bigWOWO » Politics

Asian Racism and the “Asian of Reason”

jaehwan — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:02:00 +0000

One of our readers posted a link to the “Asian of Reason” a few days ago. I’m always interested in Asian American opinions, and I was excited about the existence of a new Asian American blog. However, upon a quick reading of the material, much of the material and rhetoric disturbed me. It seemed like the point of the blog was to make the statement that there is a racial hierarchy and that people are the sum of their genes–which comes from race. Some of the views are outright appalling to me. According to the blog, blacks tend to be loud and unruly, Asian men are somehow less “alpha” than white men, and White people…well, I guess White men sit at the top of the hierarchy since the blogger lists “Steve Sailer” in his blogroll. Woo hoo for White Power.

This blog is upsetting to me for a number of reasons. First, there is the racism (and I think that’s a fair word to use according to the dictionary definition.). ”Asian of Reason” goes to a hotel where there is a party, and he automatically jumps to stereotypical thinking upon seeing black people. He fails to see the people’s individuality:

Then my senses sharpen and I discover that there is a “function” going on in the lobby/hotel bar. And by function, I mean black party. My first glimpse of Baltimore was that of intoxicated blacks dancing around the hotel lobby (they sure do dance good).

Why does he blame the party-goers rather than the hotel management?

There’s racial determinism against Asian people too, conveniently justified by some unspoken law of nature:

I believe Asian females gravitate towards white males because of a combination of genetics and the natural laws of attraction. In a multicultural society, these two groups of individuals will come together, far more often than an Asian male with a white female. This is part of HBD [human biodiversity]. I accept it. Even with copious amounts of game, there is not much a 5-7 beta Asian can do when pitted in a fight for an Asian female with an Alpha Aryan. Hell, there’s not much he can do against a beta Jew (BTW,this is not me, I’m 6-1 and athletic). Additionally, Asian female visual-spatial IQ=white male visual-spatial IQ, another reason why the two groups are so compatible.

Hahaha! Alpha Aryan baby!!!

My second problem is the lack of reasoning on the blogger’s part. Even though he calls himself “The Asian of Reason,” the blogger seems to accept propositions without debate. It’s like a White man says the sky is green and the blogger accepts it without question–it don’t matter if the sky itself opened its mouth and spoke! Check out the paragraph above. “I accept it.“ He accepts that White men are somehow better; he accepts his inferiority. It seems like such a weak position to take for a person who puts time into blogging. To me, if life is worth living, it’s worth understanding and debating. Despite his admiration for the White man, the blogger doesn’t seem to follow the philosophy of the most famous White male philosopher who said that “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

Check out this story:

I believe the key to true friendships and race relations in general, is understanding limitations A few years ago, I tutored a fat black girl in economics and English. At first, I expected a lot out of her. I thought, with enough effort, she could do anything. I was disheartened when I read her papers. She could barely write one coherent paragraph. The pain on her face as I coached her through an essay was unbearable for me. After a few weeks, I realized this wasn’t my fault, she was just in possession of a low-IQ.She knew it, I knew it, we just hadn’t acknowledged it. Once the truth came out, we became good friends. Though our IQs were probably separated by three standard deviations or more, it didn’t stop us from laughing and smiling, chatting about our dreams. Everyone, smart or poor, has dreams, no matter how disparate they may seem, the essence in our aspirations is the same.

Um…could it be that you just need work on your tutoring skills? If you’re basing your views of this poor girl based on her race, you know she comes from the race that produced people who can write, people like Alex Haley, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, James Wright, Martin Luther King, Claude/Shelby Steele, and Malcolm Gladwell. Not that race should have anything to do with it…but where’s the logic? He later goes on to say that he and the girl became good friends once he realized she had a low IQ, but dude, you’re supposed to be her tutor, not her friend.

Third–and this is a big one for me–is the talent issue. As you all know, I’ve posted on Talent many times. It annoys me to no end when someone in a free country acts like a Stepin Fetchit (and no offense to “Asian of Reason,” but that’s what I’m seeing). Obviously this kind of racist rhetoric benefits White racist types who want to maintain the current hierarchy, so why is an Asian guy doing the White racist’s work? Pardon my crassness, but it’s like Hitler gets a free handjob from Hop-Sing. The “Reasoner” knows how to write, and I would think he wouldn’t have made it into Johns Hopkins if he were a total stooge. So why is he doing the White racist’s dirty work? It’s a misuse of talent. He should be tearing up the world with bigger ideas.

