Viet-Justice

In response to Good’s points on Why Racial Acceptance Does Not Matter it is time to take a look at why it is perceived that Asians do not have positive roles or have reduced roles in entertainment. Why do Asians have no prominent roles in entertainment? I believe it is because Asians are very practical people. Parents are very influential and sometimes controlling in the upbringing of their children. Practical occupations such as Medical, Law, or Business are what parents equate with wealth and success. The two former may put you in an above average income bracket, but the latter have a shorter education time and put you in the workforce long before law or med students. While you may make less, there are more opportunities. It’s a simple trade off in terms of what you get. Actors, musicians, athletes, and other entertainers are commonly seen as the “starving artist”. Success is difficult to find, but when you do find success it can be abundant. Unfortunately with entertainment the major leagues are fairly exclusive. I doubt many first generation Asian parents encourage art & entertainment as a career path. By not exploring the arts when very young and being coached in math and science until college, Asians tend not to pursue the arts. Based on pure statistics I believe there are fewer Asians and Latinos than Blacks or Whites who go into acting or athletics. This is one reason that there are not enough positive Asian roles seen on television or in the movies. Until more Asians decide to drop out of Law or Medical School, or pursue liberal arts this is something that is not going to change. There’s no real nice way to say it. For those who aren’t happy about this fact, it’s time to learn to accept it. It’s purely a numbers game.

Now that we’ve established that you will see fewer Asians in the arts we can move on to how they are represented. The most common thing I have heard is the neutering of the male Asian and the over sexualization of female Asians. I don’t know if you can really say Asian women are sexualized more than other women. Kelly Hu and The Rock were both provocative in The Scorpion King. Hu’s role in the film was not submissive and as a powerful sorceress I wouldn’t say there was a negative portrayal of her. I would actually say that the power behind the supernatural nature of her character would actually make her dominant over the other male counterparts in the movie. Strong female characters are never negative.

Sex sells is what you hear the marketing droids say. I don’t think that Asian women are being exploited by marketing or media outlets, at least any different than other races. You also have to note that there are muscle bound men who are represented in a similar manner of all races. While you don’t see that many men who look like The Rock we cannot deny that they exist.

The male role I hear bantered around the most by Asians is Jet Li in Romeo Must Die. While it is an urban remake of Romeo and Juliet there is no romance. How did that happen? Well, the movie was given some prescreening time and the people interviewed just didn’t like romantic subplot. Ok, I have no problem with that. If you can squeeze any additional money out of your project by tailoring it to the target audience go ahead, even if it does make the story ridiculous. All you Asians out there complaining about Jet Li being neutered in this film really need to stop and ask yourselves if you would risk losing your job by disregarding the data gathered by movie prescreening. I’m not going to debate the taste of the screeners. Obviously for whatever reasons they decided they didn’t like the romantic story.

Is that really a problem? Quite frankly I’m glad there is less romance in film and that Asians are leading the way. Way to go Jet Li! This may sound crazy, but if you look at the creation of movies dating back to the silent film era you will understand. You have a villain, a hero, and a damsel in distress. It recycles classic literary story, where the hero always gets the girl. When Hollywood first started ramping up movies had to be cookie cutter to appeal to all demographics. You had to have the romance scene to attract female moviegoers. This was many years before the advent of the “chick flick” and practically every American movie ever made follows this formula. So, why do I think it’s great that Asians are not getting any of the action? It’s a deviation from the classic Hollywood formula. If I want to see something mushy I will go see a “chick flick”. If there is a male hero role then he needs to be a superhero. You don’t have to be Fabio (15 years ago) to save the world. In real life you don’t always get the girl at the end of the show, and I would really appreciate it if Hollywood tried to parallel real life more. This is also a message to the ladies, not every guy is going to be a superhero that will sweep you off your feet or protect you from adversity.

