A Perspective On "The Key Is To Emotionally Involve Others-But How?" by anna123
Hi to AMR, and welcome as a new blogger to the family of Alpha Asians!
The following is an opinion piece response to AMR's previous post:
I believe this is one reason whites still have so much power in Western societies. White privilege is entrenched and institutionalised, because they have the numbers to create and enforce their white cultural values on everyone else. This Asian population increase in the West can happen in two ways:
1) AA's procreating within the AA community or
2) Increased emmigration of Asians to the West from Asia. Since AA's have among the lowest birthrates out of all ethnic groups in the West, then Asian immigration from Asia seems like the most pragmatic option. I agree with Frank Chin's perception on why this is the case in terms of cultural force. Add to this the intersection of economics and class, as wealthier and more educated people have less children.
The following is an opinion piece response to AMR's previous post:
On "The Key Is To Emotionally Involve Others-But How?"
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Everyones got their own ideas, that what they believe is the best way. I agree with AMR that the most effective and long lasting change has always been inclusive. Good leadership is inclusive, and power is effectively demonstrated when people who don't have anything to gain are believing in your message (like Asians believing in white Hollywood propaganda). For Alpha Asians, I think there seems to be two ways to convert apathetic Asians and whites/non-Asians to our side: culture and increased population.
Increased Population
Asians need to increase our population numbers in the West so that we become the statistical norm, or at least reach high enough numbers to reach critical mass and affect tipping points across sections of society.
More people = more power.
I believe this is one reason whites still have so much power in Western societies. White privilege is entrenched and institutionalised, because they have the numbers to create and enforce their white cultural values on everyone else. This Asian population increase in the West can happen in two ways:
1) AA's procreating within the AA community or
2) Increased emmigration of Asians to the West from Asia. Since AA's have among the lowest birthrates out of all ethnic groups in the West, then Asian immigration from Asia seems like the most pragmatic option. I agree with Frank Chin's perception on why this is the case in terms of cultural force. Add to this the intersection of economics and class, as wealthier and more educated people have less children.
Culture
According to Benedict Anderson, culture is what constructs a community as a nation. Ultimately, the Azn community and identity has to be socially constructed by AAs themselves, not the orientalising white mainstream. Without the shared narratives, heroes, and values of a socially constructed Azn Nation, how can effective Azn identity politics develop to serve the interests of the Azn community in the West?
These shared narratives, heroes, and values all contribute to creating an imagined community that just by its very existence is both political and social. This intersects with Frank Chin's perspective on the existence of an AA identity as a cultural and social force that simultaneously serves the interests of the AA community while attacking the hegemony of the white mainstream at the same time.
A strong, vibrant Azn culture creates the imagined community of the socially constructed Azn nation, where its members hold an affinity to other members due to shared cultural narratives, values, heroes and experiences as Azns in the West. Regardless of the class differences that may exist among cohorts of a society, a nation is always conceived as a deep comradeship based on shared cultural values. The production of cultural artifacts such as films, music, print and mass media products are important in the creation of the Azn community (as ultimately an imagined community), because it influences the hearts and minds of the people. It creates in their minds a mental image of their affinity with other individuals who also happen to be Azn. This affinity to each other creates the social and cultural force that serves the social, political and economic interests of Azns in the West. This also affects an increased Asian population, where Asians are socially protected and empowered to be able to feel sexually attracted to each other, which also impacts on culture.
A strong, vibrant Azn culture creates the imagined community of the socially constructed Azn nation, where its members hold an affinity to other members due to shared cultural narratives, values, heroes and experiences as Azns in the West. Regardless of the class differences that may exist among cohorts of a society, a nation is always conceived as a deep comradeship based on shared cultural values. The production of cultural artifacts such as films, music, print and mass media products are important in the creation of the Azn community (as ultimately an imagined community), because it influences the hearts and minds of the people. It creates in their minds a mental image of their affinity with other individuals who also happen to be Azn. This affinity to each other creates the social and cultural force that serves the social, political and economic interests of Azns in the West. This also affects an increased Asian population, where Asians are socially protected and empowered to be able to feel sexually attracted to each other, which also impacts on culture.
How to Pragmatically Achieve Increased Population and Culture
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As individuals, the choices we make can combine with the choices of others that together add up to make a difference.
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Increased Population
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1) Use you vote to support political candidates who support increased Asian immigration. If you work in government/immigration/DFA/or policy, then try to subtly represent the socio-political interests of your own people.
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2) Make love and help produce beautiful Asian babies!
