(Patrick Lee) Pigeonholed by Race

Two nights ago, I was studying in a friend’s dorm room to get away from the raucous party raging in my common room (a UFC fight was on pay-per-view, and one of my suitemates had gathered a group of friends for an all-night viewing). As I was trudging through Don Quixote, another Korean-American student living in the same entryway wandered in and, off-handedly, remarked “Gosh, you’re so Asian.”

Coming from someone of a similar ethnic and cultural background, I didn’t know what to think or how to respond: immediately forgetting about Don Quixote’s adventures as an errant knight, I tried to understand what he could have meant by such a statement: by seeming to fit the Asian American stereotype of studying all-day long and being bookish, was I less legitimate as a person?

I might have been overreacting, but I think part of my instinct to think these thoughts stemmed from my context: at a university where the student body is extremely diverse – not just in terms of race and ethnicity, but in terms of interests, passions, and talents – I had assumed being ‘typecast’ and judged as one particular stereotype or another would be rare. The fact that another Asian American had judged me on the basis of a shallow and culturally insensitive notion didn’t so much as shock me as confuse me: are such stereotypes so ingrained into our culture that even the people they pigeonhole buy into them?

In other words, I certainly don’t view myself as a token Asian American – whatever that means. Naturally, I would assume that others don’t view me in a stereotypical light, either, but whether his remark was casual or completely serious, the fact that he said it at all makes me wonder what cultural norms we abide by in society. If we’re of a minority ethnic background, do we become more “American” if we buy into stereotypes and pass them off as offhand remarks and jokes? Or should we be actively striving to dismantle them and make it the norm not to judge someone based on superficial expectations? Or, maybe I’m overanalyzing this all and it’s not worth considering, especially given the broad diversity of the United States and its reputation as a diverse cultural haven.

Regardless, the question of identity still remains: it is much easier to accept a standard identity and try and fit the role, but that defeats the purpose of individual existence. The purpose of life’s challenges and obstacles is to help individuals find their identities amidst the context of others – whether in a college setting, at work, or even in one’s family – and develop that notion of self into something one is comfortable with and can call one’s own. If we let casual remarks that buy into stereotypes occur without taking note and starting a dialogue, we risk falling into the trap of buying into them ourselves.

My reaction and the chain of thought it spurred might be overkill, but it’s much better than the alternative of swallowing it without thought or contemplation.

(Beau Sia) Neo vs. Traditional Communication

"technologica"

is how we choose to interface a problem? i guess. shortage of coherent essays, eh? people too afraid to take a random shot in the dark at a bar? thailand has more dirt and bugs than it does on the telly? the world, with all its various fences and long range signals changing things more than just in the marketplace? how deep is the shift of exponential technological advancement? probably fairly deep, i suppose. non-confrontational, are we?

of course, unless we're anonymous. where you can't see our faces or our flags. where all recourse takes place on a plane none have ever touched with their mortal hands. and all the fear we feel in real life finds itself in our comments about everything. our absolute opinions about the people we've never met. our understanding of the work we don't acknowledge our own limitations of understanding.

so ready to take action when the sword and the gun is weightless. prepared to kill those we'll never have to explain, 'why?' to. it's understood, afterall. goals so easy when failure and success are in the hands of a rendered image of oneself. the impact of the game only deals in points and checkpoints, so why address the causality of such actions in the tangible universe? besides, who has time to share one's motives for anger. for running over people. just feel it and do it in a world where whim is celebrated.

how can we celebrate ourselves when standards and cause for celebration have been elevated to fantasy? what good are we, if the edited frame is perfect and flawless? what is our best self in the presence of finely crafted ideas presented by teams of well-paid sellers of people? why would we be who we really are, if there isn't airtime for it? if there are no ads purchased because of it? if ratings don't endorse it? if it's not water cooler worthy, as they say.