I’ll close with a personal story. Years after I learned how to read, I found a copy of a 1971 issue of Mad Magazine. It was a great magazine–they parodied “A Clockwork Orange” which was the latest Stanley Kubrick movie at the time. Anyway, there was a feature called, “You can never win with a racist.” The magazine made fun of how racists justify their racism after the fact. I don’t remember most of the jokes, but there was one piece that showed that back then there was a stereotype that black athletes would choke when the pressure got tough. White men were seen as being better able to work well under pressure, even though black men were thought to be generally more athletic.

These days that stereotype would seem laughable given the amazing performances of multiple black athletes like Michael Jordan, Barry Bonds, Tiger Woods (pre-car crash), and Anderson Silva. It was a stereotype until it was no longer a stereotype. The stereotype had no basis in fact, only in commonly held prejudices by the masses.

This is why it’s imperative that we use logic when trying to understand each other and to create progress. Simply accepting racism is not reasonable or logical. It’s not intellectually defensible.

PS:

1. Props to MN for her awesome reply to the “Asian of Reason.” I fell out of my chair laughing when I saw her post! Reposted in part for y’all:

And we certainly don’t change shit by strutting around with vacuum for a head and spouting prehistorical mumbo jumbo about how AMs need to accept that the Alpha Aryans are genetically reenforced with ability to take any AFs they want. (oh, but not him, since, he’s 6′ 1″.)

Puhleeze. Granted, people of lower IQ do flock together and I have to gather that the girls he knows are equally low IQ, therefore easily swayed by the TOWERING presence of Alpha Aryans and… that guy… but, really? “Ooh, I’m putting down all these other guys who are 5′ 7″ because I’m 6′ 1″. Ooh, look at me.”

2. Asian of Reason, you have hereby been served (and I will send an e-mail to make sure you get this.). Maybe I find your ideas repulsive, or maybe I don’t understand your ideas, but we hereby challenge you to a debate on the next bigWOWO podcast. As you said, “the key to true friendships and race relations in general is understanding limitations,” so let’s get them limitations out in the open. Alpha Aryan baby!!! As usual with those with whom we disagree or have disagreed, we will divide the podcast evenly so that both sides get the same amount of time to make their points. We’ll have a neutral host. Joining you from other side will either be me (a 5’8 beta Asian) or King (a 6 foot plus black guy who made the jpeg for this post). It’s your choice who you want to debate. You can bring a White friend to debate both of us if you want; hell, bring Steve Sailor if you have to. HBD says that statistically you and your White friend should have an advantage over either of us–me, a non-athletic beta shorty with weak, dispassionate Asian genes, or King, a black guy who may or may not know how to dance. The advantage is clearly yours. Reasonable ideas ought to be able to stand up to debate.

Hey, maybe we’re all wrong and you’re right. Being a guy who studies at Johns Hopkins, maybe you know something we don’t. In any case, you publicize your ideas on your blog, and I think they’re dangerous if they remain unchallenged. You treat it as scientific fact when it isn’t. You need to stand behind your ideas. Please don’t hide behind the internet. Alpha men who stand 6’1 shouldn’t hide. Let’s get these ideas out in the open and see how they stand.

Asian of Reason, we’re looking forward to meeting you! Don’t be ducking us!

Democratic Capitalism vs. State Capitalism

jaehwan — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:20:07 +0000

David Brooks has an interesting article here about the difference between democratic capitalism vs. state capitalism. He focuses on the oil industry. American/European companies like BP and Exxon Mobil work under democratic capitalism and compete in a relatively free market, while state-run energy companies like Petrobras and Gazprom work under state capitalism. The difference in practice is that state run companies become an arm of the government for political aggrandizement, while privately and publicly owned companies serve the interests of shareholders.

I’m actually thinking that maybe state capitalism for oil companies could benefit citizens in the long run. If energy were state run, perhaps our government would have more substantive input with this BP oil leak. Government could better serve the people, stay financially afloat with energy as a means to help pay off our debt, AND also gradually take us off oil and into a more sustainable source of energy. Our postal service is state-run, and I’ve never had a letter lost in the mail.

Of course entrusting energy to politicians demands a lot of trust in our government.

Thoughts?

Edit 6/17/10: See TMM’s full apology here.

