Sabbatical [politics]

I’ve been on GP sabbatical for the last week, and I’m not back with you just yet. Still mentally checked-out. Just came by the office to get my metaphorical keys. (Do you have people who do that when they’re supposed to be on vacation, come by the office just to “check on something”? Please…).

Before I rush back out again to a weekend of R&R to recover from my more strenuous traveling R&R, knowing that I like Stuff White People Like, a friend sent me this link to the spin-off blog “Ethnic People Like Stuff Too.”

Sure they do. They, being The Other. And this site has a some undeniably funny moments (e.g. “Listening To Their Parents”). But I fear the rumbling on the horizon.

With the web, you have to take the good with the bad. And I see a whole lot of badness coming as Stuff White People like spawns a third and forth generation of knock-offs. Much like a Dave Chappell show in the hands of backwoods rednecks who don’t understand the ironic voice, the internet as a whole will lowest common denominator the shit out of this particular joke. I envision a thousand variants on Stuff Asian People like posts that boil down to “Math” leading us eventually to Stuff Black People entries such as “Watermelon” and “Fried Chicken.”

It’ll end up basically with a list of racial stereotypes. It’ll be not funny and then straight-out offensive, but it’ll be forwarded around forever. My dad’s friends will send the links to each other from now until doomsday.

Finally, just neigh of The Rapture, the most racist white guy in the world blogging on dial up out of Mississippi, after having been cut off by his ISP, will bemoan the inherent unfairness of the world: “But WHITE people had a sense of humor about it when it was about them!”