Hating White People: The BuzzFeed Listicle

December 7th, 2016 12:39 PM

BuzzFeed must have a use-it-or-lose-it malevolence budget, because as 2016 draws to a close, the hate pieces are coming fast and thick. Last week it was the hit job on the Gaineses (they may believe in traditional marriage!). Now, “White people are a plague to the planet.”

The explicitly liberal and distinctly nasty click-bait site published a “listicle” Dec. 5 of photos of fine young scholars engaged in the exhilarating pursuit of knowledge. Actually, no. It was pictures of campus social justice drones and their collection of whitey-hating powerpoint slides.

Titled “19 School Powerpoint Presentations that Give Zero Fucks,”  the subhead of the list tells readers that “Slideshows are the best way to express anger.” Anger over what? If you have to ask, you’re a white supremacist. You bigot.

The photos of proud students with their slides are given largely without context (it is BuzzFeed after all). The slides themselves are unevenly enlightening, ranging from “White People Stay Colonizing: an Examination on ‘Teen Dance Crazes’ and ‘Teen Slang’ to “IN CONCLUSION i am bitter.”

Number 2 on the listicle features Robin standing by a screen reading “WHITE PRIVILEGE DOES EXIST.” It’s accompanied by a tweet from Robin herself boasting “I HAD THESE WHITE KIDS SHOOK.” Um, congratulations?

Number 9, Buzzfeed says, is a “presentation on historic events.” The slide: “White People are a Plague on the Planet.” Number 10 promises to be a more explanatory treatment of the same theme: “How White People Plagued Society.” (Encouragingly, the use of the past tense suggests remediation of said plague, and that the spread of white people is now under control. But that’s contradicted by BuzzFeed’s description of it as a “slideshow by a student who’s simply had enough.” He’s “had enough” of a problem that’s been resolved? Confusing!) The student tweets that he “Finessed an A on my presentation.” Finessed? More like bludgeoned, but the modern academy has de-emphasized vocabulary.

Some other gems of scholarly endeavor:

Number 11. “White People are Crazy”

Number 16. “American Imperialism in the Middle East: How white people fucked up my homeland”

And last by not least:

Number 19. “Y’ALL WHITE PEOPLE ARE DANGEROUS: THE HORROR STORY”

So slideshows really are the best way to express anger. And resentment. And entitlement. And endless grievance. And a host of other unattractive and self-defeating emotions. But, hey, isn’t that the point of higher education?

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