# Why so many white people social/subcultures as compared to blacks? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 22, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521 "2009-01-22T21:23:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521/81 "2009-01-25T06:05:37Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > You aren’t? Really? And I’ve met you, too! I’ve met her too. What with the satin pants and the turquoise/rhinestone thong hanging out the waistband, I didn’t really notice what color she was. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521/82 "2009-01-25T16:17:09Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > Seems like kind of a convoluted way of saying “you people all look alike”. 😃 > > In my admittedly anecdotal observation, I’ve basically seen black people hanging with what were being bandied about in that thread as “white subcultures” in approximately proportional numbers relative to their percentage of the population as a whole, though I suppose there would be some obvious exceptions (i.e. White Supremacists, Square Dancers, etc.). So, I would reckon that there are as many times the number of “white” subcultures as “black” subcultures as there are as many times the number of white people as black people. Oh, wait, there’s a shitload of other people we’re ignoring…oh, well so much for that. > > Man that made me kind of tired…:dubious: Try finding a black amatuer astronomer, or scuba diver, or cave diver, or caver or kayak paddler. I wont say they don’t exist, but they sure as heck dont exist ANYWHERE in proportion to their population percentages. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521/83 "2009-01-25T17:36:17Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Try finding a black amatuer astronomer, or scuba diver, or cave diver, or caver or kayak paddler. > > I wont say they don’t exist, but they sure as heck dont exist ANYWHERE in proportion to their population percentages. You’ve never been to Brooklyn, have you? Granted, the scuba divers and spelunkers don’t do much of that now-- probably because there isn’t much opportunity for that-- but when they go back to Puerto Rico or the Islands they sure do. I know 2 kayakers (it’s bigger than you think in NYC) and neither of them are white. One’s Colombian and the other is black. Amateur astronomers? You don’t know any black ones? Really? Am I to understand that you think black people don’t buy telescopes or something? Do you know any black people at all? ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521/84 "2009-01-25T18:57:35Z")
When I lived downstate in a small city with a demographic profile very much like the whole of the US, when I went places and did things generally the portion of the participants who were black were roughly 10 percent. I say roughly, as the sample size for most activities I participated in was small. Although when my parents were growing up, blacks lived on one side of town, and whites on another, that is no longer the case and people live more according to income than race. I lived there as an adult when I was poor, and I lived on the Southside and the Northside, and I can’t remember which side was white way back when before I lived there and had black and white neighbors in both places. I’m sure my parents remember, but is nothing I ever knew directly. The astronomy club had several black members. When I went to karaoke there were black singers and audience, and black dancers doing line dancing. The second place on the big competition was a black dude singing “Smoke on the Water.” There were black people When they held sheep days at the mall, there were black families watching the shearings and looking at the “Wonders of Wool” diorama. When I went fishing, there were black fishermen. When I went to get gas in Missouri, I saw that there were black fishermen who were NASCAR fans who liked to use stink bait. The community was small enough, it could usually support one club for a particular interest and small enough physically there was no motive to have two smaller clubs due to distance. Now that I live in Chicagoland, it is much harder to see for myself that black people are interested in the same things that white people are. Chicago is much more segregated, in residential areas especially. If people participate in clubs like the astronomy club near their home, that alone would explain a dearth of black people in many local clubs. Perhaps such urban isolation can explain at least partially **Freejooky** ’s observations? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521/85 "2009-01-25T19:04:28Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I wont say they don’t exist, but they sure as heck dont exist ANYWHERE in proportion to their population percentages. How would you know? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521/86 "2009-01-25T19:29:10Z")
I see a black goth girl on the bus frequently. The other day she was wearing black and white horizontally striped stockings, a long black tulle skirt, and a Victorian-ish black jacket with puffy sleeves and a corset-like lace up thing in the back. I think she looks pretty cool, anyway. The jacket was quite spiffy. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521/87 "2009-01-25T19:36:24Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I see a black goth girl on the bus frequently. The other day she was wearing black and white horizontally striped stockings, a long black tulle skirt, and a Victorian-ish black jacket with puffy sleeves and a corset-like lace up thing in the back. > > I think she looks pretty cool, anyway. The jacket was quite spiffy. Goth style when done right is really nice, and a black girl that knows how to it can really look great. The problem with goth style is that the things that are interesting are only vinyl deep. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521/88 "2009-01-25T20:26:02Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > You’ve never been to Brooklyn, have you? Granted, the scuba divers and spelunkers don’t do much of that now-- probably because there isn’t much opportunity for that-- but when they go back to Puerto Rico or the Islands they sure do. I know 2 kayakers (it’s bigger than you think in NYC) and neither of them are white. One’s Colombian and the other is black. > > Amateur astronomers? You don’t know any black ones? Really? Am I to understand that you think black people don’t buy telescopes or something? Do you know any black people at all? For me about the percentage you’d expect in work, school, and my neighboorhood. Those hobbies in my personal experience? NO. Percentages not nearly what you’d expect. Wow, 2 whole ones in the tiny burb of NYC ! :rolleyes: Are you calling me a racist because for some reason (unknown to me at least, and certainly uncontrolable by me) they are barely around, where I am going in my experience. I live in the southeast, so while I may be mistaken, I think there are some people of color lurking around here or there. In my hobbies, barely. Yeah, I am like Stephen Colbert. I walk around with a picture of some random black dude, telling everyone he is my best black friend. You can stick the implication hard and fast where it belongs. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521/89 "2009-01-25T20:28:33Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > How would you know? Good grief. What percentage of folks in the southeast are “black”? Lets say 10 percent. Percentage in the hobbies I listed? Much, much less than that, often to the point of “trace” amounts. In my experience of course, but it aint exactly like I’ve been hiding under a rock in this regard. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521/90 "2009-01-25T23:38:14Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > It’s kind of eerie reading something I wrote and not having a single memory of it. Maybe I was possessed by a comedic demon or something. Perhaps your chip reset and you lost the memory then? I’d say that \*not \*remembering five year old threads is the more reasonable thing to do. I didn’t realize many people were still doing the goth thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521/91 "2009-01-26T00:57:00Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > I didn’t realize many people were still doing the goth thing. It surprises me too. It wasn’t exactly a new look even 10-15 years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-white-people-social-subcultures-as-compared-to-blacks/482521.md?page=4)