IWA #3 Blogging and the media

Among all the six blogs that we were assigned to read for the last three days, the “Angry Asian Man” blog by Phil Yu intrigued me the most. Being an Asian American himself, he tries to convey to the public that Asians also have a voice in public. Many people may have stereotyped Asians in America being the group of people who are conservative, always quiet and hesitant to raise their opinions. Through this blog, he wants to bring out the idea that public’s opinion is totally wrong. Also, he points out about racism that happens in the United States, especially towards Asians. I believe Asians are the most common victims in the United States. They are often viewed as second-class citizens in America with the white people being the first-class citizens. I could understand cases where native Asians become the victim of racism in United States, maybe because of their immigration status and their imperfect English proficiency. However, having an Asian American becoming a target of racism sounds ridiculous to me. They grow up with other fellow Americans and gradually adopt American culture. Yet, what makes them inferior to other Americans from other ethnicities?

One article which shows Phil’s hatred about racism is the “post secret: Asian men turn me on”, which portrays a scene where a white woman dating an Asian man. The picture further explains that the parents of this white woman were actually teaching her to date a man within her own race. However, in the end she fell in love with this Asian guy. This story does not explicitly show racism towards Asian, yet, we can infer that the parents of the white woman seems to see that people from other races are of lower class people. In real life, we rarely see a white and an Asian couple, and most of the time the number of white man-Asian woman couple far outweighs the number of Asian man- white woman couple. Seemingly, a white man is far more superior to an Asian man, thus making it’s almost impossible for an Asian man to attract a white woman. So, how could this Asian guy in the picture attract a white girl? Phil, through this post, emphasizes that although people think that Asians are lower class citizens, people should count them too. It was not plausible for an Asian to get a white partner, but this story illustrates that it’s no longer a rare case now.

The article of “green hornet movie trailer hits the web” shows a little different thing. It displays the appearance of Asians in the mass media, for example, more and more Asians are getting into the Hollywood film industry. The “green hornet” is actually starring a Taiwanese actor named Jay Chou, who is making his first appearance in Hollywood. We all know it’s hard to get into Hollywood. Furthermore, unlike numerous other action movies in general, where they have white guy as the main character, this film has Jay Chou as the main character and the protagonist. Even though Jay may have language difficulty in starring the film, as he is not a native speaker, Phil is still looking forward to the release of the film, as he would like to see an Asian guy being the main character. Having an Asian guy taking the most important role in a film can possibly change people’s perception about Asian. People may start to think that Asians could also strive in everything that others can do, and not the group of people who can only keep quiet.

Another engaging post from Phil’s blog is about the “11th annual San Diego Asian Film Festival opens tonight”. The festival is mainly about the celebration of the best of Asian American films. In my opinion, this festival does not only target Asian audiences. It invites everyone to learn more about the Asian culture and appreciate Asians’ talent. For Asians themselves, this festival can serve as a gathering event as well as a media to appreciate their root and culture. In retrospect, this blog aims to engage every reader, yet particularly Asian readers so that they can understand and further appreciate their identity. The blog also serves as a media for Asians to voice up their opinions and continue to pursue their quest for equality.