Another negative male inequality that is mentioned often is from the 1960’s Star Trek. The white Captain Kirk played by William Shatner is always picking up women on every planet while the Asian Lt. Sulu played by George Takei is neutered and has no romantic relationships. There are several easy things to see here. Captain Kirk is the hero so he’s always going to get the women. It’s 1966 so that isn’t too hard to figure out. None of the supporting cast get much action compared to the Captain. Let’s take a look at Sulu for a moment. He’s the Helmsman of the ship and he’s a Lieutenant. If you are familiar with the mythology of Star Trek, people who go into Helm rise in rank faster than any other occupation on a starship. If you want to be a Captain you go into Helm. Obviously since Sulu is a Helmsman he’s more concerned with rising in rank than a Navigator, Engineer, or Science Officer. I would equate this with the young junior associate at a law firm who is aggressively trying to make partner or someone in business who wants to be CxO at a company. People who want to climb the mountain tend to put all other concerns off until they reach the top. Only then do they devote time to dating, marriage, or raising a family. In some cases they have lived without for so long settling down doesn’t matter. In later movies George Takei’s character commands his own ship and has a daughter. The portrayal of Sulu is not only a positive Asian character, but realistic one as well.

In summary I do not think Asians are improperly represented when they appear in entertainment. The fact that Asians choose not to enter entertainment careers is not a problem, just a mere cultural upbringing issue. My career advice for Asians, and anyone else for that matter, is to find a practical day job first. Base your education on business or something practical and minor in something artistic if you choose. Go for two degrees at the same time if you’re ambitious. Based on watching some of my white friends I see this approach has worked out. An acquaintance has a degree in HR and some type of degree from a fashion design school. She works a corporate HR job during the day and designs clothes for fashion shows during the evening. She isn’t married and is quite self sufficient. She hasn’t hit it big, but it’s a hobby that eventually has turned into something that now makes some money. The best part is that it’s fun.

Contrast her situation with another friend who only pursued an education in theatre and has only managed to get bit parts and lives the life of a starving artist. This is a risk/reward tradeoff. Had my successful acquaintance not studied HR, she might be working minimum wage jobs as well. Another point is that if you have a corporate job that gives you more money to spend towards your passion. Designing clothes and sponsoring fashion shows costs money and you can do more in less time if you have money. Just remember that like Lt. Sulu, you may have to give up dating or other activities to reach your goals.

In my experience most Asian parents want their children to be successful and not want for money. This usually means sheltering the children from careers where they put all their eggs in one basket. I have no issue with pursuing the arts, I think it makes sense to go into business or law, work hard, and pursue your dreams in the evening and on weekends. If you make a good go at it, then retire early. Retiring early is something I think we can all agree on as being a good thing.

As part of our satire and desire to purely enjoy needling other people, we present the dumb quote of the week.

Coincidentally, the cafe owner that Peterson was leeching WiFi off of didn’t even realize that what Peterson was doing was a crime at the time. Neither did the police officer. “I had a feeling a law was being broken, but I didn’t know exactly what,” Sparta police chief Andrew Milanowski told the TV station.

How brilliant is this one?  Everyone should be a little uneasy when the police don’t know if you’re breaking the law, but decide to haul you in anyway.

This is going to sound very odd and perhaps offensive to some of the more liberal Asian readers, but after reading Suzy’s comments I thought it was time to post on this topic.

Maybe you never experienced racism or maybe you’re just ignorant of the fact that it exist but however u grew up, u were just lucky. Maybe all the white people in your neighborhood put on a good facade for you and u never had to see their true racist face.

Why does racial acceptance not matter? I have called Georgia home since the end of the Vietnam War, though I had temporary residences in other states. Southerners are a very independent group of people. The elderly talk of a time when your nearest neighbor was 5 miles away and the only way to get there was on horseback or by walking. As a result of being geographically isolated most southerners keep to themselves. It’s part of local culture that exists today. People tend to mind their own business, dislike government intrusion, home owners association covenants, and zoning. I’m sure that independence goes back to a time when you could only depend on yourself and your immediate family.

