The funny thing about white people

What happened

Christian Lander, the creator of the high-traffic blog Stuff White People Like, last week signed a six-figure book deal with Random House, capping a two-month rise from obscurity to riches. (ABC News)

What the commentators said

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Lander should add his own Web site to his growing list of things white people—and others—like, said Jake Coyle in the Charlotte, N.C., Observer. The “sarcastic” blog is now a bona fide Internet sensation that has drawn more than 11 million hits. Early fans already know that white people like “Oscar parties, standing still at concerts, marathons,” and vintage T-shirts, but they check in regularly to see what has been added to the list.

What makes the blog fun is that it doesn’t zero in on groups, such as rednecks and Republicans, that have already taken a beating, said Vanessa E. Jones in The Boston Globe (free registration). It targets “white middle-class liberals” who “rarely face comedic barbs unless they're the target of black comics such as Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock.”

That's precisely why this boring collection of "banal observations" is beyond annoying, said Gary Dauphin in TheRoot.com. “Nothing gets under my (colored, nearly-middle-aged) skin like the spectacle of a twentysomething white kid doing what twentysomething white kids do all the time, namely, play on some or another aspect of their race for smug fun and profit.” Besides, with this country’s history of racism, “even jokey talk about whiteness has a whiff of danger to it.”