[JCX]

Jezebel

1. "Tee-Hee, Aren't I Adorable?"

2. "Recreational Slumming."

3. "Ummm, I'm a Writer and I'm Trying to Write in Here!"

4. "God, Don't White People Suck?"

5. "But it's a JOOOOOKE."

6. "So I'm not allowed to have a genuine interest in another culture?!!?!??!"

7. "Yeah, but we have a black president! Isn't racism over?"

While I don't think the list is entirely accurate, I agree with the general sentiment. That grey, not-sure-if-ironic area is annoying and sometimes problematic.

[xxracerxx]

5-7 are subsets of 4.

[marrec]

I'm not sure I agree with the first one, most people do it as a send up of the hilarious Thug culture from Music, not as a comment on how all black people are thugs...

[nel e nel]

No mention of white kids calling each other n***a? Yes, that does happen.

[samus i am]

Eventually we arrived at the point (now) where it's socially unacceptable in mainstream culture for white people to say denigrating things about people of other races. But just because the behavior has been suppressed, that doesn't mean people's prejudices have simply disappeared.

So true

[BigDug13]

I agree with all of them except the first one. How is some girl doing an acoustic cover of a hip-hop song racist? Does that mean all those hip-hop remakes of previously "white people" songs is also racist?

So you're saying hip-hop is a "black" thing and acoustic guitar is a "white thing". Which in and of itself is a racist statement.

Also, things like Zooey's #thuglife comment I think points to our CULTURAL obsession with thug and hip-hop culture and not necessarily remarks from an unaware racist.

Pretty much agree with the rest though.

[echoshifting]

Can someone provide a better example of #6 than the author did, please? I'm not trying to be a jerk, I just want to know what sort of behavior she's referring to, and "Navajo panties" don't cut it. Is it just in general wearing "ironically racist" clothing and accessories, or is there something more to that point?

First of all, privileged dickweeds wearing Urban Outfitters "Navajo" panties, I didn't realize that you excavated those in your anthropological field work. My bad. Carry on. And second of all, again, you "can" do whatever the fuck you want. You "can" wear whatever you want, say whatever you want, and think whatever you want about whatever you want. All the time! Yaaay! But if a group of people comes to you and says, "This thing that you are doing is hurting us," and you keep doing it for fun, then you are a dickweed! Like, you know we had an actual genocide here, right? A deliberate extermination of human beings? Right where your house is? So maybe just err on the side of sensitivity.

[Cipherr]

Yep the thug one is the weakest, the majority of the rest though have real real merit. Hope that folks dont get so hung up on the first one that they dismiss the rest of a very very good piece.

[Azwethinkweiz]

1, 2, 4, and 6 were all pretty weak.

[thestopsign]

No mention of white kids calling each other n***a? Yes, that does happen.

Sadly one of my friends does this and I call him out on it every single time (in college for reference). It really frustrates me.

He says he hates hipsters though, so I'm not sure if it is directly related to hipsterdom or just the fact that he grew up in DC.

[Flo_Evans]

Going to iHop is racist? what.

[lethial]

No mention of white kids calling each other n***a? Yes, that does happen.

[entrement]

Gawker media keeping it classy as always.

[Utako]

Reaching

[UrbanRats]

Here's the thing about jokes. They only work when they're aiming up.

Maybe as a general rule of thumb (the Chris Rock piece comes to mind) but i don't agree with this as an absolute.
A big element of comedy is surprise, and the more you try to enforce these rules, the funnier it will be to brake them.
Case in point, comedians like Louis CK do stuff like this constantly, exactly with this in mind, but without resulting grossly offensive.

[Bay Maximus]

Great article, would read again.

[BluWacky]

This is going to sound horribly naive of me, but I had no idea that the word "thug" had racial connotations. Maybe it's a trans-Atlantic thing but it had never even occurred to me.

Of course, it doesn't seem to have occurred to a lot of the other commentators on that thread either, so maybe I'm not so alone!

Undoubtedly, however, it does cause some people offense.

[Dice]

How about this author needs to shut the fuck up because she clearly doesn't know jack shit, either.

[Gareth Bale]

Jezebel 1. "Tee-Hee, Aren't I Adorable?" 2. "Recreational Slumming." 3. "Ummm, I'm a Writer and I'm Trying to Write in Here!" 4. "God, Don't White People Suck?" 5. "But it's a JOOOOOKE." 6. "So I'm not allowed to have a genuine interest in another culture?!!?!??!" 7. "Yeah, but we have a black president! Isn't racism over?" While I don't think the list is entirely accurate, I agree with the general sentiment. That grey, not-sure-if-ironic area is annoying and sometimes problematic.

