Books |
Stuff White People Like
Christian Lander
By
Published: Jan 01, 2008
Category:
Non Fiction
A cup of Fair Trade java is brewing in the kitchen. Your six-year-old is reciting the alphabet — in French. The Sunday Times lies on the table suggesting organic ju-ju beans for the Cranium dinner party you’re hosting tonight. Good thing the Prius is filled up, you wouldn’t want to waste time.
If any of this happens to sound familiar, then you might be…white.
With any luck, you are also the type of "white" person who would laugh out loud at a book with spot-on, satirical references to “stuff white people like”.
At least Christian Landers is hoping so.
Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions is equal parts brilliant and hilarious — like a stand-up comic riffing on paper. If Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock were to pen a book together, this might be the result.
To understand this book is to understand that when Landers says "white", he doesn’t exactly mean Caucasian, but rather a slice of society that has stereotyped Caucasian behaviors. Over the past 30 years, white people have developed into a cultural force filled with smart, earnest do-gooders and activists. That’s the bright side. The dark? They can also be quite hypocritical. Of course, this makes for great comedy.
The genesis of this odd, 150-item list began in an e-mail exchange between two friends as to what a typical “white person” would be doing at nine o’clock on a Monday night. Landers thought this list, based chiefly on himself and the people he knew, was humorous enough to create a blog and chronicle. After all, what good are friends if you can’t poke fun at them?
The blog grew, and so did the hits —- 38 million and counting. It only took three months to be featured on NPR, given a shout out by Kanye West, and showcased on VH1. With all that publicity, Landers knew what had to be done. And so did Random House.
None of this would be possible without two things: a smart yet friendly writing style riddled with satire, and downright hilarious truths about your average upper middle class urbanite.
Some examples of what white people like:
Sushi: "To them it’s everything they want: foreign culture, expensive, healthy, and hated by the ‘uneducated’."
Awareness: "They firmly believe all of the world’s problems can be solved through ‘awareness’ — meaning the process of making other people aware of problems, magically causing someone else, like the government, to fix it.”
Writer’s Workshops: "No matter what they tell you, all of them have at least one chapter of a novel or memoir stashed away somewhere."
Apple Products: "…thankfully the Apple logo on the back will light up! So even in a dark place, people can see how unique and creative you (and the five other people next to you doing the exact same thing) truly are!”
Therapy: "…any time a white persons succeeds in life it is entirely be cause of their hard work and natural talent…on the other end of the spectrum, every single white failure can be attributed to parents."
Gay Friends: “Gay friendship of any sort allows white people to feel as though they are a part of the gay rights movement. While white people love being a part of any movement, the gay movement is especially important to them because they can blend in at rallies and protests and spend an afternoon feeling the sting of oppression.”
Gifted Children: “White people love ‘gifted’ children, do you know why? Because an astounding 100% of their kids are gifted! Isn’t that amazing?”
If you didn’t laugh outwardly, you laughed inside. And it’s okay to laugh. The idea that we can’t laugh at ourselves is exactly what Landers would criticize.
But, you ask, is all this innocent fun? Or is it…bigoted? Not at all. The book has a tongue in cheek quality that is quite careful never to cross the line and become demeaning or disparaging. In fact, most of what Landers jokes about is quite…vanilla. He’s just very quick to humorously call out those who use their “virtues” to show off their importance or inflate their social status in “white society”.
So grab yourself a Macchiato and feel no shame in reading this book. You may find yourself being a bit more self-aware, you may squirm in your Prius tomorrow, but what you’ll remember is how much you enjoyed this book — because it’s just too darned funny to dislike.
Marc Cutillo is a graphic designer for Design 446 in Manasquan,, New Jersey and music teacher at Art-Start in Manhattan. Genetically he is only 50% white. Socially? 100%.
To buy “Stuff White People Like” from Amazon.com, click here.
To visit the Stuff White People Like web site, click here.