Find your special someone and make love to them every night to have as many black haired black eyed children as you can. There's nothing more beautiful than being surrounded in your sunset-years by a loving family of children and grandchildren. As an individual, you are intimately procreating with the person you love, experiencing intense physical pleasure and creating a loving family that will support and take care of you in your old age. In the context of the Azn population in the West, however, you are helping to increase our numbers by planting the seeds of those who will be a part of the critical mass that will change the ultimate destiny of the Azn community in the west.
Culture
Support AA's in the arts. Buy their goods and services. Instead of downloading or using BitTorrent to get the latest movie starring Azns who represent. Go out and buy it legitimately. If you see a great AA crew on ABDC, spend the 50 cents on the phone call and vote them up. If there's a hot Azn artist playing in your area who you like, buy a ticket and watch them live.
Not saying you should support them just because they're Azn, but if you like them for what their offering, then why the hell not? You get to see them play live and probably get to network, and meet other cool people who share your passion for the band and that genre of music. As an individual, you are spending a few dollars supporting a cool band/film. But in the context of representation of Azns in the arts, you are contributing to the creation of the imagined community of the Azn nation, and the development of Azn identity as a socio-cultural force which serves the interests of the AA community and attacks the hegemony of the white mainstream at the same time.
Concluding Remarks
"In other words, how does one incite EMPATHY in others, so that they feel emotionally involved and engaged with our struggle? The premise of such an enterprise is that a 'emotionally participatory experience' like that might motivate more of them to support us and to show solidarity for our cause. We absolutely must create a common thread with those who are not Asian and male in order for our voice to have some clout."
Higher populations of Asians and a stronger more vibrant culture will strengthen the Azn community in the West. A stronger Azn community will incite empathy among outsiders, because our size and power will force them to take our interests into account. They will have an economic and social interest in reaching a consensus with the Azn community.
If we want to be respected and listened to, then we have to make ourselves stronger. Azns must take care of their base first, outsiders come later. Instead of trying to work out ways to persuade non-Asians to listen to us, we instead must work on ourselves to become stronger so that non-Asians will have no choice BUT to listen to us.
We must build up the Azn community through increased population and a stronger culture. We cannot rely on the empathy of non-Asians to ensure the advancement of economic and political interests of the Azn community in Western societies. We have to take personal responsibility and do it ourselves, because no one else is going to do it for us!
\(^o^)/
Comments
Nevertheless, can Asian communities obtain more power and influence by simplying crowding out other communities? Sure it's possible.
But let's take a look at certain populations. Jews make up a tiny percentage in the US, but they exert significant influence in this country, particularly in Hollywood. Their "power to weight" ratio is huge. You can have a small population, but if that population occupies strategic positions in society, then that population wields power.
Nevertheless, you still have to respect the power of size. Larger communities wield more power by simply assimilating smaller communities. Half the dynasties of China are foreign in origin (Mongols, Manchus, etc.) and they were simply culturally absorbed by the Han.
If Asian Americans progress from disparate ethnic communities (Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, etc.) into amalgamated communities (as in Hawaii), then the AA community will wield power because it will be more cohesive..
LOL! I enjoyed that one. Thanks for the welcome anna123, and very thought-provoking ideas, indeed. I will think on them. :)
Also, the social construction of Jewish identity is thousands of years old versus AA identity which, really only occured in the past 50 years or so.
In other words, you cant compare the two groups equally, because Jews have alot more working for them besides just population increase on their side.
The numerical dominance of APIs there is what allows them to combine and develop a more cohesive sense of identity, however i heard that its been localised to Hawaii only... they dont have a sense of being AA.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091216/ap_on_go_ot/us_white_minority
There's been a lot of hoopla brewing over whites becoming the racial minority by a certain year, but you do have to read between the lines to see the implications for Asian-Americans:
"The total population should climb to 399 million by 2050, under the new projection, with whites making up 49.9 percent of the population. Blacks will make up 12.2 percent, virtually unchanged from today. Hispanics, currently 15 percent of the population, will rise to 28 percent in 2050.
Asians are expected to increase from 4.4 percent of the population to 6 percent."
... as you can see, the game isn't projected to change much for us in terms of population size. I know, I was crushed by those figures as well - I was hoping for something in the neighborhood of 10-12%.
Given this scenario (not saying its an absolute - after all, all of us are talking about the future right now, and none of us can predict that), the "take over by muscle (numbers)" theory seems to lose its teeth.
Anna is 100% correct about growing our power base by organically nurturing our Asian-American Arts, and by channeling our dollars in an effective way by making active consumer choices that will benefit our fledgling community (which sadly still lacks a lot of cohesion because we're still 60% foreign born).
