Annoyances of Asian American Life | Asian American Poll

ANNOYANCES OF
ASIAN AMERICAN LIFE
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:25:51 PM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

Which of the following is the most annoying occurrence to which Asian Americans are routinely subjected?
Being told you speak English well | 21%
Being asked where you're from, originally | 28%
Having (non-Asian) strangers address you with phrases in Asian languages | 23%
Being subjected to offensive media portrayals of Asians | 28%

Which of the following is the most common way in which racial hostility has been expressed toward you?
Hostile words spoken to your face | 9%
Hostile remarks to others within earshot | 41%
Slurs or taunts shouted from a distance | 17%
Spreading of malicious gossip about you | 6%
Pointedly excluding you from a conversation or event | 27%

In your experience what types of persons are most likely to show hostility toward Asians?
People with low educational levels | 24%
People from social backwaters | 17%
People insecure about their own places in society | 28%
People envious of Asian success | 11%
People with little contact with other ethnicities | 19%

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WHAT YOU SAY

[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]

I did another one better and this time it was a White woman at work who didn't help me with the door when my hands were full and she was only a foot away.

I got back at her later when she needed help at the door and I pointed my nose up in the air and ignored her.
Revenge feels great Thursday, June 06, 2002 at 15:20:10 (PDT)

Well TOP o' the mornin' to you, rare stuff...

Thank you for the history lesson. I'm still laughing out loud (common trait) at your resolve to paint the Celts as the root of all evil. Care to join me in a few pints of reality?

Where the hell did you dream up the Celts from? Did you happen upon some archaeological find in Oberösterreich that lead you to conclude the barbarisms of yestermillenia - is why Asians are being stared at in 2002? Should the Greeks and Romans have been any less fearful of the Celtic invaders during the 4th century b.c. - than the Poles were of Genghis Khan in the 13th century? Maybe Poland should have been planning all these centuries for this week's game with South Korea instead? (S. Korea 2, Poland 0 - fantastic match.) But since you've chosen not to cite any offensive descriptions of proclivity that might beleaguer Asians, the biased intent of your post is pretty clear; to specifically portray people of Celtic extraction as lacking in self-control and/or being less civilized than you. How foolish.

I could have replaced "Celts" with any other group in his post and it would have been just as nonsensical. However, considering his earlier remarks, he's a racial groupie first and an individual second; a most common trait amongst the boring. His money is on people here as being hopelessly impressionable, and begs your compassion to understand this kind of Celtic Tourette's he attributes to northern Europeans. Vigilance against the annoyances of Asian American Life must be countered with fairness, so hopefully others will see through his rhetoric and not rush to draw parallels between racial heritage and bad behaviour.

Sláinte.

Ellery Thursday, June 06, 2002 at 15:01:36 (PDT)

Ellery, let me tell you something. Sometimes, being an AM, I personally don't like WF/AM. I say that because THAT IS WHAT "MOST" OR "ALL" WF's WANT. I really, really, really, really, hate that combination, but that is their choice. It's like concluding that AF's are stupid, ugly, whores. That really makes me so, so, so, so angry. I am angry at the fact that in this country, all AM's "ARE" to date WF's. What the **** does that supposed to mean? Does it mean that I should agree with it or not?
chinalova Thursday, June 06, 2002 at 11:06:46 (PDT)

AM,

Well done! Keep starin' those mofos down!! (This is when staring is right, folks.)

African American Woman,

You are right on target. I've found it interesting on this board how quite a few of the posters claiming to be white females will brag about the superiority of white women and then get offended if an AF tries to defend other AFs and minority women. It's as tho' if we didn't take their crap lying down, we're "racist." Go figure.

Hawaiian Hapa,

Completely agree, too. I was intrigued by this paragraph:

"Where did this non-white get the money to buy these clothes" attitude. "She really cannot be as rich as we whites,"attitude. Find this attitude all the time in Hawaii among white women who visit this island. I remind them that the Asians are richer than whites and they should look at the statistics."

Yes,yes, yes! Kinda like police stopping African-Americans when they're driving a nice car or shopping at an expensive department store/boutique. "A colored person couldn't possibly afford that, could he?"