what can you say without looking like a complete fool? why allow yourself to be seen as a complete fool? why be rejected beyond one's control? why share the guts of it, and then be laughed at? do you know how painful that is? with all the things that could be said about you on the internet? all the blogs and candid photos that could ruin your ideas of yourself. all the people in the world who would only have a moment to catch what's most embarrassing about you, dismiss you, and leave you alone, wondering why you venture out at all?

does it really have to be about language? can't it be about emoticons? emoticons don't recognize your accent. they don't require understanding sarcasm. they help prevent you from having to call on the phone to express the proper tone of the sentiment. and words? why not a format that removes the need for nuance? why not a format that encourages brevity? why not a way that everything can be point a to point b, without any obstacle or chance of misinterpretation in-between? why not a shorthand that takes race out of cultural framing? that becomes its own language in the world, with numbers and clipped letters. the beats would be proud.

what incentive is there to face that which would make our lives uncomfortable? aren't we supposed to look for ease around every corner? isn't it most beneficial to try and make everything in our world effortless? isn't effort considered negative? isn't it in our best interests to ensure that everything we do has the least possible chance of a negative outcome, such as judgement, rejection, and interpretation?

so is it the gadgets? is it time to blame the gadgets? the plots of gadgets and gadget makers? shall we send them a very angry letter about the ruining of our youth? about the collapse of society? about removing the human element from our inherently human selves? robots? are we going to be killed by robots? the they prophesied in film and tv? under who's direction? ah yes, beyond our control.

well, as an avid social networking site guy (not in the random hook-ups way. i am old, afterall. tee hee.), who has many a toy requiring precious electricity, i have this to say:

a hammer can build a house, or it can smash someone's eye socket in.

floss can clean one's teeth or be a tripwire for one's enemies.

brushes can paint our heart's desire, or cover up our insecurities.

a tool is under the control of its user (until we get them ones that make our minds do what they say (unless we already have them, but don't fully understand the idea of cookies and embedded quantum baloney.)).

the root of the matter is not the iphone. it is the culture which elevates a product to the status of fulfilling one's life. it is parents forced away from children in order to make money to buy the things that fulfill one's life. it is the gradual deterioration of our ability to confront the reality of our situation. it is the fear of pain even if ease is equally useless to us. it is time, and the pressure to fill time with only the best imported cheeses, sports highlights, drunkest hour of the drunkest evening, hottest hotties that are obviously hot 'cuz we've seen a magazine, and the newest new with new stickers on it. otherwise, we are wasting time, aren't we? do you need an emoticon after that statement? if you took speed-reading, you may have missed some of what was set-up in the context of the rest of the piece. just saying, is all.

i'll blame the internet when it puts a gun to my head. not being absolute, but why give the internet that much power? is it already alive on its own? is technology the problem? i think it's a lack of reverse engineers when it comes to the human condition. and... scene.

(Lena Wong) Neo vs. Traditional Communication

We are a generation of screens and machines, of text messages and instant messages. We have simultaneously been called the MySpace Generation, the Facebook Generation, and Generation Y2K. As products of the technological revolution and Web 2.0 social networking, we’ve become accustomed to having the world seemingly at our fingertips with no one person more than one click away. However, with convenience comes cost, and for our generation the price of easy communication is seemingly a loss of human connection.

Web 2.0 social networking is a trend that started with the advent of websites like Classmates.com, meant to reunite former classmates, and SixDegrees.com, which was started as an allusion to the notion that no two people have more than six links between them. The trend was reasonably successful, but the introduction of one website, MySpace.com, changed everything. Founded in 2003, MySpace was founded as a “place for friends,” as its website states, a website where people could not only connect with people they knew, but also create new friends. The site gained unbelievable popularity in 2005 and as of April 2007, MySpace had 185 million registered users with a primary age demographic of 14-34 and approximately 4.5 million people at the site at any time. But MySpace soon found itself in fierce competition with Facebook, a social networking website that began as a college-specific friend finder that has since opened up to include businesses, neighborhoods, and high schools. Facebook currently has more than 58 million active users with an 85% market share of American 4-year universities, and with an average of 250,000 new registrations per day. The popularity of these sites is well documented and the widespread use of Facebook and MySpace has been so prolific that a full generation has been named after them – but are they singlehandedly responsible for the loss of human connection?

