You’ve probably encountered this blog, Stuff White People Like. Its posts describe stuff white people like. And it turns out, white people like Stuff White People Like.

The blog is well-written, and its posts are actually relatively amusing. But a discerning reader can’t help but come to the conclusion that the author isn’t actually talking about stuff white people like, but, rather, stuff that middle/upper-middle class people like. For example, outdoor performance clothes. At first, we reflect on all the white kids we have seen wearing North Face, and we laugh. Or maybe we own some North Face, and we post a cute little comment along the lines of, “Oh my gosh, I am SO white!” But if we really think about it, we realize that expensive clothing has nothing to do with whiteness, but, rather, has to do with having money. This creates a false connection between being white and having money.

Problematic race-perceptions are rooted in essentialism: the false notion that character attributes are inherent to particular genetic qualities. You can detect essentialist notions informing a person’s logic when they say things like, “black people are better at sports,” or “women are irrational,” or, “white people like to wear North Face.”

Now, I understand the blog in question is meant to be amusing. It does a good job of creating humor out of the culture–vacuum that many white people feel in their lives. But ultimately it reinforces essentialist notions, explicitly about white people and thus implicitly about people of color. If white people like the stuff on the blog, then it is implied that people of color do not. Otherwise the blog would be called Stuff People Like.

So why do white people like Stuff White People Like? Because it gives them a sense of identity. Those who wish to be seen as white (generally those who wish to “get ahead” in a white-dominated society) read this blog, chuckle at their own expense, maybe post a comment about how they like the stuff the author wrote about, and feel their identities validated. Those who do not wish to be seen as white (generally either those who are aware of institutional racism or those who exotify and consume other cultures), read this blog, chuckle at their neighbor’s expense, maybe post a comment about how they do not like the stuff the author wrote about, and feel their identities validated. This latter group appeases their white guilt by dissociating with typical white viewpoints and activities in order to take comfort in feeling that either they are not the bad guy, or that they are cooler than other white people. This group also tends to enjoy things like Chapelle’s Show, which allows them to exotify and consume select aspects of black culture without truly understanding the context (what bell hooks refers to as “Eating the Other“).

Now, I do not object to the existence of this blog, nor do I have any critique of its author. I think he or she has tapped into something important, and this phenomenon is worth observing. I am, however, disappointed that people’s perceptions on race are so limited that they do not see more plainly that the author is actually talking about class. And I am disappointed that there is not more intelligent discourse on this topic. The problem is not that this blog offers white people a sense of identity, but that it is an identity rooted in false notions.