Jeremy Lin - Asian American Male Of The Year

It's about that time again where we start anew, but before we do, I want to give an Asian American Male of the Year award to the one and only Jeremy Lin. What Lin accomplished this year alone is truly remarkable. To go from being an NBA player who nobody had really heard of outside of the Asian community before his breakout game against the Nets, to a megastar athlete in a span of a few months calls for a resounding applause.

Far too long have Asian American men had been desperately seeking an Asian male role model to look up to outside the relic of Bruce Lee, though an unadulterated actor, fighter, philosopher and legend by anyones standards, Lin on the other hand has graced the front pages of major newspapers, magazines, mainstream media and entertainment outlets. Most Asian American parents that I knew of growing up didn't encourage their children to go into professional sports. The main focus has always been studying, which isn't a always a bad thing, but Lin achieved more than that. As a Harvard graduate, Lin not only turned the conventional wisdom surrounding Asian American men on its head, that of course being strictly academic, un-athletic and feeble, but also made up for the lost time and painful setback by the American idol reject William Hung.

"A Leading Man" Depicts The Asian Male Actors Struggle In Hollywood

Its no surprise that Asian American actors have struggled to receive acceptance from the mainstream audience in America, let alone obtain leading roles in Hollywood films. And if you compare the hardships that Asian American males have to endure to break into the entertainment industry compared to females, its arguably even harder. As reported by Meniscus Magazine, Steven J. Kung decided to do something about this particular systemic issue by writing and directing the film "A Leading Man", which explores the harsh realities and setbacks when confronted with Hollywood's "quiet racism".

Courtesy of Meniscus Magazine

I don't know much about Steven Kung, but I applaud his gallant efforts in producing a film that challenges the very system that he is a part of and also pays his bills. When asked how he came up with the idea for the script, Steve answered verbatim what many Asian Americans have been contesting all along.

”I originally came to Hollywood because I was sick of seeing Asian men in particular emasculated in front of the camera...No one was making the films that would portray Asian American men in a more well-rounded way. I'm 35 now and this still hasn't come so I'm like, you know, things aren't entirely socially equal, and let's make a film about that.”

Now the lead actor Jack Yang is a good looking guy. He sort of reminds me of the Batman animated version of Bruce Wayne with longer hair. Although that says absolutely nothing about his acting abilities, if he actually has the talent and is getting rejected left and right from Hollywood casting directors consistently then it's obvious that what he's experiencing parallels the "soft bigotry of low expectations" that plagued Jeremy Lin. In other words, he's a benchwarmer, a 3rd string, B-Movie actor. You can see from his portfolio on IMDB Yang's been in a quite a few Hollywood films and TV series, but rarely, if ever, as the leading male character.

Non-English Speaking Chinese Guy Gets The White Girl

Happy Holidays to all of my readers out there!

AbsolutelyFobulous shared this video below featuring cross-cultural love between a Chinese guy, AJ, and his British-Spanish aka white girlfriend Natalie. I've been meaning to share this with all of you frustrated Asian guys out there looking for love (from white girls) in hopes to inspire you.

If AJ, who can barely speak any English, can manage to get with Natalie, a woman who has her own set of Mandarin and cultural obstacles to overcome, there's zero excuse for Asian American guys not being able to get attractive women regardless of their non-Asian background.

I have to give this guy major props because he actually did what a lot of Asian American guys don't do. He initiated. He approached, and I've seen more guys being aggressive with women over in Asian countries than I have here. Now that's inspiring.

RIP To Recent Victims To Gun Violence

Folks, I had to take a break from blogging.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, I had to sit down and reflect upon my life outside of Asian American issues that seem far too petty relative to the recent tragedy where 28 people died. 20 elementary school children, 6 faculty heros, Adam Lanza and his gun toting mother. I'm not going to argue about gun control as I've done more than enough debating for stricter gun laws during the last week. The one thing I will say however is that I don't believe in guns, period.

Thanks for those of you checking in. I have more stories I'd like to share with you soon.

The Next Big Asian Comedian: Zhangster

For some of you who already know of the Zhangster, call me a late arrival to the party but I just stumbled upon his clips on YouTube. He's a Chinese American straight out of the Bay Area, San Francisco to be exact. Hands down he's one of the funniest Asian American male comedians I've seen in a while. His jokes are pretty clever and he's really quick with the comebacks.

Zhangster going off on the UCLA Wallace's racist rant against Asians.

Asians Majority of Silicon Valley Workers

San Jose Mercury reports that Asians are now the dominant workforce in Silicon Valley. Is it really surprising though? I guess, but when did Asians not dominate math, engineering and sciences? Its been going on for the last several decades unless you've never met an Asian person in your entire life. What I would prefer to see though is more Asian college graduates pursuing sales and marketing roles that require a different skill set and prepares for senior management.

Courtesy of San Jose Mecury

When one looks at most company management teams, the majority is still predominantly white. I don't have a problem with it personally as long as everyone has a fair shot at making it to the top. The way I see it is that Asian Americans are always hustling. As you can see from the pie charts above, it took a decade for Asians to increase their footprint in Silicon Valley by 12%. That's some impressive growth numbers and it just goes to show you that hard work and persistance pays off. 

Naturally, this can create stereotypes and lead to an imbalance where one ethnic group dominates a particular sector leaving other hidden talent to be overlooked. I believe this is unhealthy for the same reasons many Asian Americans argue for greater diversity in other arenas. For instance, blacks dominate 78% of the NBA. Yes, the same one that overlooked Jeremy Lin. And we all know whites dominate Hollywood. This infographic below says 70% of casting calls show preference for white actors.

That said, pursuing an engineering career for Asians is the perfect ice breaker for the world of technology and business, but can be limiting when there's a desire to climb the corporate ladder. The beauty of this country is that if you don't like it, you can do something about it by starting your own company as long as you have the right idea and the balls to risk everything for a shot at tremendous success. 

Take entrepreneur Brian Wong for instance. He's not based in Silicon Valley, but he is a business development techie. This guy is a smart mothafuckin' hustler i.e. a sales guy. At 21 years old he already has his own company, Kiip, that offers embedded rewards for mobile gaming apps. Okay, so he looks a tad dorky but he is only 21. Remember what Larry Ellison looked like when he founded Oracle? Look at him now: CEO, Playboy, Business Tycoon Extraordinaire. If Brian becomes a multi-millionaire or even more so a billionaire, which is highly probable, I don't think he'll have any trouble finding a hot date. 

He better watch out for gold diggers though. Yikes! 

