Drink Pumpkin Spiced Lattes??... RACIST!!!

py2006

'The Perilous Whiteness of Pumpkins' is a rather interesting study on the racial implications of drinking a Pumpkin Spiced Latte...

This article examines the symbolic whiteness associated with pumpkins in the contemporary United States.

If you drink this stuff then you are the ultimate expression of white privilege.

Its lead author goes on to say, “Starbucks PSLs are products of coffee shop culture, with its gendered and racial codes,”.

we turn to three recent moments in the narrative of pumpkins’ whiteness: the pumpkin spice flavor industry and rhetoric connecting particular middle- or upper-class female whiteness to pumpkin spice lattes

Apparently, white middle classed women drink it to separate themselves from 'Basic' women to elevate their social status/identity while still falling for consumerism and using social media! :rolleyes:

This is a genuine academic article folks...

Grayson

Certain products are marketed at certain groups. Sometimes those groups are defined by age or race or gender. It's not unusual.

The idea with the marketing is to create an image in the consumer of the type of person they want to be and then slot in the product. So it's entirely possible that a drink could be aimed at mainly white middle class women as the target demographic. Apple do something similar when marketing their laptops. Apple owners see themselves as people who have a better product even though it's the same components you can get in cheaper machines. It's all about the image rather than just the function.

Having said that I only read the abstract of the article you linked and really couldn't be bothered reading the rest.

py2006

Grayson wrote: »

Having said that I only read the abstract of the article you linked and really couldn't be bothered reading the rest.

I read a fair bit of it.....I wish I was you.

SeanW

All that for a lousy cup of coffee? Bloody hell.

NiallBoo

py2006 wrote: »

'
Apparently, white middle classed women drink it to separate themselves from 'Basic' women to elevate their social status/identity while still falling for consumerism and using social media! :rolleyes:
.

that's just daft

Pumpkin-spice-lattes, scented candles and Ugg boots are the absolute epitome "basic"

looksee

Though I suppose the next question is, what the hell is a 'basic' woman? I would be happy to call myself a 'basic' woman provided it eliminated Ugg boots and scented candles. The ps lattes I am not sure of, I have never had one, but if I did it would be because I was interested to see what it tasted like, not to prove anything to anyone else - why would anyone care what I was drinking?

suicide_circus

Basic bitches?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaghIdSJKvQ

Tin Foil Hat

The dafter identity politics gets, the quicker it dies. The more of this kind of absolute trip I see on the internet, the better.

riffmongous

Who cares about this US bull****?

To put an Irish twist on it, I'd consider any Irish person who drinks a pumpkin latte to be a race traitor, pumpkins are an american abomination. It should be a spiced turnip latte, that's what we were reared on back in the old days

py2006

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

The dafter identity politics gets, the quicker it dies. The more of this kind of absolute trip I see on the internet, the better.

Worryingly it is not just on the internet. This is a published, peer reviewed, studied and referred to piece of work from a PhD awarded academic. :eek:

wakka12

you know what I hope my coffee is very racist if it pisses off these people

osmiumartist

If I drink water I'll probably offend people who identify as fish so best for me to just die of dehydration.

CINCLANTFLT

https://youtu.be/YPV6D2u6OTQ

Goya

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

The dafter identity politics gets, the quicker it dies. The more of this kind of absolute trip I see on the internet, the better.

I don't see it by itself - only when it's pointed out by others (either making fun of it which I agree with, or getting unnecessarily angered/feeling hard done by). This is a study by unknowns - even if it's a PhD there are thousands of those ludicrous things gathering dust. Sociology postgrads need to come up with a highly original - bizarre even - topic, including imbuing the mundane with the most far fetched connotations (e.g. this case). It's about deconstructing the accepted and looking at it from a new angle. This isn't always a bad thing but can be taken to nutty extremes. However nobody's daily life is impacted in fairness - do you know anyone who thinks a pumpkin latte consumer is a racist?

Sure there are the loony outliers but personally I don't want them or this type of stuff to disappear, given how utterly hilarious it is.

Outlaw Pete

Coffee itself is symbol of racism in that we take something BLACK and then "improve" it with WHITE substances: Sugar, Cream & Milk.

