On Studying Politics and History and Mental Discipline

It's very important that when we deal with history or political issues, to realize there are no absolute truths. Instead, truth is dependent on context - or rather "reality is not independent of context". Almost every action does not necessarily have a moral value associated with it.  For instance, the bombing of Hiroshima was not necessarily wrong because it prevented more lives from being lost.  Of course there are exceptions to the rule: the enslavement of African-Americans for instance was undoubtedly an evil which hopefully is never again repeated, as was the Holocaust. 

An action taken out of context may or may not be right or wrong but only in the proper context can it be given a moral right-wrong value. Put another way it is not about what abstract facts are right or wrong based "on paper" on what you might have read in a text book, but what is right or wrong based on the humanistic interpretation and the overarching worldview of justice that makes something right or wrong.

It is similar when we talk about history. History is re-writable.  In fact history MUST be re-written constantly if humanity wishes to progress.  Of course we would rather certain people not re-write history, for instance neo-Nazis or the evil Chinese Communist Party, but those are examples of regressive individuals who can only do harm to the human race.  When we are honestly examining history for flaws in order to achieve a higher level or to bring society to the next stage in development the ends can certainly justify the means even if "our" own version of history cannot be proven directly.

This Naturally this takes a lot of mental discipline.  Admittedly there are times when the flow of events requires us to bend the rules of perception even beyond the objectivity of reason.  In times like this we require mental discipline - we must be able to suspend disbelief of believing something that is not obvious had we not applied mental discipline, or we must be able to block ourselves from seeing obvious arguments that could be un-progressive or un-democratic.

In short, history IS politics.  One feeds into the other and vice versa and they are inseperable.  The two are not distinct identities.  Therefore, it is impossible to call oneself a progressive activist if they do not have a good control over their historical worldview and the interpretation of reality.

An Open Letter to my fellow (East) Asian Americans

A note to my fellow (East) Asian-Americans - especially males - who will be receiving your college letters soon:

Please STOP whining that you didn't get in because of affirmative action. The simple truth that you don't want to handle is that black people, white people, and Latin@s are better than you. You want to know the reason why you didn't get into Harvard? Sure you can recite Pi to 10 thousand places or memorize who killed who and when and where, but YOU CANNOT do anything else. You have no talents beyond being able to repeat and do repetitive tasks.  You lack creativity and true personality, everything that makes the rest of us so great.

Sure you got a 2400 on the SAT but why? Only because your parents paid for fancy tutors. Either that or you cheated your ass off Do you really expect people to believe you "earned your score" and got a 800 on the Verbal section when you can barely speak English?

Sure you might have even played a sport but you're still not fooling anyone. You have no passion for what you did and only did so to pad out your resume. I wouldn't be surprised if your parents had to bribe the coach for a spot on the team.  You can claim you did this and that but anyone can see that it's just a thinly veiled attempt at deceiving the admissions committee.

Take away your privilege and you're just a robotic, borderline autistic loser devoid of any sort of personality, empathy, or real usable intelligence. You do not have anything to add to society other than your pure greed and sociopathic angst. America does not need people who put their race before everyone else. If you want to go to a university that is all Asian, go back to Asia. America needs diverse, compassionate, intelligent people capable of sustaining us in the modern world, NOT racist, cheating Asians.

Today I'd like to share an excellent video blog by an African-American living in China.  Please enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY-K_zdPg-4

Asians complain over the Oscar ceremony

http://www.buzzfeed.com/krishrach/people-are-unhappy-with-all-the-asian-jokes-made-at-the-acad#.feRaneYpNL

It seems that Asians are up in arms about a couple of harmless jokes by famed African-American comedian Chris Rock and Jewish-American Sascha Baron Cohen.  Boo hoo.  Cry me a river.

I could care less about people claiming to be offended when it comes coming from a demographic where anti-blackness and anti-semitism runs rampant, where misogyny is an endemic social disease, and where blackface still exists.

Their selective outrage speaks volumes for Asian ethnocentrism that persists even among second and third-generation Asian-"Americans"; rarely do Asians see themselves as part of a multi-racial society but rather as competitors for domination within it.  Put in another way, Asians at best want to obtain white privilege at the expense of POC's and at worst wish to dominate American society.