Red Dawn Encourages More Asian Racism And Threat Construction

OMFG. Here we go again. As if the barrage of racist tweets against Psy for performing at the AMAs weren't enough, Hollywood coincidentally, had to add fuel to the fire by releasing an offensive, vociferous movie where an exclusive group of white American teenagers, the Wolverines, counterattack the North Koreans who invade my homeland, not North Korea, but the United States of America. I was going to let this story fall by the wayside, but I encountered too much of this kind of bullshit throughout my life to just sit here and let these ignorant assholes degrade what my country stands for.

I get it. Many of these tweeters are adolescents or young adults, immature and still learning what it means not to be ignorant. Nevertheless, one would think that the collective consciousness of the American youth has continued along its evolutionary tragectory and not regressed to this pre-Civil Rights or Civil War era.

Ah yes. Brings back memories of growing up Asian in the U.S.

Someone will incessantly argue, "Its just a movie. Its fictitious. Get over it."

Really?

True Or False: Asians Want To Be White

This YouTube rant speaks on behalf of many Asian Americans, myself included, and I'm glad she set the record straight for anyone out there who thinks that all Asians want to be "white". Its simply not true. Why do people assume that just because Asians, Koreans especially, get some facial plastic surgery that its because they want to mirror the white physical features. C'mon really? Asians - minus the self-loathing embarrassments like this one - care more about their aesthetic appeal irrespective of race.

Look, there are beautiful people of all races. I believe women are less likely to agree with me on this topic, but the fact of the matter is every ethnicity has its subset of beautiful people. Does it mean you're necessarily attracted to them? No, but you can't deny a person who's beautiful. So to assume that Asians who get plastic surgery, wear colored contacts or dye their hair color do it to intentionally be "white" instead of simply enhancing their looks is not only reductive, but also an implicit self-concession on your part that being white is the de facto standard of beauty. 

That, in and of itself, is a false assertion. Asians want to look beautiful just like any other goddamn human being or creature on this planet. Race is irrelevant.

I don't know about you but I've seen plenty of ugly white people. Plenty. I have also seen plenty of ugly Latinos, Blacks and Asians. And for the ones that are good-looking, guess what? They all share similar characteristics of beauty. Beauty has no racial preference. These are physical characteristics that are borderless, timeless and vary depending on the era. No race is biologically predisposed of looking more beautiful over another. That is not reality. That is however, the unfortunate perception of reality due to the influence of the mass media. For instance, let's compare and contrast how American and Asian entertainment portrays Asian males (I'm feeling positive that Hollywood is finally getting their act together or they'll just yellowface the shit out of us).

Han Lee (Actor: Mathew Moy) from 2 Broke Girls

Vs.

Tae-Shik (Actor: Won Bin) from The Man From Nowhere

Get my drift?

Psy Called Racial Slurs Post AMAs On Twitter

My last two blogs covered how ignoring Asians is no longer an option given the changing landscape of the world economy and the socioeconomic rise of Asians in America and back East. The Far East. Unfortunately, there are those individuals filled with hate who make themselves feel better by letting the world know that they don't like "chinks" and wish for us to "go back to Asia". At least that's what these Twitter users said after Psy's performance on the American Music Awards courtesy of Public Shaming's tumblr.

Now I haven't been completely onboard with the K-Popstar's claim to fame, but that's not to say I won't give him props for his accomplishments. I respect him as an artist and think he does have real talent. It took Justin Bieber 4 years to amass 800 million views on YouTube whereas Psy has almost achieved the same view count in about 4 months. That's pretty impressive.

I get that Psy is not American and he was singing a song that wasn't in English which may have made some folks feel alienated, however he did close the show with MC Hammer who is 100% American. This duet is a reflection of America's changing cultural landscape in that we're becoming more of a melting pot. Dude, we have a Black president! But what also pisses me off is the fact that countries all over the Asia-Pacific have been open arms embracing American music for nearly a century. Korea especially. There's not a single night club you can go into without listening to American music and its been that way for generations. It's like what Swizz Beats said when he referred to Big Bang's release of Blue. America never rolls out the red carpet for Asian artists, and yet when American artists go overseas to Asia, countries over in the region show them all kinds of love rolling out the red carpet, inviting them on talk shows, having them perform, etc. etc. I'm glad to see we're moving forward.

Why can't these Tweeters above embrace Asian artists the same way? I grew up feeling alienated many times simply because I wasn't white. It made me feel like a permanent outsider hearing these kinds of hateful remarks and it pains me to see this sentiment is still pervasive in America today. Its 2012!!

Look, if you want to get really anal about it, none of Scooter Braun's artists' are American proper. One Direction gets plenty of mainstream airplay and they're a British boy band. Yes, they do sing in English, but that doesn't make them anymore American than Psy. And if we're strictly speaking of the United States of America, well both Justin Bieber and Carly Jae Repsen are not US Citizens so maybe they shouldn't be at the AMAs either. And while I'm at it, maybe we shouldn't have Shakira on any of our American TV shows too since, you know, she's from Latin America which isn't America proper.

Perhaps Psy should've sang an English version of Gangnam Style at the AMAs? Maybe, but it doesn't make sense. Gangnam Style is about a district in Seoul, Korea not America and there's really no American city center that parallels the same shallow and arrogant 'tudes as that particular geographic location. Psy created this song for his home country, not the American market. It just so happens Psy stumbled onto fame when the rest of the world fell in love with its high-energy, infectious beat. Don't blame Psy or the AMAs.

Another surprising tidbit. Most of the anti-Psy tweets came from women of the caucasian variety. Granted, this is only a sample of the entire universe of tweets, negative and positive, but never would I have expected that much of a backlash to having Psy on the AMAs. In fact, after scouring the Twitter feeds, I see more guys all around giving Psy props! Well look at it this way. If President Obama got all kinds of flack on Twitter for being Black and re-elected, then no doubt that the same bunch will probably post a racial slur about Psy.

Moving on...

Correction: Ignoring China Is No Longer An Option

One of my buddies sent me this video on YouTube documenting the dramatic rise of a wealthy class in China. This is one of the rare times I've seen someone of white or European descent kissing the asses of Asian big shots and definitely won't be the last. As I mentioned in my previous blog how ignoring the Asian community is no longer an option, I can say confidently now after watching this piece that not only ignoring or belittling Asians will no longer be an option, but also suicidal move for ones professional and personal endeavors.

Let's face it. Asians have always been under the mercy of European Imperialism and American "Big Stick" foreign policies. There are two sides to this history of course. Not all of it was necessarily bad e.g. capitalism, democracy, Vietnamese sandwiches, etc. I will say however, that even as an American born Asian I frequently felt like a second-class citizen compared to my white counterparts, naturally yet disagreeably so. Asians were always economic subjugates of this domineering West, but as you can see from this video, times are changing.

