3/31/08

Stuff Malagasies abroad like....


( Ivato airport via wikipedia)

One of my guilty pleasure is to read a new entry from the awesome ( but not underrated anymore ) blog: stuff white people like.
It is a satirical blog written by Christian Lander who pokes fun at all the little things that US liberal-leaning ( at least that's my read on the blog but I might be wrong) Caucasians like to do. The author says that everything that he lists on his blog includes stuff he himself likes.
Among the list of stuff white people like, you will find:
"Hating Corporations," "Modern Furnitures", "having gay friends", "Threatening to move to Canada", "Not having TV" , " Mos Def" and "Farmer's markets".
Some might think the blog is stereotypical, even racist. I will not go into that discussion but I will say this: since the author bases most of his list on his own experience as a white person, I don't feel any guilt enjoying his entries and his sarcastic tone. Morevover, the blog has a major mainstream appeal ( 4 millions hits/month) so I believe not many people would think of it as demeaning.
It got me thinking whether a website called "les trucs qui branchent les Blancs" ou "Ny zavatra tinay ( fill in your Malagasy ethnic group of choice) " would be considered an acceptable topic or even worth having fun with.

Sure you can find comedic gold dealing with race in French: Les inconnus's "Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy" and"Bioman", "La verite si je mens" or Gad Elmaleh's uncle immediately come to mind. However, I have yet to find a blog that would assert the little idiosyncrasies of white (or black/ arabs for that matter) folks in France with a humorous tone.

How about Madagascar ?
Sipakv recently wrote: "En parler a Madagascar [du probleme racial] ? Helas, j'ai bien peur qu'un jour le probleme occulte des castes et de l'esclavage ne nous explose aussi au nez." ( The issue of race ? I am afraid that the not-to-be-mentioned issue of cast and slavery will soon explode in our face.)
and Tomavana to add: "Un jour, faudrait bien en parler, de gré ou de force ... j'espère seulement que ce sera de gré" ( one day, it will have to be addressed, by our own collective will or else, hopefully the former).

Not counting the few extremist blogs out there who advocate the superiority of one ethnic group over another ( no comment), no one has really initiated a frank continuous conversation about race back home. Still too uncomfortable probably. In fact, it's so uncomfortable for me that I will totally chicken out and avoid the issue by listing things that Malagasy abroad like to do instead: (see, I did not totally chicken out, I could still be ripped apart here):

So in no particular order, stuff Malagasies abroad like:

1) Point out the supposed reasons for economic struggle in Madagascar:
Frankly, no one has a clue why we are struggling so badly, but we sure like to have our own little theory ( and designated culprits) about the whole thing.
2) Authentic Malagasy foods (and restaurants): I am getting hungry just thinking of it right now.
3) Complain about Malagasy-related event (and still attend a fair share of them, guilty as charged here).
4) Rabesandratana and Vikash Dhorasso: They sure are pretty good football players with ties to Madagascar but they are not quite Malagasy.
5) The thought of being once upon a time world champion of "petanque" (and hoping to qualify for the World Cup of football).
6) Browsing for fellow Malagasies at the airport. Just for fun...see if a distant cousin is leaving...
7) Razilnah and Eric Manana.
8) Play the family-6 degrees of separation game: (with fellow Malagasies abroad... we probably will need only 3 or 4 degrees..)
9) Ari Vatanen (and Sophie Marceau).
10) Blogging.

PS: there is also a stuffblackpeoplelove website. Not as popular yet...




11 comments:

  1. it's soooo not appropriate to talk about Malagasy football in 2008, don't you know? there is a war going on....kiddin...but I'm still worried on how things have gone from Mad&Crazy to veryMad&veryCrazy out there...
    don't forget about songs and RVG and dailymotion clips and skyblogs and forums and religion...man they love religion...they so love talking about religion, they're more christian than any saint on the calendar (man I wanted to write this for so long I must thank you for giving me the opportunity,do you want something in return? a link? an e-card? a smiley?)

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  2. Anonymous4:53 AM

    A great list, Lova. Let me add : singing Mahaleo and LSNT songs at any Malagasy gatherings; eating peanuts; eat Chinese food (Vietnamese Nems and Phos count as Chinese!); when observing good looking brown people passing by, remark that they look Malagasy; cooking Philipino frozen cassava leaves bought from the South American grocery store,...

    I am having way too much fun.

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  3. Anonymous5:02 AM

    Love the stuffwhitepeoplelike blog, but geeze, why did he have to go corporate and get bought by Target? I know I know he probably got lotsa dolla in the deal but still now the "authenticity" of the blog is gone. Citizen Media no More.

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  4. Anonymous5:11 AM

    Sorry to comment again. But the comments at stuffwhitepeoplelike are just hilarious. I just read the San Francisco post :-)

    BTW, didn't he just selffulfil his own stuffwhitepeoplelike number by getting his own blook?

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  5. >Jogany,
    yeah, talkin about football is a bit like putting salt on an open wound, hey ? You know, I also always had the feeling that Malagasies abroad were more diligent church go-ers than Malagasies at home but since I have not been hme in a while....why do you think that is ? ( granted it is correct)
    > sipakv,
    I am smiling because I am so guilty of the wondering about that brown guy/girl who just passed.
    The comments on the "Paris" and "Obama" posts are quite funny too :).
    Yeah, it's sad that he is now going corporate but one cannot possibly turn down that kind of money :). He now can probably relax and sit back for the next 10 years. (much envious I am..)

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  6. man they're so religious back home, It's a total sacrilege not to attend the 4 hour mass or switch to one of the 78 evanlegist radios...
    C'est de pire en pire

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  7. Anonymous4:42 PM

    lova> ahhh tu lis aussi "stuff white people like"? moi je me prends du plaisir à lire ce blog, y a des choses qui me font beaucoup rire, et y a souvent du vrai dedans! :-D Sinon ta liste "malagasy stuff" là, il y a une partie humouristique ou bien? Parce que j'ajouterai aussi: "aller à la RNS" lol même si je n'y vais pas (plus)

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  8. @Trinitty,
    oui, ouch :) la partie humoursitique a du disparaitre entre 2 code HTML.
    :)
    Je pense que raconter une histoire qui illustrerait chaque categorie rendrait tout cela moins rigide (ex: se serrer a 15 au restaurant "L'echo des savannes" de la rue Matabiau pour chanter "Fitia voarara" ou encore enfiler 3 doudounes et 2 gants pour regarder un match de foot de la RNS a -5C dehors). Helas, ma memoire me fait defaut...( on vieillit un peu...)
    Oh, un autre peche mignon:
    Aller voir un defile haute couture de Hagamainty.

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  9. Anonymous11:50 PM

    I agree with sipakv - I'm waiting for him to write a post about "white people like to get rich by making fun of white people." :)

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  10. Anonymous5:36 AM

    J'ajouterai : "regarder un bon film de karaté!" :-D (sans moi) c'est une copine qui en a fait le constat et qui a décidé de ne plus sortir avec un gasy qui me l'a dit LOL

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  11. @oso,
    :) wow, a parody of a parody...brilliant. Done well, it could be his signing off post and most entertaining yet.
    @anon
    j'ai regarde " blood sport" de Van Damme au moins 3 fois :D, mais cela est commun a bp de compatriotes au pays comme a l'etranger.

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