Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Problem with SWPL

I didn't like the term SWPL as soon as I heard it.  I did use it in one post title (and might have mentioned it in another, I can't remember), but it was due to the lack of a better term (which I'll get to).  I read through the SWPL website and found it lacking in any clarity of exactly what white people should do.  It was full of things they can't do:  They can't participate in intelligent discussions, read old childhood books to their children, listen to old music, listen to new music, have nice things, have old things, live in a nice place, play sports, exercise, eat healthy, eat unhealthy, etc. etc. etc.  Of course, there are a few points to be made about the irony and hypocrisy of certain Liberal Cultural and Political Memes, but, for the most part, I find the website disturbing.  A lot of the targets are just cool things that happen to be popular, that also cost money, so naturally, you don't see a lot of inner-city youth participants.

It basically puts up walls of ridicule for white people and Catch 22's (is that book SWPL?)  They can't reach out, they can't shut themselves in.  It's basically putting in writing what everyone knows is the white-person's trap.  If you try to do the right thing, you're an arrogant do-gooder.  If you try to be cool, well, you're a dorky white person so stop it and go make some money at your privileged white-person's job at a big corporation.  I find this cltural identity shaming is as damaging (potentially!) as the horrible cultural shaming common in black culture whereby working hard, studying, talking in proper English with respectful tone can be seen as being too "white" (Carlton from Fresh Prince being the ultimate foil).

So now as soon as something becomes popular, it becomes SWPL.  I'm reminded of the nineties music scene when no band was allowed to become too popular or else they were called sell-outs.  Hell, every band wanted to sell out, so they could keep making music.  That's the damn business. 

Now we see the language of the alt-right begin to collapse in under itself.  Half Sigma has called Paleo Dieters Gaia worshipers for their so-called belief in an all-natural dieting philosophy.  Yes, Gaia worshipping is SWPL and many of the commenters, like Albert Magnus got on the SWPL-hating bandwagon on the earlier post about Gluten calling Paleo a SWPL pursuit.  So eating a Paleo diet is Gaian since it is based on evolutionary science? (and BTW, HS seems to know little about evolution)  Gaianism is a religion and therefore ignores much of science.  Science is not a religion, but, pseudo-science can be used as a base for religion.  Paleo dieting is ALL ABOUT SCIENCE (and not the whoring of science as I've posted about either).

So let's state it clearly.  To be SWPL, you have to A. be White B. Not work in a labour job (factory, trucking, construction, etc) C.  Like stuff that some other people like (or not like stuff that not too many people like, but enough do that you can say some do, or something like that).

Could it be that there are things that appeal to lots of people because they're good things?  Hmmm....

So who is it that I was talking about that I wrote about in my post about SWPLS and Nature?  It's not that I don't like them, it's that I find them perplexing because of the depth of their delusions about nature.  I'd say it's more pity than dislike.  It's not that they like frisbee or drink coffee (I like those things BTW).

In the post, I spoke of a Very Nice Woman (VNW) who "loved" nature, just not when it was violent.  Well, that's funny, because violence is at the very heart of nature - some animals eat grass, some animals eat animals in a big CIRCLE OF LIFE.  I want to send all these Very Nice People (VNP) to re-watch the Lion King and to get that message so common in many of Walt's great films (just not Bambi).  So, I will never refer to SWPLS again.  I will only refer to VNP's.  These people deny human nature and that humans are part of nature.  Nature to them is a little kitten who never wants to use her claws, but will use them only when necessary.  I can only hope to awaken them from their dreamy delusions one day.

No comments: