# Is it racist to prefer certain populations or places due to cultural differences? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 30, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-racist-to-prefer-certain-populations-or-places-due-to-cultural-differences/483770 "2009-01-30T19:48:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-racist-to-prefer-certain-populations-or-places-due-to-cultural-differences/483770/61 "2009-02-01T23:06:30Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I know your style. My “style” is (in part) to challenge claims, such as yours, which strike me as dubious. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-racist-to-prefer-certain-populations-or-places-due-to-cultural-differences/483770/62 "2009-02-02T00:25:47Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > Culture isn’t the same as race, and disliking aspects of a particular culture is not racist. > > I dislike a lot of American black pop culture (the aforementioned saggy pants, rap music, loud car stereo, gold teeth, tough guy posturing, etc.), but I love the black pop culture in Jamaica, and the Bahamas, and Senegal. Does that make me a racist? > > I _don’t_ think that I’m superior to any black person by virtue of being born white; _that_ is what would define me as a racist. (\*the following statements reflect my own experience with black culture, which may be atypical…) Interesting thing is, a lot of these things that you list as ‘black culture’ are not as ‘black culture’ as a lot of folks may think. I think that is mostly t.v. when you see guys with gold teeth. The guys I know don’t have them, save a few of the more extreme thuggish ones. As for saggy pants, the pants are getting much more fitted now. See, they don’t do the saggy pants anymore, but the white kids in Peoria are still doing it, thinking it is black culture. Once they catch up, in a couple years, their jeans will be ‘tight’ like the black kids in NYC, and someone will complain that they don’t like the ‘black’ culture of tight jeans. ETA: Liking black pop Jamaican culture but not black American culture boggles my mind. Seriously, they are _extremely_ intertwined. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-racist-to-prefer-certain-populations-or-places-due-to-cultural-differences/483770/63 "2009-02-02T05:30:47Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Interesting thing is, a lot of these things that you list as ‘black culture’ are not as ‘black culture’ as a lot of folks may think. They’re deliberate stereotypes, served up with a wee drop of hyperbole, used for the purpose of illustrating a point. You could erase ‘gold teeth’ and replace it with ‘sports team cap worn sideways and at an angle’, or ‘saggy pants’ with ‘obscenely large gold jewelry’ and the point would still be valid. > [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Liking black pop Jamaican culture but not black American culture boggles my mind. Seriously, they are _extremely_ intertwined. Ya’ think? We must be visiting two completely different Jamaicas. I get to Jamaica (and Grand Bahama, and St. Lucia) about two or three times a year, and I don’t see _any_ similarities in the American black pop culture (meaning primarily the urban/hip hop/rap aspects of it) and the Caribbean black pop culture. It’s almost like…_two different countries_; different slang, different clothing, different music, different attitude. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-racist-to-prefer-certain-populations-or-places-due-to-cultural-differences/483770/64 "2009-02-02T14:41:34Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > Ya’ think? We must be visiting two completely different Jamaicas. I get to Jamaica (and Grand Bahama, and St. Lucia) about two or three times a year, and I don’t see _any_ similarities in the American black pop culture (meaning primarily the urban/hip hop/rap aspects of it) and the Caribbean black pop culture. It’s almost like…_two different countries_; different slang, different clothing, different music, different attitude. I feel really silly right now, and have to apologize. I have actually never visited Jamaica, and so shot off at the mouth stupidly. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-racist-to-prefer-certain-populations-or-places-due-to-cultural-differences/483770/65 "2009-02-02T16:27:45Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > I feel really silly right now, and have to apologize. I have actually never visited Jamaica, and so shot off at the mouth stupidly. No apology necessary. You should get out to the islands sometime. The living’s cheap and the people are amazingly friendly. The level of poverty in the non-touristy areas is staggering, but I’ve never been afraid for my watch and wallet. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-racist-to-prefer-certain-populations-or-places-due-to-cultural-differences/483770/66 "2009-02-02T20:47:10Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I like white chicks more than black chicks. If someone wants to call me a racist, screw 'em. What if it’s a black chick? Would you screw her then? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-racist-to-prefer-certain-populations-or-places-due-to-cultural-differences/483770/67 "2009-02-03T03:14:29Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > No apology necessary. You should get out to the islands sometime. The living’s cheap and the people are amazingly friendly. The level of poverty in the non-touristy areas is staggering, but I’ve never been afraid for my watch and wallet. I am dying to go, actually. I have had to postpone several trips and decline several invitations because of my passport issues. Jamaican-_American_ culture and black American culture is very married, in my experience in the U.S. Meaning, reggae/dancehall is married with hip hop now. Our slangs are crossed, our parties are merged, and soul food / Jamaican food is a hand in hand thing where I am from. At our parties in the U.S., at our little music stores in the hood, and in our dancehalls, there is footage on huge t.v. screens of Jamaican parties in Jamaica going down. Very merged cultures. In my eagerness to post on this topic, I neglected to consider that never having actually _been_ to the island kind of negates me commenting on what the culture is like there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-racist-to-prefer-certain-populations-or-places-due-to-cultural-differences/483770.md?page=3)