And take a peek through the last couple of weeks in the Material Wealth section where people complain about Asians and conspicuous consumption as if it were an exclusively Asian trait. They also illustrate the "rationale" you're discussing too: an Asian could not possibly be as rich goes right along with the belief that only whites have the right to be wealthy. (AC Dropout can vouch for me!) And, similarly, that only whites have the right to be proud. If minorities are proud, hey, we're "uppity." Notice how no one has ever really criticized Linda Evangelista for saying "I don't get out of bed for anything less than 10 grand," whereas Naomi Campbell used to get dissed for "attitude" all the time.

...Hey AC,

Ha, ha! I was actually beginning to think women were the ones who invented the game of staring, hearing all I've heard about queen-bees, wanna-bes, etc.

Rare Stuff,

What you're saying is probably true, but, LOL, don't these guys know that it's 2001 A.D., not 2001 B.C.?

bringittogether,

There's a column for racial profiling on Goldsea, but yes, racial profiling goes on. I believe 4 airlines are being sued for discriminating against a few "brown" people that other ppassengers found "threatening." Interesting, tho' that no one profiles the likes of Timothy McVeigh, Luke Helder, Jeffrey Dahmer, etc. But I guess since they're white males, everything's hunky-dory.

Asian Dominatrix Thursday, June 06, 2002 at 10:50:48 (PDT)

Ellery,

You've made some interesting points so I'll try to address as many as I possibly can.

First of all, I think you misunderstood my .25% bit. I stated:

"BTW, I'm not trying to say that all whites are like this. There are many, many others who were brought up and raised very properly. However, I guess what I'm trying to say is that the ones who do act rude to Asians are almost inevitably--meaning 99 3/4% of the time--white."

If you read the paragraph CAREFULLY, especially the last sentence, you'll note that the .25% does not refer to the number of non-rude whites in the white population, but rather non-whites who are rude, for instance, rude blacks or Hispanics. But to tell the truth, I can't even remember the last time I got stared at by either...I think maybe when I was a teenager?!

Now, to your point about Asians in the workplace. You said:

"if there were a conclusive, modern-day record of Asians regularly being dismissed from positions based on their ethnic origins, then efforts to remedy the problem should be as relentless as the efforts against the offensive products Abercrombie & Fitch distributed earlier this year."

The problem is, such statistics are not always well-documented, and as I brought up earlier, no one is going to out-and-out discriminate because they could be sued for it. Enron, Texaco (I think; I know a gas company was guilty of it) are just a few. There are many cases of Asians not being hired or promoted because of assumptions about their abilities. See some of the footnotes in Mari Matsuda's "Where is your body" as well as:

"Colored by color"
http://modelminority.com/academia/colored.html

"Asian scientists hit a ceiling"
modelminority.com/academia/glasscieling.htm

Now about the conference. One very rarely goes up to the organizers to discuss papers, except the plenary ones given by the guest speakers. These two women speakers were just panelists. But I did tell the Asian woman before asking her the question that I found her paper very fascinating and that it raised a lot of interesting questions. As for the white woman at the other panel, I didn't stay till the very end because there was a paper I wanted to hear at another panel.

Now, for the blonde. I have seen people look or stare at me and then smile. That's cool. If you stare at someone first, especially from head to toe, and don't smile or say anything, that's just downright rude. For instance, when I saw a gorgeous belt on a woman, I went up to compliment her.

BTW, you do know there is a big difference between a glance and a stare? I sometimes see people scowling from a distance, and I probably do it myself, but you can usually tell when that person all of a sudden does it to YOU (now I have not encountered this). And it's one thing to take a fleeting glance, but quite another to stare fixedly at someone.

Anyway, hope that explains a few things.
Asian Dominatrix Thursday, June 06, 2002 at 10:18:05 (PDT)

"I would like to know what people think about racial profiling after 9/11...is it necessary...what will it do to American society...will it affect us all?...as I a minority too I know I'll be affected but I would like to know what you think ? "

There is a whole section on this in goldsea.

Anti-Profiler Thursday, June 06, 2002 at 09:51:10 (PDT)

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