More Stereotypes, BoA and Charity
Monday, December 1, 2008
Stereotypes annoy me to no ends. There's the funny stereotypes such as: "All Asians eat rice," "All Asians know kung fu," and "All Asians are nerdy overachievers." But then there are the ridiculous stereotypes such as: "All Asians have chinky eyes," and "All Asians cannot speak English." Okay, firstly, my eyes are not chinky, but they aren't big. They're perfectly proportional to my face, okay? And secondly, I can fluently write and read English. I might have a few pronunciation problems but you could understand me when I talk.
Today, I had a enjoyable time in my second period with one of my classmates. He was of Mexican descent and apparently believes in the drivel that society comes up with. He immediately assumed I could speak Chinese, and began saying "Ching chong chang" and that kind of stuff. Then I had to correct him by saying "Ching, chong and chang are actually not Chinese words." His face was amazing. Firstly, my Mandarin sucks and I consider myself Vietnamese rather than Chinese. And then another guy said to me "Ni hao" so I decided to mess with him and reply "Wo shi hao, ni hao bu hao?" And his face was hysterical. It's just so sad how people make assumptions. But you learn to deal with it. For instance, some Asian stereotypes I don't even take offense.
You walk up to me and say "You have chinky eyes" I'll squint my eyes and hold up a peace sign, saying "What?" [Love NigaHiga].
You walk up to me and say "Do you speak like a fob?[Fresh Off Boat]?" And I'll speak in a heavy Vietnamese accent. "Wah dat mea?" \
You walk up to me and say "Do your parents work in a nail salon?" And I'll reply "Yaaaa, wah yoo nee tudaay?"
It's fun to make fun of stereotypes.
But when it comes to culture and language, I take a little offense and get into debates with people. It's just who I am.
I think Asians are not as appreciated in America as in other countires. There's only about a handful of Asians in the entertainment industry and the roles are basically limited to martial arts/action films. I haven't seen an Asian in the music industry. But then I heard that BoA was coming to America. And I thought "Sweet."
In comparision to what is considered good music in Amerca, Asian music tops it. Compare Britney Spears's Womanizer versus S.H.E.'s Miss Universe. Basically, Britney's promoting sexual appeal while S.H.E.'s promoting individuality. So in the long run, who do you think has won?
BoA 's English single "Eat You Up" has been released here and it is the BOMB. BoA has sick dancing, though the song didn't need so much synthesizing. Between the two versions of the music video, the Korean-directed one took the cake. The other version was too...cheap. I believe the director wasn't aware of what BoA was capable of and simply stuck to boring screendrops, sex appeal...those kind of things. I think American music seriously needs a make-over. I think we should bring back the decent music that wasn't all about inappropiate things.
I realize I started off this rant with stereotypes and ended up with music. I just jump from topic to topic, don't I?
I rearranged my profile. If you look over, you'll see my charity links. I think that this world has too many charities that I believe in so I just put up the one that really have a soft spot in my heart. Unicef, American Red Cross and Every Fifteen Minutes. Unicef is an organization set to help children all over the world [More information] American Red Cross is basically an organization that helps out after disasters and tragic events. [More info] Every Fifteen Minutes is a program about drunk driving. Drunk driving is a serious problem. Every fifteen minutes, someone dies in an Alcohol-related collision. So to those of you reading this, please do not drive while you're drunk. Alcohol is a depressant and alters your judgement. So just be wise. [More information]
About my stories, I finally stopped being lazy and updated "Sunsets" with Chapter 4. Now I have to get over the fact that I must now write GuiLun. Darn, but I'll get over it. Right now, I'm trying to get "With a Cherry on Top" out of the way so I can move on. You can check my status to the left.
Well, that's all I've got to say for now. Thanks for reading. This rant got really random but I tend to get very very random.
Let's keep this BeBu Train Moving.
Ice Queen.