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<p>Explain how.</p>
<p>Asian-Americans are not in a place where they can afford to make fun of themselves, or have others kindly bestow that favour upon them, in order to show how ridiculous stereotypes are. Many people honestly believe Asian stereotypes to be real. </p>
<p>Maybe if the writer wanted to show how ridiculous racism was, then he could’ve just done some straight shooting. It probably would’ve contained more wit and humour than what we’ve been inflicted with.</p>
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<p>Like I said, Mark Twain.</p>
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<p>So you’re saying if an African-American were to have written Huckleberry Finn, he would “not [have been] in a place where [he could] afford to make fun” of himself? </p>
<p>Are you saying minorities can’t “afford to” make fun of themselves to show how ridiculous stereotypes are? Do they have to wait until they are in the majority?</p>
<p>Maybe you can accuse them of have a poor sense of humor, but I think accusing them of racism is too extreme. It’s like saying when black rappers are racist when they use the “n” word.</p>
<p>“They were mocking the “stereotypical Asian” view”</p>
<p>That should not be allowed either. Whether you mock a race or the “stereotype” of that race, either way, you’re being racist. In the end, I believe this so-called “joke” definitely conveys a sense of “racist-mocking.”</p>
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<p>What I meant by mocking “stereotype Asian views” is that they were mocking people who HOLD stereotypes, not the stereotypes themselves. Sorry if I wasn’t very clear.</p>
<p>Mark Twain nothing. Do your own 'splaining. </p>
<p>What I’m saying is that in order to reach a level where you can poke fun at yourself or exacerbate a stereotype to the point of ridiculousness, you have reach a certain level of progress first. IMHO, Asian-Americans haven’t reached that level yet. There are too many people out there who honestly believe that the majority of Asians are perpetual foreigners and eat dogs. Given the paucity of Asian images that counteract such stereotypes, it’s a matter of learning to crawl before trying to walk.
If ultimately this article is supposed to be sympathetic towards Jian Li, it fails miserably to show that. There is not one instance where even the hint of mocking stereotypes is dropped, and instead seems to gleefully pile negative Asian stereotypes on poor Jian Li. This writer must get in touch with Michael Richards, who so artfully lampooned hardcore racists by impersonating one perfectly!</p>
<p>People with non-racist intentions can still end up doing racist things.</p>
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<p>That’s my explanation.</p>
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<p>Well, your former argument of:</p>
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<p>asserts that they were being intentionally racist. </p>
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<p>Okay, so let’s say Asian-Americans haven’t reached this level, but JUST because they haven’t reached this level or “are not in a place where they can afford to make fun of themselves” DOES NOT mean that the writer was mocking Asian people or “attacking all Asians”!
The writers may have composed an article that has negatively affected the Asian-American community, but this doesn’t automatically qualify the writer to be “attacking all Asians”!</p>
<p>I’m a student at Princeton, and frankly, I don’t think any of us would have expected an article like that to come out of the Daily Princetonian, even in a joke issue. The reason why this article has been so ill-received is because it is so poorly written. This is not how good satire is formed, and thus has lost the kind of “immunity” that satirical pieces often get, like Spike Lee’s movie “Bamboozled”. </p>
<p>I am frankly appalled by people thinking, even here on this forum, that the dominant student culture at Princeton is one of bigotry, elitism and racism. That is most certainly not the case, and its these kinds of sweeping generalizations that get everybody upset. </p>
<p>Another point, although one that is not as important. When does being politically correct merely stand in accordance with the expectations of our American culture and societal values, and when does it overstep its bounds and whitewash the fabric of our population? This reminds me of when Television networks stopped broadcasting episodes of “Speedy Gonzales” because of protests by people thinking that it promoted derogatory stereotypes of Mexicans/ Chicanos/ Mexican-Americans, while in reality the Chicano community was outraged that the show was removed because it had become an icon in US culture, a sort of proof that Mexican-Americans had become a part of our national identity. Ask yourself, do you know anyone who HASN’T heard of Speedy Gonzales, and if you showed it to them, would you predict that they would find it offensive? </p>
