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I’m puzzled . . . when did the stereotype for heterosexual Caucasian males become stupid white men? 
And when did straight Caucasian males become public pinatas as the ONLY minority it’s politically correct to despise? Blame the recent Verizon commercial for today’s post.
Have you seen the promo for the V-Cast music service for Verizon Wireless cellphones? It features a gym fitness instructor behaving like a real dumbass. He prattles on in dude-speak while ignoring his struggling client to shout into the camera as he shares his favorite song with the viewers on the phone’s new music service.
What was Verizon thinking? Is the character someone YOU would choose to represent your company, ostensibly to follow his advice on what type of phone to buy?
And this made me focus on a problem I’ve been seeing for a long time now — somewhere along the line, pop media began using stupid white men to symbolize the average American male.
Too bad we don’t have racial and gender slight merchants like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson or even our own segregation organization (NAACP, La Raza, etc.) to protest this gross stereotyping.
I was born as, and still am to this day (and no, I don’t see that changing) a whitebread Anglo-Saxon straight male. But these days, being a straight white male (SWM) works against you because it’s the only minority group the public is encouraged to laugh at and despise.
Case in point, the initial reaction to the allegations against the Duke Lacrosse players.
The media and Duke University professors leapt to be the first to point the “J’accuse!” finger and point out their race with the same zeal they play down the race of criminals committing crimes.
Apparently we, the SWM’s are to blame for nearly everything that goes and has gone wrong in the world and cultural conditioning via TV helps that along.
Check out primetime TV and the commercials anytime. Feast on the hours of programming and advertising that portrays us as clueless morons women must save from themselves, that gay males must rescue from fashion distress and the ones who “keep down” the blacks and latinos.
According to TV, straight white males are clueless morons, insensitive barbarians and beer-chugging buffoons.
By contrast, look how the other minorities are portrayed:
- Black and Latino guys? Cool . . . hip . . . bucked.
- Asian guys? Always super-smart.
- Women? Capable, sexy, sensitive.
- Gay guys? Quirky, gifted, fun, misunderstood.
- And lesbians? They’re portrayed as simply being hot.
Interestingly enough, in addition to network programming that caters to them, each of these other “safe” minorities have their own TV channels :
- Black guys have BET and other premium channels (HBO, Showtime, etc.) with subchannels targeted to their race
- Latino guys? Telemundo and premium channels with targeted subchannels (see first bullet)
- Women? The Lifetime and Oxygen channels.
- Gays? Bravo and Showtime.
- Lesbians? Showtime which they have to share with the gays and transgenders.
Here’s What I Want To Know . . .
How did we get white guys like Homer Simpson and that King Of Queens guy to rep us? Case in point for the non-believers: the comedy film Hitched.
Who was the cool, suave guy helping clueless white oafs out? That’s right — black actor Will Smith.
Who was the token white oaf that needed help? Yep, that bumbler from King Of Queens.
You don’t have to be a tailor to see the pattern.
If we get most of our information from TV and films (and these days, who doesn’t?), then we’re clueless, oafish, vulgar and worse. And if we have power (but aren’t George “Looney”) then we’re portrayed as venal, greedy, conspiratorial, and mindlessly violent.
Time to cut this minority a break.
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By Walter |
Topics: Marketing Mishaps, Pet Peeves, Pro Analysis |
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Comments
And when did straight Caucasian males become public pinatas as the ONLY minority it’s politically correct to despise? Blame the recent Verizon commercial for today’s post.
February 10th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Wow. I thought I was the only person who has witnessed this trend. I am tired of being portrayed as being a stupid, disgusting, perverted, discriminating moron with no fashion sense. I actually think of myself as quite the opposite. Thank you for this post, I really enjoyed it.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Walter responds:
I’m with you, Matt. Us Straight White Males need to hold the line against the increasing feminineization (sic) of our gender and role in society. I too, do regard myself as a smart, with-it male who at least has moderate fashion sense.
And thanks for the kind words and spread the word. Awareness is the first step to countering it.