informal writing #4

Angry Asian Man

At my first glimpse at the blog when I skim it, I think it is a blog simply talks about Asian Culture, or Asians in America and so on, nothing special. But then, I wonder why the name of the blog is Angry Asian Man. Why Asians are angry?

I try to go through the post one by one. Each post has its own function and characteristic. For example, one shows you a amusing Japanese commercial, one informs readers there will be an event by a Chinese association in Los Angeles, and one introduces the author’s favorite Asian actor who plays in the American drama, Lost and so on. Overall, the posts are enjoyable to read because the topics are different. When I read other blogs while the posts/ works are in the same pattern or are about the same topic, I feel bored reading them, but that is not for this case. Even I am an Asian as well, I do not know some of the contents introduced in the blog. Those post can introduce Asian culture to those Westerns who want to know what is going on in Asia. But still, I can not find out the reason why the blogger thinks Asians are angry. Therefore, I try to look at the list “angriest posts” on the right hand side of the blog. When I go through those angriest posts, I find one thing in common among the posts and I understand and agree that Asians are supposed to be angry.

The author is actually revealing his feeling about racism towards Asian in America, but he does not do that obviously. He talks about trivial things happen in our life to show the invisible racism issue. For example, in the post “Asian sleeping in the library”, he introduces a Tumble site, which has a bunch of photos of Asian students sleeping in the library. And there is something in the site makes him uncomfortable, so am I. I do not think there is only Asian who sleeps in the library. Why does the site only have photos of Asians sleep in the library? I think it is trying to mock the hard-working Asian students. The sleeping face of the Asian is ugly and hilarious for Americans or others, but it may be offensive for Asians. Another example “the green horney starring jay chou…or, uh, john cho?” may give you more hints to identify the perspective of the bloggers. The post first introduces the new Hollywood movie “The Green Hornet”, which was number one at the box office weekend. However, the Internet Movie Databases’s entry for The Green Hornet was incorrectly listing Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou to John Cho. It is really not respectful to Jay Chou, who is the most popular star in Taiwan and China. The blogger inserts a link of the interview and the history about Jay Chou to ask the readers try to know more him at the end of the post. When you read the post “Rush Limbaugh mocks Chinese president with the Ching Chong”, you would definitely agree with the blogger that Asian, or at least Chinese should be angry when their president is being mocked.

Those little things can actually reveal Asians are treated unfairly somehow. There are much more examples happen around us every day. It is not obvious, but racism issue is there. However, the fact is, Aisans work hard, contribute and are getting more and more successful in American or other countries. Look at the posts “the 30 most influential Asian Americans under 30” and “Godfrey Gao, Louis Vuitton’s first Asian male”, they tell you that Asians are getting greater achievements through their hard-working, and there is nothing about Asians should be mocked or made fun of.