<p>This is just horrible. I’m not Asian, but I’m still offended.</p>
<p>I agree that this goes too far, but there were a few lines that were funny, though not for racial reasons, such as “Lots of bulldogs there for me to eat.”</p>
<p>i never knew about the princeton lawsuit until i saw an article written in my school newspaper, livingston high school! i knew the guy who sued princeton. i’m not too familiar with the lawsuit, so don’t ask my opinion on it. but for the record, two of my friends who are asian, were accepted to princeton just recently.</p>
<p>For all of those who say that race-related jokes can be insightful and funny (which is true), you must realize that jokes against whites and even blacks are counter-balanced enough to keep things level. Sure there are blonde jokes, but blondes are also upheld as mythologically beautiful and noble. People can make racist jokes about blacks being lazy and prone to criminal behavior, but there are still many positive images from MLK to Bill Cosby to Lebron James. But Asians, though they are a small minority in America, get even smaller exposure, allowing embarrassingly dated stereotypes to fester (laundry? dog-eating?). There’s a huge imbalance in the number of anti-Asian jokes and the number of pro-Asian images. </p>
<p>And even if the writer is Asian (does anybody have proof?), that doesn’t mean anything. That’s like saying that electing Condi for president would be the best thing for blacks because she’s black. Minorities are individuals, not some monolithic hive mind. Asians can be moronic and racist, even to themselves.</p>
<p>What disturbs me most is how they mocked Jian Li’s command of the English language when he’s scored 800 on the CR and in interviews, spoke like any other American. It’s like because he was Chinese, it didn’t matter what he was really like because they’d rather view him as a stereotype from a hundred years ago. Disgusting.</p>
<p>What also sickens me is that those people who obnoxiously proclaim to be unPC tend to pick on easy targets like Asians: a tiny minority with little media and political clout. Wow, what a backbone.</p>
<p>Rosie O’Donnell should visit Princeton. I’m sure she’ll feel very comfortable.</p>
<p>chris,</p>
<p>Very nice post. I think this was really just an intra-Ivy League bashing thing that we shouldn’t make too much of, because it wasn’t that impressive. It was the Princetonians ****ed off because a Yalie is suing them and making them look bad.</p>
<p>Ref. to: Yale - Bulldogs - eat them?</p>
<p>Racist? You bet.</p>
<p>kchen,
Princeton Prez agrees with you. You all can read Tilghman’s response on the PF thread.</p>
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<p>that’s what i thought too, if it’s just jian li is the target, then the author wouldn’t have made the funny english grammar. he had a perfect SAT score, if anything he’s more fluent in english than more than 95% of this nation, if he’s not fluent in english, who is? the fact that they used “we cook greesy food, we this we that” asian railroad haul ass… and many others, I think it’s not just about Jian li.</p>
<p>FYI
Jack Bauer went to UCLA for his Bachelor’s (English Literature) but Berkely for his Master’s.</p>
<p>I have a sense of humor, but this extends beyond all parameters of decency…</p>
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<p>Mmmmkay, thanks for the random bit of information. lol</p>
<p>If this article were making fun of stereotypical blacks or Hispanics, I bet there would be a lot more outraged people…</p>
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<p>Exactly. The comically ungifted writer who penned that “satirical” article was not attacking Jian Li at all for suing Princeton. He was attacking all Asians because one person from their race did something to upset Princetonians. That is the very definition of racism.</p>
<p>I hope this incident does to Princeton what the lacrosse scandal did to Duke, except this time, the culprit(s) are actually guilty of racism.</p>
<p>And I would feel very bad for Asians if the idiot who wrote this was actually one of their own. Some Asians just have serious identity issues.</p>
<p>ORMs typically do have identity issues. Jews especially…like Norman Finkelstein who says the Holocaust is exaggerated by Zionists…calls it an industry…</p>
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<p>YES. At first it made me mad to see Asians not stand up for themselves and let non-Asian-- especially white-- people walk over them. Now I just think its pathetic, sad.</p>
<p>Asians like that are WHY people think its still okay to make fun of Asians without fear of controversy or anger. It outraged me to see some Asians, even here, say that it was “Just funny and it was being satirical, I’m not offended over railroad jokes, dog eating jokes, laundry jokes, yellow fever jokes or Engrish mockery!” </p>
<p>For some reason, I don’t imagine the same weak, apologist response from many African-Americans and Latino-Americans if the article had “satirically” mocked slavery, ghettos, etc. THEY actually probably have more pride in their culture and their people and their history than that.</p>
