The Mind of a Racist/Misogynist

My Friend wrote the following on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=14739&post=136976&uid=2214375888#post136976

Chairman (<– my addition) XXX replied to XXX post:

“[Therefore we are asking whites and blacks and hispanics to introduce Asian-American literature into class. Naturally the bestseller will be chosen. I'd like to know, because I don't, what other Asian-American authors are there that would make a better substitute?]

Eugene, there are actually tons of quality AA authors out there. The ones who make the mainstream are the ones who pander the most to White audiences, since the AA consumer base isn’t large or ethnocentric enough to create its own small market.

This is the same reason why despite the fact there are actually several talented AA comedians out there, the only ones who make it to mainstream TV or film are people like Esther Ku.”

Dude needs to get laid. And yes, I’ve already told him that before but his only defense is to call me a naive, ignorant, whitewashed, sellout, Asian Uncle Tom.

Usually all in the same sentence.

What I like is that he’ll always claim there are tons of quality AA authors, actors, actresses, etc. yet when you ask him to name them, he’ll name like one or two that already ARE established “names”.

And, of course, any Asian female who’s made a name for themselves is automatically a sellout. Any Asian who isn’t IN YOUR FACE THAT HE’S ASIAN is a sellout.

Frankly, I suspect that the biggest self-haters are people like Chairman Lin, because nobody can ever reach their standards of “Asianness”. Another interesting thing is that guys like him (and yes, people like him tend to be 99% male) will bitch and moan about how racist Western media is yet when you bring up instances–with proof–of racist Eastern media, it’s immediately dismissed as–you guessed it–Western bias. Oh, and then you’ll get called a whitewashed sellout too.

Can’t forget about that one.

Now, I don’t know.. I volunteer my time to help out with various AA/APA groups here in NYC. You ask these folks what they do in their free time away from their keyboards to help out with their local AA/APA groups and they never reply.

But damn, if you mention interracial relationships on the internet it’s like you just smacked a beehive with a stick. Now I’ve never dated anyone that wasn’t Asian.. and I grew up in a Jewish town, being one of only maybe 5 or 6 Asians until my junior year of high school. These days, I hear the schools in my town are something close to about 25-30% Asian, with my high school touching the 40% mark. So nobody–especially some chump online–can EVER tell me I don’t know what it feels like to get hated on because of the color of my skin.. and by JEWS no less! Oh, the irony.

But what do I know? I guess easier to be an Armchair Activist than it is to actually go out and support local AA/APA groups, go see something produced by a AA repertory theatre, volunteer to tutor kids from low-income immigrant familes, etc. etc. etc.

Yeah. Bitching on the internet. Real activism there.

Japanophiles Ruin Wikipedia

Has anyone else noticed that many Japan related sites on wikipedia are littered with anime references when such references aren’t at all appropriate?

I remember when I used to edit wikipedia a lot, i stumbled on this page called Kawaii. The subject of the article was about all the cutesy things there are in Japan, from sanrio stuff, to cute depictions of smiling dogshit on signs telling people not to leave the dogshit when walking their dog.

The article was called Kawaii. There were references to things being Kawaii, and that they had varying degrees of kawaii-ness. The word kawaii was littered throughout the article, and after a huge edit war, the page was placed with a new title called cuteness in Japanese culture. All references to the word Kawaii were then placed in a seperate article, and every time they had used kawaii to describe something in the article, I had it changed to cute.

The edit war was about how the word was becoming popular in American culture now and almost everyone knew its meaning. The otakus ruin everything. The status of the page now is that kawaii redirects there and the word kawaii is still defined and explained on a page that is supposed to be about cutesy things in Japan, not the word kawaii.

Another article that I found the Otakus overrrunning was the one on Ramen. After all the important information about what ramen is and how to make it and different types, there was a list of over 100 items in which ramen appeared in various manga, video-games, and anime.

Literally this meant stuff like:
“#22: In Ranma 1/2 episode 37, Shampoo and Genma went around the corner for a bowl of ramen. The hot soup forced Genma to revert to human form but this was spoiled when he inadvertently spilled cold water on himself during an earthquake” (that was entirely made up… but it is the gist of items on the article.)

