Asian Life in Los Angeles | Asian American Poll

ASIAN LIFE IN LOS ANGELES
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:13:25 PM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

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WHAT YOU SAY

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5gen CA said
"I'm not going to get into a tit-for-tat argument about which group has made more significant contributions.."

RESPONSE: Because you can't. While we are on the subject, Name one Chinese American Medal of Honor winner.

5gen CA said
"Anyways, this whole stupid argument started because some guy doesn't like being spoken to in Chinese because he is Japanese. Oooh, big deal.

RESPONSE:
The one who complained did not say that the persons who spoke to them in a foreign language was Chinese. They simply referred them to as "FOBs". Let's assume that f*** L.A. the person who complained, was an American born Japanese who was born in LA and cannot speak a lick of Japanese. Let us further assume that the "FOBs" in question were Japanese from Japan. f*** L.A. annoyance ramains valid. Yet, you, penelope and TSJ get offended and assume that this is a Chinese/Japanese issue. Why? What if the FOBs that f*** L.A. was referring to was Vietnamese?

Just because you are not annoyed when someone assumed you are foreign doesn't mean that F** L.A. should think likewise.

5gen CA said
"Lastly, don't try to make others believe you are just as patriotic as the people who fought in the 442nd"

RESPONSE:
DID I SAY THAT?

5gen said
"You weren't there so you have no basis to say you are more patriotic than TSJ or anyone else."

RESPONSE:
DID I SAY THAT?

5gen CA said
"If you think you are more patriotic, then go join the army and really serve your country!! Otherwise, you're just all talk and no action!"

RESPONSE:
Ah excuse me? I would take your suggestion but I can't!

You see, I already did take that "action" way back in 1979 and have been doing that for, hmmmm, what it is now, 23 years?

So tell us, what have YOU done to show that you are patriotic?
Kanaka sansei Thursday, July 25, 2002 at 21:04:24 (PDT)

penelope said
"are you kidding me? chinese people were enslaved decades prior to the japanese internment."

RESPONSE: "Enslaved"? Evidence? By the way, someone who is "enslaved" is put into that position by another private person, not by the government. By contrast, someone who is put in prison is there at the hands of the government. So even if you can prove that Chinese were "enslaved" prior to the internment, this apple-orange comparasion of "enslavement" versus "internment-by-the-government"is irrelevant. The Chinese were never imprisoned, before or after the internment.

penelope said
"anyhow, i stated earlier that the japanese person was attempting to assert his authority. assertions of ethnocentrism can be, and most often are, covert"

RESPONSE: Of course, because you were there and saw it yourself!

penelope said
"in addition, for an asian to assume that another fellow asian in San Gabriel Valley speaks Chinese is not a big deal nor is it ignorant or racist."

RESPONSE: This is your opinion. F*** L.A. thought otherwise. Why is your conclusion more valid?

penelope said
"for the latter to be annoyed by the former and to insist that he speak English, however, is racist."

RESPONSE: Fair. Why is someone who resides in America racist for being annoyed when they insist that someone else speaks to them in English?
Kanaka sansei Thursday, July 25, 2002 at 20:44:25 (PDT)

TSJ said"

"First of all, Toi San people (my ancestry) were the very first Asians (not including Native Americans) to come over to America. WE paved the way for all other Asians. WE built the railroads. WE helped build many west coast cities. WE faced rampant racism from all other people trying to get their share of the gold. But guess what? WE held strong, and carved the path for all other Asians to come to America."

Hmmm. I don't see anything PATROTIC in your paragraph. Oh by the way do you include Wen Ho Lee in your defintion of "WE"? http://www.fas.org/irp/ops/ci/docs/lee_indict.html

TSJ said "Also, you never addressed the fact that it is not that much of an stretch to assume that any Asian hanging out in a predominantly Chinese area would be Chinese."

No I didn't because the person who complained never did say that the FOBs they complains of was in fact Chinese. Oh by the way, you never addressed he fact that when someone is assumed to be foreign because of their race, that is racist.

TSJ said "And which stance are you taking? Is it so offensive that other Asian races are moving into your neighborhood? That you would rather be around all white people? Or maybe you are feeling an inferiority complex because unlike other Asians (Chinese, Viet, Filipino), whose numbers are increasing exponentially, Japanese are decreasing."

The only stance I'm taking is that when whites assume we are foreign, it is racist. I don't freeken care who lives in my neighborhood as long as they are law-abiding.

The subject turned into who's more patriotic because you implied that Japanese don't know their own language. (But for your information, as a 3rd generation, I am fluent in Japanese). Taking the cue from that, I responded that Japanese do not know Japanese because they are fully assimilated and part of that assimilation is evidenced by their patriotic sacrafices to this nation. That's all I'm saying.

TSJ said "It can't be a cultural thing, since you just mentioned that most Japanese Americans don't even know any Japanese, hence are not well immersed in the culture"

I said that culture and language is the same thing? Oh By the way, I am fully immersed in both the Japanese LANGUAGE and CULTURE.
Kanaka sansei Thursday, July 25, 2002 at 20:32:38 (PDT)

Kanaka Sansei,

Are you Japanese, or one of those part native-Hawaiian Japanese hybreds pretending to be Japanese?
Who are you? Thursday, July 25, 2002 at 18:50:08 (PDT)

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