Ka-Ching Dynasty isn't all glitz, glamour and gold. As much as I like the idea of a rising Asia, I believe there's a lot of damage it could bring to the collective consciousness of the people in that geographic location. One of my friends made a very good argument that such rapid growth creates bubbles and a nation of hollow individuals that become enchanted with opulence, greed and a disregard for the environment. Another Gangnam Style perhaps? Who knows? At this point I say it's too early for me to make that judgement call, but I hope that isn't the case.

Ignoring Asians Is No Longer An Option

For the longest time I have felt that Asian American voices have been ignored or simply drowned out by the cheers and jeers of non-Asian audiences, but this past 2012 election and the changing landscape of the world economy should serve as a wake up call to everyone that Asian Americans are no longer the silent minority.

In fact, Asian Pacific Americans pulled off the most historic wins in politics growing their clout in the US. And what about our social standing relative to the world economy? Well for one thing, my displeasure for Cloud Atlas's yellowface of Asian men probably isn't held in solitude, and I'll bet the collective outrage has adversely impacted their box office sales worldwide.

According to IMDB as of November 2012, Warner Bros raked in merely $18 million, roughly $82 million short of their initial investment in the film. I'm glad the film tanked and I think a substantial number of Americans, regardless of their ethnic background, are fed up with Hollywood's perpetual promotion of white heroines against the backdrop of other ethnicities, and they're speaking up about it, not just with their voices, but also their wallets. Looks like the executives over at the film studios didn't get the memo that its a bad idea to alienate the entire Asian male population.

James Cameron, the director of mega blockbuster Avatar, is as shrewd with business as he is talented behind the camera. Word has it Cameron is working on the incorporating Chinese Na'vi into an Avatar sequel.

“Within five years, China could easily be as big a gross-revenue market for film as North America, and there are very specific economic incentives for having both Chinese content and Chinese co-production."

I'll make another bet that Cameron is intelligent enough to include Chinese characters with equal or ample screen time as their white or blue counterparts. Unless he has no qualms about pissing off the largest country in the world that owns a huge chunk of our national debt, I doubt he'll portray these Chinese Na'vi as strictly antagonists.

How Not To Pickup A Girl

The other day I witnessed a pickup flop right before my eyes. Now before I go on criticizing the way I saw this hapless Asian guy trying to pickup a girl at a local coffee shop, I commend him for at least trying and I have to admit that I've made some big mistakes too; by no means does it make me less guilty.

Here's one example of me being lame. One time I was walking down the street and saw this hot Asian girl carrying her laundry basket. She wasn't even struggling with it but I went ahead and asked her, "You need any help with that?" as kind of a lame joke. She immediately blurted out, "No thanks!" and so, I just continued on walking. #FAIL.

Okay, so maybe that wasn't my greatest moment in pickup history. I've had better comebacks before, like at the gym one time when I saw this girl working out on a leg press machine and I intentionally went up to her with a cheesy opening line.

Me:  Hey, do you need a spot? 

Girl: Ummm. No thanks. 

Me:  Are you sure? Those weights look pretty heavy. 

Girl:  I'm sure. Thanks.

It was a freakin' leg press machine! You don't really need a spot for a leg press and definitely not for 20 pounds, but I was persistant nonetheless. I marched forward anyway after pretending to turn around as if I were about to leave and responded back,

Me: Can you pretend like you need a spot? *half smiling*

Girl: *Two second pause.*  Oh...I get it. 

         *She starts to giggle a little*  That's pretty good!

Actually no, it was pretty horrible because I didn't have much else to follow up with. I resorted to some small talk but I didn't really get anywhere because there was another, bigger issue. I was trying to pickup a girl at the gym - a place where women feel gross with all of these guys staring at them. You're sweaty, they're sweaty and most women probably don't want to be bothered which is why they have their headphones on. In fact, whenever I see a woman with her headphones on I interpret that as, "Leave me the fuck alone. I don't want to be bothered." Not to say its impossible to achieve success at the gym, but I'd much rather prefer a bar, lounge or coffee shop, which brings me to my next story.

Yellowface In Hollywood. The Saga Continues.

Here we go again. Hollywood's perpetual yellowface in blockbuster films continues. Never mind that Hollywood repeatedly fails to deliver brilliant performances based on popular selling novels and video games, Cloud Atlas is yet another forgone opportunity for an Asian American MALE actor to shatter antiquated stereotypes and finally play a role that reflects reality. I don't know about you, but all of my Asian American guy friends aren't comic reliefs, hanging from wires, demonstrating martial arts or speaking with thick Chinese accents. Warner Bros. could have easily chosen an Asian or Asian American male actor to reflect the times. Instead, Hollywood's predisposition to choose white actors in yellowface was sufficient just like they did with The Last Airbender, 21, Dragonball-Z, Breakfast At Tiffany's, Kung Fu...

"Asian men are not allowed to get intimate with beautiful women on screen." -Behind closed doors 

The movie is based on the novel, Cloud Atlas, which consists of six nested stories interwoven from the perspective of the main character of each subsequent story. One of those stories takes place in a futuristic Korea where actress Doona Bae plays Sonmi's character next to her white cast mate Jim Sturgess, you know, the same guy who played the lead role, originally an Asian from MIT in 21.

Actor & Comedian Randall Park Does It In The Sandbox

Korean American actor and comical genius Randall Park does it again. I've blogged about his creative funny works before in the Dr. Miracles mini series. This time around he's put together a funny short about playing in the sandbox as a minority outcast only to impart a comparable kind of racist behavior against his new found friend. Check it out!

Was Melo Hatin' On Yellow? A Look At Jeremy Lin's Departure From NYC

Jeremy Lin's back in action being on the front cover of zines. Only this time, it's not for ESPN or Sports Illustrated but for the gentlemans' magazine, GQ, their November 2012 issue. The published article covers a candid interview with Jeremy Lin and his rise from being a no name D-League player to becoming a household name in America.

Much of the interview discusses what happened with him during the Knicks advocated "test the market" period that eventually lead to Lin's departure for Houston, one that he was not anticipating. It was only after the New York franchise failed to match Houston's generous offer of $25 million after three seasons with the team that Lin decided to take off like a Rocket. Pun intended. The team who he thought embraced him really didn't. 

I had a hunch after Melo returned from his groin injury that the two could not co-exist and execute as a winning team as they had been with Linsanity running the show. In fact, I believe Melo was the reason why the Knicks game suffered after he returned and also the reason for coach Mike D'Antoni and finally Lin's departure. This is just my opinion. Cry foul all you want, but it wasn't just me who believed this. ESPN released an article that aligns with my suspicion. Here's what I mean, 

"Lin was getting what Carmelo was promised," says a source close to the team. "And Carmelo thought D'Antoni was going to favor Jeremy, so he had to get D'Antoni out of there.

"It works out perfect for Carmelo. There's little if any of his DNA on there."