China Strikes

jaehwan — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:09:07 +0000

Chinese Worker Demonstration Outside Honda Factory

No, “China Strikes” is not the subheading of the new Red Dawn remake. I’m talking about the recent labor demonstrations in China that just fizzled out this morning when Honda responded by advertising open positions and getting scabs to break it up.

It’s clear this strike didn’t work. Still, it’s a step in the right direction. Without a middle class, and without people fighting to make a middle class living, it’s impossible for China to aspire to greater cultural achievements. Of course, towards the end of the article it becomes clear that there’s that small problem of the state controlled media. It’s hard to succeed with a strike when no one else knows about it. Still, that media firewall may eventually fall too as the country and economy and people become too big to micromanage.

(pic from here)

John Lim supports the Arizona immigration law

jaehwan — Wed, 12 May 2010 04:27:15 +0000

We’ve got one Asian American candidate for governor in Oregon. His name is John Lim, and he’s a tough talking Republican who wants to rid our state of those illegal immigrants that Arizona has been struggling with. He supports Arizona’s new immigration law because “this is not about the racism” and “this is about the respecting our law and order.”

Arizona’s new immigration law allows law enforcement to detain anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant. If you’re a bad speller, does that count as a reason for suspicion? If so, it’s a good thing he doesn’t live in Arizona–the “imigration” police might go after him.

Support for the "imigration" law

Racist commercial?

jaehwan — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:42:25 +0000

I got this one from Tim Yu’s blog. The video above was created by a group called Americans for Job Security to protest against Bill Halter, a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Arkansas. The ad accuses Bill Halter of exporting jobs to Bangalore while he was in the private sector, and it uses South Asian actors who thank Bill Halter for sending jobs to India while pseudo-Indian music plays in the background. Both Bill Halter and his opponent, incumbent Blanche Lincoln, have condemned the ad as racist.

What do you think?

I for one wasn’t too impressed with the acting in this commercial. It looked stilted, and I wasn’t buying any of it. It occurred to me that the best people to play Indians from Bangalore are Indians from Bangalore. These “Americans for Job Security” probably could’ve found more realistic portrayals of Indians from Bangalore by going to India, and they could’ve hired actors at a fraction of what South Asian American actors charge, even at minimum wage.

Oh wait…that would negate the message of this commercial, wouldn’t it?

Tiger Woods and His White Women

jaehwan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:25:40 +0000

I’m sorry, I had to break my 1-post-every-two-days plan because of the video above and the article below. The video above is that funny, and the article below is something that I’m sure people have been thinking about.

This article by Jesse Washington is about Tiger and how his choices of lovers affect his position with black people. Tiger allegedly has seven lovers so far, and so far all of them are White. The article says that some black people are jumping off the Tiger bandwagon because of this fact.

According to wiki, Woods is “one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter Thai, one-quarter African American, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch.” He’s about as Black as Malcolm X was White–err, actually, he’s exactly as Black as Malcolm X was White. So he’s not really all that black, and the article correctly points out that he declines to call himself black. Still the article does raise some interesting questions about how those who perceive him as black question him based on his sexual choices.

A minority athlete who likes his women to be like his milk and Ivory Soap–white and white. I think it’s funny to think about and maybe funny to talk about. In the end, however, Tiger is a just an athlete. He’s the greatest golfer ever, a big moneymaker, and a big philanthropist. I don’t think he aspires to be anything else. For that reason, there is no cause for anger. He has a right to choose a partner based on whatever criteria he chooses. It hasn’t yet affected his game.

The article compares him to Obama:

The color of one’s companion has long been a major measure of “blackness” — which is a big reason why the biracial Barack Obama was able to fend off early questions about his black authenticity.

“Had Barack had a white wife, I would have thought twice about voting for him,” Johnson Cooper said.

I also probably would have thought twice about voting for Obama if he had a White wife. My reason is not blackness but cohesiveness. I think the country was ready for a black President, but I wonder if the country was ready for a Black president married to a White woman before having a Black president married to a fellow Black woman. I think it’s the same deal with Martin and Malcolm: Would people have followed them if they were married to White women?

