I'm sure most of you have seen that "Gay or Asian" article (link)), and I'm sure most of you are "disgusted."

Personally I don't understand what the stupid hype is. It is the most utterly retarded article, completely devoid of humor ... but I'm missing the racism. People are claiming that the article "plays on Asian stereotypes." Excuse me for a second, but when did it become a stereotype that Asian males are gay?

I must of completely missed that stereotype. I must of also missed the memo that was circulated saying that being gay is a bad thing (isn't that what you're implying by saying this plays on "bad stereotypes?").

The article clearly plays on some Asian men's tendencies to dress like metreosexuals (aka GAY)... don't tell me you've never seen a fob and thought to yourself "damn he dresses gay." I haven't met a person who hasn't done that yet.

If I am saying that, it does not mean I view that person a negative light; I am simply remarking that they dress like those guys on Queer Eye dress.

In any case, this is probably a knee-jerk reaction to the rabid idiocy that I've seen as a response. Quote:
We are going to disassemble Details magazine from the ground up, starting with their advertising money. We will not be quiet. We are going to make history, take this magazine down and show what Asians are capable of. We will make sure that Whitney Mcnally is never published ever again.


Wow, can we say McCarthyism? Personally I am pretty sick of the extreme responses we've seen from liberal groups who think that extreme reactions should be the norm. (While I'm at it, the removal of Trent Lott was a big extreme for something he said while he was a little bit drunk).

And check out another quote from the petition: "Sign this petition if you are ashamed every time you see William Hung on TV." Wow. Can't even support a brother who's gleefully living out his dream? This just demonstrates how stupid this petition is.

I wouldn't be surprised if some white guy wrote this petition and is laughing at the idiocy as thousands of incensed Asians sign the petition.

In any case, this is why I usually distance myself away from any Asian groups on campus; they find the need to make mountains from molehills.

P.S. Chappelle's Show rules, and I'm sure none of these people would find it funny either.
Posted by roy on March 30, 2004 at 02:18 AM in Ramblings | 8 Comments

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xian (guest)

Comment posted on April 7th, 2004 at 11:19 AM
Hi, I just wanted to say that one of the only ways to change corporations into something more than just heartless moneymaking machines is to hold them accountable for their actions and speech. If I don\'t like Details magazine, I have every right to not buy it and encourage others to not buy it as well. While I don\'t agree with all the reactions from the diverse community of Asian Americans, doesn\'t it display racism to group our reactions together? There are a number of letters from major AA organizations that address the exact concern you have--the problem is with being stereotyped \"samurai, rice eaters, blah blah blah\" not being identified with gayness.
As for deriving delight at the image of a white person creating a spoof petition to capitalize on the emotional reactions of a group that has and continues to suffer rape, murder, and economic oppression due to racist stereotyping, is that really a good thing?

Oh, and by the way, you might be \"sure none of THESE PEOPLE would find it funny either\" but I love Chappelle show. The only thing I don\'t find funny about it is that following the first season, it has become a white phenomenon to simply repeat one-liners from the show in between bigoted comments ala Saturday Night Live rather than appreciating the deeper balance of Chappelle\'s humor. Oh well, that\'s one of his strengths--something for everyone. But forgive me while if I vomit after hearing bad impression of Chappelle\'s Lil\' John impression #43 for the day.
thanks!
Comment posted on April 7th, 2004 at 11:40 AM
Some things I forgot to mention:

There\'s a clear difference between a boycott and actively trying to hurt a company and all its employees. I would much rather a boycott than actively going after advertisers in an effort to run Details magazine into the ground.

xian (guest)

