Wednesday, June 25, 2008

White World Traveling

A much better take on whiteness studies than the "What White People Like" cultural fluff... but we're sure Macon D won't get a book offer out of this blog.

2 comments:

Zombiegiraffe said...

Is it really a better take?

The thing about "stuff white people like" is its whimsy and irony and the fact that travels well.

"Stuff white people do" just seems to recapitulate the same arguments as the other blog, but without the fun and without the clever writing. Seems to plod a little, no?

ryan griffis said...

Sure it plods, and doesn't necessarily say anything new - if you've read "whiteness" studies lit anyway. But does it make the same arguments? We would say, not really. Just look at the list of "Stuff White People Like": Sweaters, Free Health Care, Outdoor performance wear, t-shirts, etc. If you take that list out of context, and were asked what it was a list of, what would you conclude? Sure it's fun and clever, in an empty and meaningless way. In other words, you can add anything pretty much to the list of "Stuff White People Like" and write up something that shows you've watched a season of Seinfeld or two, and there you go... a few thousand folks will find in clever.
And yes, that kinda thing goes a long way apparently. But we get more from the "plodding," introspective analysis of Macon's blog. We're not really looking for a quick chuckle there.
And it doesn't hurt our interest that it covers issues of tourism.