Those titles don't mean anything without the paragraphs to explain them.

[jtb]

It astounds me the sheer volume of pretentious drivel Gawker produces on a daily basis. Probably rivaled only by Cracked.

[RDreamer]

This is going to sound horribly naive of me, but I had no idea that the word "thug" had racial connotations. Maybe it's a trans-Atlantic thing but it had never even occurred to me.

I don't really get it either. Wouldn't it be racist to think "thug" has racial connotations? I mean when I think of thugs and the whole thug life type thing I think of rappers. Yeah a good chunk of them are black, but I don't think of black when I think thug. I think rapper, and people who listen to that type of rap. A good chunk of people who listen to that type of rap and do the stupid thug life crap are white. I just don't get how ironically making fun of that makes you a racist...

[Divvy]

EDIT: What ^ said

Maybe I am misinterpreting what the author is saying (she should definitely try being MORE sarcastic in print), but am I the only one that thinks automatically associating thug with black is more racist than the example given? I didn't know being thuggish was exclusive to black people.

[Anton Sugar]

I don't really get it either. Wouldn't it be racist to think "thug" has racial connotations? I mean when I think of thugs and the whole thug life type thing I think of rappers. Yeah a good chunk of them are black, but I don't think of black when I think thug. I think rapper, and people who listen to that type of rap. A good chunk of people who listen to that type of rap and do the stupid thug life crap are white. I just don't get how ironically making fun of that makes you a racist...

Well, if we want to keep it real...

[Satch]

This article is about "Liberal Racism," but they called it "Hipster Racism" because it'd attract more attention.

[UrbanRats]

This article is about "Liberal Racism," but they called it "Hipster Racism" because it'd attract more attention.

Was it wrote in a less patronizing way, more people would've also read it in full, i think.
Also, you could also add a "white person defender of poor minorities" in there, though it would somewhat undermine the article itself, probably.

[Fugu]

This is a poorly written article about a group of people that doesn't exist (hipsters) performing behaviour that is, at worst, superficially offensive. Racism is about intent, not words.

[JCX]

This article is about "Liberal Racism," but they called it "Hipster Racism" because it'd attract more attention.

Agreed. I have problems with the use of hipster and racism/racist. Racist is overused now to the point that it doesn't have the effect it should when used correctly.

[Anton Sugar]

Racism is about intent, not words.

One could argue that racism is also about the contextual meaning/intent behind words. It has nothing to do with your intent. When someone is offended by something you say, it doesn't matter if you "meant" it a certain way--it was offensive.

You don't get to choose what is offensive and why.

[Cyan]

Those titles don't mean anything without the paragraphs to explain them.

You're not missing much.

[UrbanRats]

One could argue that racism is also about the contextual meaning/intent behind words. It has nothing to do with your intent. When someone is offended by something you say, it doesn't matter if you "meant" it a certain way--it was offensive. You don't get to choose what is offensive and why.

I agree with that, but it's also important to give the right weight, to the right things.

I'm absolutely not of the opinion "white people should able to say n*" and i never use it, but on the other side of the spectrum, if you go fishing for controversy, you're undermining the importance of an issue.

Meaning, it's ok to be offended, but try to be thoughtful about it.

[BruiserBear]

Some of those things the writer mentioned are reeaaaaly stretching it.

[TheMan]

how are these things specific to hipsters, exactly?

[samus i am]

Catchphrase: "It's soooooo ghetto, but I actually totally like it!"

This has always made my skin crawl. I HATE it when people call things "ghetto". You have no idea what the ghetto is, using that word to describe taping broken things together instead of buying something new is insulting.

[gutterboy44]

What terribly written drivel. Does Gawker actually pay these people? For fucks sake this belongs on the back of a high school students notebook not a major website.

[LeadProtagonist]

This is a really poorly written article. I agree with the main point, but the way it's presented completely subverts the main intentions of what the author is trying to say.

It's problematic in its own right.

[DominoKid]

Recreational Slumming is fun though.

[Dice]

This has always made my skin crawl. I HATE it when people call things "ghetto". You have no idea what the ghetto is, using that word to describe taping broken things together instead of buying something new is insulting.

And as a white kid from the ghetto, I want to know where the fuck the author gets off trying to call people who say such things racist.