No. Before MySpace and Facebook, there was AOL Instant Messenger and before that, text messages. With technology on a steady and quick path to make communication easier between people, has come the loss of true and meaningful connections. Nowadays, we don’t have to remember the phone numbers of our closest friends – our phones do that for us. Nor do we need to pay special attention to birthdates – Facebook reminds us whose birthdays lie in the week ahead. Instead of calling our friends to see how they are, we can text them, instant message them, or post a question on their Facebook or MySpace comment wall. Conversations are clipped from hours to minutes and seconds. In a post-Y2K world, a person can virtually go all day without physically speaking to anyone, but communicating with hundreds. We can open up a video conversation and talk to friends across the world, but without the ability to touch them to get their attention, to look at the same surroundings, or to really exist beyond our 12-19 inch screens.

It’s not to say that the advent of social networking isn’t without its high points. With sites like MySpace and Facebook, graduating from school or moving away from home no longer seems quite as daunting because there’s comfort in knowing that there’s a way to keep track of friends – whether that means communicating using the website, or simply looking at recent photographs. The sad part is that these actions – messaging friends using Facebook, looking at photographs to track their recent happenings – are ways in which we keep in contact with people who aren’t miles away. We’ve become reliant on typing our emotions through “Lol”s and “Hahaha”s instead of actually expressing them physically to each other. And we’ve digressed to the point where nuances in speech, body language, and tone can be lost in cyberspace or the 100 character limit of a text message. We have become so reliant on these venues of communication, the easiness of these exchanges, that it doesn’t look like we’ll be changing our ways anytime soon and to the point where we’ve almost forgotten true and natural human connection felt like. Perhaps Paul Haggis spoke of the effects of this best when he wrote, in his 2004 film Crash, “We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.”

(Ishle Park) Western influence on the East, but not so much vice versa?

Um, I beg to differ. You’re right AZN, the proliferation of fast food chains like Popeye’s and Mickey D’s in our home countries across Asia is disturbing and unhealthy, rather like an outbreak of pimples across a troubled face. And yes, in terms of chain stores, name brands, and Hollywood tabloid culture ~ the influence of the West (read U.S.) on young Asian minds is staggering. Beyoncé visiting South Korea a few months ago made front page news for a week – even my parents had a dinnertime discussion about it!

But this is inevitable, and not surprising, right? It’s no secret that Western colonization is still in full effect today, dictating what is fashionable, what is beautiful, what is “cool”, what is “in”. And yes, financially and culturally, we are stuffing a lot of our own processed food & images down third world throats on a daily basis. Our influence is huge, and somewhat disturbing. Aigu. That’s the truth, and the truth sometimes hurts.

But let’s not underestimate the effects of the East on us, especially in terms of philosophy, culture, and health. Let’ be real ~ can you not name at least 2 folks in your circle of friends who hasn’t tried yoga, martial arts, or spent a drunken night in a karaoke room? These are all practices of our distant (or not so distant) ancestors, my friends. And with the rise in health awareness and consciousness about natural living in the west, this trend is seriously going to continue ~ and nowhere is the East’s influence on the West more evident than in your new age store, or the growing section on Spirituality in your local Barnes & Nobles. This is not a bad thing. I think it’s fabulous, actually. Vietnamese monk Thich Naht Hahn’s books on peace, love, and engaged Buddhism are huge sellers in the States, and the Dalai Lama’s visits cause thousands of Americans to line up in hopes of receiving some message of hope or wisdom.

In my own life, both are teachers whose books I read regularly to try to learn more about simpler living, creating peace, and love. In my circle of friends, I have 4 who are certified yoga teachers, and one who is opening a chain of health food stores across the country, financed b a South Asian guru/multi-millionaire (no, not Deepak Chopra, another guy!).

