The digital media company BuzzFeed faced backlash this week after posting a piece titled “37 Things White People Need To Stop Ruining In 2018.”
BuzzFeed made online waves in December 2016 when one of its popular “listicle” pieces mocked the “plague” of “white people” populating the planet. Patrice Peck, the website’s multicultural beauty writer, added her own contribution to race-based click-bait on Thursday.
According to the article, some of the things white people are responsible for ruining in 2017:
- The United States of America
- The National Anthem
- The Oscars
- The Grammy Awards
Ms. Peck’s piece generated nearly 730,000 views for BuzzFeed in less than 24 hours, but not without backlash.
“Even if you subscribe to the asymmetric view of racism (ie, only some tribes can be racist, others can’t), it should not be hard to see why this sort of article is bad for America,” tweeted National Review Online contributor Dan McLaughlin.
“Another racist ’article,’” wrote one BuzzFeed reader. “Live, let live, stop blaming everyone else for your issues, and shut the hell up. In a nation where people of color have sat in the highest office on the planet, are some of the biggest names in entertainment, are world re-knowned [sic] neurosurgeons, business owners, highest paid athletes, etc., the only thing keeping you from success is your own racist and ’woe-is-me’ attitudes.”
“If this article would have been titled “Things black people ruined”, [it would] be the end of the world … just saying,” added another.
Even if you subscribe to the asymmetric view of racism (ie, only some tribes can be racist, others can’t), it should not be hard to see why this sort of article is bad for America https://t.co/cuSxWbMwEb
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) December 28, 2017
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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