Asians objected to Mr. Rock and Mr. Cohen's jokes not because they were offensive (the mere fact that they were jokes should have been a hint that they weren't), but because it was a non-Asian casting light on problems within Asian society.  Rather than scapegoating minority comedians, Asians need to be introspective and look into their own communities.  When people use comedy as social commentary, the appropriate response is not to "take offense" but rather to listen and address the issues.

In fact, in this case I would say the real racists in this case are the Asians who are trying to silence and regulate the speech of blacks and other POC.  The First Amendment exists for a reason; it exists especially to protect minorities that might be oppressed by authoritarian types which wish to take away their right to speak.  Furthermore, in America satire and social commentary are protected by law.  This includes the right to offend through social commentary.  Such protections of our precious civil liberties are what make America great.  What the American constitution does NOT say however is that the thought police must silence POC at the request of other races.

Lest we forget, Asians do NOT experience systematic oppression in the United States. There maybe individual cases of discrimination which may result in having to commute an extra 15 minutes to work because one company doesn't hire them, but this is by and large the full extent of the troubles that Asians face.  Asian-Americans (especially East Asians) enjoy a privileged status of "honorary white" much like they did in racist, apartheid South Africa.  By contrast, POCs face discrimination in every area of life; from employment, to housing, to education, to criminal justice.  Police regularly murder African-Americans and our legal system is set up to disenfranchise them.  Most Asian issues pale in comparison to things like Ferguson, or the recent murder of Akai Gurley (killed by an Asian cop no less).

If we truly want to be accepted by American society at large, we need to cease the rampant ethnocentrism in our community and stop trampling upon the rights of a society which has kindly taken us in.

The "Free Peter Liang" Riots Are Absurd

The Aftermath of one of many "Free Peter Liang" riots across America

If in case you've been living under a rock for the last week, the Chinese and Asian fifth column of America (I will NOT use the politically correct term Chinese-American which implies that the Chinese and Asians wish to be an equal part of the American mainstream) took to the streets in violent race riots to "protest" against their favorite son's rightful and just conviction as a killer cop.

This is problematic because first of all, P.L. got justice.  Justice was served when Liang was indicted, and Justice will hopefully be served when he is sentenced to prison time for his actions.  Liang was never a victim, except of his own subconscious anti-blackness and racism which led him to pull the trigger in the first place.

Secondly, Asians have once again failed to realize that they are guests in America and privileged ones at that.  Asian success has often come at the expense of Black and Latinx success.  In a way Asians have been able to cleverly manipulate the system - on the one hand piggybacking on the Civil Rights Movement and on the other taking up the position of "honorary whites" handed to them by the racist overall system.  In this way EVERY SINGLE ASIAN MALE who says "Justice for Peter Liang" is complicit in the system of white supremacy.

But for the sake of argument let's try to see things from the other side.  The Chinese fifth column in America claims that they are seeking justice for all.  So much for credibility!  If they are really seaking justice for all, where were they when Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin were killed?  Where were they when Freddie Grey and Eric Garner were murdered.  They compare the case of Peter Liang to the above but yet are completely absent unless it affects them!  And let's not get started about the rampant anti-blackness both in China and in the Chinese population of America.

As evinced by Chinese propaganda, Chinese culture believes that honesty and responsibility have no cash value and are therefore worthless. However there isn't so much as a molecule of evidence that truth is merely a social construct.  When stark realities become absolute, the Chinese flee like orcs in the sunlight.

The bottom line is this: from the highlands of Tibet, to the shoals of the Spratlys, to the Projects of New York City, Chinese killer cops are murdering innocent POC.  The fiendish cunning, combined with abnormal powers of intellectual dishonesty, combine to make it the deadly enemy of all mankind.

If the Chinese in America truly want "Justice for Peter Liang" - then rally for him to be put in prison, and not set free!

The Invisible Rice Bowl of Asian Privilege

Privilege is a special right or advantage available only to a particular person or group of people. The term is commonly used in the context of social inequality, particularly in regard to social class, race, age, sexual orientation, gender, and disability. Two common examples would be having access to a higher education and housing.  Privilege can also be emotional or psychological, regarding personal self-confidence and comfort, or having a sense of belonging or worth in society.