Yet in the back of my mind, I'm always aware of the need for us AAs to maintain our ties with our homelands as well - given our pronounced disadvantage in terms of demographics and level of entrenchment in America society (that is, not much), it seems to almost always come down to fighting a multi-front war.
Yes, it does give persistence to others questioning our loyalty as Americans (Wen Ho Lee, anyone?), but given the demographic projections it seems that the alternate way for us to flex our muscle and influence (outside of us infiltrating key industries such as finance, media like the Jews have done) is to piggyback on the ascendancy of our brothers and sisters in Asia proper.
Another thing to mention is that with the rise of Asia as the economic center of the 21st Century, the rates of emigration might slow, which may further dry up the vital 'population tributaries' that currently flow from Asia to America, ultimately leaving our community with a fate similar to that of the Dead Sea, which is shrinking from year to year because of the man-made diversions of the rivers that feed the inland ocean.
I mean really - I hate, hate hate being the bearer of bad news, but I'm offering this perspective in the name of being accurate, and of finding the correct remedy for our problems as a community. If it were up to me, I'd like for the Asian-American population in America to be 30%!
... as you can see, the game isn't projected to change much for us in terms of population size. I know, I was crushed by those figures as well - I was hoping for something in the neighborhood of 10-12%.
Given this scenario (not saying its an absolute - after all, all of us are talking about the future right now, and none of us can predict that), the "take over by muscle (numbers)" theory seems to lose its teeth.
A socially and politically cohesive AA community is what would need to happen if we're not going to get the numbers. We would need to be influential for or size. The Jews may have thousands of years of religion solidifying their cohesiveness, but that shouldn't discourage us from starting right now to bring about solidarity for the AA community. You'd need only to look at the gay community to realize a group of people can solidify as a socio-political group and become influential in just 20-30 years.
Besides when people make personal decisions like starting families, falling in love and hanging out with the buds, nobody is thinking in terms of bettering their communities through a breeding program. Societies all across Asia are trying to get their people to have more babies (Japan, Singapore) and they've had very little success. If I was a woman, I wouldn't carry a child for 9 months just because the government says so or my community needs the numbers.
I mean, Gays have their SEXUALITY and that discrimination to unite them. Its still illegal for them to get married or adopt in some areas.
In other words they have a stronger overt form of discrimination to face which makes their enemy easily seen, and provides a position to take easily,
Plus their sexual urges are stronger than some randomly socially constructed ""ethnic "" identity. I mean, most Azns i know are actually western ""white"" people but with yellow skin. If you heard them on the phone or closed your eyes when talking, you couldnt tell the difference between a group of white people talking and Asian/Yellow people talking. Theres nothing seperating us in terms of behaviour from whites.
I really think theres nothing uniting Azns right now, not culture(because most of us follow white hollywood culture/mainstream news), not discrimination/history of oppression(because many Azns actually from high socioeconomic background with privilege, where their money and power of their families has protected them aginst these realitites) not even food or values, because we all eat different foods and believe in different things.
Gays personal Sexual identity is something tangible, and a real identity, something that cannot be changed. They will always be attracted to the same sex. Its in their biology.
Azns /Asians on the other hand will not always be Asian. If they go outside the white sphere, say to Asia, then they wont be classed as AZn or Asian anymore, because these classifications arent socially used in Asia itself. Its a total sociopolitical construction created as a product of contact with/by white society.
In conclusion, I think Gays and Asians are like two very different situations.
Azs are westerners who happen to have yellow skin.
Gays are Men lovers, who happen to be men.
Gays identity IS their sexuality, while for the most part, Azn identity is based on things that havent got anything to do with being Asian at all......
Yes, ANNA, I can compare gays with Asians because when it comes to discrimination and prejudice there are always parallels. That means similar experiences, not the same experiences.
Azs are westerners who happen to have yellow skin.
So what's the point of having numerical numbers if you act and think like whites? there is no identity. You're essentially honorary whites, as Frank Chin puts it.
Numbers mean nothing unless there is an understanding of a common history. This is why Asian American history and the history of the Asian Diaspora is important to know. This is why Asian Studies, Asian American Studies and Asian American advocacy groups are so important, because these things help create a pan-Asian identity. This pan-Asian identity won't occur in Asia, as every country is looking to protect and secure their interests in a future with dwindling resources. But in the Anglosphere we can have a pan-Asian identity.
Now do we have a lot things that are working against us as far developing a cohesive community?
OF COURSE.
But that doesn't mean we can't work towards developing that cohesiveness and looking to other communities for historical lessons.
The question of empathy is interesting. I often feel as though there isn't much empathy being shown within the Asian community itself. In fact, I think that we can sometimes be really judgmental and harsh toward one another.