A similar issue comes into play with our Asian American leaders. Most Asian American civil rights and cultural leaders are women, and a large majority are married to non-Asian men–which, unfortunately reflects a prevailing pattern in the general population. It’s not a big deal if Kristi Yamaguchi or Michelle Kwan does it. As with Tiger, you can talk about it, and there’s no reason to be angry. However, when it’s so-called cultural leaders, and it’s done repeatedly to the tune of “We ALL ONLY date White guys,” it tends to get people jaded real quickly. People want something to believe, and if an entire institution of activists can’t offer it, even if the problem comes via something as simple as a refusal/inability to date men of the race they’re supposedly representing, then there are issues.

Seriously, I know it’s not politically correct to say this, but if Obama were married to a White woman, it would have deprived us of the ability to see a beautiful strong Black woman in Michelle Obama as well as a beautiful first Black First Family. If you’re looking for the next great sports star, it’s not a big deal. If you’re looking for a representative to signify some coming of age, I think it could be a big deal. Obama, King, and Malcolm were the latter to many people, and for that reason the criteria is more rigid.

For more views on racial issues within the Tiger Woods debacle, check out:

Where the White Women At?

The Admonition

SF Gate

Carbon offsets don't offset

jaehwan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:24:48 +0000

Planes, planes, planes

I’m glad that some travel companies are finally stating that carbon offsets–those extra few bucks that are supposedly used to plant trees in order to “offset” fuel use and other carbon producing activities–don’t work. This is especially true with flying; see the story here. It’s about time someone said something about this.

The question in my mind–a question that the article raises towards the end–is why don’t we have good, fast trains here? When I was in Japan, there was the Shinkansen bullet train that moved so fast you would feel it in your ears. It moves up to 186 miles per hour. One could go from Aomori to Tokyo in just a few hours.

Here, on the other hand, we’re almost forced to fly. To visit LA from Portland, it takes 31 hours by train. 31 hours! It’s only 15 hours to drive. Plus, the rates we pay for using the train are sometimes higher than airfare.

I’ve heard the reasons for why we don’t have trains. I’ve heard that the automobile was invented in the U.S., and that car manufacturers paid tons of money for politicians to create infrastructure around cars, rather than trains. But isn’t it time we overturn that? Especially since no one buys American cars anymore. Maybe the creation and design of great train systems could be part of our new focus on green industry.

Frugality on Trial

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

jaehwan — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:43:25 +0000

Obama

While I think it’s cool that Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize, I wonder…for what?

His presidency just started. So far he hasn’t achieved much of what he has promised–troops are still in Iraq, we still have Guantanamo, we’re still in the worst economic state since the 1930′s, etc. In terms of race relations, he has not stepped up the plate when he could have. He has revealed racism by being who he is, but that’s more a function of who he is rather than what he’s done. I’m not saying that I expected anything within eight months–I’m still overall positive and hopeful–but I think the award comes way too early.

The Return of Depression Economics

jaehwan — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:35:37 +0000

I just finished reading Paul Krugman’s The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008. It’s a great little book that takes novices on a quick walk through the history of economics since the Great Depression. Krugman argues that depressions and recessions come from runs (bank runs, shadow banking runs, house sell-offs), and that the remedy is to bring back confidence in spending.

He makes a great argument, and I couldn’t help but agree with him. The problem, as he argues, is that we need to fix society, but we need to do so from a position of power. With nearly 10% of our workforce unemployed (which is actually higher since it doesn’t count those who are too discouraged to look or are working less than they’d like to), we’re not at that position. We need for people to have more money, and we need them to be working. Otherwise there’s no spending and no investment. We also need to do what we can to unfreeze the credit markets.

The big piece of whimsical wisdom I took from this book was his reference to Joan and Richard Sweeney’s “Monetary Theory and the Great Capitol Hill Baby-Sitting Co-op Crisis,” which uses a real life barter-based baby-sitting co-operative to illustrate how recessions start. Check it out.

John Liu Wins Democratic Nomination for Comptroller

jaehwan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:13:16 +0000

John Liu won the Democratic nomination for City Comptroller of New York City yesterday. Because New York City is controlled by the Democrats, this basically assures him a victory in the November election. Assuming he wins, he’ll be the first Asian American to hold elected city-wide office in New York City. I’ve seen Liu speak before, and he’s the real deal. He does his job well, and he’s outspoken on Asian American issues.

His new job is going to be a pretty serious responsibility:

The comptroller acts as the city’s accountant and earns an annual salary of $185,000, manages a staff of more than 700 people and oversees the city’s five pension funds, now valued at about $80 billion.

Do I even know 700 people?

Congratulations to him.