<p>Maybe I digress, but sometimes I think the idea of labeling a place as racist is just as close-minded as the deed that provoked it in the first place.</p>
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<p>Hey, it’s not the Princeton critics who wrote, edited, and published a racially offensive piece. It was Princeton students and Princeton newspaper who did that. By doing so they’ve placed the burden on themselves to demonstrate that they are not really racists after all. And so far they’ve done a pretty lame job of it.</p>
<p>And clearly, the misdeeds of a few judgement-impaired losers on the newspaper staff <em>probably</em> do not represent views of a large number of Princeton students. But, nevertheless, it’s still fair to ask why those clowns thought that publishing that piece would be okay. Why are they surprised at the negative reaction? Is this truly an isolated incident, or does the fact that they thought that this sort of trash was acceptable to publish suggest the presence of a wider problem in the campus culture? These are fair questions to ask.</p>
<p>Most people subscribe to the “Where there’s smoke there’s fire” theory. And a pretty nasty plume of noxious smoke just blew by in the form of that newspaper piece.</p>
<p>The element of fear should not be dismissed.</p>
<p>Many people don’t dare to publicly use racial epithets against Blacks (and to slightly lesser degree, Hispanics) because they know that there will be very loud and severe repercussions. A rebuttal like “Come on! I was only joking!” does not suffice. These people fear being called racists by Blacks. Hence, they won’t even dare to throw out the protean N word or resurrect nineteenth century stereotypes.</p>
<p>It’s the same with Jews. You’ll find that a lot of Americans, especially those on the far right, won’t say anything negative about Judaism (and by extension, Israel). For if they do, then it won’t be long before they are branded as anti-Semites.</p>
<p>Now, what about Asians? Unfortunately, the fear factor is almost nonexistent.</p>
<p>This article was posted in a college newspaper. The editors claim that it was at worst a bad joke and at best a way to engage in a constructive discussion about race-issues. I can’t see them making similar remarks if they had posted a “joke” written in ebonics that used outdated Black stereotypes. Really can’t.</p>
<p>I think chris brought up S.R. Sidarth’s story with George Allen. Allen called Sidarth ‘macaca’ and then tried to say, “I meant ‘mohawk.’” Three things:</p>
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<li>Sidarth had a mullet. Granted, it was in its infancy, but mullet ==|== mohawk.</li>
<li>Allen’s mother is French Tunisian. Macaca was a derogatory term there used by some Europeans.</li>
<li>Allen also stated, seconds later, “Welcome to America.”</li>
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<p>Point three destroys all “Allen is not racist” excuses. Yet, people were still defending him as if racial epithets against Asians are acceptable. These same people wouldn’t defend a politician who made racist remarks against Blacks in public.</p>
<p>The stereotype of the docile, inactive, passive Asian is dead. As Americans, we have begun to adapt to the culture. We should not tolerate racism from any group to any group by claiming that “they are jokes.”</p>
<p>Coureur, mini brought up a similar point on PF, although I think he drew fewer inferences from it than you did. The problem with your argument is that college students are often quite off the mark about their assumptions of their peers’ opinions. There’s a tendency to think you know what “all” or “most” students are thinking, or how they will react, and to project the universal from the personal. That projection is more often inaccurate than accurate. And the college newspaper is the vehicle most abused in that regard, as I’ve observed.</p>
<p>I’m half Asian, and this article makes me sick. Especially since Asians CONTRIBUTED to the writing of it. Why the hell would you put down your own race like that? Even for a joke? I could have taken one or two stereotypical references, but EATING DOGS and wearing fake designer clothing? I am DISGUSTED.</p>
<p>Congratulations, Daily Princetonian, on making yourself look like an idiot.</p>
<p>Haha - the content sucked, and even the ACCENT SUCKED. COME ON!</p>
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<p>I don’t mean to personally infer anything. My personal opinon is that Princeton is actually an excellent place to go to school. What I’m pointing out is that, by their ill-advised actions, the newspaper people have made it legitimate and reasonable to ask embarrassing questions that normally wouldn’t get raised. And thus, outrage over people asking these questions, such as that expressed by tokyorevelation9, is misplaced. </p>
