Not long ago someone at work commented that I have a very white personality. This is true to the extent that I probably don't act like I am from any other race, but I don't think that I am stereotypically white if there is such a thing. If there is a standard white way to be, and I am that way, I think I should constantly find that I think the same way as most other white people and have the same types of life experiences. I am more struck by how little this happens than by how much it happens.
Recently, I found satirical a website called Stuff White People Like* that purports to relay to people who are not white the things that white people like so that they can benefit more from their relationships with white people. While it is a very funny website, by the standard of the site, I am not very white. This is largely because the standard for being white is apparently to be privileged, liberal, snobby, and status-conscious. People who are not rich, not liberal, or have unrefined tastes evidently don't count as white.
I have given quite a bit of thought to how much a person's ethnicity, gender, and so forth should define him or her. While stereotypes usually have to originate with a grain of truth, it does seem a bit unfair and lazy to rely on them. I want to believe that the less a person fits whatever should be the obvious stereotype for him or her, the more intelligent or self-aware that person is. In theory the idea makes sense, but in practice it is very hard to know how stereotypical anyone really is.
* I just want to give some fair warning. As is typically the case with web-based satire, there are elements to this site that some people could find offensive. I wouldn't add a link, though, if I thought it was overly offensive.
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A funny, cultural stereotype situation came up at work. I was sitting next to a woman from Iran and from Korea in a meeting. I pointed out that there were 6 men in front of us, all from some part of Asia with their legs crossed. There were also 7 young american men sitting in the same area, none with their legs crossed. They found this funny until I explained that few American men that I have ever known prefer to cross their legs (too girly), but it is obviously ok for other cultures.
white and manly!
According to that web site, I think I've gotten more white since moving to Portland.
white and nerdy....
"This is largely because the standard for being white is apparently to be privileged, liberal, snobby, and status-conscious."
If this were true, almost none of the people I know that are white would fit in, for that matter, few of the subcultures I've lived in would fit it very well. I would instead say that every culture has its sub cultures and the above is a subculture of white, and a standard in predominately well off areas, but not a standard for all whites.
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