stuff white people like

A few months ago I ran into this blog / book / phenom called "Stuff White People Like".

Check it out and then read this if you still have time...

I realize I'm a little slow, apparently this peaked in its popularity a few years ago, but it bears mention nonetheless. And after being both brought to tears with laughter in reading its brilliant cultural critique, some of the ideas have stuck with me, kicking around in my head, and playing a somewhat prophetic role in looking at my life.

It turns out I'm not so original after all. That a lot of the things I value, pursue, believe in, and incorporate into my lifestyle are part of a cultural segment, whose defining characteristic is considering ourselves to be unique, free thinking, deep, cultured, special, progressive people. It may not actually have much to do with skin color, but there certainly is a segment of white skinned anglo Canadians who share the trait of thinking we're better than the other white folk. And the truth is in part, that I belong to that group.

I'm pretty proud of walking to work, and leaving our one and only car in the driveway most days.
I'm pretty proud of eating hummus, drinking local red wine, having fair trade coffee, and renovating a heritage house with a hip cafe down the street.
I'm pretty proud of having been to Europe and having pictures I took of it up on my walls at home.
I watch TED talks on a regular basis, listen to Bob Marley, and find myself strangely drawn to Prius' and Subarus.

>If you've checked out the website, or are already familiar with the "stuff white people like" books/blog, you'll start to see where I fit<

I'm pretty proud of my environmental consciousness, of composting extensively in the backyard, and growing some of our own food.
I'm pretty proud of the artsy, progressive neighborhood that I live in.
I went to graduate school, hate corporations, have a dog, treasure my friends from different cultures, and wish I made it to the farmer's market more often.

And none of these things are wrong in and of themselves...many of them are good. But what challenges me about "Stuff White People Like", is the idea that much of what I do is motivated not by genuine care about good things, but about generating an identity that allows me to be self-satisfied, special, and just a little better than other white middle class Canadians.

Is my composting motivated by true concern for the welfare of all living things, or is it motivated by feeling good about myself for being the kind of person who composts?

Likely the truth lies somewhere in the middle: I probably am motivated by both, to differing degrees at different times. And the reality that I have some less than beautiful motives for doing things should not be allowed to cause me to despair, of give up doing good things.

But I think it's an important reminder to me, perhaps to others, that even the good, the beautiful, the trendy, the socially appropriate in our lives can have a dark underside in the realm of motives. That very often we're doing things so that we can maintain a certain sense of identity, rather than doing them for entirely pure and good reasons. I may love the planet and fair trade coffee, but I also sort of love the image of myself that I'm trying to project, and sometimes I shape that image so that others will love that projection too. I feel better about myself believing that the coffee I buy costs more (a sign to myself of superiority perhaps) and wasn't as harmful to the people involved in growing it. But really I care more about how I feel as a buyer of fair trade coffee, than I do about the people involved in producing it.

As is often true of good humor, like this site, a certain amount of truth is contained, and while it's good to laugh at ourselves for being a certain kind of person - it's also painful to admit that to some degree we are not fully who we tell ourselves or others that we are. That below the surface there's a much more complex and messy person. A person who longs to be special, to mean something, to matter. But I remind myself that in my efforts to matter, I may perhaps be moving away from what really gives me value as a human being, and trading it for some stock cultural goods, attitudes, and behaviors that aren't the true source of my value as person.