I also found it odd how Melo, given his professional stature, would denounce his teammates newfound glory contract of $25 million by saying it was "ridiculous" when he was supposedly very supportive of Lin. It's just not professional to do period, but here's where it gets even more interesting. An unnamed source close to the Knicks speaks of Melo saying,

"He needs to be around someone who is feared, someone who could tell him what to do. He just couldn't see Jeremy Lin that way. He could see Kobe and LeBron that way in the Olympics, sure, but not Jeremy Lin. Carmelo's whole thing is perception."

I've witnessed this occurrence in the business world frequently as well. Thankfully, there are a number of Indians who are leveraging their ethnic community to network and rise above the ranks and create their own destiny. Still, there is this unspoken perception that Asian Americans are not meant to be leaders or alphas where non-Asians just can't see Asian Americans in leadership roles (see Paper Tigers).

I hope Jeremy Lin has an even better year in Houston taking the team all the way to the finals and helps turn that preconceived notion on its head. In the meantime, I hope to do my part to change this perception too.

With Every Psy Comes Another *Sigh*

As I sit here typing this, I open up another tab on my browser and search for "Gangnam Style" on YouTube, curious to see how many more views Psy has accumulated since yesterday. Psy has garnered over 510 million views on YouTube and captivated the world with its crazy horse riding maneuvers making appearances on The Today Show, Ellen, VMA music awards, etc. Thank you America for being so openminded to embrace someone like Psy to run the US airwaves even if it does end up being a flash in the pan. Strangely enough, with all of the fame and fortune that coattails with Psy comes another *sigh*. 

Whether you like the song or not, you have to give it up to the guy for cracking the American market and becoming a cultural icon in less than a month. Psy's comical infectious horse riding dance is too hard to resist and not laugh at, which is where the controversy around the "Gangnam Style" begins. When will America embrace Asian males as sex symbols for the female population and not just as comic reliefs?

As happy as I am for Psy cracking the US market, my whole contention and consternation with his current popularity status is the mere fact that he's all satire, not sex or sizzle. Don't get me wrong. Psy is an entertaining and respectable guy in Korea, but his onstage goofy, flamboyant persona reinforces a long-lived stereotype where ethnic male minorities are constantly being made a mockery of having to be laughed at or laughed with (as if this is any better). It isn't as if he's viewed any differently by the Korean population, but the irrefutable difference is, in Psy's homeland of Korea, there are other Korean male celebrities who do serve as bona fide sex symbols for the female audience.

There were several blogs that I read recently which compelled me to write about this. The first is from Psy And The Acceptable Asian Man, on Racialicious. The author does a fantastic job summarizing all of the moments in American entertainment history where the Asian male leads did not get the girl, and were once again pigeonholed into stereotypical roles: the asexual martial artist, the clown, the geek, the villain. And yes, I made a premature prognostication that K-Pop boy band Big Bang would dominate the world music scene before Psy would take the world by storm, because as the author of the blog argues,

...the potential threat of Asian male sexuality is clearly not and, therefore, for heterosexual Asian and Asian American men to see mainstream success, it genuinely helps not only to fit one of the pre-ordained acceptable Asian male roles (nerd, martial artist, gangster, and clown), but also to avoid any positive displays of sexuality and presenting yourself in a manner that can be seen as desirable to heterosexual women.

Then again, it's not just Asians who've had to struggle with this type of systemic racism issued by the white-dominated mainstream media and entertainment. Blacks have dealt with this for generations being typecast as comics and still do to a certain extent unless your name is Will Smith or Denzel Washington. See Spin's response in the bottom Comments section of this article.

This mentality transcends the realm of entertainment by bleeding into the mindset of, sadly, too many non-Asian males. Ben Efsaneyim writes about his discovery of INP's blog who describes in great detail her dating experience as an expat in Korea, and the unfortunate flack she receives from Western males for dating the locals. Wow! You want to be envious and discriminatory in your country, that's one thing, but to go to a foreign land by where the males of that country rule and roam, and to behave the same envious racist way is absolutely asinine. See Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch douchbaggery here.

Thus, I'm not surprised why Tiger JK would go on a rampage like he did the other day chewing out those stupid foreign white hecklers for rudely interrupting his performance on stage when he was spittin'. Some say Tiger JK's response was akin to Michael Richards, AKA Kramer, when he went on a diatribe calling black people the n-word repeatedly. Nothing could be further from the truth! First off, Tiger JK is not a comic, he's a raw emcee. Tiger JK grew up around Los Angeles, CA as an Asian-American and most likely encountered all kinds of racism for his ethnicity during his youth when humans are probably the most psychologically vulnerable. Second, never mind that the hecklers were being disruptive and disrespectful to begin with, but their comments were fueled by racism. Had the hecklers yelled out cries of generic "boos" only, then by all means, Tiger JK should be found guilty, but that was not the case. They provoked him with racially motivated heckling. Amy argues this perfectly in her Seoulbeats article (yes, I'll assume Amy is female),

The burden of being on the receiving end of racism — whether obvious or invisible — is not something that is negated because he cursed out a couple of white hecklers and then went on to curse a group of people (“white boys”) and a system (Hollywood). These people and that system are at fault for creating an image and upholding racist beliefs that give those white hecklers the idea that they are entitled to demand the horse dance from Tiger JK. It is because of those white hecklers’ white privilege that they think they have the right to repeatedly interrupt JK’s set, that he stop what he’s doing to do the horse dance.

Tiger JK, who has nothing to do with Psy, who has nothing to do with “Gangnam Style,” who has nothing to do with anything related to this phenomenon, other than the sole fact that he is Asian like Psy is Asian. And in the minds of those hecklers, JK and Psy are probably interchangeable because of they are both Asian, and that is racist. They probably didn’t have any intention of acting like racists, but just the act of expecting certain things from JK because he is X like Psy is X, or conflating the two, is racist. People of color have to deal with these subtle acts of racism in disgusting frequency because the actions of people who happen to be their race are equalized as being the actions of entire races.

I applaud Tiger JK for standing up for himself, and all Asian males for that matter, who are sick and tired of being plagued by the same, ongoing Asian stereotypes popularized by similar racist "white boys". I also applaud Amy for standing up for the Asian community coming to Tiger JK's defense. Try to argue against Tiger JK all you want for lashing out, but from my understanding of the situation there weren't any Koreans in the audience who were crying out to Tiger JK, "Do the horse-riding dance!" Just like I don't go to a NaS concert and yell out, "Teach me how to dougie!" when he's is about to rip the mic, they shouldn't have either, because the two are completely independent individuals and musical genres.

