WordPress frightens me, especially the part where it shows you search terms people use to find your blog. I had one guy<—(taking a wild guess on that one) using the search string “asian fuck”. Apart from the mild disappointment in knowing that I appear under the search results for “asian fuck”, you got to consider his crashing expectations when he arrived at my blog … ha! so it’s all good. Still, I suggested to Yuka perhaps not to post any images.
As I was skimming through the CNN headlines a while back, I came upon an article header something to the effect of “despite family’s shame, Asian man finds success as DJ”. Got to admit, I didn’t actually read the article, since reading CNN articles is like reading its headline… but packed with even more frivolous sentences. The problem for me is the unnecessary use of an oriental vocabulary when it comes to discussing Asians and especially their ties to the family. Had this person been any other race, family wouldn’t have even come up in the headline and at best, they would only note that the family was reluctant or disapproving of his choice of career. But not if you’re dealing with Asians.
In that case, they need to suggest the inner turmoil of being Asian and the high expectations of an authoritarian Asian family weighing down upon the passionate bohemian spirit of the culturally tethered Asian offspring. He must overcome his family’s immense shame to teach these foolish backwards people that there is glory in his choices. To use the word shame in today’s speech is to say one is ignorant. I could have sworn we were in the 21st century. Perhaps it was purely innocent and the writer CNN hired just happened to be from the 1880’s and writes his headlines by the glow of an oil lamp. This writer is the same one that would accuse and chastise Asian American males for patriarchal tyranny and use Chinese foot binding from the f-n Tang Dynasty as unequivocal proof (*Asian American men look puzzled – shrug shoulders* huh?). I don’t even have an Asian family but I find it strange when the media praises the Asian family and its rigid structure as the source of Asian achievement and model minority status, but place blame when interracial relationships and freedom from oppression come up.
I’m not saying Asian families aren’t a little heavy handed at times, but to place them in the forefront of an article about an Asian’s rise to fame as a DJ shouldn’t be necessary to explain the story. Whites would find it equally annoying if they read a headline such as, white Irish man graduates at the top of his class at Police Academy, much to the shame of his habitually drunk and rowdy Irish family. Being adopted I know first hand Irish love to be drunk and rowdy, even the ones that are police officers. So can we just drop this concept of family shame and ancient traditional lineages. Perhaps I read too deeply into it. Last thing I want to turn into is an over-sensitive liberal. I mean, it’s just words. Words don’t mean anything. Ask Ann Coulter, whenever she gets interviewed about whether these are “her words”, her rebuttal is always sarcastically “oh yeah, I believe everything that I write.” See, why are people under the impression that words have to actually convey meaning. True neoconservatives accept the idea that words have no requirement to convey anything substantial. Thinking they should… well, that’s just so pussyboy leo straussian-ish of you. I don’t even know what that means… pussyboy leo straussian-ish… so I guess I’m on board. Are you? People need to stop projecting what it is they want to see and face up to the reality of what actually exists — ink on paper folks, nothing more. Speaking of which, I got this really cool magazine sent to me concerning tourism in Asia.
Hmmm… geisha games? *twitch* bamboo curtains? *squirm* jewels in need of ravishing? *sweat* freshly-shucked yantai?? *nose-bleed*… wait… hold on… how exactly does one go about shucking the indigenous persons of China’s Yantai prefecture? *hard contemplation* … Ohhhhhh… *wink wink nudge nudge*… clever bastards. One might have mistakenly viewed this as a thinly veiled attempt to imbue a sexual subtext, suggesting an exotic playground tinged with a hint of eroticism… where in actuality, it was a well played and clever reminder to faithful readers that the Yanti prefecture of Shandong is a leading market of fine Chinese oysters. Sir, I can only admire your attempt to educate through your glib playfulness. Like the way he tried to anthropomorphize those bamboo curtains and jewels, I was practically convinced there was something hidden for me behind that bamboo curtain. Anthropomorphizing makes it seem like we’re talking about a person and not just an “it”, using this technique you can take an object (say… those three geishas on the cover) and imbue them with almost human characteristics, in turn creating a more personal message that attempts, in a very human way, to reach out to us. Hahhaa like if you stare at it hard enough you can almost start to believe it has feelings… wow, I find that an irresistible quality in a woman. In fact, you can almost imagine that if you punched it, you could probably make “it” cry. Masterfully done sirs. Clever wordplay like this should be rewarded with equally clever rhetorical wit… … Asia and Away? gucking fay.
Oh, got to add this video. Yuka and I went for a drive recently during a light rainstorm. We were chatting as usual but this song came on and we both stopped and listened. Hard to describe… it’s like when you hear a song on the radio that you like and even though your destination is coming up, everything feels so good at that moment that you’ll purposely drive past just to extend that moment. It’s not that you’re hearing the music coming off the radio or through the speaker, it seems more like a score in a movie that comes in at just the right time, when everyone’s feeling it. Not too abrupt or so loud it pulls you out of the scene… like I said, it’s hard to describe this feeling. It’s just one of those rare moments where everything feels right without requiring any explanation. Anyway Bic is a great singer, she should be bigger in the US. Found a version on youtube. Try and smile today, bye bye.
[ youtube=http://youtube.com/w/?v=Dm41j3zBatU]
