Asian male

On Facebook:

#9's sister: An unpaired sock seems more distressing but less futile than an unpaired chopstick. I have both in any case.

Some random angmoh chatting up #9's sister: What about unpaired humans?

#9: What about I unpair your nuts?


When Obama was inaugurated, there was plenty of talk about how America had become "post racial", and suddenly the colour of your skin didn't matter. That was until last week, when a Harvard professor was arrested for breaking into his own house. In spite of his vehement protests that he was the occupant of that house, the police held him in a cell for 4 hours, before he got released.

Skip Gates was one of the most famous black professors in the USA, and the irony was that he wrote a lot about racial profiling: examples of police officers picking on black people and checking them out because they were black and more likely to be criminals. On one hand the more likely to be criminals part is true, and on the other hand, you could also call this blatant racism.

There's a lot of hoo-hah in the media about that incident. OK, Obama is PUSA, but it doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of people in prison in the US are black. This is not reparation for slavery because he did not descend from slaves (although Michelle did).

Of course there is hope that the majority of Americans have indicated that they would not mind a black man in the White house. But this does not mean that all the racists have gone away. With every action there is a reaction, and the reaction here is that some extremist minority will feel so threatened that he will start being a terrorist (like that guy who bombed the holocaust museum earlier this year.)

A digression here - the way that Obama handled this incident showed that he is a very good politician. He did not hold back from criticising the way that this case has been handled. He called the officers "stupid", knowing that the majority of Americans would have either agreed with him, or otherwise not blamed him for saying that. After the police union criticised Obama for that comment, Obama said that he would invite the officer over for a beer, and also Skip Gates.

He knows that he's the first black president, and the black community would be looking to him to at least make 1 comment about this incident, and he duly obliged, without killing himself politically. He didn't shy from making a statement as a leader. Later on, he invited the policeman over for a beer. This shows he's in touch with blue collar culture. If the policeman accepts, he's also accepting a reconciliation. If he keeps quiet, both parties treat it like a joke and there's no harm done. As for him turning down such an invitation, I hope that police officer only says that in private. That's something that a good leader does - he brings up issues, thrashes them out, and then reconciles people afterwards.

In any case, race is only but a form of class warfare. Class warfare will never go away. The notion of social status is deeply wired into the human experience. Race is different from class warfare, but in a way it is a form of class warfare. There will always be a means for people to differentiate who's the haves and who's the have nots. That will never go away. The rich will always get richer and the poor will always get poorer. The only exception is if a revolution or a war destroys everything and people start from scratch.

This is not a pleasant topic to talk about but what the hell. There are different dimensions of racism in western countries. I have learnt that it is not precise enough to talk about how East Asians are treated. It’s well known that East Asian ladies are quite attractive, and they get better treatment. At the same time, East Asian males are – well, less masculine, so they get a little more stick. It is quite well known that most heterosexual relationships between a Caucasian and a Chinese / Korean / Japanese / Viet / etc will involve an angmoh guy and an Asian woman. It is also true that more angmoh guys than women travel to Singapore, but you don’t know whether that is the cause of this phenomenon or whether the direction of causation is the other way around.

It is strange because Asian males have been the driver of incredible economic growth – we’re not slouches. But we are subservient and not very pushy, at least on the outside. These are traits that are considered attractive in a female and – frankly – unattractive in a male.

You will observe that for different races, the different gender will be more attractive. Black men are considered more attractive than black women, partially because of their reputation of having large dicks. Black women are – well the fact that I don’t even know what they’re supposed to be stereotyped as, that tells me that they’re low profile. I also suppose that black women suffer because the conventional standards of beauty hold that fair women are prettier. There are exceptions, eg David Bowie has a taste for black women in general, not just Iman, but he’s always been a little weird.

For angmohs, the guys are more attractive. The average angmoh male is considered more attractive than the average Chinese male, and the average Chinese female more attractive than the average angmoh female.

Who’s the first Chinese American in the US cabinet? Elaine Chao, a female. Who’s the first Black President? A male.

I suppose this is an undercurrent of the race debate that people don’t pick on. It’s already complicated enough to talk about gender alone, or race alone. But I think this is significant. I wonder why people don’t always mention this more often. It hasn’t bothered me a lot for quite a few years now, but I remember this fact for two reasons: the recent Virginia Tech murders. Both were committed by Asian males.

Yes, here’s another stereotype you can add to your collection. Asian males are ticking time bombs. I read this article that said that one of the differences between southern and northern Chinese is that southerners have a slow burning fuse and northerners have a quick temper. It may be true. Southern Chinese are notoriously passive aggressive. Singapore is one of the most passive aggressive places I have ever seen. People just bottle it in until the time comes, and then they explode. Anyway Edward Yang, the Taiwanese film maker who is my favourite director makes films about people bottling their anger inwards until they explode.

It’s not only the East Asians who have this, I think. I heard somebody say this about the Turks – they will smile back at you the first 10 times you slap them in the face, and on the 11th time, they will kill you.

Myself, I used to get very annoyed whenever I noticed a white guy going out with an Asian female, especially if she's Chinese. Now, much less so. These days I'm much less horny (which is true). Also I have gotten angry at this before, gotten into flame wars with people I'm sure are Caucasian males and after a few times, I've grown tired and seen the futility. Also, I've learnt the futility of anger, and also I've learnt that after you have rationalised something, and thrashed things out, it is more difficult to get emotional about things, good or bad. (Incidently that is one important function of criminal trials - families of victims, after a trial is over, after all the facts are pored over, are less likely to seek revenge, unless they are totally pissed off at the way the trial was handled.)

I've learnt to understand some of the gains that Asian males have made in this world. I've reminded myself - the tide is turning, the future is Asia. I've even thought of the racial stereotypes of the Asian male, and it is not all negative. You could call us timid but we could be circumspect. You could call us nerdy but we are hardworking. You could call us slavish, but is individualism really such a great idea? You don't get taken for a thug, which is the problem a lot of black people face.

You look at some of the Asian stereotypes that have made their way into popular culture, they are not that bad. The hyperactive Stephen Yan in Yan can Cook. Geeky but very knowledgeable and friendly. Mr Miyagi, one of the best teachers there ever was. Bruce Lee - OK, a little violent and narcissistic, but the hero of the underdog. It could be a lot worse.