I was bit irritated by the whirlwind of news around Psy recently, but now that I've put it down on paper electronically, I'm also pretty happy, because Asian and Asian American males are viewed as a threat to the hegemonic power structure. This is flattering to be quite honest. In spite of all of this negativity, I shouldn't forget the progress Asian and Asian-American males have made within the last decade. I guess my sigh can now be one filled with more relief.

• Jeremy Lin, NBA and The Rockets
• Steven Yeun, The Walking Dead
• Tim Kang, The Mentalist
• Far East Movement, Cherry Hill Records
• Daniel Dae Kim, Hawaii Five-0
• Yul Kwon, Survivor
• Eliot Chang, Comedian (and gets the ladies)
• BIGBANG, See my previous blog posts on the K-Pop group
• Justin Lin, Powerhouse Hollywood Director
• Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com
• Asian Playboy, ABC's of Attraction

Shall I keep going?

A Different Kind of Asian-American Band

I'm not one to listen to this genre of music, but that doesn't mean I don't recognize talent when I see it, and this band definitely has it. They're called Monsters Calling Home. Now that I've grown so accustomed to seeing Asians make R&B, dance and ballad tunes, discovering a new type of sound coming from a group of Asian artists is incredibly refreshing.

Honda chose them recently to be in one of their commercials since they filmed their single "Fight to Keep" in their Hondas. Pretty creative and original if you ask me. 

Steven Yeun On Conan

First time I saw Steven Yeun it was on YouTube a couple of years ago where he played this Asian-American male character out in Chicago. He's in this scene with his buddy buying some BYC Korean underwear explaining the importance of it in order to get the ladies. I tried searching for it on YouTube again, but came up unsuccessful.

Who would've thought that same guy wind up on becoming part of one of the most popular shows in America as Glenn on The Walking Dead? Great to see a regular, English speaking Asian-American male coming on a late night talkshow like Conan. 

Destroy & Rebuild Comes Back To Life

What's up everyone? For those of you who check back occasionally to see how I'm doing I want to give a big thanks. I have almost 50,000 views in total since I started this blog and so today I decided I wanted to reincarnate MaSir Jones into a positive voice for Asian-Americans. Not just the males, but the females as well. In fact, I changed my blog from "MaSir Jones" to "Destroy To Rebuild". As much of a fan I am of NaS, one of the greatest emcees in hip hop, I want to ditch the name to avoid any legal troubles.

I've gone through a variety of bitter, happy and fulfilling times with this blog. Today I'd like to start a new and say, "I'm ba~~~~ck!"

Take Ownership of Your Asian Identity

I received this letter recently which I thought I'd share with you. If you're one of those Asian-Americans who has felt alone and unwelcome living in the states or any other foreign country for that matter, don't feel bad. You're not alone. 

Hey, just wanted to say that I love your blog and agree with most of your sentiments (though sometimes, I think it borders a bit on extreme, but I think that's the nature of blogs). 

What I could definitely relate to was when you said that living in Korea was such an important experience for you. I was born and raised in Canada, and I went to university in the US. After graduation, I spent 2 years in Korea and it really changed my life. Before going, I was quite a wreck mentally, and I had many resolved issues with my racial identity. I was quite angry, bitter, and confused, despite the fact that on the outside, I was quite a well-adjusted and popular guy with a rainbow coalition of friends. A lot of helpless fury was burning inside me though, mainly at feeling so alienated by American culture, yet unable (and unwilling) to embrace my own Korean heritage. 

For most of my high school and college years, I was yearning for acceptance from "mainstream" America (and Canada). But after living in Korea, I realized that instead of trying to "overcome" my ethnic identity, I want to own it as much as possible, and I want the "mainstream" to seek acceptance from me. If they don't want it, then who cares. But I won't be asking anything from them ever again. 

I wish every gyopo, male and female, could have an opportunity to just spend a significant amount of time in Korea (or whatever Asian country their ancestors are from). I think there's such a sickness that's gone untreated in the Asian- (North) American community, one that's always glossed over for the sake of the forced idea of racial harmony in current America. I know my own mindset when I was a teenager and then a college student, and it wasn't a healthy one. I don't figure to be the only person who thought like that, and I shudder at the possibility that I could've spent the rest of my life trapped in that cycle of confusion. 

Anyway, good job on the blog. I could sure use a dialogue partner (this kind of stuff is not what I like discussing in polite company), so if you're down to talk some more, let's do so!

Closing Destroy & Rebuild - MaSir's Last Words

I didn't think this day would come so soon, but now seems like the perfect time for me to close down my blog. I'd been thinking about doing this for such a long time and now seems better than ever to do so simply because I need to refocus my priorities on other things.

To my readers out there, I appreciate you visiting and giving my blog a chance. What started out as an experiment to improve upon my writing skills, or lack of skills I should say, turned into a place where I could share my experiences, opinions and deepest emotions on Asian-American issues.

With all of the griping that I'd done in the past, I hope there was also something positive in which you were able to gain from Destroy & Rebuild. This became a place for me to vent and share my how I see things through the lenses of an Asian-American male along with hearing the viewpoints of the readers who commented on this blog. I appreciate you sharing them with me.

To my Asian-American brothers and sisters out there, keep fighting and keep the faith when it comes to pursuing your dreams. As my dad once told me after I left college, "Son, as long as I'd like for you to live a certain way, do what makes you happy. Remember. This is your life."

K-Pop Group BIG BANG Will Dominate World Music

This next blog is dedicated to BIG BANG. The other Asian male group putting all Asian males on the map. The rising popularity of BIG BANG is unprecedented. They just made a massive jump on the Billboard Social 50 charts moving up from 36 to 12 in one week. Amazing. Check out one of my favorite videos they released not too long ago called Bad Boy.

Every one of you should check out BIG BANG. This K-Pop group consists of five raw, unadulterated talented artists. Seriously. I'm not just saying this, because I'm biased.  I'm saying this because these guys have more style and flavor than many of the artists here in the states *ahem*...Bieber. You know the streets are talkin' when even Swizz Beats talks about wanting to work with the group.

You can argue with me all you want how K-Pop sounds manufactured, well guess what? What about all the crap that's been coming out on the radio for the past decade? Bitches, hoes, clubbing, cars, money. Yes. Great. What else? I'm not saying all radio music is bad, nor am I saying even that kind of music is bad, but let's not pretend like America is Oh-So-Original when it clearly isn't.

What I like about BIG BANG is that they serve as a good role model for Asian-American males. "But they're not even American", you say. It doesn't matter. They bring a fresh, new Asian male image to the forefront of people's minds which is what I'm trying to get at. In addition, they're very hard-working, masculine, stylish, creative, pump out great music and rock it with uncontested swagger. Most importantly, they capture the hearts of the ladies, and who wouldn't want to emulate any of those characteristics? I saw an ad online for their new Monster video on YouTube and stumbled across all these "Reaction Videos". I had no idea they had such a far-reaching fan-base non-Asian fanbase. It's pretty freakin' nuts. Who would've thought that a boy band from Asia would make girls worldwide squeal like this?