<p>They were fools, and because of that the school is thrust into the position of having to defend itself. Normally, the burden of proof would be on anyone making an accusation of racism. But the newspaper kids have reversed that, much to the convenience of anyone wishing to criticize Princeton.</p>
<p>Wow. I’m really not a politically correct person, but this article was really not funny AT ALL. The worst thing for me was the “me Asian me no speak good English” accent - just because someone is Asian doesn’t mean that they just stepped off the boat on to San Francisco harbor, and even if they had it doesn’t necessarily mean that they speak like that. Seeing this as offensive isn’t “politically correct”, it’s protesting a horrible stereotype of an entire race of people. And I agree that if this article had been about a black person with “fo shizzle homie watermelon & grits” or a mexican with “taco burrito chimichanga!” or whatever other s**t they would come up with because the author seems extremely immature and insecure, this would be a WAY bigger controversy. This is 5th grade level humor and discrimination, and a lot of people seem to never get past it. We’ve got a 40-year-old woman like Rosie O’Donnell still saying “ching chong”, and a few years ago me, my 13-year old cousin and our 10-year-old cousin were in line at Disneyland right behind a few Asian people. Youngest cousin loudly says “Chinese people sound like this - ching chong ching chong” and me and the other cousin had to shush her. Her parents are immature and racist and she probably learned it from them, which is sad because she’s really a smart girl, I hope she’s gotten past that. It’s just really depressing. </p>
<p>I’m going to be optimistic and guess that most Princetonians are much, much more intelligent and kind than the person who wrote that little piece of “humor”.</p>
<p>“I’m half Asian, and this article makes me sick… why the hell would you put down your own race like that?” </p>
<p>This has little to do with the issue at hand, but I wonder why ‘Asians’ or ‘Asian-Americans’ consider themselves to be a part of a ‘race’. As far as history tell us, people from Asia, even when coming to the United States, have not been one contiguous group since, say 4000 BC. For example, would a Korean or Korean-American person be personally offended by the joke article, which is clearly mocking Chinese stereotypes? Would he or she assume a larger identity as a so-called ‘Asian’ and consider it an affront? Now I recognize that many people come from a variety of East Asian backgrounds, but I was wondering how people actually feel about being lumped into the “Asian” category. Doesn’t that just invite stereotype, even though clearly it is looked down upon in our society today? The only reason why African-Americans have to lump themselves into their category is because they have no idea where in Africa (or elsewhere, we don’t know for sure) they came from. ‘Latinos’ all speak the same language, and their cultures began at roughly around the same time. So where does that leave ‘Asians’?</p>
<p>Tell me what you think.</p>
<p>Why is this an issue?</p>
<p>Everyone fits their racial stereotype to one degree or another. I fit my racial stereotype 100%. I hear jokes about it and I laugh because honestly who cares.</p>
<p>There are more important things in the world to discuss and be concerned with than jokes.</p>
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See, that’s exactly where the article goes wrong. The intention of the article (as claimed by the authors) was to write a parody of Asian stereotypes and thus make fun of racism. Unfortunately, this was all too easily misconstrued to imply that the authors themselves had a vandetta against Asians.</p>
<p>thanks for your explanation, coureur. I also reread your post 108 & see how your later post supports it.</p>
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<p>Asian-Americans are forced into thinking that they are one race because that’s how the rest of America treats them. Remember Vincent Chin, the Chinese-American who was murdered because a bunch of ignorant racists presumed him to be Japanese? </p>
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<p>Are you so myopic that you seriously think this is all about just some jokes?</p>
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<p>That’s exactly what I’m saying. I don’t think Princeton students are all racists against Asians. Maybe some of them were a little put off by the lawsuit, I can imagine. It was supposed to be a joke attacking Asians and the main reason it’s offensive is because it was so poorly-written. If the article was witty and clever, poking fun at the Asian population, I don’t think people would mind as much. But it took things way too far and became distasteful (and frankly, stupid), so it’s creating a controversy.</p>