I counted 30 things I like on the list. I don’t get that site though, is it meant to be humorous? From what I’ve read, it just seems like the rantings of someone with a chip on his shoulder.
And I agree with the posters above that the site is actually listing “Stuff Young, Educated, Middle-Class People Like,” and implying that you have to be white in order to be young, educated and middle-class.
It should be called “Stuff hipsters like” but that wouldn’t have as much pull or focus attention on the fact that for all their bleeding heartness and diversity-hyping, hipsters are a rather homogeneous and comfortable lot.
It isn’t all hipster stuff however. Some of it is targeted straight towards upper-middle class suburban people with more money than time for example. Check out the article on camping for instance. I said that I like camping but I grew up in the woods and like real survival type camping. The entry on camping is an unfortunately reality based satire about white people who want to expose their kids to nature but want to do it in the most expensive way possible on a schedule. I think it is a funny entry because lots of people of that type really do that (why else would they have R.E.I. megastores in affluent suburbs. Black people and others don’t camp unless they are in the military (I kid but not really).
#134 The TED Conference – never heard of it
#133 The World Cup – is this a joke? soccer???
#132 Picking Their Own Fruit – yeah, from the grocery store!
#131 Conan O’Brien – never watched it
#130 Ray-Ban Wayfarers – nope (though I did buy a pair of Ray-Bans when I was in Saudi Arabia)
#129 Banksy – no idea what this refers to
#128 Camping – liked it as a kid; haven’t been in 30 years, so nope on this one also
#127 Where the Wild Things Are – the children’s book? Ok, I guess I liked it as a kid…
#126 Vespa Scooters – aren’t those, like, from the '60s?
#125 Bob Marley – never listened to him
#124 Hating People Who Wear Ed Hardy --** no idea who or what an “Ed Hardy” is**
#123 Mad Men – never watched it (though I might check it out on Netflix one day)
#122 Moleskine Notebooks – no idea what those are
#121 Funny or Ironic Tattoos – I don’t have nor would I ever want a tattoo
#120 Taking a Year Off --** from what, work? Maybe when I win the lottery!**
#119 Sea Salt – nope
#118 Ugly Sweater Parties – is this for real?
#117 Political Prisoners – uh, I’m against it?
#116 Black Music that Black People Don’t Listen to Anymore – I like classical and classic rock; not sure where black people fit into that
#115 Promising to Learn a New Language – hell no
Ok, I’m pulling an O’fer and this is stupid beyond words. No need to go on.
And I’m a white-bread white guy so whoever made up this list doesn’t know shit. Sounds like a list for urban metrosexual liberal-types.
83/134 so I’m 65% White. Although I’m pretty brown, actually. And a lot of the stuff I don’t like are America-specific things I don’t have enough experience with to dislike or like, like Manhattan, Conan O’Brien, Netflix and San Francisco.
* #134 The TED Conference
* #133 The World Cup
* #132 Picking Their Own Fruit
* #128 Camping
* #127 Where the Wild Things Are
* #126 Vespa Scooters
* #125 Bob Marley
* #122 Moleskine Notebooks
* #120 Taking a Year Off
* #119 Sea Salt
* #118 Ugly Sweater Parties
* #117 Political Prisoners
* #116 Black Music that Black People Don’t Listen to Anymore
* #115 Promising to Learn a New Language
* #113 Halloween
* #112 Hummus
* #111 Pea Coats
* #108 Appearing to Enjoy Classical Music
* #107 Self Aware Hip Hop References
* #104 Girls with Bangs
* #103 Sweaters
* #102 Children’s Games as Adults
* #101 Being Offended
* #97 Scarves
* #95 Rugby
* #94 Free Healthcare
* #90 Dinner Parties
* #89 St. Patrick’s Day
* #88 Having Gay Friends
* #87 Outdoor Performance Clothes
* #86 Shorts
* #84 T-Shirts
* #82 Hating Corporations
* #81 Graduate School
* #80 The Idea of Soccer
* #79 Modern Furniture
* #78 Multilingual Children
* #76 Bottles of Water
* #75 Threatening to Move to Canada
* #73 Gentrification
* #69 Mos Def
* #68 Michel Gondry
* #67 Standing Still at Concerts
* #65 Co-Ed Sports
* #64 Recycling
* #63 Expensive Sandwiches
* #62 Knowing What’s Best for Poor People
* #61 Bicycles
* #58 Japan
* #57 Juno
* #54 Kitchen Gadgets
* #53 Dogs
* #52 Sarah Silverman
* #51 Living by the Water
* #50 Irony
* #49 Vintage
* #48 Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops
* #47 Arts Degrees
* #45 Asian Fusion Food
* #44 Public Radio
* #43 Plays
* #42 Sushi
* #41 Indie Music
* #37 Renovations
* #36 Breakfast Places
* #35 The Daily Show/Colbert Report
* #34 Architecture
* #29 80s Night
* #24 Wine
* #23 Microbreweries
* #19 Traveling
* #18 Awareness
* #13 Tea
* #12 Non-Profit Organizations
* #11 Asian Girls
* #10 Wes Anderson Movies
* #9 Making you feel bad about not going outside
* #8 Barack Obama
* #7 Diversity
* #6 Organic Food
* #5 Farmer’s Markets
* #3 Film Festivals
* #1 CoffeeEthnically, I’m 100% Irish, so I’m mighty white.
