635-04:00Comments on Stamford Talk: Eat, Think, Drive, Blog!: "Stuff White People Like" Update: I Still Hate ItStamford Talkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10145856659548079358noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481685117023521386.post-49540721668106133962008-04-17T11:22:00.000-04:002008-04-17T11:22:00.000-04:00A good white person- I mean yuppie, obviously- wou...A good white person- I mean yuppie, obviously- would use a Nalgene bottle like I do. <BR/><BR/>Maybe any dialog on race is a good one? I don't think SWPL does that, but maybe some others will be more related to race rather than money. I love discussing race and socio-economic stuff- is that on SWPL? <BR/><BR/>"Basic and flawed"-- that is exactly what I think of SWPL!Stamford Talkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16628338751045041012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481685117023521386.post-55172019376160713992008-04-17T10:44:00.000-04:002008-04-17T10:44:00.000-04:00Wow... the NPR interview is pretty cringe-worthy. ...Wow... the NPR interview is pretty cringe-worthy. I think I need to go take a walk to clear my head, but maybe just because it was so bizarre for NPR. Granted, a friend and I were talking last week about how Talk of the Nation often disappoints relative to other NPR shows... and I used to think it was a pretty good show.<BR/><BR/>A couple thoughts having burnt brain cells listening to the whole interview:<BR/><BR/>a. Lander talks at the end about an upcoming post on the subject of "Self Importance" and I think part of what makes listening to him on the radio difficult is his own.<BR/>b. I think enjoyment of SWPL is inversely proportional to the degree to which one takes it seriously. Listening to NPR, the interviewer seemed especially keyed up on this notion of, "wow, look at this funny great tool for understanding how white we all are..." which is a ridiculous idea.<BR/>c. This commenting process made me wonder how many things on the list actually do apply to me... I came up with about 53 of the 95 topics currently posted.<BR/><BR/>Ultimately, I think SWPL is a funny bit of fluff that sometimes falls flat. They've gotten tons of hits, thanks to people like me who read a few entries that were hilarious then told any friend who would listen. The T-Shirts entry, for example, to me was pretty hilarious. Interestingly, I think their analysis of the T-Shirt phenomena is a little basic and flawed, but the mere presentation of it made me laugh, as someone who has purchased shirts from Threadless and other such sites in the last 6 months.<BR/><BR/>What I think may be even more interesting over the weeks and months to come, and this is why I posted about SWPL and Stuff Nobody Likes, etc. is this: since SWPL is now a phenomena like LOLcats before it, you can count on seeing all manner of spawns emerge. Some will be downright awful, some could take the SWPL model and make it much better, but people will definitely imitate. Perhaps in so doing we'll see the degradation of our national dialog on race into blog after blog of useless generalization... but I would guess that instead we'll see some really bad attempts at humor, the occasional interesting insight, and some stuff that's so absurd you can't help but shake your head and chuckle.<BR/><BR/>Apparently I can't comment about this in fewer than 7 paragraphs! Maybe I need to go to Graduate School and write a thesis on it while drinking coffee or perhaps bottled water.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07540465146418344229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481685117023521386.post-16404886944735068452008-04-17T09:46:00.000-04:002008-04-17T09:46:00.000-04:00I like epic comments from smart people!Your self-d...I like epic comments from smart people!<BR/><BR/>Your self-descrip sounds a lot like me, except for the hair, and that I’m not from a suburb of a big city. (I like Philly a lot.) <BR/><BR/>I’ve also been thinking about if I’m a yuppie or not. I DID go back to look at the full list, and I only match maybe 1/6 of them. I want to go back to see the full list, but I don’t want to give the guy hits. I think I’ll go and paste it into a word document. OK, 23 out of the 95 apply to me, except I can’t afford some of those 23 (living by the water, Whole Foods). I think it’s hard to live up here and not be a yuppie, and maybe choosing to live here is a yuppie element. If I’m a yuppie, I’m proud, because I like the way I am. <BR/><BR/>I’d be curious to see what you think of the NPR interview.Stamford Talkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16628338751045041012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2481685117023521386.post-63208537936295832582008-04-16T23:11:00.000-04:002008-04-16T23:11:00.000-04:00How wonderful that this is on our minds simultaneo...How wonderful that this is on our minds simultaneously, and I think it's fun and fascinating to look at the different ways SWPL resonates. I’ve got some thoughts I’ll try to brief with.<BR/><BR/>Let me start with some identity admissions: I'm a mid-twenties white kid from the suburbs of Philly. My family never had tons of cash to throw around (my mom is a minister, my dad worked for the navy), but I also don't think I lacked for opportunities. I went to good public schools, attended a private college, where I was the punk kid on campus (dyed my hair every color you can imagine, studied math, then when math got boring switched to philosophy). I have worked in nonprofits and the like my whole professional career. I think I'm a pretty creative guy, and I would like to think I've got an interesting take on the world around me. I would claim to be far from a yuppie, but I could be really wrong on that one... I dunno.<BR/><BR/>What I do know, is that when I started reading SWPL I was struck by how often they hit things I like. That said, I also take it completely as a joke and something to be taken fairly lightly, so looking at some of the media coverage, I would tend to agree that the media angle on SWPL is pretty bizarre. <BR/><BR/>What I enjoy most about the site is the tongue-in-cheek tone when they get to saying, “now here’s how you can use this new knowledge to get in with white people.” This air of advice is actually what I most often find really hilarious about the site. <BR/><BR/>In your post today you briefly mentioned a comparison to shows like Best Week Ever, and I think that comparison could be a good one. I enjoy reading other blogs like Wonkette, where they take news about politicians and DC happenings and toss them up in sarcastic and completely scathing ways. Just today they took a video camera to the National Portrait Gallery in DC and posed the question, “is Steven Colbert well hung?” to various people. I think there’s a brand of humor that often is described as snarky, where the bread-and-butter is sarcastic observation. Sometimes it rings true, others hollow, but overall it works when it comes through as somewhat detached, yet accurate.<BR/><BR/>Back to SWPL, I think they hit the mark sometimes and at others they don’t. I typically scan entries and skip a good few. When I am drawn to one by the title they are fairly good about 2/3 of the time. I think one positive of Stuff Nobody Likes is that it has no demographic, hence it isn’t open to people overanalyzing it as a tool for understanding some group. All in all, I think the whole realm is aimed at good fun, if at any time it isn’t enjoyable, it’s a complete waste of your time. Hence, if you don’t like it, I could see how you would quickly become frustrated by it.<BR/><BR/>wow... epic comment! Oops!Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07540465146418344229noreply@blogger.com