And hip-hop culture historically has “borrowed” or “admired” many aspects of Eastern culture to fit its own swagger, from Wu-Tang’s adaptation of Shaolin mythology to Russell’s wholehearted embrace of yoga. We all influence each other, in good & bad ways. It’s inevitable, and sometimes beautiful. To use another, less positive term, we all appropriate, to some degree; how can we not? We’re human. Let’s jump off our self-righteous high horses for a second (myself included, haha) and to paraphrase the famous words of Mary J, let’s appreciate, not haterate. We all influence each other. Let’s admit it, and get on with living. Peace.

(Lena Wong) Western/Eastern Influence

In my high school economics class, we watched an ABC 20/20 special hosted by anchor John Stossel called “Is America #1?” The hour-long feature explored the economies of India, Hong Kong, and the United States in an effort to discuss the effects of economic freedom on a country’s quality of life and overall wealth. That same year, we also read a book by Dinesh D’Souza entitled “What’s So Great about America,” which rallied patriotically about the merits of America’s politics and economy. I didn’t, by any means, go to high school in a conservative state – quite the opposite in fact. I’m from the Bay Area, California which, for the most part, is as blue as blue can go. Presenting us with these examples were meant to instigate thought; we were supposed to phrase D’Souza’s title as a question, not a statement. And though years have passed since then, it’s still a question I find myself trying to answer today.

In fact, at the very beginning of a course I took this semester called “What on Earth is World Cinema?” one of the questions we were asked was whether or not World Cinema was supposed to mean all film industries outside of Hollywood. As much as we tried to argue that we would look at world cinema objectively, it became very clear that our minds had a hard time wrapping around the idea of including Hollywood within the realm of world cinema. Instead, it seemed almost natural to watch films and compare them directly with Hollywood as though America’s film industry was the ruler by which all cinemas should be measured. Yet, the impact of foreign filmmakers on Hollywood has been vital to the industry’s growth in previous years. Just from Asia alone, America has imported everything from directors to movie plotlines, reworked it in an American context, and sold it as their own. Before there was The Ring, there was the Japanese Ringu, before The Departed there was the Hong Kong blockbuster Infernal Affairs, and before there was John Woo, the director of Mission Impossible III, there was John Woo, the director of A Better Tomorrow – the Hong Kong action movie that started it all. And though The Departed won director Martin Scorsese an Academy Award for Best Director as well as a whole host of other Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Screenplay-Adapted, and Best Editing, it did so with little attribution to the movie that had come before it. Many fans of the movies who posted their personal reviews on the internet stated that while it was by no means a necessity, featuring cameos by Infernal Affairs’ two stars Tony Leung and Andy Lau in The Departed would have been a nice way to pay homage to The Departed’s predecessor. But, instead, The Departed features an exchange with a Chinese triad in which the actors speak with very poor Cantonese. And in the aftermath of the The Departed’s gigantic box office success, Infernal Affairs has become a distant memory…so much so that it was incorrectly called a “Japanese” film during the Academy Awards. Thankfully, Scorsese corrected that in his speech.

Yet, it is, of course, hard to argue that the influence has purely been from the East to the West. Aside from the fact that the relative success of emerging industries has been complimented for creating blockbusters that could pass for Hollywood films (which in itself is a loaded statement), many American films make it to the top of box office charts in foreign countries. For instance, Korean film Shiri was considered to be a huge success not just because of its big-budget and for jump-starting the new Korean film wave, but because it was able to beat Stephen Spielberg’s Titanic in terms of viewers. Shiri brought in 6.3 million viewers, Titanic only 4.3.

So does all this mean America’s number one? Does it even begin to answer the question of “what’s so great about America”? I’d say no. And I don’t know if that’s an answer that can ever really be answered. Yes our country has incredible influence on the world around us, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re the best – and at the end of the day, who really cares?

