EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS. E. V. E. R. Y. T. H. I. N. G.

I WAS SAD WHEN LINDY LEFT THE STRANGER, BUT GODDAMN... SHE'S GOTTEN EVEN MORE AWESOMER IN LOS ANGELES.

Yeah. She kind of nails this one. I like that she acknowledges it's something you work on. Racism is not something that lives in a binary state.

Someone needs to put the kibosh on her excessive use of parenthesis--it's irritating and detracts from what would otherwise be an enjoyable and fairly well-argued piece. I realize it's Jezebel, but STILL, C'MOOOOOON!

It's hard to work up much concern about something like a celebrity making fun of herself by writing "#thuglife" in a Twitter update while elsewhere people are actually dying, imprisoned, living in misery, or under attack due to deep, institutionalized racism, which is far more difficult to be hip and witty about. Write what you know, I guess, Lindy, but I'm not sure the indignation and quasi-rhetorical style mix well with your great style of humor, which I used to enjoy immensely in your movie reviews in the Stranger.

Self-righteousness is a wily lil' bacterium, too.

Lindy West's film criticism is unimpeachable, but her blue state Puritanism is about as rank, pointless and devoid of humor as a turd on the sidewalk in 90-degree heat. Or actually, I take that last part back: a turd on the sidewalk would be much funnier than Lindy's populist moral pandering

I hesitate to accuse author West of straw man reliance for I am aged and perhaps run in different circles than the H-word racists she's described. But my circle is not THAT different. And due to my age I feel comfortable enough in the breadth of my social experience to say I have no fucking clue who these people are and where they exist except as archetypes in print. And also due to my age I recognize her masterful employment of some ultra-thick, mid to late 90's snark, the kind you don't see much of these days. She's a real throw-back.

@7: I agree. I think she kind of acknowledges the straw man issue when she addresses her target as "imaginary amalgam of all the careless hipsters in the world." I'm not sure what's specifically "hipster" about the behavior being described -- and perhaps the whole thing was just a vehicle for a glancing shot at Zooey Deschanel's character. Like geyser, I'm having a hard time caring.

It's a real problem if you don't know who the object of your extended polemic is. But she is right that ironic racism, or sexism for that matter, isn't funny and is offensive.

I LIKE A LOT OF LINDY'S WRITING, BUT THIS ONE WAS JUST WILDLY HYPOCRITICAL, AS SHE DISPLAYED THROUGH HER COMMENTS THE EXACT HIPSTER RACISM SHE WAS TEARING DOWN.

OREGOMETRY: I MISSED THE PART WHERE LINDY WAS BEING ACTIVELY RACIST IN HER WRITING. COULD YOU QUOTE THE PARTS YOU THINK WERE BEING RACIST?

Northern racism. Lindy nailed it!

TREATING RACE AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS AS THE SAME THING. ONE CAN ONLY RECREATIONALLY GO SLUMMING IN BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS?

@OREGOMETRY: WHERE IN THE TEXT DID YOU SEE THAT ACTUALLY TAKE PLACE. PLEASE USE QUOTES SO THAT I CAN ACCURATELY UNDERSTAND WHICH OF THE PIECES OF TEXT YOU'RE REFERRING TO.

We're talking about it. It's been re-posted all over FB. Largely intelligent conversations about race are happening. I think West accomplished something good with this. Conversation on the topic is never a bad thing, imo. Racism likes to hide in plain site, and thrives when un-challenged.

+1 Fruit Cup

People that cry racism the most are dividing this country down the middle. Especially when pasty white claptraps start lecturing people on racism. Liberals have also hyphenated names. African-American. Asian-American. Here's a tip. If you were fucking born here. You are an AMERICAN. Also, feminist morons hyphenate their names. What a fucking stupid idea. Oh my.....my fuck trophy won't know his true identity if he's not in touch with his feminine side. Whatever. It's the end of the world as we knew it. And liberals are fucking dumb.