SeanW

Flimpson wrote: »

I don't see it by itself - only when it's pointed out by others (either making fun of it which I agree with, or getting unnecessarily angered/feeling hard done by). This is a study by unknowns - even if it's a PhD there are thousands of those ludicrous things gathering dust. Sociology postgrads need to come up with a highly original - bizarre even - topic, including imbuing the mundane with the most far fetched connotations (e.g. this case). It's about deconstructing the accepted and looking at it from a new angle. This isn't always a bad thing but can be taken to nutty extremes. However nobody's daily life is impacted in fairness - do you know anyone who thinks a pumpkin latte consumer is a racist?

Sure there are the loony outliers but personally I don't want them or this type of stuff to disappear, given how utterly hilarious it is.

The trouble is that this is stuff is real. These people are out there, becoming university professors, in some cases becoming lawmakers.

We should all be troubled by:

1. The fact that this inane psychobabble gets college credit.
2. That the students professor probably thinks the writing is moderate. The evidence coming out of US college campuses suggests a good chance that the professor is even more deranged than the student.

Grayson

SeanW wrote: »

The trouble is that this is stuff is real. These people are out there, becoming university professors, in some cases becoming lawmakers.

We should all be troubled by:

1. The fact that this inane psychobabble gets college credit.
2. That the students professor probably thinks the writing is moderate. The evidence coming out of US college campuses suggests a good chance that the professor is even more deranged than the student.

The problem is that academics are expected to produce original work. It's hard when there are so many of them.

In a history class years ago we had a lecture on how to use data tools like excel for research. They had a postgrad who was doing his dissertation on the importance of butter in the northern Ireland economy between 1930 and 1960.

I remember thinking, have they run out of stuff to research?

Junkyard Tom

Spare a thought for the poor pumpkin. Pumpkin Lives Matter.

Dr Jakub

It's got to the stage where I can't even enjoy a cup of coffee from my own private plantation, harvested by my workforce of African slaves, without some sjw accusing me of being a racist.

jimmy blevins

There must be some truth to it, marketing is all about creating a psychological need. People surely don't drink brown muck out of a paper cup for any rational reason.

muddypaws

I guess that as I love McDonalds toffee latte (although not their spiced cookie latte) I must be very, very basic?

hannible the cannible

I like my coffee the way I like my women , black and bitter

CINCLANTFLT

hannible the cannible wrote: »

I like my coffee the way I like my women , black and bitter

... and ground up and stored in my freezer...

NoFreeGaffs

Flimpson wrote: »

I don't see it by itself - only when it's pointed out by others (either making fun of it which I agree with, or getting unnecessarily angered/feeling hard done by). This is a study by unknowns - even if it's a PhD there are thousands of those ludicrous things gathering dust. Sociology postgrads need to come up with a highly original - bizarre even - topic, including imbuing the mundane with the most far fetched connotations (e.g. this case). It's about deconstructing the accepted and looking at it from a new angle. This isn't always a bad thing but can be taken to nutty extremes. However nobody's daily life is impacted in fairness - do you know anyone who thinks a pumpkin latte consumer is a racist?

Sure there are the loony outliers but personally I don't want them or this type of stuff to disappear, given how utterly hilarious it is.

The authors are professors. They'll teach this guff to their students.

Grayson

muddypaws wrote: »

I guess that as I love McDonalds toffee latte (although not their spiced cookie latte) I must be very, very basic?

You have a PH of 11.

Grayson

NoFreeGaffs wrote: »

The authors are professors. They'll teach this guff to their students.

I don't know if you've ever written anything like that but the lecturers don't teach it to you. You have to research it all yourself. The lecturer is there to supervise you doing it. You then present it to your lecturer.

Goya

SeanW wrote: »

The trouble is that this is stuff is real. These people are out there, becoming university professors, in some cases becoming lawmakers.

We should all be troubled by:

1. The fact that this inane psychobabble gets college credit.
2. That the students professor probably thinks the writing is moderate. The evidence coming out of US college campuses suggests a good chance that the professor is even more deranged than the student.

Or it'll just gather dust - it's been going on for years. It isn't a new thing, the internet makes it seem like it is.

Austria!

SeanW wrote: »

1. That the students professor probably thinks the writing is moderate. The evidence coming out of US college campuses suggests a good chance that the professor is even more deranged than the student.

Looks like I'm a professorship away from being on the watchlist.

"Schaefer then went on a rant where he claimed global warming would lead to famine, political instability, and nuclear war. He also claimed 9/11 would be dwarfed by the catastrophe caused by global warming if the policies favored by conservative students were implemented."

padd b1975

At least they've taken a break from wind-bagging about pronouns.

Peregrine

I quite like their Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread Lattes. I'm far from a middle-class white woman though.