There's More To It Than Scholastics

My heart goes out to this kid Jerry Liu. I've never even met the guy, but I know or have met a lot of guys like him. One of them in fact was me during my younger days.

I found this video a few weeks back and meant to share it with you earlier, but didn't know how to approach it without offending or ridiculing the guy. Take a look here if you're interested (he's restricted video embedding).

First off, I give Jerry props for putting himself out there in the public sphere like that on YouTube. It's not easy by any means. I'd also like to give props to his mother for being so supportive of her son. I've heard of other dismal stories about Chinese mothers raising their sons into becoming average frustrated chumps, but luckily his mom seems very supportive of him and does what a moms should do - listen.

I posted a comment on one of Jerry's videos asking him what the point of the whole "Would you ever date an Asian-American male?" section was about, but he removed my comment. My intention wasn't to impart ill will on Jerry, but rather help him see that the way he and many other Asian American guys carry themselves is only reinforcing the very negative stereotypes we all condemn. To be quite honest, I didn't see much of a difference between Jerry and the Asian male characters in the referenced films. Did you? Don't get me wrong. It's not a bad thing to be nerdy and intelligent. Frankly, I think it's awesome BUT...

...herein lies the problem...

True Tales of a Pickup

After reading through some of the comments from my last blog furnished by guest blogger DL, I became angry. Yes, angry. And you want to know why? I'll tell you why. Because there are way too many Asian-American guys out there that whine about the interracial dating imbalance over and over again and even after all of the stories that I've heard and shared with my readers, some of them just don't get it.

NON-ASIAN GIRLS DO LIKE YOU! Here's an excerpt DL shared with me.

Here's an excerpt from a white girl's blog I found yesterday too:  "I'd love to walk down the street with my crush and not have the entire block watch us as we go by, or to go watch a movie where the main couple is just like us. 

To be honest I’m severely jealous of WM/AF couples. They’re so accepted. White guys can assume Asian girls like them and visa versa. Asian guys NEVER assume I like them. 

I think its ridiculous that ANYONE should feel like its impossible for an entire race of women not to like them, or several races for that matter but sadly the Asian guys I've asked have told me they assume White girls dont like them, so they stick to Asian girls. I just really hope there are Asian guys who don't buy into this too."

Apparently there are. I've been there. Believe me. I've been in your shoes. Frustrated. Distraught. Hopeless. Overcome with feelings of despair. Guess what? That shit ain't gonna get you laid son! The old adage states that one should look at the glass as half full instead of half empty. Okay, so in the case of Asian-American men, perhaps we should look at the class only a quarter full. The point is, look at the positive. It's easier said than done, but the focus should be on the doing.

Last night, I decided to go out with my main Wing and hit a few bars and talk to some non-Asian girls. As a warm up, we walk into this mini-club and approach an exclusive group of filipino chicks. I didn't get any responsiveness from any of the ladies, but hey not a big deal. Usually I dig filipinas, but these ones were hella ghetto. Not my cup of tea anyway. If there's one thing I cannot stand it's glorified, ghetto Asians.

We move on and go after the real targets. Non-Asians. That was the goal. So the first two non-Asian girls we see, a black and white chick sitting in a booth, we approach and join them. Complete strangers, fairly attractive. Not supermodels, but not ugly ducklings either. He takes the white, I take the black and we attack.

We both work it. My buddy is fighting through 20 minutes of conversation with this girl who is showing ZERO interest. In fact she gives him some dirty looks and frowns, but he is a fucking soldier. His persistance overcomes any of her resistance and by the end of the engagement we both get numbers and dates for next week. Luckily, the black girl I was working on was a lot more receptive to my advances and hotter. I didn't have it too tough. I just did what most frustrated Asian-American guys aren't doing - going up and talking to women. Stereotyped shattered. Mission accomplished.

That wasn't so hard now was it?

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior at Producing AFCs

DL requested that I change the blog title to something more appropriate. Haha.

Guest Chinese-American Blogger DL returns to discuss and address the issue of Asian-Americans' propensity to be approval-seeking people-pleasers. I'm always delighted by DL's posts, because he offers a fresh perspective on being an Asian-American male treading against the current of family and cultural influences as well as societal pressures. If you haven't had a chance to read through the Keep it on the DL series, you definitely should. Here's part Two, Three, Four and Five.

When I was a teenager, my cousin Susan married a White man, Walter, who had gone to
Berkeley with my cousins and whom everyone acknowledged was just as smart as any of them,
but he took a “dead end” 9-5 job instead of the more ambitious six-figure corner office jobs that
my cousins pursued. Once, at a BBQ, they asked him what made the difference and he
shrugged, “I didn’t have Asian parents putting me down all the time, manipulating me into
seeking their approval with accomplishments.” This struck a chord with me at the time but I
forgot all about it until I read that Wall Street Journal article on Amy Chua’s “Tiger Mom” book.

The thing about Walter, though, is that he is much more content and confident than any
of my cousins. And therein lies an interesting paradox – berating your children so that they are
desperate for your approval may produce more productive, ambitious people, but not happier
ones, and certainly not confident ones, not leaders, and absolutely not ladies’ men.

K-Town Reality TV Show to Air on YouTube

Finally. Some atypical shit on Asian-Americans. Yes, Asians are alpha, assholes and all about partying. K-Town shows you a glimpse into Asian-American nightlife partying. I was at Bellasco the night they were filming. Hope they didn't get my ass on camera! LOL

Tim Kang's Casting Call

For anyone who's looking forward to get in on this, check it out. Tim Kang from The Mentalist (see my last blog) is holding auditions for a film project.

Here is a description of the project.

Tim Kang’s ONE SHOOT FILMS seeking Korean-American actors for “None of Them Will Collect My Soul”
Tim Kang launched his production company One Shoot Films (OSF) with the focus of getting back to the basics of good storytelling, and to produce relevant, engaging and entertaining films that accurately reflect the world we live in today.

OSF’s first project currently in pre-production is “None Of Them Will Collect My Soul”, a dramatic short film that focuses on the topic of human trafficking, addressing real life crimes of abduction and abuse, and encouraging awareness to the issues of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), an organization Tim is passionate about and has been involved with as the national celebrity spokesman since 2010.

OSF is immediately seeking Korean-American actors for the female lead and several other supporting roles.

Shoot/Start Date: May 4, 5 and 6
Pay Rate: Deferred
Location: Los Angeles area

A Question to Asian-American Women & Why More Asian-American Guys Should Date Non-Asian Girls

This past weekend I hung out at night with the homies and had some fun in the city. I decided to do something different, and by different I mean my friends and I went to a bar that was filled primarily with white people which was a breadth of fresh air, similar to this clip here from The Mentalist.

