“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile.” Tyler Durden, Fight Club
Little stings me more than the realization that I am so easily satirized by sites like http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/, a website just a few months old that boasts nearly 8 million hits. Tyler Durden could be the site’s author or inspiration. Since January it has listed 81 things that white people like and then a brief explanation why or how they came to like them. The 80th thing listed is The Idea of Soccer. I visited the site after hearing it mentioned for the third time in the past week and just after I had set my status on facebook to ‘Andrew loves champions league football’. The 81st and most recent entry is Graduate School; though business school isn’t specifically mentioned, I am in my last semester of graduate school. In skimming the 79 other things that white people like, I found that I was able to split them into three categories: stuff that makes me defensive; salient stuff that I can laugh at other white people for liking; and completely ironic. Do you know which category is which?
Category 1
- #78 Multilingual Children
- #77 Musical Comedy
- #76 Bottles of Water
- #72 Study Abroad
- #71 Being the only white person around
- #69 Mos Def
- #63 Expensive Sandwiches
- #57 Juno
- #51 Living by the Water
- #46 The Sunday New York Times
- #45 Asian Fusion Food
- #44 Public Radio
- #42 Sushi
- #41 Indie Music
- #40 Apple Products
- #39 Netflix
- #36 Breakfast Places
- #35 The Daily Show/Colbert Report
- #34 Architecture
- #8 Barack Obama
- #4 Assists
- #30 Wrigley Field
- #26 Manhattan (now Brooklyn too!)
- #25 David Sedaris
- #19 Traveling
- #12 Non-Profit Organizations
- #14 Having Black Friends
- #10 Wes Anderson Movies
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Category 2
- #79 Modern Furniture
- #75 Threatening to Move to Canada
- #74 Oscar Parties
- #68 Michel Gondry
- #65 Co-Ed Sports
- #60 Toyota Prius
- #59 Natural Medicine
- #58 Japan
- #54 Kitchen Gadgets
- #52 Sarah Silverman
- #61 Bicycles
- #38 Arrested Development
- #37 Renovations
- #24 Wine
- #3 Film Festivals
- #2 Religions their parents don’t belong to
- #1 Coffee
- #6 Organic Food
- #5 Farmer’s Markets
- #53 Dogs
- #47 Arts Degrees
- #43 Plays
- #33 Marijuana
- #32 Vegan/Vegetarianism
- #31 Snowboarding
- #49 Vintage
- #48 Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops
- #29 80s Night
- #28 Not having a TV
- #27 Marathons
- #23 Microbreweries
- #22 Having Two Last Names
- #21 Writers Workshops
- #17 Hating their Parents
- #16 Gifted Children
- #15 Yoga
- #11 Asian Girls
- #9 Making you feel bad about not going outside
- #13 Tea
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Category 3
- #73 Gentrification
- #70 Difficult Breakups
- #67 Standing Still at Concerts
- #66 Divorce
- #64 Recycling
- #62 Knowing What’s Best for Poor People
- #56 Lawyers
- #55 Apologies
- #50 Irony
- #20 Being an expert on YOUR culture
- #18 Awareness
- #7 Diversity
