"Stuff Black People Like" http://stuffblackpeoplelikealso.wordpress.com/
This blog is called "Stuff Black People Like", a parody of the one we saw in class "Stuff White People Like" It is written by a white male and is formatted the same as "Stuff White People Like". The main page is a list of sterotypical things that "black people" like, from clothes to food, music to pastimes. Here are some questions to keep in mind:
- Why is a white guy writing about what "black people" like?
- Does the writer seem racist, despite telling his readers he is not racist? If so why?
- Why does the writer try and mimic "Stuff White People Like"?
-Group 1
Hi guys, I've moved group one's blog description and questions here, to a new post. Please comment below. Thanks to group one--I think the questions are excellent, and I look forward to reading everyone's responses. One thing to bear in mind as you reply is that, as question two suggests, this blog does seem racist. It might be worth considering why that's so, and perhaps looking into the comments on the blog to see what readers have said about it. As question three suggests, comparisons with Stuff White People Like might prove useful in figuring out why this site seems offensive.
ReplyDeleteStill no one posts...
ReplyDeleteI know... it's so quiet out there... hello? Is this thing on?
ReplyDeleteobviously the main reason people are upset with this blog is that it is written by a white person. Which I guess is understandable and he uses very stereotypical and kind of old, boring things he believes black people like. Unfortunately I do not think this blog is creative enough, Stuff White People Like (SWPL) has a more creative list and funnier explanations. For myself I think that racial humor can be funny, since there is a stigma on race already playing off of that can be comical, almost like racism in light of itself. If this blog were more original I believe it could be funnier.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I feel like the blog apologizes or says just kidding half of the time after making a stereotypical comment. Also the guy posting frequently reminds the readers that he isn't black but he does have a black friend. It is almost as if he makes fun of white people just as much or more than he does black people. I think the blogger is almost too afraid to really point out some stereotypes of black people. The idea is to point out some funny similarities in a race or ethnicity. All of them have stereotypes, and can be made fun of equally. It is a shame that some people can't take a joke and therefore make a person think twice about making funny comments.
ReplyDeleteI think in comparison, the "what white people like" blog is better overall. This blog has some funny posts, but his explanations aren't as good. The post about the NAACP kind of confused me as well. That is a very serious organization and he makes a more serious explanation to follow it, but it's placed next to a lot of black stereotypes that are made out to be comical. Pointing out stereotypes can be funny because everyone knows about them and what comes with stereotypes is the fact that they aren't always true. That is why a person can make fun of stereotypes without being racist
ReplyDeleteI feel that the person posting the blog is just stumbling along, trying to recreate an already existing outlet with a different twist. It wants to be on the same level of satire and insult, but it lacks the amount of research and insight that 'stuff white people like' exemplifies. It is really hard to not compare the two seeing as the two blogs look almost the exact same.
ReplyDeleteI think that the writer tries very hard to mimic the author of Stuff White People Like. The layouts are the same, and both are about racial comedy that relies on stereotypes. The major difference is that the author of Stuff White People Like, Christian Lander, has put his name to his blog, writes books and is a public speaker. This gives him some credibility so it is harder to just call him a racist and dismiss the blog because he does make his living off of it. The author of Stuff Black People Like is unknown, he claims to be white and not racist, but there is no evidence of this. The reason that stuffblackpeoplelike was most likely made is because of money, however it seems that this failed miserably.
ReplyDeleteFirst, users of Landers blog spend approximately 50% longer on his than stuffblackpeoplelike. This is huge when advertisers decide what websites to advertise on.
Landers blog is ranked over 810,000 places in front of his competitor's in traffic.
(alexa.com)
Lander published a New York Times Best Seller book and got a 300,000$ advance from the publisher while the author of the other of the other blog is not even known.
The reason that stuffblackepeoplelike was made was most likely for money; after all, that is the motive behind much of what is on the internet. Unfortunately for the author of stuffblackpeoplelike, his website did not come out as a winner because of the lack of ethos and un-originality.
