Just blobbin'

My friend who writes the blog What Would Bi-Curious George Say? just got a letter he wrote in response to an article in The Atlantic Magazine published in the most recent issue!!! I don't really know how to handle this situation, because I really really really want to show a link to it, but it also has his real name and location.... so his top secret identity will be exposed to the blogging world (oh no!). But I think I'm going to just go ahead and do it anyway, because I'm a big fan, and he gives a sort of shout-out to our boarding school. And lets just say that if he writes in a "blog", then I write in a "blob", because his is intelligent and well planned out and insightful and all that jazz.

The original article can be found here--- The End of White America? And this is what my friend has to say in response:

"Hua Hsu hits on a number of important issues, but I believe that he overstates the plight of white America.

While sociologists like Matt Wray bemoan the lack of “white culture,” I look at white America and see only further strength. Minority groups have to look inward to find their “culture” because they need to define themselves in some way. White Americans have a much easier time. The white American narrative is interwoven with the American narrative as a whole. White culture is America.

As an Indian American who attended an effete private boarding school, I have learned that to achieve a level of cultural assimilation that enables a minority to move up the ladders in society, one has to embrace the “Stuff White People Like.” The peacoats, polos, Frisbee sports, and Arrested Development DVDs might seem like trivial favorites of the white elite, but they represent certain gateways that minorities have to navigate. My friends joke that I’m as white as they are, because I’ve essentially sold out to adhere to their cultural norms. But what choice does a student like myself have under these circumstances? There may be no “white culture,” but white people still dictate our societal norms. To become a cultural elite in America, one has to whiten him- or herself."

The author, Hua Hsu, gives this response--

"I agree, too, that it is too soon to pronounce America “post-white.” He offers a stirring personal example of the pressures of assimilation at this strange moment, when there are still expressions of mainstream “whiteness” but “whiteness” itself has no discernible core. I am reminded of the commentary about Barack Obama’s skill (and, more important, success) at “playing white.” I am somewhat hopeful about all of this: the logic of race and identity we’ve inherited no longer seems adequate. It is up to those who care about and are affected by this change to discover a new language and seek out new ideas befitting this moment."

Perhaps I can understand this point of view more easily because I spent four years in a completely safe and bubbled community with this person, and have had many conversations of this variety over those years. But the original article, and my friend's interpretation of the white cultural elitism are insights to how we understand our country, or perhaps how you understand your country...

Also, the article The Case Against Breast-Feeding by Hanna Rosin is so interesting.