But “Stuff White People Like” has never been about “white” people per se, but about a certain TYPE of white person: specifically, the educated, upscale, liberal urban hipster.
Since I’m a conservative Catholic Republican from a blue collar neighborhood, most of the stuff they satirize has little to do with me. But of the items on that list, the ones I actually enjoy/relate to are:
#128 - I’ve never been much of an outdoorsman, but my 8 year old loves fishing (so I had to take it up) and is talking a lot about camping. I may HAVE to start doing this.
#114 America - Okay, I’m a patriotic guy
#113 Halloween - I liked it when I was a kid, and I like taking my son trick or treating… but I have no desire to dress up at my age, and the whole thing seems awfully overblown these days
#109 The Onion - it’s free, so I pick it up occasionally, and sometimes it’s funny.
#108 Appearing to Enjoy Classical Music - I DO enjoy classical music, but don’t care if anybody else knows that
#106 Facebook - Yeah, I’m on Facebook
#99 Grammar - I went to Catholic schools when we still had nuns drilling us on grammar, spelling and sentence diagramming
#98 The Ivy League - I went to an Ivy League school (Columbia), and liked it well enough, but don’t feel particularly proud of it and don’t care where my son goes to college.
#89 St. Patrick’s Day - but I have an excuse! All of my grandparents were born in Ireland, so this was always a big day in my house (even though I don’t drink and HATED the food!)
#77 Musical Comedy - I grew up on Broadway show tunes, but haven’t seen a NEW musical I liked in years
#67 Standing Still at Concerts - trust me, you DON’T want to see me dance at a rock show.
#53 Dogs - what, who DOESN’T like dogs?
#43 Plays - yeah, I have a streak of drama geek in me.
#39- Manhattan (now Brooklyn too!) - I went to high school and college there; why wouldn’t I like it?
#11 Asian Girls - No fetish here. But most of us hetero males are definitely believers in equal oppoertunity
#1 Coffee - Yeah, I drink coffee. I don’'t know or care much about different roasts or blends.
Hey home’, I can dig it. Know ain’t gonna lay no mo’ big rap up on you, man!
1 coffee
2 religions parents don’t belong to
11 Asian girls
12 Non-profits
14 having black friends
32 vegetarianism
39 Netflix
41 indie music
48 whole foods grocery co-ops
49 vintage
64 recycling
82 hating corporations
83 bad memories of high school
84 t-shirts
86 shorts
89 St. Patricks Day
91 San Francisco
94 free healthcare
96 New Balance shoes
103 sweaters
104 girls with bangs
108 classical music
109 The Onion
114 america
116 jazz, blues
25 of 134
My siblings would easily score over 100.
Okay, I’ll bite.
1 Coffee
11 Asian girls
64 Recycling
95 Rugby
114 America
128 Camping
My high school rugby team, by the way, had a number of black guys on it, and some of the teams we played against were almost completely black, so, like almost everything else on that list, it’s total bullshit.
I don’t dislike most of the other things on that list, but I don’t actively like them either; I don’t really spend any time thinking about them. This list is such unbelievable bullshit.
It’s implying that it’s stupid to like the things on that list, or that “white people” like them for stupid reasons. Fuck that. There’s nothing stupid about recycling, and I don’t have any hip, feel-good reason for doing it. The description for almost every one of those items implies that “white people” are pretentious for liking them.
I hate that goddamn list, and I really think less of anyone who finds it amusing in any way.
The more you like tea, sushi, and Asia, the whiter you are? Wha?
I agree with those who say that it has nothing to do with being white and more about being a list of stuff that liberal, metropolitan, upper middle class people are into.
It’s absolutely class based, not at all race based. But Americans don’t see class. Most everything on that list is true for the majority of my friends – who aren’t white but share the same class or “overeducated-ness”.
Still, that site was relevant in like 2008, right?
Back in, say, 1970, a more left-leaning satirist might have written a magazine article of his own called “Stuff White People Like,” and might have filled the list with things like…
Jell-o
Andy Williams
Macaroni and cheese
Paul Harvey
Miniature golf
James Michener
Hawaiian shirts
Backyard cookouts
Reader’s Digest
“Family Circus”
Barbie dolls
Would that REALLY have been an entirely accurate assessment of America in 1970? No, but hipsters would still have laughed, and everybody would have recognized at least a grain of truth about things that were popular in wide chunks of middle class Middle America.