Some of my relatives live in California, a very liberal state. They tend to have liberal attitudes on many things which I do not completely understand. One recent conversation questioned why I wanted to put in for a temporary transfer to the office in Paris or London. International travel has always fascinated me, and if you work for a large enough company they way to move up quickly is to transfer from office to office as higher ranking positions open up. My relatives wanted to know why I wanted to live in a third world country like France or the UK when the single state of California has the economic power of the all the states of Germany. Why live in a place where you would not be accepted by the local people? I found that last question odd, since I have friends and friends of friends in many European countries. My relative said that because I’m not white and I’m not a native Frenchman or Englishman I would never be accepted. My friends over there accept me and any co-workers would be subordinate to me since I would be representing the home office. Then I was told that the whole society wouldn’t accept me. What would that matter? My relative said that is the goal to fit in, then blend in, and be accepted by everyone. No reason why, but apparently that’s how Californians think. I’ve run into that same attitude many times in my travels there. Strangely enough, southerners don’t share the same need to be accepted by everyone.

Why be accepted by society at large? Do punk rockers want to be accepted? No. Do straight edger’s want to be accepted? No. There are many counter cultures out there that exist happily without the acceptance or approval of the whole. These groups have their own happy social circles and can interact with the rest of society in most cases. This is why I believe racial acceptance does not matter.

If we step back and take a look at our daily interactions with people we can break it down into three general categories, co-workers, friends/family, and personal business.

Your co-workers are people that you see, or at least deal with, every day. These are people that you know and who know you. Everyone at a company has goals set by their management which the workers attempt to accomplish. Your co-workers and management are more than likely interested in how well you do your job. Respect is earned by displaying your competency, proactively taking on new tasks, and being the proverbial team player. Since we do not live in a caste system, it can be assumed that if your co-workers or your supervisors have a problem with you, then you will move on and find a place that you are more of a cultural fit. If you prefer jeans and t-shirts, a silicon valley start up or a small company is more likely your speed than a Big 4 accounting firm. In business race is something that doesn’t matter today. Profit is the motivation of any corporation and your ability to make money for the corporation is how you will be judged. With today’s technology it is possible for you to work anywhere and potentially never meet many of your co-workers. I have supervised employees in other countries. I have hired people I have never met in person. Since I don’t know what they look like I certainly can’t draw any conclusions based on how they dress, what color their eyes are, how tall they are, or what color their skin is. When dealing with remote workers you have to draw performance metrics from statistical data, such as number of customer calls handled per hour, or number of lines of code a programmer writes. As for those out there who can’t work in such jobs such as theatre and artsy types? Maybe it’s time to choose different professions until you’re wealthy, then retire and chase your dreams. My mother taught me that in Vietnam having money is essential since “tipping” is essential to getting anything done. You have to choose an occupation that provides high income so you can afford to pay the right people to have your way. If you want your car fixed quickly, you need to “tip” your mechanic to move you to the front of the line. If you want your Sheriff to deal with a crime problem, you need to have the money to “contribute to his reelection campaign fund” so he pays attention to your issues. Work relationships seem to be easy to comprehend and win at in my view.

The next category of personal relationships is your friends and family. Family is self explanatory, so I’m not going to spend much time on why they automatically accept you. Friends are people that you have met in various stages of your life. Obviously they accept you for who you are or what you can do for them otherwise they wouldn’t hang out with you. The latter could be professionals who are part of a social network that refer each other to good jobs or educational opportunities. You’re not necessarily interested in anything but a professional relationship, but this differs from the co-worker/supervisor/subordinate relationship mentioned above. Friends are very cliquey and tend not to relate to others outside their clique. For example, when you and your friends are hanging out at a bar/nightclub you are not actively seeking to interact with anyone other than your friends. This is why not only racial acceptance does not matter, but acceptance period does not matter. You are with your friends and you’re having fun. If you’re trying to hook up with someone, sure I can agree that acceptance is important there, but that is seeking relations outside the three major types that I have outlined. On the other hand if you’re just having fun with your friends and someone else wants to approach you, then you might have a new friend to add to your clique. I have enough friends, so I’m not going to be just walking up to strangers striking up conversation. Therefore, when in a public forum with friends racial acceptance does not matter.