The blogger mentions many times in his blog that he has black friends, but what he is writing seems like something that is observed from public media but not found out by him after hanging out with his black friends. Many of his explanations do not seem to be true. Then why does he say that when what he wrote are all stereotypes of black people? Making fun of racial differences is comical but his blog is not that funny because of his stereotypical way of writing. I think that the blogger tries to make fun of those stereotypes in order to avoid being considered as a racist, but his blog is not successful as Stuff White People Like since he needs to find out more about black people in detail to achieve a sense of comedy and social commentary.
ReplyDeleteThe blogger claimed that he was not a racist and he did not discriminate black people. He tried to be nonracial but in his posts we could feel the stereotypes to the black people. The blogger had emphasized for several times that he had a black friend, but what he expressed in his blogs is not convincing because his understanding of the blacks is insufficient, which doesn't look like from a friends' point of view. His mocks and the diction of some details are not well-meaning, even seemed rude. Compared with the blog "stuff white people like", the blog is not so good. The blogger was trying to imitate it but the "stuff white people like" seems more interesting and more reliable.
ReplyDeleteI think the author of stuff black people like created the blog as a way of poking fun at stuff white people like. The purpose of copying the layout of Christian Lander's page is to mock his page, just as the Colbert Report makes fun of The O'Reilly Factor. Also, I believe a stereotype is racist no matter who is saying it. The writer of stuff black people like is just showing that there are stereotypes of every race, and they can be humorous no matter who says them. Who cares that he is white? These stereotypes were not created by him, they were created by the American culture. I do not think the blog is as credible, or as well written as stuff white people like, but I think the general purpose of the stuff black people like is to make fun of stuff white people like.
ReplyDeleteAll in all this blog was very similar to the Stuff White People Like blog however when comparing the two i found that the "White People" blog was funnier than this blog. The stuff white people like blog seemed to be more comical than this blog to me. But that may be because I am white? However, i don't think that the stuff black people like blog is racist at all. The blogger is solely attempting to be funny but he is not saying anything outlandish or racist throughout the blog.
ReplyDeleteI’m Mengyu Liu, I don’t know how to change my google account’s name, sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteI think the blog, ‘Stuff black people like’ is not that racist, and the author wrote something that he found black people like/dislike or good at in his life. For example, he said that he could not understand why black people were crazy about bass and jazz music .Maybe sometimes it seems that the author are complaining about that some wired preferences, or so called stereotypes about black people, but he just list real things he got from his black friends or other people in his life, not opponent or critical. He also didn’t use highly offensive work like ‘nigger’ or something similar. Another blog, “Stuff white people like”, readers could find that many black people know and like the stuffs mentioned in the blog’s articles and it seems that that blog is not about what white people like but with a name “white people”, is that a little racist?
I think these three questions have a close relation with each other. The reason why this blogger tries hard to mimic the blog "stuff white people like" is, I believe, just to make a juxtaposed blog with it for some fun. This white guy writes a blog about black people and we may find some black guys writes about it as well as long as he likes writing instead of playing sports.
ReplyDeleteThis blog seems racist by making fun of the common black people life and facts of certain characteristics black people holds, which are not that funny no matter in the content or the way the blogger expresses. Failing to achieve the comic impacts leads to the suspect of discriminating. Or maybe, like some of our classmates says, the author is “too afraid to really point out some stereotypes of black people”, in other words, the author considers too much about the racial discrimination. Also, relying on his black friends’ experience is not a sagacious method to seek for the valuable insights on black people.
I also found "stuff white people like" to be much funnier than this blog. The blogger was obviously trying to parody "stuff white people like", but he failed to explain the topics in a way that makes people laugh. I don't think that the creator of stuff black people like had the intent of being racist, he just wanted to either 1) make fun of "stuff white people like", or 2) make money off his blog just like Christian Lander did. Either way, when you point out certain racial stereotypes, you are going to be called a racist, but I believe that there is a difference between pointing out certain stereotypes and being a racist.