[Fugu]

One could argue that racism is also about the contextual meaning/intent behind words. It has nothing to do with your intent. When someone is offended by something you say, it doesn't matter if you "meant" it a certain way--it was offensive. You don't get to choose what is offensive and why.

Not all offense is created equal; if people are offended by imaginary constructs that don't actually project or encourage any sort of race-based prejudice, then I cannot be concerned about offending them because that is inherently a losing game, as the basis of the offense is arbitrary.

There are things that are worth being offended over, and it is worthwhile because your offense subsequently (hopefully) indicates a need for a behavioural change in who offended you ("I am hurt that you think that I am intrinsically less valuable than you"). But getting offended over #thuglife is ridiculous; whose cultural identity is this? It is as "racist" (as in completely not racist, but "racist" in the bizarre and extrapolating manner that the writer of this article means) to suggest that thug life is a cultural precept of one group as it is to suggest that it's not.

[samus i am]

And as a white kid from the ghetto, I want to know where the fuck the author gets off trying to call people who say such things racist.

I don't think it is racist. Just culturally ignorant and insulting.

[Utako]

I'm certainly guilty of using black slang in an ironic or humorous fashion. Hasn't seemed to bother anyone yet, though, and I see plenty of reverse racism that's 10x worse to compensate. Meh.

This has always made my skin crawl. I HATE it when people call things "ghetto". You have no idea what the ghetto is, using that word to describe taping broken things together instead of buying something new is insulting.

The last, like, 15 years must have been hell for you in that case.

Even people from the ghetto call things ghetto

[animlboogy]

Some of this is fairly on point (as a non-white dude, I'm especially tired of hearing white people talk about how "white" things are, it's just revealing how much they fetishize the rest of us and it's kind of creepy), but mainly this is a dispatch from the No Fun Club. Fuuuuck it.

how are these things specific to hipsters, exactly?

In this case, "hipster" seems to be code for "happy-go-lucky upper-middle class to rich young white people." Although a good chunk of the complaints apply to pretty much any white person in the U.S.

[Satch]

reverse racism

stop

[echoshifting]

Even people from the ghetto call things ghetto

When I started working in the projects of Kansas City, I was told almost immediately (in a lighthearted fashion) that I needed to learn to "speak ghetto." Context is important, though. I would never use any of that lingo with a perfect stranger, regardless of race...in fact, I think I'd be uncomfortable using it anywhere outside of that specific environment.

This was also over a decade ago, when the word wasn't used all that often outside of poor urban areas.

[samus i am]

The last, like, 15 years must have been hell for you in that case. Even people from the ghetto call things ghetto

Yes, they were. And in response to your spoiler, I don't really consider that the same. Rick James made a famous song about the ghetto, but that is fine because he was talking about life experiences that he actually went through. But when a 15 year old from the suburbs tapes the broken strap on her LL Bean bookbag with duct tape and calls it "Ghetto", she is making a mockery of people that are less fortunate whether she knows it or not.

[Utako]

Some of this is fairly on point (as a non-white dude, I'm especially tired of hearing white people talk about how "white" things are, it's just revealing how much they fetishize the rest of us and it's kind of creepy), but mainly this is a dispatch from the No Fun Club. Fuuuuck it.

Wait, you're not white, aren't you required to pounce upon and amplify all non-reverent behavior from white people toward other races??

I don't want to be here when the Not-White Police hit the scene (known for even more ferocious brutality than the Vegan Police).

stop

OK, but what?

[MWS Natural]

Awesome article.

[richiek]

This article is about "Liberal Racism," but they called it "Hipster Racism" because it'd attract more attention.

#7 is something conservatives would say, not liberals.

[echoshifting]

#7 is something conservatives would say, not liberals.

Perhaps not anymore, but it was a common belief on the left for a brief period following the election. Or at the very least, the naive assumption that we had "really turned a corner" on racism, or something.

[ryutaro's mama]

Yes, they were. And in response to your spoiler, I don't really consider that the same. Rick James made a famous song about the ghetto, but that is fine because he was talking about life experiences that he actually went through. But when a 15 year old from the suburbs tapes the broken strap on her LL Bean bookbag with duct tape and calls it "Ghetto", she is making a mockery of people that are less fortunate whether she knows it or not.

Like when Elvis made a song about the ghetto.

[J-Rod]

I agree with the author that "ironic racism" is just racism. I from the deep south and have heard plenty of terrible things come out in private conversation, but I swear some of the shit that the Internet calls jokes would even make them blush.