Comment by branon
4 years ago
The article (written by a black person, I'll note) seems to include heavily editorialized racially charged undertones that may not even exist with regards to the actual product.
It's a simple fact that there is no such thing as "sounding white" as others have pointed out, non-white people of any nationality can have American accents, or any accent.
I feel it's racist to define people as "sounding white" - people do not sound like their race, they sound like their nationality. Who is the author to make the judgement that American accent == white person on the phone? Racist and quite frankly, stupid. Though I guess I shouldn't expect much more from Vice.
While there isn’t a formal definition of “sounding white” anecdotally I have plenty of friends of color that routinely joke about pulling out their “white voice” in certain settings (professional, addressing “authority”, etc). This YouTube series covers it quite a bit:
https://youtu.be/H1KP4ztKK0A
Myself I have a very vanilla non-regional American accent (think Walter Cronkite) and they often point out just how “white” I sound.
I also have family with more regional American accents (Upper Midwest, Southern) and as a child they’d often make fun of my “accent”. My response was always “turn on your TV, they sound like I do everywhere”:
https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/196999/why-do-newsca...
This can be seen in a somewhat-humorous old YouTube clip:
https://youtu.be/g-Neg4NmChk
> there is no such thing as "sounding white" as others have pointed out
And yet, despite not existing, we all know exactly what it means. Kind of odd that we can all easily identify something that isn't real.
Tha's 'cause we seen it a'fore an' unnerstan' contex' clooooz, not 'cause izuh ac'rate phraaaze. (<- approximately my hick-ass "white" accent & dialect if I let myself slip, or have been hanging out around family too much)
Meanwhile, most of us white folk have to work to "sound white", too, when we want/need to, because our usual accent doesn't "sound white" in the way that's meant. In plenty of cases this is quite far from our ordinary, or at least childhood (some of us all but obliterate it by adulthood, on purpose) accent. It's a poor term in this kind of context, and better ones exist.
"General American is thus sometimes associated with the speech of North American radio and television announcers, promoted as prestigious in their industry,[45][46] where it is sometimes called "Broadcast English"[47] "Network English",[4][48][49][50] or "Network Standard".[2][49][51] Instructional classes in the United States that promise "accent reduction", "accent modification", or "accent neutralization" usually attempt to teach General American patterns.[citation needed] Television journalist Linda Ellerbee states that "in television you are not supposed to sound like you're from anywhere",[52] and political comedian Stephen Colbert says he consciously avoided developing a Southern American accent in response to media portrayals of Southerners as stupid and uneducated.[45][46]"
(Wikipedia, "General American English")
That's what's intended. Not "white". They surely aren't trying to make them sound like most of the American white people I know who haven't deliberately trained away their natural accent & dialect—and I don't even live in the South!
> It's a simple fact that there is no such thing as "sounding white"
Sounds like you need to watch Sorry to Bother You (2018)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorry_to_Bother_You
Why did you feel the need to note the author is black? If what you say is your true opinion then race doesn't matter, but if it isn't it's a good way to ensure certain people discount his article and thoughts.