There's something about my American side that conflicts with my Asian side; it is this clique-ish, tribal behavior Asians have where ever they go. I'm just as guilty as the next Asian, but it's not like I act like this 24/7. Look, I'm the type of guy who isn't afraid to roll into a club, bar or lounge solo and start chatting it up with random people. How many Asian guys, let alone guys of any ethnicity period, are comfortable enough with themselves to do just that? Very few besides my homie DL, but that's what social gatherings are all about...to have fun with friends and open up to meeting new people and remembering new faces.

So if there's one thing I find really annoying at times, it's how Asian-American girls at Asian parties are always in these cliques of 3-5 chicks and constantly in transition. Fellas, you know what I'm talking about right? You go up to a group of Asian girls to chat up one or two of them, and next thing you know they give you the same old, "Well...we're gonna go now", and then they bounce.

Asian-American Interracial Marriages Declining - The Next Episode

Earlier this month I blogged about the declining trend of Asian-American interracial marriages in the US. I wrote that blog up, because I began seeing a noticeable reduction in Asian-American women dating non-Asians since last year. What's funnier is that I wrote up a blog with a similar title almost 2 years ago and didn't even remember! Wow.

Now this is going to sound lame or arguably inaccurate, but two out of the many samples of classes I used as the barometer for Asian-American interracial dating trends is extrapolated from Craigslist and night clubs. Both forums are a reflection of popular culture in America. So when I used to scour Craigslist, I'd see tons of Asian female for white male classified ads. And then, when I'd go clubbing or hit up bars, I'd see or hear about the same kind of self-afflicting nonsense, "Ummm sorry. I only go for white guys." My response has always been the same. "I totally understand. I only go for pretty girls", and that usually leaves them with nothing to say.

So here I am surfing the web on a Friday afternoon and next thing I know, Rachel Swarns from the NY Times decides to copy me with her own article on behalf of this declining phenomenon. You motherfuckin' biters...Haha. Just kidding.

Honestly, I'm glad they put it out there because the NY Times is a lot more far-reaching than my Destroy & Rebuild blog ever will be. This is some really great stuff by Rachel. It reaffirms that 1) I'm not crazy in noticing this AA trend 2) there's factual proof that indeed AA women are waking up and seeing that dating a white guy, mainly because of his race, is futile and foundation-less when it comes to marriage. Moreover, I'm surprised that the NY Times didn't allude to this, but the declining trend in marrying out - once equivalent to marrying up - is longer necessary or may not be as glamourous as once believed.  

Too Much Deception In Online Dating

If there's one thing I cannot stand with a fervent passion, it is the widespread amount of deceptive profile pictures running rampant in social networking and online dating. Heck, Congress should pass a bill to prohibit the usage of deceptive profile pictures. Don't think any gender is exonerated from this past time of photo fibbing either. This is just as applicable to the fellas as much as it is to the ladies.

Liars have fucked up the online dating game horribly.

Now I have to admit that I've dabbled in online dating a few times, and though I've had some decent encounters in total, my so-called "as expected" meetings were few and far between to the point where I could probably count them all on one hand. The point is, if you're serious about meeting new people, it's probably a waste your time trying to meet them online. It's one thing if you go online strictly looking to make new friends, but let's all be honest with ourselves for just one second, shall we? If you had a choice, would you want a good looking friend or an ugly one, irrespective of gender? Unless the ugly friend has an AMAZING personality (such as myself...LOL) I'm sure we'd all opt for good looking friends over ugly ones.

Call me an asshole for placing so much emphasis on physical appearance, but I am keeping it REAL, and this is where America has an issue with facing itself in the mirror and saying, "You're unhealthy and fat. Stop eating so much junk food and get your ass in the gym", unlike those lying sons of bitches out there - men are not excluded from this category - ruining the integrity of social networking and online dating by lying about all attributes physical on their profile: height, weight, body type, face, age...

C'mon now, don't act like you've never been a victim of something like this.

If indeed these individuals profusely claim that they're so happy with who they are, and society should just accept their physical condition, then why bother posting such deceptive pictures? Why not lie about something that isn't so superficial like how amazingly high your IQ is or how much volunteer work you've done? I'll tell you why. Because at the end of the day, people do care about physical appearance whether they want to admit it or reluctantly not. One of my friends who broke up with his girlfriend asked me several times recently if he should give it a shot, and of course I told him that I wouldn't do it since it's a bait and switch market. But hey, it's ultimately his decision so for those of you, men especially, who still believe in online dating, here's few set of rules you should abide by. I call these MaSir's 9 Rules of Online Dating.

1. DO NOT BELIEVE anyone who only has pictures of their face or upper body. 9 times out of the 10 these motherfuckers are being dishonest, not just with you, but more so themselves. MaSir's Rule #1: Anyone who has pictures showing only their upper half is playing sleight of hand. Request a centerfold that is no less than a month old (see #7). Topless photos are ideal for both sexes.
2. DO NOT BELIEVE in anyone's age. You cannot accept their age as fact because this one is probably the easiest one to lie over. People look older or younger than they actually are. The only way to truly verify someone's age is by examining their government issued ID. MaSir's Rule #2: Take their age and multiply it by a factor of 2. Yes if they say they're 23 years old, they're probably 46!!
3. DO NOT BELIEVE in anyone's weight. This applies to females more than males. Women are pathological liars when it comes to their weight. Frankly, men have a hard time mapping body-weight proportions anyway so it's best to look at body type. MaSir's Rule #3: Find the average weight for that person's age bracket and add at least 0.5 standard deviation to the person's listed weight.
4. DO NOT BELIEVE in anyone's body type unless they have a photo to accompany this attribute. So for instance, if the girl says she's "voluptuous", "average" or "thick" and she has no accompanying photo to validate this physical attribute, assume the opposite. Now what if she has listed, "athletic" or "skinny" but no centerfold body shot? Chances are she's telling the truth. A female would not be brazen enough to make such a lofty claim and be completely guiltless about doing so. MaSir's Rule #4: Be suspicious of anyone who is besides "skinny" and "athletic".
5. DO NOT BELIEVE in anyone's height. Women, you know what I'm talking about!! How many times have you met up with a guy and he turned out to be 2-3 inches shorter than what he had listed. MaSir's Rule #5: Take his height and subtract 5 inches. This may seem excessive, but it's better to expect worse and be pleasantly surprised than to find out your virtual "tall, dark and handsome" guy is "short, pale and soft" in person.
6. DO NOT BELIEVE in their listed income. This one applies more to men than women. Men will lie about their income because we know it's an attraction switch. There was even a psychology experiment done where they took a bunch of average looking photos of men and one photo listed them with a low 5-figure income contrasted by the same photo with high 6-figure income. The attraction levels went up by 2-3 points on a scale of 1-10 for the latter photos with a higher incomes listed. MaSir's Rule #6: Take their listed annual income and subtract at least $20,000. If he makes over $150,000, he's probably not lying. By the way, did I mention I make over $150,000?
7. DO NOT BELIEVE in the recency of their pictures, period. Should have listed this one first, but it just dawned on me now that most of the posted pictures are probably are anywhere from 5 months to 5 years old. MaSir's Rule #7: Request a photo that was taken within the last week. If they say they don't have one, demand they take a picture with their phone. Almost every phone these days can take pictures and send via SMS. Absolutely no excuses!
8. DO NOT BELIEVE in women who claim that they're bisexual. Oh my God, if I had a dollar for every time I heard this one, I would be a mega-millionaire. Ladies, men don't give a shit if you're bisexual. We know you do this on purpose to garner our attention and interest in your bisexual exoticness scam. Guess what, unless you are inviting us to turn your girl-girl action into girl-guy-girl action, we don't fucking care. MaSir's Rule #8: Attention whores. No rule necessary.

