# What is White culture? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652 "2009-11-15T13:30:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/1 "2009-11-15T13:30:21Z")
Answer the question that Glenn Beck couldn’t! ETA: Title = White culture ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/2 "2009-11-15T14:09:06Z")
If The Great Glenn Beck can’t answer that question, there’s no chance a simple mook like me ever could. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/3 "2009-11-15T14:37:14Z")
[A jumping off point for the discussion.](http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/4 "2009-11-15T15:08:47Z")
Oppressing black people? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/5 "2009-11-15T15:26:44Z")
“White culture” is simply mainstream culture. Therefore, “white culture” is a really inaccurate phrase, since by definition that culture also belongs to non-white people. It’s simply that whites are the majority of the mainstream population and historically in control of mainstream media and national institutions. “American culture” would be a less loaded, less racist, and more accurate term. There are many smaller ethnic groups (and regional cultures) that are mostly or entirely white (Hungarian-Americans, Armenian-Americans, Irish-American, etc.) that share some features with mainstream culture; there are also ethnic groups that are mostly or entirely non-white (African-Americans, Japanese-Americans, etc.) that share some features with mainstream culture. How many and which ones will depend on history and geography. Usually, those features that are shared aren’t even recognized as cultural except by foreigners; they seem normal. Since so-called “white culture” is enjoyed to a greater or lesser degree by 300,000,000+ Americans, there’s too much variation for it to be very easily pinned down or even a very useful concept. (The joking reference to “oppressing black people” above is actually valid: that is, indeed, historically a part of mainstream culture, and still found today, but not just among whites. Here in L.A. it has made the news in the Korean community and regarding the L.A. police force [historically white-led but with very many ethnic groups and with a culture of its own]. Of course it is not practiced by all Koreans or all police, and even the fear-mongering media suggest that it’s becoming less and less acceptable.) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/6 "2009-11-15T16:37:56Z")
I for one am proud of my people’s long tradition of bland food and bad dancing. And of course there’s always [Stuff White People Like](http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/). ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/7 "2009-11-15T16:48:30Z")
You’re late. See post #3. ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/8 "2009-11-15T16:48:53Z")
[Stuff White People Do](http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.com/). Sometimes interesting or even illuminating. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/9 "2009-11-15T16:52:06Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > You’re late. See post #3. I did, I just didn’t click (or mouse-over) the link. If she’d said what site she was linking to in her post I wouldn’t have repeated it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/10 "2009-11-15T17:42:14Z")
Things that are popular in England, obviously. Um… 'cept Indian food. And trip-hop. And R&B. And track and field sports… ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/11 "2009-11-15T17:47:15Z")
There’s also a website called [Stuff White People Like](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0). ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/12 "2009-11-15T17:50:59Z")
It’s basically the anglo-dutch-protestant culture that was brought over by the early settlers and largely adopted by the predominantly western European early immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/13 "2009-11-15T18:08:20Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I for one am proud of my people’s long tradition of bland food and bad dancing. > > And of course there’s always [Stuff White People Like](http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/). I thought this idea would be strip mined by now, but they are [still hitting some](http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/04/13/124-hating-people-who-wear-ed-hardy/) out of the park. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/14 "2009-11-15T18:56:36Z")
Having lived pretty much all over the United States (not to mention, the world, thanks to my parents dragging us all over the place)…geez, how do you even begin to answer that? Massachusetts is not the same as the Midwest is not the same as California at ALL. Not to mention, there are distinct class cultural differences I’ve noticed in white culture. I remember leaving the rural French-Canadian bubble, upper-middle class Jewish bubble my parents had mostly encased us in during adolescence (not to mention the upper middle-class Indian bubble that is my private life), international private school bubble, college bubble…East Coast bubble, Midwest bubble…you get the idea and noticing all the class cultural and regional differences on (issues like education, marriage etc.) As an example, in Massachusetts I grew up in a Jewish-Asian community where Not Going to College was just not an option. You were expected to go to college, and a really good one at that (public or pivate ivy-esque). Your parents were willing to contribute. Seriously, I did not grow up with a single person whose parents were not heavily invested, both emotionally and financially, in their education. It took leaving the upper middle-class Jewish-Asian bubble to really see the diversity of opinion on that. ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/15 "2009-11-15T19:11:21Z")
I seem to recall there was once some sort of web log about things that white people, or Anglo-Saxon blue-blooded stock anyways, things that those white people were known to enjoy, but the name and web address escapes me. Does anyone recall it? ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/16 "2009-11-15T19:41:41Z")
> [@Skylark](#): > > I seem to recall there was once some sort of web log about things that white people, or Anglo-Saxon blue-blooded stock anyways, things that those white people were known to enjoy, but the name and web address escapes me. Does anyone recall it? I think it was “Things White People Like” but I’ll be darned if I can find a link. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/17 "2009-11-15T20:30:33Z")
Oh yeah, not just another blogsite for people who are too cool for the stuff that’s cool, but for people too cool for the people who are too cool for the stuff that’s cool. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/18 "2009-11-15T20:35:53Z")
White Culture, you mean like… Yogurt? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/19 "2009-11-15T20:54:31Z")
There is no such thing as “white culture.” That “stuff white people like” site is absolutely stupid (and if the same thing were created about black people, it would be considered extremely racist.) I have virtually nothing in common with that list. As soon as it came out, and created an internet sensation, I thought it was dumb, and I still think it’s dumb. Nearly everything on it is complete bullshit. Just selecting something at random: > [@](#): > > But do not make the mistake of thinking that white people like all tattoos. In fact, they hate a great number of them: > > - Anything with an American Flag or Eagle > > - References to Military Services > > - Tribal Arm Bands > > - “Heritage” > > - Faces of children, spouses, or dead people > > - Tattoos with more than one color _TOTAL BULLSHIT!_ I have seen far more white people with tattoos of the above, than I have of people of any other race with them. Especially the “tattoos with more than one color” part. What the fuck do they even mean by saying “white people hate tattoos with more than one color?” White people are practically the _only people_ who have tattoos that are more than one color. I know about a zillion indie rockers with elaborate, colorful ink. ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652/20 "2009-11-15T21:02:32Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I have virtually nothing in common with that list. Something tells me you’re not a pink polo collar popper. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-white-culture/517652.md?page=2)