The last and most heinous of Wapanese intrusions on wikipedia was the article for the Korean city of Busan in which they felt it necessary to state that in Japanese the name of the city was Fusan and can alternatively be called kamayama. Furthermore, calling it Busan would confuse Japanese speakers because they wouldn’t be able to diferentiate the name of the city, and the local name for Winnie the Pooh (known as Pooh-san to the Japanese).

They are everywhere on wikipedia, they haunt the article for Asian Fetish claiming that it doesn’t exist. They demand that all characters of Japanese origin have katakana pronunciations listed. They want to list every time anything shows up in manga or anime.

I’m so tired of these people!

Musings on why I hate Hipsters and what they can do about it if they care

Musings on why I hate Hipsters and what they can do about it if they care

A friend wrote the following based on the recent New York Times article and related blogs dealing with the impact of the Great Recession on hipsters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC:

I was going to make this a response to [my friend's] excellent update on the financial happenings of hipsters. But instead, I’ve decided to vent my spleen here. I hope you enjoy it and feel free to respond.

Hipsters……oh Hipsters…..how I hate thee! Let me list the ways:
A. Conformity. Every hipster seems to look the same. Crappy clothes (that aren’t actually crappy they just are styled that way), chuck taylor shoes, clove cigarettes, etc. etc. I believe they called it Derelicte in Zoolander—homeless chic.
B. Cheapening anything of value. They search for the authentic and then when they think they’ve found the authentic they cheapen it by making it into a style that they desire to globalize. This is not unlike their wealthy Daddies with their Italian fashions and imported cars. Or their unemployed mommies trying to save some piece of the rainforest, doing yoga, and having the Dali Lama on their shelf.
C. An insult to the working class. Their drink is Pabst Blue Ribbon, yet so many of their parents and admitted futures are with management or “designer wall paper”—whatever the fuck that is. You ask them to work an 8 hour day and they leave in a huff. “I am too good for the 8 hour day.” Good enough to drink the working man’s beer but not good enough to do the workings man job. Scuttle off “puss-cakes,” as Clint Eastwood would say.
D. Handlebar moustaches. Shave that shit off. This isn’t the 1890s.
E. “Avant garde” bullshit sessions at the local coffee house don’t make you an intellectual. I am not saying you need to go to college to be smart, though it does help. Reading and *thinking* about what you just read is far more enlightening than sitting around a hookah talking about what you’ve read without actually understanding its meaning. Reading widely and making intelligent, thoughtful conversation beats any new fix you can make on Noam Chomsky. All the fixes have been made kid.
F. Arrogance. Just because you’re from NYC or Brooklyn doesn’t make you special. I’ve been around both for quite a time. And, considering the experiences of my own travel, they aren’t special. You think NYC is the world? Dip yourself into Hong Kong. You’ll feel like the bumpkins you make fun of except you’ll lack their tact, grace, or taste.
G. G stands for Get a fucking job! Deliver pizzas, wait tables, work as a mechanic, do something with your life other than live off of mommy and daddy’s wallet. Part of the reason you have no self-respect and must act arrogant and fake is because you’ve never worked a day in your life. Work! Even if it doesn’t cover the bills entirely. You might actually learn something about people beyond your tight little cohort.

How to Stop Being a Hipster and Get Real:
1. Shave and start taking care of yourself. Look the part of a decent, normal human being. Stop trying to be an artist if you’re not one. The Bohemian life is for people of true talent. If you’re a hipster you probably don’t have any.
2. Stop trying to make statements. Be your own person. Don’t be derelicte unless you think there is some value to it, which I think if you asked a real homeless person they’d say, “Shiiiit If I had the money you had I’d buy myself a nice coat and some nice clothes. I wouldn’t dress like this.”
3. If you feel guilty about your money, stop. You want to help laboring folk out? Ask your Daddy if there is another way that he could save those 20 jobs he has to cut. Don’t drink PBR and think, “I am so pro-Union.”
4. Contribute something to society.
5. Spend time with books and old people. Both will fill you with more wisdom than all the late night jam sessions at Hal’s coffee shop you can have in one lifetime.
6. Learn to enjoy the simple things in life. But don’t overdo it.
7. Have an interior life. That’s where those simple joys should go.

Finally, get the fuck off my lawn.