(Beau Sia) On Reality Shows

Survivor: China

pre-script: i really hope that comcast doesn't own cbs, but f*ck survivor: china. i don't care how good that show is. i don't care if there are people of asian descent on that show. do you think i'll watch something just because asian people are in it? do you think i'll embrace something just because asian people are in it? oh hells no. why f*ck survivor: china? because that don't make no sense. why not survivor: america? survivor: england? survivor: australia? survivor: canada? and we all know what type of transatlantic slave trade guilt would prevent something like, survivor: africa. get the drift? do you like the font for the show? the dragons? just like in chinatown! where tourists can experience real fake chinese stuff! why isn't survivor: china anything like the china we talk about in school once a year, or the china the media don't like, or the china we see in all the films our directors pay endless homages to in their work? how come the show can't be called the area in china where all this bamboo cutting is taking place? could it be pronunciation meeting marketing? why is china, the leading global threat to our economic superiority, the location of a game show, which i am assuming, is about going into the middle of nowhere and trying to survive? do the producers know how much cement china imports? do they know their sponsors probably have offices in beijing? do they know how many products the crew uses which were made in china? why the whole country? can you not see how problematic the simplicity of it? what is all of this saying?

for me, it is very difficult to make absolute statements about what i'm watching. granted, i began with f*ck survivor: china, but really, what i meant was, "this is more than a game show. ya'll better recognize how subtle it gets programmed... in a program. what?!" i would rather try to deconstruct what i'm watching and figure out what is affecting me positively and what is affecting me negatively. on a personal level. being the elderly gent that i am, i also realize that if there is someone on that screen whose face is asian, that they are forced to represent me. through no fault of their own, mind you. it's just that the variety and frequency of asian faces in television and film is such that chances are, masi oka is the one asian guy most of the u.s. sees in their lives on a weekly basis (and he says stuff! he has feelings and dreams! ). so i also know that with the limited experience most people have with those of asian descent in their lives (please do not email me that some of your best friends are asian. proving me wrong does not make you right.), their ideas of asian people, whether or not they're americans, comes from tv and film. yay for me.

this small presence has plagued me in my life through various characters. a few years ago, i was on stage, and someone yelled at me from far away, "it's william hung!" yay for me.

at this point in my life, i don't care that those of asian descent are on reality tv shows. either way, it doesn't matter to me. because i no longer feel like they represent me, nor need to be held up to such standards. to me it feels like placing the responsibility on someone who has no responsibility. to me, the reality is that all people should have an opportunity to be portrayed in a human and dynamic manner. the moment someone is reduced to a cultural stereotype, a gesture, a catchphrase, or background coloring, one should begin to question the entertainment and the art which would allow such things. why create, or share, if it's only to give one-dimensional ideas that can be dismissed or digested as if human beings were the same as fart jokes. and why, as a viewer, should i give a damn about a show that doesn't allow the fullness of the people i'm rooting for and listening to, to really come out? i don't have time for that. my bones are old.

so let's begin with that. i don't want to focus on this one ethnic idea, although i might have a higher level of sensitivity towards the portrayal of those of asian descent in the media, because of my own experiences. the truth of the matter is that many characters in many programs, are one-dimensional, lacking, and without real depth (maybe we want something simple to place in a compartment). part of the issue, though, is that those of asian descent appear less frequently than those of other ethnic backgrounds.

(note: i consider being from the middle east to be of asian descent. i guess if the war in iraq bleeds into iran, then there actually might be more asian faces in film and tv. positive? well, we'll start with more.)

i'm not saying every movie has to be all asian. i love fantasy as much as the next person. but in san francisco, there should be a much higher percentage of asian american extras. in tila tequila, there should be a higher percentage of asian american candidates...