The last major category of people is those you do personal business with. These are people you meet in your daily life, but you don’t really know or want to know. The person at Starbuck’s is a good example. You are paying them for a service and if they do a good job you might tip them, provided they don’t spit in your food. I’m not interested in talking to them beyond the “Hello, how are you today?” exchange of pleasantries. Do they honestly care how your day is going? Do you honestly care about their day? If you answered yes to either of these I believe you are delusional. Think about how intimate the word “care” is when compared to how your friends and family “care” about you. If they don’t know your name, then they obviously aren’t involved enough in your life to care. Just make my frackin’ latte and don’t talk to me. Do I care if you’re Korean, Chinese, Indian, or Pakistani? No, I don’t. Light starch on the shirts, and don’t damage the delicate fabrics, thank you Mr. Dry Cleaner. Do I care if you’re an old white guy or a young black guy? No, Mr. Senator, here is your campaign check now deal with my political issues. This category of people does not care about you. They want to deal with you and they want you to go away. You pay their wages and would they really want to get to know you? I doubt it. People you do personal business with are more than likely those that take up a large amount of your time outside the office. To gain their acceptance is highly irrelevant. Think about how important the cashier at K-Mart or your barista at Starbuck’s is? Do you hang out with them? Would you invite them over for dinner or a BBQ?

This whole notion of racial acceptance is greatly exaggerated in importance. If you step back and think about how different people influence your day-to-day activities you will find the people that matter will accept you for who you are. I am not concerned if the Klansman or the Skinhead fixing my truck likes me or not. They’re going to like me because I’m contributing to their paycheck. If they do shoddy work because I’m Asian, then I’ll go somewhere else and give them my money. I can respect business owners and workers for doing their job. I don’t need to respect them for anything else if my relationship with them is business only. I can actually have respect for a Skinhead who will work on anyone’s vehicle and do a good job because he has pride in what he does. I respect him as a mechanic, not a person. He is not a person. He’s a guy that works on my truck. We are defined by our occupations and the execution of that occupation. With work taking up 10-12 hours of every American’s day, is there anything other than our occupation that defines us? If 40%-50% of your day is your work, do you have an identity beyond your job since only 4 hours a day belong to you for individual expression? Is a 4 hour bigot different than a 16 hour bigot?

I believe that if you consider how unimportant the rest of the world that you do not know personally is, you will see that acceptance of any type beyond your work group and your social group is meaningless.

Just a little reminder for all you folks out there that think whites and blacks are mistreating Asians by using racist humor among other things. Asians can be racist too, so stop being the proverbial pot calling the kettle black when you are outraged at white people such as JV & Elvis, Rosie O’ Donnell, Imus, or black Gangsta Rappaz such as Ice Cube, ICE-T, and others.

I think this video shows that discrimination based on race or nationality is a culturally accepted aspect of at least one Asian country. Is this a dirty little secret we would prefer for whites, blacks, and latinos not to know? It’s a little difficult to expect others to be nice when we are guilty of basically the same thing. Keep that in mind before you start whining.

Rudy Giuliani is turning out to be a candidate that can change a lot of things. Of note is that he is not going to tow the party line and go along with McCain and Romney on the abortion issue. Rudy’s advisors seem to think that abortion is not a divisive issue this election and stepping outside the norm may gather more swing voters or people who would normally vote Democrat.