But whereas white, urban hipsters are happy to laugh at Middle America’s cliched tastes, they’re often suprisingly sensitive when people laugh at THEIR affectations. It’s okay to laugh at a dorky suburban Dad who thinks he’s cool for listening to Bryan Adams, but don’t DARE laugh at a liberal yuppie who thinks he’s cool for listening to “old school” hip hop.
Not everyone “thinks they’re cool” for liking the things they like. Sometimes they just like the things they like.
True enough- I merely point out that ALL of us like things that are likely to seem ridiculous to people who are of different ages, genders, or socio-economic classes.
People who read “The Onion” enjoy laughing at the fashions and pop culture that Middle America loves. A web site like “Stuff White People Like” (which, I agree, is rather passe by now) is a useful reminder that a lot of people are laughing at “The Onion” readers and THEIR affectations.
And people who think of themselves as sophisticates are especially sensitive to the suggestion that they themselves are mindless herd followers.
People who wait on line for days to get a new gizmo at the Apple Store are no less ridiculous than rednecks fighting each other for cheap kitchen gadgets at Wal-Mart on Black Friday.
I agree with astorian - the target is pretty clearly urban hipsters.
I’ll go further - the fact that this list has, really, nothing whatsoever to do with race is part of the “joke” (such as it is). The title is intended to be “ironic” (another item on the list!) in that it is ostensibly saying one thing, but meaning quite another. The authors of the list know that people who are likely to identify with the stuff on the list are also likely to get huffy about the stereotyping in the title.
They might as well add: “Stuff White People Like: getting annoyed at the title of this site” and be done.
Not, mind you, that I think it is all that hilarious or clever. But that is the intention behind it.
But in all seriousness, who doesn’t like Bob Marley?
Black Music that Black People Don’t Listen to Anymore (I’m counting Prince here)
America
Halloween
Hummus
The Onion
Appearing to Enjoy Classical Music
Girls with Bangs (Zooey Deschanel)
Grammar
New Balance Shoes
Free Healthcare
Hating Corporations
Graduate School
Oscar Parties
Divorce
Recycling
Juno
Dogs
Irony
Public Radio
Netflix
Architecture
David Sedaris
Coffee
I actually like about a dozen things on the list and am slightly favorable toward another dozen or so. Then again, there were probably at least twelve that I truely dislike.
Does that mean I’m a failure as a white person?
Stuff I really like:
#132 Picking Their Own Fruit
#129 Banksy
#127 Where the Wild Things Are
#126 Vespa Scooters
#125 Bob Marley
#123 Mad Men
#119 Sea Salt
#116 Black Music that Black People Don’t Listen to Anymore
#113 Halloween
#112 Hummus
#111 Pea Coats
#104 Girls with Bangs
#103 Sweaters
#99 Grammar
#94 Free Healthcare
#90 Dinner Parties
#88 Having Gay Friends
#87 Outdoor Performance Clothes
#86 Shorts
#77 Musical Comedy
#61 Bicycles
#54 Kitchen Gadgets
#53 Dogs
#51 Living by the Water
#45 Asian Fusion Food
#44 Public Radio
#43 Plays
#42 Sushi
#40 Apple Products
#39 Netflix
#35 The Daily Show/Colbert Report
#29 80s Night
#25 David Sedaris
#24 Wine
#23 Microbreweries
#22 Having Two Last Names
#19 Traveling
#7 Diversity
#3 Film Festivals
#2 Religions their parents don’t belong to
#1 Coffee
Total: 41/134
Stuff I kinda like:
#134 The TED Conference
#133 The World Cup
#124 Hating People Who Wear Ed Hardy
#109 The Onion
#106 Facebook
#84 T-Shirts
#81 Graduate School
#64 Recycling
#60 Toyota Prius
#59 Natural Medicine
#58 Japan
#57 Juno
#37 Renovations
#36 Breakfast Places
#13 Tea
#12 Non-Profit Organizations
Total: 16/134
Though it’s targeting affluent urban whites, I still hit a lot of their “sweet spots” as a white person who grew up in a metropolitan area. There are a decent number of things that I think suck out of the list as well, so it balances out.
True, but this quiz is a satire on those “unique” people who have a “checklist” of stereotypes that they have to live up to in order to “think they’re cool”. If one scores near 130 on the quiz, paying attention to the given descriptions, he might be doing or liking these things in order to impress others. I know a few people that would easily score around 130. One person told me he was going to be “way left of everyone else”, and proceeded to be a walking, talking stereotype without any independence of thought. The irony is that a type A, competitive “hippy” seems oxymoronic.
The reference to “white” people is with regards to a subset of white people who think they’re really “cool”, aka impressive to others, if they break out of the conservative white suburban stereotype by eating imported food, speaking a foreign language and so forth (although it’s true that many non-white people can be the same way). I studied foreign languages but I don’t generally interject foreign phrases and so forth among family and friends, but this subset of people think they need to speak French at least a few times per social occasion to impress everyone with their international chic.
While I do agree that some people just like what they like, in a narcissistic society many are trying to be impressive regarding their “unique” style, and are failing since it’s been mainstream for at least twenty years or so.