i retract that. there shouldn't. but i would love for someone, perhaps tila, or anyone, really, just to explain to me why that wasn't the case, given the track record of most, "find true love," reality shows when it comes to ethnic representation being predominantly similar to that of the decider. not that ya'll were wrong for, "breaking new ground," if you want to call it that (tell your PR guy. it's a great way to deflect jerks like me!). i just need it explained. in fact, if you do explain that, could you also explain why tila is always this wild and crazy girl with tattoos, who is bisexual, but no one ever talks about her ethnic background, as if they were all told not to? i mean, unless all of these contestants have vietnamese friends, and bring vietnamese women home to their oil baron mansions and whatnot. please correct me. also, explain the archetypes she was physically most drawn to, in conjunction with previous life choices for her hair color, nasal work, pectoral augmentator, etc.
maybe, if you could, tell me why we hear so much about why she wants to meet these families, but never talks about her family, and so on. this would be great. not that you're wrong, tila. i'm from oklahoma, i know what it can do to us. i once had a perm (as if anyone would ever think i could look like michael hutchence).

oklahoma, you're not bad. you just weren't very understanding of me. if only our movie theatres got more than sixteen candles, goonies, and gung ho.

i should probably end that i dig seeing asian folks carry themselves with dignity and truth in film and tv, and that i am very proud of those who will not allow the perceptions of others (top chef) prevent them from accomplishing the goals of who they want to be, regardless whether or not they are understood.

and finally, could i please have my own reality show? it's me, 16 men, 16 women, and all of them think they're about to meet a man trying to find love, but what they don't know, is that they're about to find out how completely racist they are and why.

(Emma Carew) - On Journalism

Journalism that works, even without a free press

Every year since 1961, the World Association of Newspapers has given awarded a single journalist with the “Golden Pen” award for his or her commitment to freedom of the press.

This year, as well as last, the Golden Pen was given to a journalist who is currently incarcerated because of that commitment to international freedom of the press. Li Changqing, a Chinese journalist, is serving three years in prison for “spreading false and alarmist information.


Li covered the outbreak of dengue fever in the Fuzhou region of China in 2006. The Communist Party Propaganda Department places heavy censorship upon the press in China, so until Li’s reports, the outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease hadn’t been announced to the public.


As a reporter in the States, it’s nearly unfathomable to think of going to jail for informing the public of a health crisis. I recently reported on drug resistant staph infections, an issue that my university had barely begun to address, despite college students and student athletes being two of the highest risk groups. As a result of my story, the University quickly educated the peer health advocates about staph infections and began a public information campaign. I didn’t hear negative feedback from my editors or my community for bringing attention to a social health issue – certainly there was no talk of sending me to jail.


In my journalism classes we watch videos about Judith Miller and hear about how she stood up for journalism by protecting her confidential sources. Yet, we hardly hear about the hundreds of reporters worldwide who are imprisoned each year simply for trying to report the truth and do good journalism.

Last spring, a group of south-east Asian journalists visited Minneapolis and came to our school through the Edward R. Murrow Journalism Program. I got to meet these reporters and editors, who had traveled from places like Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Singapore, and Taiwan as part of an exchange program, and I quickly realized how very different our ideas of journalism are.

Some of them couldn’t understand why we have so many different media outlets in the States. It seemed strange to them that the government wouldn’t be heavily involved in the creation of media and journalism.

According to a release from WAN, China has the most journalists behind bars worldwide. With the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics looming, WAN and Reporters Without Borders have called for athletes, sponsors and supporters to put pressure on China and their oppressive media policies.

The Beijing Olympics marks the first time in my lifetime that the games will be held in a non-democratic country. I’ve read reports of the Chinese government cracking down on homelessness and vagrancy, of increased arrests for “security risks,” and flat out violations of human rights. The Olympic committee said it had hoped that the selection of Beijing as an Olympic site would help to bring about reform in China’s human rights policies.

As journalists, the bottom line for us is the truth. When the truth is repressed and the truth is hidden, the responsibility lies with reporters and editors to seek it out. In China, and other oppressive nations, governments and regimes would like to see journalism fail. I find it refreshing and inspiring to see that journalism does not necessarily fail because of reporters like Li Changqing.