Annoyances of Asian American Life | Asian American Poll

ANNOYANCES OF
ASIAN AMERICAN LIFE
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:25:50 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

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Asian Dominatrix,

The reason that the 'starers' are inevitably white women is because you seem to have specifically ferreted them out to substantiate your own stereotypes of their having a staring problem. Your generalizations against them are no more credible than the generalizations plaguing Asians, so with all due respect to your 'white' friends, citing their support that white women are imposing a racial pecking order on you at every turn doesn't convince me. Would you be as close to your 'white' friends if they didn't share your mindset?

Submitting books of Asian American authors suggests their statistics are impenetrable cornerstones of fact. This is not to say their statistics are not without merit, but consider the possibility that maybe these authors all have their own agendas, and would be hesitant to accept factors from outside the sandbox that could contest their published crusades. Talking heads (liberal and conservative) are way too focused on intoxicating the universities with their own "Politics 101" ideologies, and just like the authors you've mentioned, I could find you several conservative authors that illustrate their own statistics with a conservative slant: Peggy Noonan, Dinesh D'Souza, Bill Bennett, Ward Connerly - their statistics I also take with a grain of salt. I would be just as skeptical of Jehovah's Witnesses waving Watchtowers in my face, but I digress.

I personally haven't read "Yellow" by Frank Wu, but I promise you I will, although I'll preface that by saying you've already made it sound like a "must read for all Asian Americans" desperate to embrace an agenda.

Now as far as the "what we Asians must deal with on an everyday level" and how Mr Wu's explanation of "why affirmative action must go on and why Asians should not oppose it"- I'm gonna be perfectly candid with you: you can save me the waxy victimology spiel. If you want to champion the achievements of Asian America, I'm all for it, but promulgating the liberalthink that white America's constant oppression of Asian Americans makes them worthy of helping hands/affirmative action, then I simply won't buy it. You mentioned Mr Wu cites white women as the primary beneficiaries (perhaps another example of twisting an agenda), and I would bitch about that or any other recipients of affirmative action. We all got it hard; if liberal stormtroopers want a shoulder to cry on, they can go find Bill Clinton, but I'm not gonna sit here and insult anyone's intelligence by citing the numerous examples of successful Asian Americans who have earned their way on merit, and then insinuate their successes should have been augmented with affirmative action, as Mr Wu would like me to believe.

In those literary works you listed I think you also assume I am a greenhorn to Asian American relations, or more specifically, how I cannot understand the prejudices against Asian Americans. I do not know how it feels to be Asian American, but after living in Japan for eight years I might have some ability to at the very least recognize the parallels of being a minority. I also know what it is like to be stereotyped, thought of as incapable of speaking the language, asking for directions in the clearest Japanese and then being assaulted in broken English, the subtle replacement of chopsticks with forks in restaurants presuming I lacked the dexterity, the rural stares, the double-takes, the prejudices; know 'em all. But I never saw the sense in condemning all Japanese as racists every time incidents like these happened. Again, I could never discount the discrimination Asian Americans have faced in the U.S. from Hollywood, Abercrombie & Fitch and jerks on the street; but I do take umbrage when someone automatically pulls the 'race' card when every bad thing that happens to them in their daily routine is correlated back to their minority status.

I think you and I agree on what the ideals are, but where we disagree is on how the ideals should be achieved - as fatal an effort it may be. You feel, and correct me if I'm wrong - as an ardent liberal, that putting forward Asian American solidarity will work to extinguish the prejudices against Asian Americans; whereas I fear that same solidarity is a catalyst for insularity, and does little to remedy the misunderstandings of either the minority or the majority.

And lastly, on Asian households having multiple earners as reasoning behind their making more money than white households; I'll definitely give that consideration, but it contrasts with Deborah Woo's assertion that "Asians earn less than whites even when they have very comparable education and work experience."

Chi-town, huh? I do miss those Italian Beef sandwiches from that place in Little Italy, "Al's #1 Italian Beef" is it? Or did I fall for a tourist trap?
Ellery Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 06:15:38 (PDT)

Asian Dominatrix,

yes, younger tend to have different attitude. But some of them don't realize it if someone is not fond of them.Those of lower class are so much used to rough manners that they don't mind if you shout at them. Perhaps those are already beyond average though worth to be mentioned. It makes me nervous when whites force me to shout at them because they wouldn't care about what I say otherwise.
rare stuff Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 03:46:40 (PDT)

Hannybunbun,

it's OK if you are not used to political un-correctness. Although I live in the West, and not in Asia, I had to learn accepting that people are not politically correct. My parents ARE anti-Asian, anti-Latin, anti-Jewish, anti-many-things/ people. They made rude gestures (staring,finger-pointing etc) towards me and speak about me as if I wasn't there without any sensible reason.
I definitely don't share their opinions at all -but normal people who live with such people cannot survive if they don't accept that that's a completely legitimate part of the reality. Therefore I need the distance which I create speaking of "we" and "them". -I'm always close to get white-washed if I cannot remind myself of the distance because the temptation to "become" white by a single word remains if someone doesn't know many proud Asians.
rare stuff Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 03:32:36 (PDT)

Ellery,

what I criticize is not Celtic or non-Celtic heritage. Christianity (like Buddhism,Confucianism among others) has shaped the mentality of those people who create the mainstream culture in the Western world. Like Buddhism in Myanmar and Confucianism among East Asians Christianity has directed ancient violent customs of the folk into behavioral patterns without any sensible context. Only the rich people turn Christianity to real profit.
Aggression should be ritualized like in ancient times. This is no longer possible because Christianity has extinguished the proper "barbarian" traditions. -I'm Asian, not because some people of my family practice Confucian rituals, but because I accept that my temperament needs to be expressed by specifically Asian rituals. I understand that people are different individuals, but they also share many traits with other people who belong to the same race or body-type. When I made friends with some "Nordic" people I had to learn that it needs more than a similar environment where we grow up: I had to learn imitating of the others' behavioral patterns to get accepted. They value the motto "think more-speak less" to an extent that I felt it was against my nature. Although I have learned some of their bahavior patterns I don't practice them if not necessary because they are simply artificial for my race.
I know two versions of what people call racism: negative racism is mostly destructive to people of other races; positive racism is a form self-defense that does not include extreme offenses against other races.
White-washing is the problem which Asians face if they have already "lost" a part of their natural behavior because of Confucianism and/or Buddhism.
rare stuff Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 03:07:26 (PDT)

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