ReplyDeleteInitially I thought the motivation of opening this blog was merely to provide several presentations about Black people's habits and customs from a white person’s point of view without overtly offensive expressions. Then I considered it kind of racist when reading "#8 Not Getting Sunburnt" and felt not well about that even I am neither white nor black. I realized that this white man who claimed that “got lots of black friends” indeed far from knowing black culture well because several bloggers pointed out his misunderstandings and blamed him in comments or maybe these posts are stereotypical.
ReplyDeleteThe early period posts implied this blog was opened with the idea of imitating or contrasting “Stuff White People Like” with irony but the original one is more attractive for me. However, “Stuff White People like” looks more racist since I can perceive “superior” between the lines (I’m not sure if I use this word correctly). Furthermore, a white person who willing to and interested in culture of black people would not be a quite racist person in my opinion.
Maybe because of the not yet adapted cultural barriers, I never feel racial humor funny.
This blog is very similar to the blog "Stuff White People Like" in many ways. Even the layout of the site is almost the same with a white background, which makes less sense since the blog is about stuff black people like. This blog is trying to piggy-back off of stuff white people like to get more readers but the simple fact is that this blog is not as funny. This could be because I'm white but I think it's also because the writer is not as funny. He seems to get lost in thought and sidetracked a fair amount, constantly saying "Where was I?" I find this more annoying than funny. The writer also seems to be concerned about being seen as racist since he is not black himself. He makes sure to point out the fact that he is kidding and not serious about his jokes, which takes away from the comedy. There are also considerably fewer posts on this blog than stuff white people like. This could speak to the writers actual lack of understanding black people or just that he doesn't have the time. Either way I do not find this blog as entertaining as "Stuff White People Like."
ReplyDeleteI don't find the blog "Stuff Black People Like" very interesting at all. The creator is basically taking the layout of "Stuff White People Like" and just putting in his own posts. Some of the edited graphics look absolutely terrible. Did he do that on purpose? If he did it for a comical factor, I don't see how it is funny. I also don't find how he uses repeated letters to draw out words very appealing. He seems racist, but seriously, anyone who brings differences into the light will seem racist to someone.
ReplyDeleteThis is basically a rip off of "Stuff White People Like" however it focuses mainly on the negative stereotypes that have been attributed to black people. In "White People Like" sure there were stereotypes, but also what he saw his friends doing. Though some of these are true for some black people, he tries to use them as jokes when they are the same worn out things comedians and everyday people say. He tends to focus on the negative of everything and, it seems, even tries to sound racist. I don't think that trying to act racist, but saying you aren't a racist, is a proper way to go about humor. All these things aside no matter if you don't like the blog or you do, he's getting the attention that he wants so it seems to be a success.
ReplyDeleteI think the person behind this blog is "copying" off of the one we looked at in class, "Stuff White People Like". Not only is the layout of the blog very similar, it is also very stereotypical etc. I also find it kind of "weird" that the guy behind this blog is not even black. Lastly i feel the writer is a little racist considering he isn't black even,
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn my point of view, this blog is a pale imitation of the "stuff white people like". Although these two blogs have similar layout and even the subtitle, their contents are quite different. As we known, the “stuff white people like” is making fun of some of white people’s hobbies, even though, white people also like it because the blogger is telling the truth at most of the time, and Christian Lander’s ideas are usually funny and thought-provoking. However, this black version seems offensive and kind of racism because the author is criticizing on some of the black people’s life customs. What’s more, I don’t think the blogger successfully points out the really thoughts of black people because he doesn’t understand them enough, as a result, we can hardly feel the comedy in this blog. Last but not least, I think the author keeps on telling the readers he is not a racist because in this way, his arguments will look more objective.
ReplyDelete