I’m with his advisors on this one. Gen-X and Gen-Y are starting to become more interested in politics. The moral hang-ups that our parents had just are not on the radar for many people under age 35. Giuliani, if he continues on this course, is making a statement that your body is your property and that the government does not have the right to point a gun at you and tell you what you can and can’t do with your body. I will be interested to hear his views in the coming weeks on assisted suicide, since this “culture of life” the right wing is against anyone dying, except for death row inmates.

Republicans and religious zealots on the right are quick to challenge abortion and assisted suicide, but when there’s an execution scheduled they’re all over it. If the unborn are sacred and the elderly deserve protection, then mass murders should get the same treatment, right? Isn’t it Christian to forgive and not throw the first stone? How is it possible to be pro-life and pro-death at the same time? The best answer is to not ask too many questions and let people do what they will behind closed doors. America is about liberty and much of that comes from letting your neighbor do as they please, provided it does not infringe on your rights as an individual. You can be critical, but don’t try to legislate morality.

It’s nice to see that the puritans in this country still love to impose a Sin tax.  Under the Dance Performer Registration Act, Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) wants strippers to buy a permit to work and then make the clubs buy a permit to hire registered dancers.  This is just another tax in disguise. It’s really silly that you have to buy a permit to wait tables, be a bouncer, be a bartender, etc.  The free market should decide who gets to work and who shouldn’t.  If you can’t carry plates to a table then you lose your job.

The other issue here is that there is no system  can validate an ID.  If you have forged or stolen papers when you get the ID it’s going to turn up as a legitimate ID when they check it.  This is why those silly ID checks at the airport do not prevent terrorism.  Birth certificates are public record.  That’s all you need to get a State ID.  Find someone who has died that is close to your age.  Your obituary section can help you out.  Get their birth certificate and go to your local DMV and acquire an ID.  There are no controls in place to prevent this from happening, so much like security theater at the airport, this legislation is useless.

“I don’t really like it, you know what I mean,” Molly said. “When you’re a dancer you’re tax free, you’re not really registered — they’d have proof of your income.”

Another reason for dancers like Molly to support The Fair Tax.  The Fair Tax is a consumption tax.  You are taxed based on how much you spend, not how much you earn.  The government has absolutely zero business knowing how much money any of us make and The Fair Tax is a good way of keeping them from knowing.  Rich people tend to spend more money so it is a more realistic tax on the rich than the income tax.  The Prebate that comes with The Fair Tax supports the poor and middle class by making the necessities of life tax free.

Sorry Mr. Ortiz, I think we can clearly see you are a tax and spend kind of guy and a closet puritan as well.

You really have to appreciate our friends in the Middle East. There is a big nothing going on about how tourists dress, or don’t dress. It all started when a British woman forgot her bikini top, so she decided to go the beach without it.

Yes, some people were offended, but at least the people in charge are willing to let things slide.

According to the director of Dubai Municipality’s public parks and horticultural department, Ahmad Mohammad Abdul Karim, there are no plans at present to add dress code regulations.

According to the article Karim is well aware Dubai is an international city with many people from many countries and cultures. While cautioning that tourists should be sensitive to that fact, not just be sensitive to local culture.

On the other hand one local resident really shows us how overboard their sensitivity can be.

“I once saw a tourist during Ramadan crossing Jumeirah Beach Road wearing her bikini and eating an ice cream … It definitely is offensive to see such incidents here because it offends the local culture … I blame the tourists who have no consideration to learn about our culture.

So which is it, the bikini, the ice cream, or both? If tourists offend you, then don’t live in an area with tourists. Seems pretty simple to me. Local economies depend on tourism and if you ask any hard working business owner they would rather have a mass of rude French tourists running around spending money than not.  This really isn’t a cultural issue or an issue of sensitivity.  In my opinion people make such events out to be our culture vs. theirs; however, this is merely urban living vs. rural living.  People move to the country to get away from the city and be with like minded individuals.  On the other hand people move to the city to find better jobs, which may involve working with or working around people who are different.  We as a people need to get over our cultural sensitivities and get back to seeking economic success.  Poverty is something that drives ignorance and violence which is something we do not need in the 21st century.