<p>I went to Berkeley. I met a lot of really proud Asian Americans who didn’t let that sort of treatment and casual, glib disrespect towards their heritage slide. But yes, even at Berkeley and being in the California are in general over my years there, I met a lot of Asians with serious identity issues. The worst being Asian girls who deep down wish they were blonde sorority girls and who only want white frat boys while never giving Asian guys a chance. But, um, that’s another story… though also pathetic.</p>
<p>nbachris27888, I want to say that I really appreciate your posts. I think they’re insightful and well-written. You’re really perspective about this whole issue… if its not an invasive question, are you Asian American or another minority?</p>
<p>It seems to me that Chinese-Americans are more sensitive to this sort of stuff than actual Chinese i.e. people actually born in China. </p>
<p>For example, if anyone can remember this, Shaquille O’Neal mocked the Chinese language a few days before a game against Yao Ming. The Chinese-American association held a protest at the Compaq Center, but Yao said himself that he found Shaq’s remarks funny. In his autobiography about this incident he basically says what I said above.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s the fact that if you’re actually from China, you don’t feel very insecure about stuff like this, because you’re used to being in the VAST majority (Han Chinese are 95+% of the Chinese population), and so you just shrug it off and laugh at what you basically consider a sophomoric joke. But if you’re actually Chinese-American, you’re in the vast minority and you know it, and so you are very insecure and jump when people make possibly racist jokes.</p>
<p>So kateapollo, a lack of a response might not mean that Asians are not willing to stand up for themselves. It just might mean that they don’t feel insecure about their race, and are willing to shrug off the bad joke.</p>
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<p>um… no actually</p>
<p>its something called anonymous submissions over the internet</p>
<p>but hey, way to demonstrate the “stereotypical Asian view”</p>
<p>Good posts, kateapollo. I agree.</p>
<p>Here’s the thing, I don’t think the author’s intent was to be racist, but it came off as offensive and in horribly bad taste anyway. The worst part is ignoring all the racism aspects, the article wasn’t very well-written at all. It was terribly un-funny, the jokes sounded like they were conceived by a fifth-grader, and the entire article had no grace or subtlety that usually gives satire its humor. More than racial issues, I was astonished at the incredibly poor writing-skills and sense of humor displayed by a student who attends a supposed top national university.</p>
<p>I think it’s erroneous to say that Asian-Americans are “insecure”. It has negative connotations, like that they are petty and overreacting. It’s more accurate to say that they are exasperated and fed up with one-sided representation that constantly tells them to lighten up. Want to make “witty” ching chong and rice jokes? Then give Asian-Americans some fair and balanced exposure so that people will at least come up with modern racist caricatures instead of antiquated ones. </p>
<p>But the future is looking rosy for Asian-Americans though. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) infamously lost his seat due to an Asian-American backlash after his boneheaded remark to an Indian-American. More Asian-Americans are getting into politics, something their forefathers didn’t do. And Asian-Americans seem to be the new trend on TV (Sandra Oh, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Masi Oka, and Yul Kwon). </p>
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<p>Yao is just one person, and he doesn’t represent an entire nation. As massive as he is, his opinion still only counts for one. Plus, as a publicly adored celebrity, he can’t go off-the-cuff and say what’s really on his mind. I thought he showed tremendous class and wit by letting Shaq off the hook, but I’m sure that he was hurt and angered even though he presents a stoic demeanor.</p>
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<p>If the writer didn’t intend to be racist, and that article was what came out, what would’ve been written if he DID want to be racist? Maybe that shows the institutionalized racist attitudes towards Asians, or at least Asians who upset the order of things. Hopefully, this article will embarrass the hell out of Princeton. I think it already has.</p>
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<p>My identity will remain a secret, but suffice to say, I am sympathetic to the concerns of all minorities. Thank you for your kind words.</p>
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<p>Wow. Okay, b/c its not like people of all races have serious identity issues, right.</p>
<p>See? I know that’s not what you implied, but it’s always easy to misinterpret things.</p>
<p>To some, the article may have come off as racist, but they were clearly NOT mocking Asians.
They were mocking the “stereotypical Asian” view.</p>
<p>Anybody ever read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn before? Anybody remember those English discussions about how Mark Twain actually had strong anti-slavery beliefs and that his stereotypical portrayal of Ole’ Jim was just a tool to show how ridiculous racism was?</p>