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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, 06:03:32 PM)
the way i look at it, there is nothing to be proud of culturally for HK FOBs because the HK culture on its entirety is nothing so great except for its business acumen and enterprenuerial spirit. Cantonese culture is loud, brash, not so refined, and not so meticuluous. Not to mention being superstitious and money-minded.
TWIT
Tuesday, March 19, 2002 at 23:30:50 (PST)
From what i know , people in HK hate anybody not Honkongnese. They disrespect mainlanders, Indians, Blacks, Vietnamese, Philippino, even Whites.
Prejudice peeps sux
Tuesday, March 19, 2002 at 18:35:06 (PST)
hannybunbun:
perhaps you have been trying to ignore the fact that you may be ethnocentric by assuming that my belief that you are so is a result that i am bitter towards interracial marriages or something along those lines. unfortunately, that is not the case. i'm part white, a large number of my family members are white, i am proud of my white heritage. i'm also just observant when people are ethnocentric.
penelope
Tuesday, March 19, 2002 at 15:11:14 (PST)
First off, all the HK fobs I've met in LA have been over all very nice. I haven't met one who is too into materialism. I'm not sure if it might be different like in Toronto or Vancouver or San Francisco, but all the ones at school, all the HK fobs, are decently nice people. I get along with them...and I'm not even Cantonese!
lace
Tuesday, March 19, 2002 at 11:56:56 (PST)
Penelope,
I truly think that you should reserve your racist comments for someone that is racist. Perhaps my Chinese in-laws? hehe.
Also, if you peek at the original GOLDSEA POLL that was on the left hand side telling traits of FOB's and asking what the most annoying things are, their struggle to acculturate , intra-Asian prejudice, etc. these were the things that started the threads and these are the things that my posting was about.
I mentioned the fact that my in-laws are HK born because of 2 reasons. First, they believe that anyone not HK born is "Made in China" and are not worthy of their companionship. They look upon Mandarin speakers as "lowly and beneath them".
Second, that is where they are from, as many people on the forums state where they and their families are from
If it makes you feel more secure , even though the post was about my in-laws and being FOP's and not about me, I will reveal that I grew up in Florida. Perhaps that will resolve some tension of me mentioning my in-laws birthplace?
Also, in my posting you will see that I mentioned that they insult anything that is not Chinese. Not just ignore it, or choose not to take part in this culture, but insult it directly to my face. This has directly to do with the above forum of "acculturation, and the struggle to acculturate".
And to FOP, yes, my in-laws speak fluent English also, but do answer their phone in Cantonese, like yours do . This seems to work out fine as we have an "English" phone downstairs where we say "Hello" and a "Chinese" phone in the kitchen where they say "way". This makes them more comfortable, and is pretty funny for all of us when telemarketers call.
So Penelope, I will choose to ignore anymore of your accusations of racism toward me. I think that comments like yours toward someone that is truly trying to learn about Asian culture and who can identify with certain forums here, even though I am not Asian, only makes me feel unwelcome for discussion, due to my race. It is sad there is such anger and misdirected bitterness toward inter-racial marriages and unions. Perhaps that is what this banter back and forth, and your misguided accusations of racism toward me are really about?
Because I cannot think of anything else it could be since I am writing following the subject of the forum.
Hannybunbun
Tuesday, March 19, 2002 at 06:14:30 (PST)
T.H. Lien,
"The first time I put on a heavier version of my normal accent (Hakka), the second time I put on an American accent. Got distinctly better service the second time"
This is what I call "yellow uncle tom" mentality. So sad that it seems this mentality is deeply ingrained in HK people they aren't even aware of it. It took many years for the blacks to fight uncle tom mentality. I don't know how many years it's going to take them.
FOP (A HK Born Chinese)
Monday, March 18, 2002 at 12:05:32 (PST)
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