Comment posted on April 7th, 2004 at 01:15 PM
Thank you for your civil replies! I guess I would question that there should be such a distinction between a boycott and an effort to financially injure a company. From my experience, the only time that a company responds to a boycott is when they believe that they may suffer financially. In the case of an advertiser dependent publication like Details, the most effective strategy is to go after sponsors. The sponsors are then given a choice: They decide whether they want to continue to promote the publication with their money or they can withdraw it. We are not forcing them to do anything. On any issue of race, there are going to be serious differences in perspective. Ridiculing any response to the problem is not going to solve anything. Why not bring up your concerns with the petition in a non-condescending way to the petition writer in the same way many Asian Americans have already done to affect changes? (i.e. my friend just mailed him because he alienated some supporters by failing to leave room for non-Asian Americans to sign)
Comment posted on April 7th, 2004 at 02:44 PM
I\'d be interested in hearing your experiences regarding boycotts forcing companies to do otherwise; I\'ve actually seen that bad press is usually enough for a company to do an about-face and issue some sort of apology.

However again, the point here is that some find this offensive, and others don\'t. But the few who do find this offensive do not get the right to financially injure a company over a grey area. This is the point I\'m trying to drive home.

As for your question on why I don\'t try to respond in a non-condescending way ... you must realize this is a private journal; I do not compose these entries... these are not essays that I am writing for general consumption. I write these as I go along, very rarely editing the entries (I only edit for grammatical problems, not content) ... so most of the entries will in fact be condescending in tone, as they are personal in nature. I usually write these posts when I am personally offended by a situation, which is why the condescending note comes out. (I am also a pretty bitter/cynical/sarcastic person by nature, and my condescending tones, I\'m told, manifest themselves even when I\'m simply debating a person in real life ... even when I don\'t mean to)

As for what my composed reaction should be, in theory I should go and email the petition writers and try to redress the problem there, but it has been my experience that dealing with them is incredibly hard.

I have met with Asian-American awareness people who seem to think we have been the target of a grave injustice everytime something happening an Asian-American happens. I feel very cynical towards the ability of these people to react to these incidents in a positive light; I write with hate because these same people respond with hate. As I wrote about, this is all a knee-jerk reaction ...

I have seen increasing devotion towards raising \'awareness\' at non-issues... I find it very depressing that Asian-Americans only mobilize when it comes to issues of racist T-shirts or \"racist\" hirings (to which I completely disagree... A&F have a right to hire anybody they please) ... they miss the big pictures when it comes to the future problems that are going to arise as the AA population grows and soon begins to find itself in \"conflict\" (note the use of quotations) with other cultures.

In conclusion, I really have no interest in emailing the petition writers or those who sign it, because I have no intersting in swaying the opinions of people who believe the racial wars are being fought in tongue-in-cheek magazine articles.
Comment posted on April 7th, 2004 at 11:35 AM
I\'m well aware of the concept of \"collective bargaining,\" and when a corporation does something wrong, it is indeed the best method of telling a corporation, \"hey that\'s not cool.\" What I\'m questioning is the harsh reaction from many AA and AA organizations; they basically want Details Magazine to go out of business.

Assuming they <em>are</em> successful, you\'re going to be punishing at least tens of employees over one article, <strong>which is even questionably racist</strong>.

<em>\"As for deriving delight at the image of a white person creating a spoof petition to capitalize on the emotional reactions of a group that has and continues to suffer rape, murder, and economic oppression due to racist stereotyping, is that really a good thing?\"</em> I\'m not saying it\'s a good thing. I would be saying it would be one helluva joke that would be pretty funny ... playing off the extreme responses of the AA community, which has increasingly grown rabid over non-issues over the past few years.
Comment posted on March 31st, 2004 at 01:08 PM
A lot of Asian student groups are essentially trying to raise up an Asian mob. I\'m all for standing up for misportrayal of Asians in American society, but I don\'t like the tactics they\'re beginning to adapt.

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Comment posted on March 31st, 2004 at 03:41 PM
Yeah, seems too Black Panther-ish ... but without the legitimate gripe.

Bert (guest)

Comment posted on March 30th, 2004 at 12:19 PM
Don\'t you just find it amusing that the petition itself has the following title, \"Asians Against Ignornace\" ?