td11 wrote:

Houshphandzadeh wrote:can't decide if I should read this 'Being White in Philly' article

do I want to know or not know

it is breathtaking. i think i got through 1.5 pages

this response was awesome



http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news- ... 27711.html

I just finished

I thought it was really quite good. I guess the title is unfortunate and misleading

what's the beef?

Barry Jive wrote:peanut butter has betrayed me and i feel awful at work

your work here is done, peanut butter. earned myself a Delocated marathon in bed

Houshphandzadeh wrote:I just finished

I thought it was really quite good. I guess the title is unfortunate and misleading

what's the beef?

a) It was in Philly Mag, which has zero minorities on its editorial staff

b) It was written in the first person, leaving a lot of room for projection

c) Every source in the story is white

d) There's no mention of any minority except black people

a) so

b) so

c) this is a flaw, but it was a story about white people's attitudes toward black people

d) it was a story about white people's attitudes toward black people

just really weird that people had me primed for some big racist thing. it was pretty interesting and thought-provoking. I'm actually pretty sure half the people who complained about it haven't read it. two different people complained to me about how he spent the whole time in Mt. Airy, which he didn't do at all.

so, flawed, sure, but awful or racist or anything like that, gimme a break

jeez, man. don't really know what to say. he interviewed what, three white people? two of them were obvious racists. they lived in a combined three neighborhoods in Philly. it was the cover story for a professional magazine. it's not a story about white people's attitudes toward black people. it's a story about a guy who thinks all the white people in Philly hate black people. if it were satire i'd be more open to it

[I'm not going to read it]

Sometimes the title affixed to an article completely blows away the nuance of an article, case in point: Who Cares if you Listen?

Barry Jive wrote: it's a story about a guy who thinks all the white people in Philly hate black people

no it wasn't, at all?

i agree with the title thing, in a way. the real takeaway is "white Philadelphians are afraid to talk about race" which is understandable. but nothing in the story supports that very well. it seems from the story that white Philadelphians are perfectly open to talking to other white Philadelphians about race, especially when they can be racist under the cloak of anonymity

yeah, and I think that was a big part of his point

But this is how I see it: We need to bridge the conversational divide so that there are no longer two private dialogues in Philadelphia—white people talking to other whites, and black people to blacks—but a city in which it is okay to speak openly about race. That feels like a lot to ask, a leap of faith for everyone. It also seems like the only place to go, the necessary next step.

Houshphandzadeh wrote:

Barry Jive wrote: it's a story about a guy who thinks all the white people in Philly hate black people

no it wasn't, at all?

Many of those neighborhoods are predominantly African-American. And if you’re white, you don’t merely avoid them—you do your best to erase them from your thoughts.

what the hell is this then

coming from Philly Mag sure doesn't help

Barry Jive wrote:

Houshphandzadeh wrote:

Barry Jive wrote: it's a story about a guy who thinks all the white people in Philly hate black people

no it wasn't, at all?

Many of those neighborhoods are predominantly African-American. And if you’re white, you don’t merely avoid them—you do your best to erase them from your thoughts.

what the hell is this then

a cherrypick

so he's just a terrible writer? because that's the closing of his lead and it's a magnificently stupid thing to write

I think it's pretty true that white people by and large avoid going to and thinking about North Philly

My dad threw out my copy of Philly magazine.

except for all the ones who live and hang out and go to school and work there

now you won't know what to eat at the shore

Good effort barry

'what do a few racist white people i sorta interviewed think about how tough it is to live in a city full of horrible minorities'

^new title