<p>Firstly, most people would consider Yale slightly more prestigious than Princeton, so it’s rather stupid to think that Jian Li is so desperate to get into Princeton even though he’s enjoying himself at Yale. He’s not doing this for personal reasons, but to bring national attention to an issue that Daniel Golden also exposed in his “Price of Admission” book. </p>
<p>Secondly, stop trying to defend this article as making fun of Asian stereotypes. To me, I can’t tell the difference between this “satire” and what a regular racist would rant about against Asians. It’s like calling Michael Richards a brilliant satirist for perfectly impersonating a hardcore racist. The “satire” is of such poor quality that the editors at the Daily Princetonian should’ve red-flagged this article, but obviously, potential slurs against Asians is not high on the priority list.</p>
<p>Thirdly, to those people who keep telling Asians to lighten up: just be quiet. Nobody cares what you do with your friends, but this article is not just some friendly ribbing amongst comrades. It’s from a respected college newspaper that is supposed to reflect the intelligence of the Princeton student body. This article, its writer, and the paper’s editors are not my friends, nor are they your’s; they’re purveyors of intelligent thought and dicussion. Or at least they should be.</p>
<p>“some friendly ribbing amongst comrades”…yes i hope it isn;t some friendly ribbing amongst comrades…the us is still a representative republican yes? =(
edit: and people plz stop sounding like communists…you guys are scaring me =(</p>
<p>Yikes. Well reading up to this point I see that the ‘conversation’ has gone in some strange directions. </p>
<p>Firstly, consider this…even if the content of the article was overtly derogatory or “racist”, do you honestly think that the writers and staff of the Daily Princetonian are bigots? Do you believe that the staff writer wrote down what he truly believes?</p>
<p>Secondly, I’m just curious, but I wonder why there was no public outcry when “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” came out in theaters. Not only did this movie use derogatory language and many racial stereotypes that in my opinion were just as strong, or very close to being as strong as those used in the Daily Princetonian article, it also belittled an entire country, a REAL country, Kazakhstan, and everybody who lives there. The government of Kazahkstan, and many Kazahk people in the United States were outraged at the wanton slander of their culture and national honor. Kazahk students at various universities in Chicago, which has a significant Kazahk population, were outraged because they were ridiculed as a result of their grotesque portrayal in Sacha Baron Cohen’s movie. The worst part is that Borat CONTINUES to do it, he has appeared on almost every talk show on television with the same routine. Not a peep from the PC police.</p>
<p>Yet despite all this, not many Americans seemed to listen to these people. Is this article for some reason more ‘deserving’ of attention than what I just described? I’m not going to say that this is “making mountains out of molehills”, but in terms of international relations, “Borat” is the mountain. </p>
<p>To support the Asians who are upset: this white woman found the “joke” editorial to be extremely offensive. It made fun of Jian Li by casting him as a stereotypical Asian incapable of mastering the English language. There were a million other ways to make fun of him/his complaint without bringing in blatant racist stereotypes. The fact that they DID make it a racial issue (when the admissions office claims it is not) says a lot about the editors and writers.</p>
<p>I don’t care whether Asians helped form the piece. Peer pressure can cause people to do a lot of things they are internally uncomfortable about doing. Imagine a bunch of white students yukking it up about what they could write in the article, and the Asians in attendance laughing along with them simply because they don’t know what else to do. Such situations happen all the time. To challenge your peers – to call them racist, offensive, or just wrong – is never an easy thing to do. </p>
<p>Asians and Princeton students in general should stand up to the editors of The Daily Princetonian and let them know that their piece is unacceptable.</p>
<p>Tokyo, I haven’t seen Borat, but I do know that there have been objections. Several articles have pointed out that the Borat makes fun of everyone – and Americans more than any other group. It is this inclusive skewering that seems to have rescued the film from the “PC police,” as you call them.</p>