Finally, this one deserves a paragraph all by itself. DO NOT BELIEVE in anyone who states they're openminded or want someone openminded. The over usage of this one makes me cry out of laughter. In fact, I don't even need to tell you not to believe it when someone claims to be openminded since it becomes quickly noticeable just by scanning through their likes, dislikes, dating requirements, perfect match or ideal partner. How many times have you seen shit like, 

"I just want someone who is over 6'3" tall, athletic, handsome, ambitious, has a great sense of humor, financially stable making over 9 figure salary and isn't into playing games. Not looking for a one-night stand. Do not contact me if you're just looking for sex. Do not contact me if you only have one word messages...you should be writing me a 20 page novel about why I'm the best girl on here. Mainly attracted to white guys. Oh yeah...please be openminded." 

MaSir's Rule #9: Discount everything listed in their profile as a lie. Openminded. LOL. 

There you have it, MaSir's 9 Rules to online dating. If you feel that I've accidentally omitted anything you deem as important. Please help me make this online world a better one by adding to this list. Kudos to those keeping it real.

Asian-American Interracial Marriages Declining

Here's some encouraging news for those Asian-American guys out there who feel like they're getting shafted by their Asian/Asian-American sisters. Joan Walsh of Salon writes a fascinating article regarding the changing economic landscape of white America**. So what does this have to do with declining Asian-American out-marriage rates? Keep reading.

Walsh asserts that outside the top 1% of America's wealthy, which I think is grossly exaggerated considering how many white Americans are upper middle class earning high incomes, the rest of the 99% of the working white class is riding an economic decline. On top of that, by the mid-century white Americans will technically be a minority. Assume these two observations as fact and one can extrapolate the following implications.

If indeed white Americans end up becoming a minority, they may find it harder to lean on their social crutches of "white privilege" which has given them exposure to countless opportunities that people of color are disadvantageously denied from. I do understand that just because you're white doesn't mean you automatically got it made. Remember that scene from Higher Learning where the white guy struggles in his engineering math class because all the Asian students are destroying their exams? Or what about all those white guys who are terrible on the dance floor? In all seriousness though, consider white Americans born and raised in communities like Chisago County where lower middle class to poverty-stricken is the norm. These same white folks are in their own unique struggle, though it is ironic that they criticize big government while they also depend on their handouts for sustenance! That's a whole other issue worth blogging.

However, the second implication is all the more interesting and pleasantly surprising. As the Asian-American minority continues it's economic ascendancy, fewer Asian-Americans are marrying outside of their race (I'll assume what she means is that AA women are not out-marrying as much). Walsh writes,

Asian-American median income is higher that white median income, and growing faster. Asian-Americans have higher college completion rates than whites, and the gulf is widening. In California, Asian kids are twice as likely than whites to earn grades that make them eligible for the University of California system, and they now make up a majority of the flagship UC-Berkeley campus, where just under a third of students are white...

MaSir's Commentary: Asians (29.4%) are twice as likely than whites (14.6%) to earn grades making them UC eligible. That means 60% of the other Asians are probably going to community college to save money and the remaining 10.6% are getting their ass beat by their parents right now as we speak.

In “Suicide of a Superpower,” poor Pat Buchanan seemed to believe that the rapidly growing number of Asian-Americans in the nation’s top schools had to do with affirmative action. I used to hear the same thing from clueless white people back before the passage of Ward Connerly’s Prop. 209 in 1997, which abolished affirmative action. Of course they were wrong — Asian-American students were succeeding the old-fashioned way, with hard work. Since then, of course, the white proportion of UC students has continued to decline, even without affirmative action.

Living in California it’s easy to see subtle and not so subtle signs of white status anxiety, real and imagined, even beyond school enrollment issues. I was intrigued to see, in a recent Pew Research Center survey of intermarriage trends, that intermarriage rates are going up for every group, except for Asian-Americans, whose rates have long been among the highest, but which are now coming down. Twenty years ago, when I was first writing about California’s racial frontier, sociologists explained high rates of Asian “out-marriage” as a kind of status-seeking: “marrying out” was a way of “marrying up.” Whites sought out Asian partners, in this analysis, as the closest surrogate for whites and as partners who in some settings might even represent their “marrying up.” Whatever the motive behind their pairings, white/Asian couples have the highest income of any pairings, Pew found, including white/white and Asian/Asian, and were far more likely than any other group to have college degrees. But it’s noteworthy to me that the Asian “outmarriage” rate has dropped significantly over the last few years; from just 2010 to 2008, the percentage of American-born Asians newlyweds who married whites dropped from 47% to 38% — a result of a larger Asian population in the U.S., as well as a sign Asian-Americans may no longer need to marry out to marry up. 

MaSir's Commentary: What a hot couple! HANDLE IT.

Now for some of you, a 9% decrease may seem negligible, but that is hardly the case. A decline like this is staggering when considering that it's happened in a span of just two years. What this tells me is that Asian-American men are finally gaining some socioeconomic steam which is trickling over to the mainstream, and those Asian-American women who would've given their Asian-American brothers the cold shoulder beforehand are finally taking notice.

As my dad once told me that as an Asian-American, I would have to deal with racism throughout my life, and in order to turn that negativity into something positive, I would have to excel a lot more than the average hard working white person in order to gain the same level of respect due to what Walsh and sociologists label as "white privilege". Asian-Americans must prove their value through performance, not just by complaining. But once the number of successful and upper middle class Asians reach that certain critical mass, that is when they will galvanize to raise their voice and become a force to be reckoned with.

**http://www.salon.com/2012/03/04/whats_the_matter_with_white_people/singleton/