I’m all for putting people in prison for violent crime, but we already have laws on the books that deal with violent crime without getting into whether the victim is a racial minority or gay or something else. The President’s expected veto is a welcome act.

“State and local criminal laws already provide criminal penalties for the violence addressed by the new federal crime defined in section 7 of H.R. 1592, and many of these laws carry stricter penalties (including mandatory minimums and the death penalty) than the proposed language in H.R. 1592,” the statement said.

The above statement is a good point. The 50 states have their own laws and I am greatly dismayed that our Federal legislators are wasting time reinventing the wheel. In addition, only Federal authorities can enforce Federal law. I do not see the FBI going out to arrest people for violating laws such as this. It’s difficult enough getting your local police to help, especially when they’re out blowing things up like Boston PD.

Surprising minority advocates are supporting the idea of the veto.

Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues with Concerned Women for America, was quick to praise the statement.

The bill would penalize someone who commits an act of violence against a homosexual more so than any other person. Assault is assault and murder is murder. We need to stop trying to invent new forms of hate crime and enforce the laws that are already on the books. I also believe that good self defense training can act as a deterrent. Most people are not going to commit assault if they know the potential of getting injured or shot themselves.

Boston PD is in the news again for seeing terrorists in innocent objects. Aside from blowing up Cartoon Network advertising and blowing up their own highway department’s traffic counters they seem like a normal police department. Apparently it is illegal to wear stereo wires in Boston. 21-year old Joe Previtera was arrested by the Boston PD and charged with two felonies. He did not make any mention of a bomb, but for some silly reason they charged him with “false report of the location of explosives” and a “hoax device”. I have no idea what idiots are running the Boston PD, but they are the danger to America, not people like Previtera. Sure, he’s free to do all the anti-war protests or whatever he wants to and hopefully without harassment.

So if Previtera didn’t mention a bomb, what exactly constitutes a bomb threat? “It can be implied, with fingers and wires — especially in a heightened state of alert, as we are,” says Officer Michael McCarthy, Boston Police Department spokesman. And McCarthy thinks this is common knowledge, even if the wires are accessories to a costume.

“If he has any questions as to why people think he may’ve had a bomb, then he needs to maybe go back to Boston College to brush up on his public policy. Or at least common sense, but they can’t really teach that there.”

Officer McCarthy needs to get a dose of common sense. I have no idea of what heightened state of alert we are in. The terror alert is Yellow, not Orange or Red. It is always going to be yellow. It is never going to go down. What class do they teach this stuff in at Boston College? I never remember taking any class where we talked about public policy and bomb threats. This shows that Mr. McCarthy is not only an idiot and an ass, but he’s also useless. He could at least inform the public what class we need to take at Boston College to become part of the new world order.

I would never think that having wires as part of a costume would be an implied bomb threat. This is just an excuse to harass innocent citizens and easily throw felonies around as a deterrent if you step out of line. Does this mean that if the police see your iPod headphones you are making a bomb threat? Be afraid if you live in Boston or travel there.

Doing the honorable thing may sound nice in concept, but there is nothing scientific or mathematical about honor. Do we need it in modern society? Do honor killings fall into this category? I do not believe they do; however in some parts of the world they are common place. As seen in this video we can see a human rights violation in progress. This 17 year old girl of Kurdish origin was stoned to death for having relations with a Sunni Muslim boy. What drives a society to the point that it hates women? We are definitely at war, but maybe not so much at war with terrorism as we are with the principals of science and secular society versus religious zealotry. The issue of science and religion will be the defining issue of our time. Terrorism, racism, and other issues will not really be so great in the scheme of things. In our own country we have the religious right attempting to stop scientific progress because of George Bush’s “Culture of Life” and outside our country we have religious groups that want to take us back to the stone age. All of which are being veiled under the right thing to do or the honorable thing to do.