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GOLDSEA |
ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
WHAT FOBs THINK OF AMERICAN-BORN ASIANS
y FOBs we mean anyone who has ever been called an FOB. -- "fresh-off-the-boat", anyone not born here. In other words, half the AA population. Even the 2 million AA who immigrated as kids and speak English like -- or in some cases, better than -- native-born Americans rarely escape the sting of being dismissed by American-Born Asians (ABAs) based on real or imagined differences.
The stereotype of the hopeless FOB who just doesn't get American culture is all too familiar. But intra-Asian prejudice is a two-way street.
No less insulting are the images held by FOBs. ABAs are the descendants of the lowliest of peasants forced to flee their homelands to become indentured servants, sniff some FOBs. Born and bred to accept second-class status in a white society, sneer others. Slackers who don't know the meaning of ambition and sacrifice -- and who lack the guts to do anything about it in any case.
FOBs run the socio-economic gamut. A significant minority (perhaps a tenth) are highly successful trans-Pacific business families seeking a safe haven for their fortunes. The vast majority are engineers, scientists, physicians and academics braving the uncertainties of new lives for a chance to work hard for more money and better opportunities. A few are refugees and illegals risking their lives to escape hopeless, grinding poverty.
It's safe to say few FOBs feel in any respect disadvantaged relative to American-born Asians. In fact, given a dozen years most do as well or better than ABAs financially, if not socially. They can be excused, then, for harboring some less-than-flattering assessments of ABAs. By the same token, in their struggle to acculturate, FOBs often come to appreciate the trails blazed by the ABS, or at least, by their ancestors.
Assuming you're FOB or straddling the FOB-ABA fence, what's your image of ABAs? Let's hear the good as well as the bad.
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:03:34 PM)
Eds: FYI Though the Chinese may take credit for many things, the origination of the the word "Yankee" is not one of them.
It first came into use in the 16th century, a time when Chinese-Anglo contact was not large enough to begin influencing the English language regarding the colonies in North America. Dutch and Native American contacts with the English were much more common and did leak into the language in the colonies. While the origin of the word "Yankee" is debated and uncertain -- and this site is the first time I've ever seen it credited to the Chinese -- here are some facts. Not wannabe fiction picked up on some late night dorm room BS session...
"Yankee seems to be a derivation of the early Dutch janke (ne'er-do-well) or the early Cherokee term eankke (slave or coward). On an NPR program one woman explained that Yankee was used in the sense of an Englishman looking at a New Englander as a "country lout." In any case, it was a derogatory term for the early white Americans."
That last part should make you happy enough. It's close enough in derision to "foreign devi." PS If you have sources for your info -- other than second or third hand BS -- please let me know.
Justin Mitchell
average_guy26@yahoo.com
Saturday, January 26, 2002 at 19:22:40 (PST)
[Our etymology of Yankee is no more apocryphal than yours. In fact, no record of the word's current useage appears until the latter half of the 18th century. You also misrepresent the extent of commerce between Chinese and "Yankee" traders. Trading vessels were routinely making voyages between the colonies and China from the latter half of the 17th century. But we digress. --Ed]
I think the term banana is so wrong...
Cecilia CHeung is whiter than britney spears.Sammi Cheng is also whiter and less yellowish then pamela anderson.
I feel chinese japanese and korean are all very light skinned...maybe call us....cant think of a fruit.
junas
Saturday, January 26, 2002 at 14:51:26 (PST)
I have the utmost respect for my Asian born brethren who come here and make a new living. If I shun them, then I am really shunning my own parents and grandparents as well because they have once been in the same position.
On the otherhand, I hope immigrant Asians understand our dilemma too. We, Asian Americans are stuck in 2 worlds. We are part of both the Western and Eastern worlds/mindframe. And, your kids will be in the same position too someday.
Both sides should try to learn from each other and not turn off each other.
Asian American
Friday, January 25, 2002 at 23:19:02 (PST)
Takeshi,
Many young men of all races are imbedded in the "hip hop" culture. You find this "ghetto wannabe" phenomena among guys and girls of all races.
Race is still a reality in this society. I'm a Chinese American 3rd generationer, and I was once an assimilationist who shunned everything Chinese and Asian. I grew up in a multiracial, multicultural suburb where I had few opportunities to be exposed to the Asian and Chinese heritage.
University changed all of my perceptions. For the first time in my life, I could feel proud of being Chinese American and Asian American, not just "American." As much as I had once denied the role of race, it is a reality that I have to confront in this society. Being around so many young Asian Americans opened my horizons and it is only among them whom I can confide in issues that others do not deal with simply because of race.
It just got to the point where I questioned my true identity. I had always felt content in life, but it somehow got to me that it was lacking in direction and meaning. My parents generation were the kind that avoided and side skipped these issues. They focused on the good life and moving up in society. For me, that wasn't enough. I wanted more than just to be rich and educated. I wanted more than just being a loyal American, because I know being American has many of its differing meanings.
We don't know who we are if we try to cut off the roots entirely.
Greg
Friday, January 25, 2002 at 18:18:50 (PST)
mr. ed:
you have commented on my posts in the past, and i have considered most of your comments to be fair. but to argue that the term "fob", even if implicitly, is "polite lexicon" is nothing but ludicrous.
penelope
Friday, January 25, 2002 at 12:43:10 (PST)
OG KK:
hey. goldsea called you a "fob" first, not us.
penelope
Thursday, January 24, 2002 at 22:52:18 (PST)
[FOB is the commonly-used term for Asian Americans born in Asia. Its offense value is comparable to, say, "Yankees" which derived from the Chinese term for Western devils, or "Blacks". Both were once considered offensive but became accepted into polite lexicon. --Ed]
I guess I could say being Japanese american, fourth generation at that, makes me feel a little inferior to Japanese Japanese people... Its not that Being an AA means you have lost your values, but you've just picked up the ones around you. Like sometimes i feel like, I'm the proverbial "banana". You know, yellow outside, white inside? Yeah, i cant speak my language, i haven't ever been to Japan, and yeah even though i have quit a few Japanese friends, it feels weird. Like I should be more asian.
What kinda buggs me you could say, is when you go to school and you see all the asians hanging out together. Just huge asian cliques. I mean, i guess they like submerging themselves in their "asian" cultures... but the way they do it, I really dont like it. And maybe that's why i feel semi-inferior to Asian born Asians but also kinda of a disregard to them at the same time. Many seem all a bit too seclusive. Of course i think that this holds true to a lot of american born asians today as well.
It seems like a lot of asians are trying to be something that they're not. Like for instance the ghetto wannabe ones. :D So i think that a lot of asians in general have this very big indentity thing. You know how there's all these stereotypes about asians? Yeah, well i think today, a lot are just trying to break those thoughts down...
Takeshi
Thursday, January 24, 2002 at 11:57:17 (PST)
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