Questioning Race and Culture

During class today, we strayed far from the story and ended up on the subject of culture. The discussion raised many questions, "Is there a "White Boy" culture?", "What is black culture?", and "Are satirical blogs like Stuff White People Like, which is run by a white man, racist?". These are all difficult, but good questions, and I'll try to answer them in an unbiased way, so you can form your own opinions.

First, and foremost, how do we define culture? Culture is a broad and hard to define term, and Merriam-Webster defines culture as: "The customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group and the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices [of a group]" Of course, no individual will likely embody all the characteristics of their culture, since there are many subcultures even within a larger culture, but that does not mean the person cannot be a significant part of a culture, just because they do not possess all the traits of the culture.

Is there a "White Boy" culture? In the broad sense, yes, but it's not as clearly defined as other cultures, and within it there are many subcultures. It's broadness may be a result of the dominance of Europeans from the early days of the country. Within the larger culture, there is also suburban subculture, surfer subculture, redneck subculture, along with many others. Each of these has their own taste in music, literature, clothing, often have different educational backgrounds, and different ways of speaking. Does this mean there's no such thing as a redneck who listens to classical music or a surfer who says "Y'all", or that they are not a part of the culture if they do? No, but they are likely few and far between, and probably embody most of the other traits of the culture.

What is black culture? African-American culture is hard to define, especially since much of it has become mainstream after the Harlem renaissance. Jazz, Blues, and African-American art and literature became mainstream directly after the Harlem Renaissance. Rock and Hip Hop were later contributions to mainstream music from African-Americans. Soul food has also become popular, with foods like hush puppies, cornbread, and fried chicken becoming commonplace, especially in the south. Hairstyles like dreadlocks and the Afro (derived fom "Afro-American") are also hairstyles used mainly by African-Americans, though they have been adopted by others.

Is the blog Stuff White People Like racist? It's easy to see how it could be seen as racist, it is making generalizations about a group of people, defined by race. It also gives only a narrow view of white culture, focusing on typically wealthy, environmentally and socially conscious, anti-corporate, white Americans, especially those with liberal arts degrees. This is a complex issue, but, especially due to the fact that it was authored by a white man, it seems hard to call it a racist blog, rather than an almost self-deprecating good-natured satire. It's hard to call Jon Stewart an Anti-Semite when he, as a Jewish man, makes jokes about his Jewish heritage almost every night on The Daily Show, and in the same vein, it's hard to look at Stuff White People Like as a racist work.

Do you agree that there is a white culture in America? Is my assessment of Stuff White People Like horribly misguided? I'd love to hear in the comments whatever you have to say about this post.