<p>I understand that “Borat” was supposed to be making fun of America more than anything else, but why did Baron Cohen have to choose Kazakhstan? Wouldn’t it have been just as easy to make up a fictional country and play the same jokes on American culture? It seems like there was no reason for choosing Kazahkstan, as a real country, in the first place. Do you understand the distinction I’m making here?</p>
<p>As for the hypothetical situation with peer pressure you just described, there’s no way to know if that was the case or not. Who knows what the motivation was for the execution of the joke piece? The Daily Princetonian just needs to hold themselves to a higher level of sensitivity. After all, ALL newspapers have to do this, so this is a valuable public relations lesson for those aspiring journalists.</p>
<p>Daily Princetonian is the last newspaper I would have expected that would do this crap article. I envied this newspaper and this newspaper was the standard I set for the newspaper I revived in my school. I am really shocked and almost horrified that they published this. However, I forgot who posted this, but someone in this post stated that the Princetonian would never write such stereotypical and racist article about African Americans and Jewish individuals. I totally agree. What I find interesting is that, while it is common sense that the Princetonian would never produce a story mocking African American people and stereotypes, it makes me angered that the Princetonian feels it can mock Asians. </p>
<p>I hope that this was a early April Fool’s joke by the Princetonian newspaper staff… which is very unlikely. But, the reality is, this controversy will die in matter of days or weeks. Even though the Asians were mocked and humiliated in a newspaper, I am sure that people will slowly forget about this story and continue on with thier lives.</p>
<p>Btw. I’m Asian. Don’t kill me for speaking my mind about this article</p>
<p>“communism isn;t defined by the productivity of the nation but rather by its government…look at government
edit: when i meant communism i never meant china was rural or etc…what i meant was its limits on individual rights and liberties
edit: yes i like to burn the american flag w/o getting shot…”</p>
<p>Okay, you obviously don’t know what communism is, and that is quite sad. China is a capitalist nation - you CAN’T be capitalist and communist at the same time. China is an authoritarian state, if you truly want to describe it that way.</p>
<p>“Even though the Asians were mocked and humiliated in a newspaper, I am sure that people will slowly forget about this story and continue on with thier lives.”</p>
<p>So true. Like I said before, attacks against Asians ALWAYS gets swept under the rug and forgotten. If this were an attack against Blacks, leaders like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be all over Princeton and I’m absolutely convicted that those writers would apologize in a heartbeat… but then again, this was an attack against Asians and yet no one in the Princeton community seems to give a damn.</p>
<p>I don’t want an Asian equivalent of Al Sharpton on the news trumpeting about grievances and playing the victim card.</p>
<p>I do, however, want ignorant people to become aware that nineteenth century Asian stereotypes are ridiculously outdated in our twenty-first century world.</p>
<p>I agree with karupt here; China cannot honestly be called communist. Even Stalinist Russia (I say “Stalinist” because I believe Lenin was a Communist) was marked by the creation of an elite class of Communist party members, athletes, artists, and scientists, which is completely contradictory to the very basis of Communism. China has special economic zones, which are based upon capitalistic ideals. Basically, no nation labeled communist, either by itself or by another state, actually was communist, and no true communism has ever existed (although in my opinion, quite a few Native American tribes got quite close).</p>
<p>On a side note, despite my username-thingy, I am not a communist because I believe that communism, as well as capitalism, is too idealistic.</p>
<p>I wonder if people are jumping for the jugular because it <em>is</em> Princeton. If this was North Minnesota University, would this be news? After all, there wasn’t much brouhaha over a similar Duke article- which was unfortunately all too serious.</p>
<p>California does have Asian activists who trumpet grievances and play the victim card.</p>
<p>As for the Princeton piece it was distasteful, period. This issue is interesting, in relation to other humor pieces, since the response is usually a little slower when a college newspaper article lampooning native americans, blacks, etc…are made public (see Dartmouth especially). I’d say that the Princeton article is proof that Asian groups and individuals, along with other ethnic groups/individuals, are starting to be seen as a threat.</p>