In Chinese slang, the phrase 鐵飯碗 (tie fan wan), meaning "iron rice bowl" refers to a job which guarantees easy money for life.  By extension, it means someone whose socioeconomic comfort is assured.  In this post I use the term "Rice Bowl of Asian Privilege" as an analogy for those unearned advantages that a person has merely by being of Asian background.

In this post, I want to give a few examples of Asian privilege in Asia.  Note that as I am a Taiwanese-American living in Taiwan, some of these examples may be particular to Taiwan rather than to Asia as a whole.

1. When I am in public, I can see individuals which resemble me.
2. I can, without restricting myself to a limited pool of individuals, arrange to meet and be in the company of individuals who share my race, language and culture without additional effort.
3. When I am in public, I am not made to feel out of place because of my race or ethnicity; nobody draws unwanted negative attention towards me simply because of the color of my skin.
4. I am able to rent or purchase housing in an area that I can afford without additional stipulations.
5. I can sign contracts for things like bank accounts, credit cards, and mobile phones without being denied simply for the color of my skin.
6. I can be reasonably sure that I will not be overcharged when I go shopping.
7. I see people of my race, ethnicity, and culture in the media.
8. Conversely, my holidays are celebrated by the public at large.
9. I can hear my language widely spoken in public and people do not assume that I do not know the local language, or know the language poorly, because of the color of my race.
10. I do not feel intimidated when discussing my political views in public; I do not have to fear people talking down or correcting me because they see me as an "outsider".
11. I do not need a job or an advanced degree to remain in my country of residence.  I do not need to fear deportation based on the color of my skin.
12. If I obtain employment, I am not "herded into" a certain profession due to my nationality or skin color.
13. Conversely, when I obtain a job I do not need to worry that my peers will think that I only got the job because of my race, nationality or skin color.
14. I do not have to fear being mistreated by the police, my employers, my neighbors, or locals because of my race.
15. I have the right to remain "ignorant" about the cultures of others, without facing a penalty for my lack of knowledge.
16. If I am a cishet male and choose to date a cishet local female, I do not have to worry about being considered a "fetishist" or "creepy".

Asian American men in tech.

Just a quick reblog before I leave.

https://medium.com/message/the-tech-diversity-story-thats-not-being-told-9a36fb40530f

This story is a bit old (from last year) but I didn't have a blog back then and I couldn't find it earlier.

This is a great piece by Anil Dash who is a blogger, entrepreneur, and technologist.  Previously an independent technology consultant and new media developer for the Village Voice, Dash was the first employee of Six Apart, the makers of Movable Type, TypePad, and Vox. He served as its Vice President and Chief Evangelist until moving to Expert Labs.  He was the director of Expert Labs, a "Government 2.0 initiative that aims to connect United States government projects with citizens who want to become more involved in the political discussion".

The major tech companies finally gave in and published their statistics confirming the stark reality that the technology industry excludes workers who are African American, Latino, Native American and especially those who are women of any ethnic or racial background.
For example, California’s Hispanic population now stands at 39%. But though most tech companies are headquartered in California, their average percentage of employees who identify as Hispanic is less than 5%. Take Google, whose headquarters are located in Mountain View, CA, where Hispanics make up 21% of the population —its staff is only 3% Hispanic. The statistics are just as stark when it comes to gender exclusion: The industry average is that only 1/3 of employees are women.

Mr. Dash makes the correct, obvious conclusion:

But there’s one conclusion that is inescapable: Asian American men who work in tech are benefitting from tech’s systematic exclusion of women and non-Asian minorities. 

He gives some useful tips as well for combating this injustice.  The first two tips are:

• Listen and believe. Talk to your coworkers who belong to underrepresented groups. Listen to their stories and experiences. Don’t be defensive, just listen. And then when they’re done, believe what they’re saying. Don’t explain it away, don’t play devil’s advocate. [Emphasis my own] Believe that they know just as much as you, are as smart and capable as you, and have had experiences that you don’t know about.
• Stop ignoring the issue. Specifically, we should acknowledge that we haven’t said enough about anti-Black and anti-Latino attitudes, and that we have not articulated our complicity in industry sexism and misogyny. Indeed, we have often helped build these systems of exclusion, not merely remained silent while they were enforced.

I will let the rest of Anil Dash's article speak for itself (once again, you can read it here).  Please take a look at the article and educate yourselves!  And remember, as a wise man once said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"