Thursday, March 13, 2008

Apparently, White People & Educated Black People Like Obama

This post has absolutely nothing to do with polling data.

Instead, it has to do with the widely popular viral blog "Stuff White People Like" and more recent spin-off, "Stuff Educated Black People Like" SWPL's tone has a far more sinister bite, dripping with sarcasm and satire. SEBPL is a self described parody created by a self described educated Black person.

Their only point of intersection so far? Barack Obama is on both lists.

On Stuff White People Like, he's #8. Here's the entry, in its entirity:

Because white people are afraid that if they don’t like him that they will be called racist.

Lovely.

Here's the entry from Stuff Educated Black People Like, where he comes in at #12:

Educated Black People Like Barack Obama, but it’s not for the reasons you think.

Yes, Obama is an Educated Black Person, so of course we LOVE him. However, there are other reasons educated blacks like the Senator from Illinois. Another reason is that he’s the first Black person to run for public office without going all Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson on America. Obama has not once gotten the NAACP or Black Panthers involved in his campaign. We also like him because he has not solicited their help in his campaign for the Presidency; because educated blacks know that these two men would hurt rather than help Obama’s campaign. Al and Jesse are educated black people, so we like them; but educated blacks can only stand these two in moderation. All the yelling and rhyming annoys educated black people.

When discussing politics with an educated black person, do not automatically assume they are a supporter of Senator Obama. This is almost insulting because you are basically saying that because Obama is black and they are black, the two must go together. Allow your educated black friend to discuss the issues that concern them and they will usually tell you that they support Obama because of how he stands on national issues. It is important for an educated black person to explain why they like Obama, so that they can separate themselves from the uneducated or other blacks who like Obama just because he’s black.

It's funny. SWPL supposes white people like him only because they don't want to appear racist, while SEBPL says that educated Black people feel the need to look past race in justifying their reasons for liking him, and also that they don't like uneducated Blacks who only like him because he is Black, even though they like him as a candidate. There are many interesting claims about race here, and there's definitely shreds of truth to some of the claims. For me, It begs the question... is doing/not-doing something to avoid a talk about a candidate's race just as racist as actually confronting it in a relevant context? More importantly, is it racist of these authors to accuse White/"uneducated" Black people of liking Obama only because they are White/he is Black?

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