Feb 12
Asian
Comments Posted at 09:37pm | Categorized in random
{ feeling : full
{ hearing : family guy on wgn
So a new thing came out about that whole Miley Cyrus business and it is found here. Free money would be fantastic but weird thing about it was that I was thinking about this today because of Margaret Cho‘s little song about the thing. I’d probably never think about it otherwise.
I am what Asians call a Twinkie …
Technically a Coconut.
Anyways, I thought of the fact people think it’s stupid for Asians to be offended for this but really, I get the feeling our opinions or outrage don’t matter 90%-95% of the time.
Granted, I don’t give that much of a damn about it. Miley Cyrus is nothing but another Disney teenager in my book but I think maybe I’ve been desensitized over the years.
All stereotypes of Asians are good. Model minority. Wir n ur hospitalz fixn ur brainz! or Wir n ur offis doin ur mathz!
They are basically considered white so they have no right to complain when they’re called chinks or if someone mocks their language. Seems that way, anyways. When someone offends someone black, it’s heard around the country for at least a month and no one calls it ridiculous. Protests are made about immigration quite a bit. Usually makes the news. Usually has the support.
But when an Asian person complains, no one really thinks more of it. Sure it comes onto the news but everyone says it’s asinine or that we should “go home” if we don’t like it. Any complaints are usually cast aside.
I don’t really know how to feel about that.
I guess it’s kind of sad.
Thinking back on our history, I guess it’s not as robust as say African Americans or Latinos. We basically made railroads, Europeans sold resold us opiates, and Spain did the whole Catholic takeover in the Philippines. There’s probably more but yeah, we don’t have the taken-against-our-will thing or risking-all-or-nothing-to-get-here … Thing. Maybe the later sorta but I’ve been told to not complain about people stretching their eyes at me and assuming I’m good at Math and Science.
I mean, if I don’t like it, I should “go home”. I forget I’m perpetually foreign even though I was born and raised here for 22 years.
I like this entry.
Even if we are twinkies/coconuts [and trust me, I’ve gotten “twinkie” A LOT in my life], the world doesn’t operate in a colorblind way, and we’re still viewed by people/institutions/authority structures as being certain things [model minority! perpetual foreigner!] even if we are absolutely none of those things. Just because stereotypes are “good” doesn’t make them not racist, and they’re still incredibly problematic, and if we’re painted as a “model” minority, then what does it say about the communities that are not “model”?
It’s important to notice when people say/do racist things, and it’s important to make noise when it happens. If we don’t care, people don’t care. It could be that 95 percent of people don’t care because 95 percent of the people aren’t Asian/Asian American. The whole “basically white” meme [which ties to the model minority] probably leads to this. The 95 percent of people not caring, though, might also have a lot to do with our media presence, and the fact that we [“we” being Asian Americans] have a media structure that we can really utilize and that people will listen to.
I don’t want to ramble on too long. If I don’t stop myself I’m going to type on forever. I know you’re a busy person, but maybe check out a Columbia Asian Student Organization meeting if you have a chance. They’re a good people and they talk about stuff, from what I hear. [I can’t vouch for the latter; I’ve never really attended a meeting, but they are a good people]. Also maybe try reading Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine if you haven’t yet. It’s some thought stuff, at least as far as identity is concerned. It’s a quick read if you have 30 minutes to kill at a Borders one day.
Ok I’m stopping now. Great entry! sorry it took me a few weeks to actually read it.
-Brandon- 8 March, 02:47 PM #