If this perception accurately reflects a facet of Asian-American interactions then part of building a strong community must involve a drive to validate our experiences from others within the community.
G-A
Mate, isnt that what sets us free? To me, Think and Act like whites means replicating the privilege and power that whites have in western societies, for Asians.
If everyone has that privilege and power, then eveyone is equal, lol.
Not saying I want to be white, I just want what white people have; Power.
I may be mistaken, but from my understanding (which may also just be my personal opinion, lol)Frank Chin stated in Seeing Through The Shuck, that its the privilege and power that whites have that sets them free, and develop positive self identities free from racial stereotypes in US society.
""But that doesn't mean we can't work towards developing that cohesiveness and looking to other communities for historical lessons.""
true, true..
I agree, i just wanted to note some differences, sorry if i spoke harshly.
I though the kids were beautiful too, it took me AGES to find those pictures.
I went through like 20-30 pictures of different kids that i thought would represent the ideas in the article, before i chose the two best ones. So I'm glad you like them!!
"Mate"? Did I hear that right? =)
Are you an Aussie? A BBC, perhaps? It's always interesting to have a global perspective as well, although Asian-American do tend to kind of take the lead, this country being the place where 'race-based activism' first started and was refined.
So good for you!
Yes. I agree with this. Numbers are only part of the equation. Most important is an oppositional Asian consciousness--and the culture and institutions to promote this consciousness.
"I mean, most Azns i know are actually western ""white"" people but with yellow skin.
This is harsh but true to an extent--especially for Orientals.
Orientals are a defeated and conquered people.
But they made their choices.
Let them reap the bitter fruits of these choices.
I love you guys! :D
This is good stuff. I'm impressed.
Sorry, just had to add that. :(
I'm very much a Westernised Chinese person. I have all too frequently encountered this kind of judgmental comment, implying I should be ashamed because I am not Chinese enough. This does not in any way encourage me to connect with the heritage of my forebears, but rather makes me feel rejected by my own race.
I can't just lever some notion of a cultural heritage into my life that for various reasons I don't have in my make-up.
On a separate note, the comments about selective breeding made me feel physically ill. I came here to see some examples of Alpha Asian-ness, and I find it hard to believe that being a racial purist is part of that, though I seem to be in a minority here.
Well you and I agree, Comet. Much to the dismay of my mom, I really don't have a strong connection to my cultural heritage. I don't care to practice traditional Chinese customs. I don't crap on my heritage, however, like some people. But I know who I am, and Chinese culture doesn't play that much of a role in my life other than food, family and friendships.
Like I said before, nobody is thinking in terms of racial politics when it comes to attraction and relationships, even though those factors may be in play at a subconscious level. If I'm attracted to someone or if I want to spend the rest of my life with someone, I'm not motivated by some need to create more Asian babies or to put the Asian male in a better light.
For me, attraction and compatibility isn't the sole characteristic of anyone one race. I'm like you as well, "westernized", or "assimilated" into the predominant culture in which I grew up.
I do, however, understand the concerns of those who wish to see AA's not get so absorbed into the greater mainstream culture through out marriage and what not that it diminishes the existence of AAs and AA culture---at least in the US. But then again, I never thought there was much of an AA culture to begin with. Like James, I don't have much of a strong tie to my cultural heritage either.
I don't know if it's good or bad to be sort of rootless; it kind of just...is.
Judgmental?
Hell no.
Reaping what you sow is about accepting responsibility for your actions and the political fruits that they bear--something that many model minority Orientals refuse to do.
I may well appear to act "white" to a lot of people who have been brought up in an Asian culture. I can't make myself act and think "Asian" when I don't really know what that means. I could go and live in China for a few years, maybe that would help me understand the mindset better, but why? Because someone said that the cultural hand I happen to have been dealt means I don't conform to some notion of Asian-ness?
The irony is that condemnation of people like myself who "refuse" to be "oppositionally Asian" is in itself counter-productive to the cause of promoting "Asian-ness". A Westernised Asian who is curious about exploring their cultural heritage is not likely to want to communicate more with other, more "authentic" Asians when their own kind are berating them for not already being more in tune with that heritage. I can only think that these Westernised folk are the "defeated and conquered" Orientals you refer to, rather than Orientals in general (China seems to be doing fairly well at the moment).
I can see, and have experienced, how there may be a loss of cultural identity amongst the children of immigrants relative to people from their original ethnic homelands. However, I also agree with MojoRider that that isn't necessarily a good or a bad thing, but has its own set of pros and cons. I think there'a a difference between accepting this and being apathetic.