I am on a YahooGroup where there was a message (and furious storm of responses) posted on the fourth of July. It had something to do with the U.S. and why we’ve only had a WASP male president. In the post was the following list:

Dems top 4:
Clinton – Female
Obama – African-American
Richardson – Hispanic
Edwards – WASP

GOP:
Guliani – Catholic
Romney – Mormon
McCain – WASP
Thompson – WASP

So here’s the deal. Stereotyping is easy, and common, and convenient. It helps us, as humans, put people in various buckets so we can make assumptions about them. None of us like it, but we all do it.

Even though we all do it, I think we all try and not do it much, and especially not publicly. But it was really interesting to see this publicly. WOW. Aside from that, here’s what’s been on my mind since the 4th (when I first say this):

Can you compare all of these non-like stereotypes in one grouping like this? Isn’t comparing a Catholic to a Female to an African-American kind of weird? It just seems weird to me.

If you are going to stereotype like this, should you show all of the different races OR all of the different religions? So that way you can compare apples-to-apples?

And, how come Richardson is the token “hispanic” and not the governer of New Mexico, who was one of Clinton’s heavies?

How come Romney is the “mormon” and not the governer of some state out east?

And Billary, I mean, Hillary is the token “female” with no mention about having the distinct honor of being the wife of an impeached US president (how *cool* is that, to get an impeached president back in the white house).

Discrimination. Geesh. We’re all dumb. But there’s a lot of depth. Want to know the latest thing I was discriminated against?

No kidding … for having an MBA.

Whoa. Interesting stuff today.

Quick reminder. I blog daily at my JibberJobber blog. I have my own little rules there, and stay on-brand. I created this blog because I needed a creative outlet, and an opportunity to feed my blogging habit in a different way. So here you see all kinds of weird stuff, I don’t follow the same rules, I haven’t put in the “follow this comment by e-mail” widget that I preach about, and I write about whatever I want. And I even use strong language sometimes. Shoot, I recently put a picture of Jessica Alba, which I don’t think I’ve ever done on the JJ blog.

Some of the things I find interesting might be considered “calling out” others. Like Onstar. That was a funny one, although Jessica Alba hasn’t replied to me yet. Dan Sweet thinks I was fishing for link-bait (what’s up with calling me an “amateur” btw??). Not really. I just thought it was so very funny, I work at home alone, and couldn’t share the story with anyone! What a lost opportunity! So I blogged about Jessica Alba.

But here’s the surprising thing. I never started this with the intention of anyone reading it. Really, I want you to see how brilliant I am over at JibberJobber. Even though I don’t really want readers here, they have come. Partly because I blogged about SOBcon 2007, each and every presentation, I got over 50 linkbacks. Hum. I didn’t ask for it. And I secretly wished that all those people would have just said “go sign up on JibberJobber and take care of your career!” Alas, that didn’t happen.

Even one of my fav bloggers (hi Char!), who celebrated a blog anniversary with me, didn’t know we had that in common… because I didn’t write about it here. She follows my personal blog (this one), not my passion and life blog (JibberJobber)? Who’d a thunk.

So here is the funny part.

I blogged about MyBlogLog being down for a while. Just because it is an integral part of my blog marketing strategy. And it upset my day. NEVER, EVER did I expect anyone from MBL to comment on my post. Kudos to Robyn for leaving a very professional, appropriate, on-brand comment. I imagine she was cussing under her breath (southern accent and all), wondering why I called them out. It’s simple, really. I run a website too. And I want to be wildly successful. And I don’t ever want the site to go down. I’m sure it will. I hope that the message I post is prettier than what they had up…. but nonetheless, I posted this because it makes me think about what will happen as I get bigger. So, sorry to the MBL team if you felt I crossed the line on that post.

Also, I was walking by the TV one morning when I heard Daisy Martinez include Spain as a country in Latin America. It really cracked me up, and was similar to the other little mistakes that I’ve seen and posted about on this blog. Guess what? Daisy must have Google alerts on her name or her show (Daisy Cooks). She responded (this still cracks me up):

Thanks for pointing out the very obvious, Jason. I always include Spain in my list of all things Latino, because it is a very common denominator in the history of all of Latin America. I’m sorry that I wasn’t clear enough in the interview, but I can assure you, having traveled through the country several time, I am perfectly aware of where Spain lies.
Regards,
Daisy

I don’t know if I pissed her off or not, I’m pretty sure this is her and not a publicist. I’ve bolded the stuff that kind of tip me off to her displeasure about my post. So here it is Daisy: I’m sorry if I crossed the line with you. I knew that you know where Spain lies. I figured it was just one of those very, very quick things that slip out… everyone makes those common mistakes. But if you include Spain in Latin America, because of it’s influence (on everything, not just food), I’ll buy that. I’m cool with that. It just sounded funny.

Plus, I agreed with you that sofrito rocks… anytime you are in my neck of the woods give me a ring, I’d love to cook with you (I love cooking) – maybe we could have a block-party. I’d even fly my mom up here so we could all cook together!

Anyway, that’s my dilemma. No one is supposed to read this blog (but you do). I may have crossed the line… but heck, I’m a blogger, what do you expect. Now, back to work, my boss is looking over my shoulder wondering why I’m blogging on my personal blog while on his dime :p!

Oh wait, I am the boss :p

I fear this quite a bit with my own site. And I can only imagine the day is coming. But I’m wondering how a site that most blogs link back to can be down for “maintenance” during the day… on a Monday?? Who knows. Anyway, you can see the URL, their message, and the PR (7). Please please please don’t let it happen to me :/

Side note: I’m trying to figure out if their blog being down precludes my cool mug shot being on a site that has the widget installed. I can’t figure it out as some sites appear to have me there but others don’t even show the widget (but did yesterday). Who knows.

Yes, I really do have JibberJobber open in the first tab. Want to know why? Because every time I open a browser I want to know my site is still up. It’s a habit I got from the years I spent as a webmaster :p

I overheard Daisy Cooks host Daisy Martinez this morning talking about sofrito (which is, freaking awesome). She said it’s the cornerstone of Latin American country food… and listed a few countries. And for good measure she slipped Spain in.

Wow, I didn’t know what Spain was part of Latin America. Isn’t there a big puddle between, um, Spain and Latin America? Maybe it is if you look at those really, really old maps before the continents shifted :p

Oh well, she is right, sofrito rocks.

I swear, cross my heart, and all that stuff, I’m not making this up. I just (1:24pm MST) got a call from 1.800.638.5828… and here’s how it went:

Cathy: Hi this is Cathy from Onstar. I’m looking for a Jessica Alba.

Jason Alba: Jessica Alba, the movie star?

Cathy: I’m looking for Jessica Alba regarding a 2007 Silverado.

Jason Alba: There’s no Jessica Alba here.

Cathy: Okay, thank you.

(she hangs up and goes on to look. I didn’t know that my famous namesake moved to Utah :p)

I’m guessing she got her truck stolen.

So Jessica, here’s the deal. I’m happily married with kids and not looking for a relationship. But I would really dig the chance to take a spin with you in your Silverado… maybe we can grab a bite, and then when people ask me if I’m related to you (at least once a week) I can say “no, but we hung out. In her Silverado. That was stolen.”

Next time you are in Utah call onstar to get my home number.

By the way, since we have something in common (Alba) … I’ll comp you a lifetime premium subscription to JibberJobber 😉

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