<p>I wish that some of those who see it as racism against Asians, recognize that other groups have also been portrayed negatively, and often more severely without as much comment.</p>
<p>i said china is partially communism O.o and it has many restraints on liberties and rights which is exactly why it is still defined as a partial communist country</p>
<p>ok i’m sorry…i actually have made alot of rude comments and etc…for my previous couple of posts here and i apologize for them all…=( i was too bored…and alittle too attached w/ america =D gl! to you all =D</p>
<p>Starting to? My boy, Asians have been seen as a threat the moment they stepped foot onto American lands. The Chinese were the first group to be ethnically/racially excluded by law from immigrating to the U.S. You can’t go a week without a CNN or Fox News piece on the looming threat of China. The loyalty of Asian-Americans, regardless of their upbringing, has been questioned from the times of the Japanese Internment to the case of Wen Ho Lee. </p>
<p>Borat… Now there’s a good piece of satire. Notice how despite Borat’s outrageous anti-Semitism, it’s his interviewees who come off as shockingly ignorant and racist? That’s because Sacha Baron Cohen is a comedic artist, as opposed to this Princtonian hack. The Jian Li article is nothing more than a racism-by-numbers checklist of slurs that is, at best, hoping to get mistaken for biting social commentary, or at worst, a malicious attack on all Asians.</p>
<p>And once again, just because an Asian may have been on the staff responsible doesn’t make this article any less non-racist than it already is. Firstly, what is Asian? It could’ve been an Indian or a Filipino, two Asian ethnicities distinct enough from the Chinese to believe that they would be exempt from the anti-Chinese bashing. Secondly, as I said, and Momwaitingfornew has said, it’s not as if all Asians are pillars of moral strength who can resist racism like Rosa Parks when the time comes. There are Asians who would rather go with the flow and not upset the white majority, lest they be racially mocked like Jian Li (an Asian who has upset the white majority). Thirdly, I know this is a difficult concept for some, but minorities are not hive minds. No, not every black person will vote for Condi or Obama, and not every Asian person is in defense of his or her race. It reminds me the time when Rosie O’Donnell half-apologized for her “ching chong” comments, and the camera cut away to two Asian women (who may or may not have been the wannabe-blonde Asian sorority girls who only gave white frat boys a chance that kateapollo briefly talked about) who were laughing along in a cheap attempt to prove to the viewing audience that these two Asian women could speak for the millions of Asian-Americans out there. Probably an extrapolation from the notion that since they all look alike, they all think alike.</p>
<p>sigh…aaa…i just can;t live w/ myself if i don;t explain a couple of things right now…i apologize again for my intrusion
immigration quotos are necessary; they were eventually set on many other racial/ethnic groups also…if you want to really state which ethnicity has been really misjudged by the americans it is the japanese…i dont; really see them complaining that much…and cnn and fox are looming on the chinese threat to attract public, in reality china is not even close to US in league of overall economics and power O.o wow that was broad lol
edit: china is as much as a threat as the soviets were in the cold war…lol</p>
<p>The white people in this thread need to go back to their Southern hick towns and go screw their mothers in the trailer or something and fly that Confederate flag with pride.</p>
<p>The blacks need to get off the internet and do what they do best, rap, play basketball, and commit crimes while speaking ridiculous ebonics. yo neigga.</p>
<p>Asians, get back on that freakin boat and learn your engineering math skills back in China (becase all Asians are from China). Me like USA schools.</p>
<p>BTW this is my audition for Princeton’s paper. I hope they’re reading!</p>
<p>There’s a difference between a quota and racially-based exclusion.</p>
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<p>China is at least 50 years away from hoping to become America’s equal, but why’s the public so eager to lap it up anyway? You don’t hear weekly warnings about the EU. </p>
<p>smokeylarue, that was pretty funny, at least funnier than the Princeton article (sorry if you don’t take that as much of a compliment).</p>
<p>Warblersrule86: Princeton is famous. There’s the difference.</p>
<p>Nbschris2788: The editor-in-chief is actually Indian, but as you pointed out, that doesn’t really matter, nor does it justify attacks on East Asians.</p>