The Stupidest Bit Of News I've Seen In A While

This story is from The Huffington Post. I saw it scrolling across the top of the site as a headline as I drank my morning coffee:

Poll: White Kids Are Happier

From their relationships to their jobs to their money _ even from they time they first roll out of bed _ young white Americans are happier with life than their minority counterparts.

According to an extensive survey of 1,280 people ages 13-24 by The Associated Press and MTV, 72 percent of whites say they are happy with life in general, compared with 51 percent of Hispanics and 56 percent of blacks.

"It doesn't surprise me," said Martin Carpenter, 21, a black New Jersey resident. "There's a lot of issues out there for African-American young adults. You can still go to certain places and feel uncomfortable, like you don't belong there."

So, a poll of 1,280 is an extensive poll? Where were these young people from? What class were they? How do you even gage happiness in a poll like this? What questions did they ask? I am not saying that this poll is wrong but random polls like this that make such sweeping statements are not helpful. And more importantly are not news.

There have been several comments to this article that are fascinating. There are hundreds for you to enjoy. These comments are more telling than this piece of news. Maybe we can just make up a general statement about race and class from these. Some gems:

From squareyellowpaper: As difficult as it is, I enjoy being White.

I would not mind being Hispanic or Oriental.

I would not want to be a Black woman and have to put up with Black men. How they do it, I will never know! I wouldn't treat a brick they way they treat women.

From okAcomputer
well aren't there statistics that say that by 2050 asians and latinos will be the majority? This might change in the future.

Mostly I think this has to do obviously with media images. We are on third+ generation imigration in the US. Minorities are catching up (or caught up in some cases) in terms of education and income, and in the workplace or in terms of social respect. But still everytime you open a magazine or turn on a TV, or watch a movie it's still dominated by white people. We are told they are rich, powerful, cool, strong and sexy, and seldom are there other minorite other than blacks and if there are they aren't but in the same light. It's so bad i have some friends who are asian who make it a strict rule to only date white men. And this is the only reason i can come up with for why.

From riverroad
What? Black women are lucky! It's white guys that tend to be the most arrogant, the most misogynist, the most John Waynish and the least attractive all around! All white guys have is money--and they're stingy with it!

From Kansas Evans
Quit with the "Why should we feel guilty. We weren't there." Waa waa waa!

Whatever! If you're still benefitting from a system that marginalizes minorities, feel guilty and like it. Or, you can admit it and try to change the system. Then, you won't have to feel guilty.

From Sweaterman (See profile | I'm a fan of Sweaterman)
marginilizes minorities???

What country are you living in?? In the VERY near future (if not already) this country will be a minority majority. How are they marginilized? They get more federal money, more scholarship opportunities, more leniency in work performance and affirmitive action. White people get... still waiting. I feel guilty for NOTHING ...

From nihilon_x
Yet, for all that rhetoric, I'll bet you'd still choose to be white rather than black in America.

And my favorite comment:

From RavagesOfTime

In other news.

The sky? Yeah, it's still blue.

Comments

[Ms World]

whatever! All I know is that I'm loving my life.