We’ve been called the “model minority blog,” not to be confused with the Forum at ModelMinority.com, a different beast. As a result of our “news reel”-esque format and emphasis on current events and pop culture over critical race theory (though we’ve tackled that, too), we’re seen as passive, even disloyal to the so-called APA socio-political cause.
Our bloggers keep getting head-bumped by affiliates of other APA sites, such as the Fighting 44s and the aforementioned MM. The head bumping come in the form of dissenting, arguably truculent comments to postings on our site, igniting flame wars we’d rather not feed. Then when we stamp out the little fireballs of “You whoriental white-loving submissive [insert your favorite profanities here],” we get accused of censoring opinions we disagree with. No, we don’t do that. Trust me if we did that, there wouldn’t be 50-some-odd comments to a thread containing the keyword “bi-racial.” We just censor opinions that if posted, would put our website in the NC-17 ratings.
The accusation of “model minority blog” implies that people think we as a whole group turn a blind eye to racial marginalization, to its unsettling, enduring legacy, its passive-aggressive manifestations in modern society, and its application to Gen-X and Gen-Y APAs. Wrong. We cried foul to the Mister Wong controversy when a German social bookmarking website tried to export their slanty-eyed Chinaman logo into the U.S. along with the ever catchy slogan “ping pong, King Kong, Mister Wong.” Our objections resonated loud enough to catch the attention of Germany’s Newsweek, which cited one individual APA blogger’s opinion as the voice of Asian America. Talk about feeling “uh…no, that wasn’t what I meant…” In any regard, the efforts prompted by our site caused Mister Wong to change its logo. 8A, the model minority? Between “INCREDIBLY FUCKING ANGRY” Asian and “model minority” Asian, I would NOT have picked “model minority” Asian to describe our dear Ernie there.
We handled flack from incensed white people for some of the content on our blog with a nod and tacit understanding, but what we don’t make heads or tails of at all is the flack we get from other APAs. I’d like to see open dialogue between our bloggers and those at MM, Fighting 44s, and any other APA-interest websites out there.
Heck, I call for a cyber-conference involving representative members from all interested APA-interest blogsites and discussion forums to address head-on an agenda listing of issues we’d all like to once and for all hash out in real-time and make public the transcript to that cyber-conference. It’d be a phenomenal resource to offer on the world wide web and might better help us understand each other and work toward a semblance of Asian unity. So, MM, Fighting 44s, any others: what say you?
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Jun wrote:
open dialog over the internet is a complete waste of time. Especially when you try to engage in conversation with bloggers who take themselves wayyy too seriously. Its funny how the posts with the most comments on 8asians are the ones that have to do with some kind of ‘racial/sexual’ topic. Come on people, get the fuck over yourselves. Yes, racial issues are important but most Asian blogs take the wrong approach by waving the proverbial finger and saying “YOU RACIST” with other words and profanities coupled along with it. Pointing out racial ignorance does not solve anything; we need to make the guilty party understand why it was hurtful and wrong. Instead we argue amongst ourselves undertaking in name calling and trying to match wits. WTF does any of that solve?
Get a life; and i do not mean that in a negative way. Live your life according to your values and beliefs because thats the only way to prove to society that your life is not subject to false stereotypes. And stop taking blogging too seriously because in the end a blog has nothing to do with anything.
and this is my personal opinion, but the bloggers at 8asians fuckin rock. Im proud to be associated with the “model minorities” and “liberal tools” that post on this site.
=)
Posted on 27-May-08 at 5:49 pm | Permalink
And before I get called out for it publicly: yes, I do close comment blog posts if there’s a need for it. But for the record, I do it when there’s nothing else constructive that can be added to the discussion. It should be noted that the topics that do get a lot of trollish behavior [on both sides of the fence] also have a high Google PageRank - that means a lot of people will find a post from Google or another blog that found it through Google, which means there’s a higher degree if people coming in once, saying something idiotic and never coming back again. See also: “YouTube comments.” But then without the Google, no one would find 8A in the first place and there we go, Catch 22.
Posted on 27-May-08 at 7:27 pm | Permalink
jaehwan wrote:
I’ve been hesitant to post much here, mostly out of deference to your blog policy and the general culture of your bloggers and site.
For the record, I don’t think any of the 44’s bloggers or black belts have made any public statements condemning your site. Most of the vociferous opinions against your site come from your own members (although I agree with them on many of their complaints), but several 44’s, including myself, were taken aback by that one bi-cultural blog where a certain 8A blogger claimed that multiracial people were more evolved. We were wondering, though no 44 publicly said so, why an Asian blog would provide a medium for perpetuating such racist (literally) views while disallowing other racist views. We didn’t want to question it publicly since it looked like your own members were already raising these issues.
We mentioned this blogger in passing during our Fallout Central interview (which is now on their site if you want to hear it), and the Fallout guys recommended having her or anyone else come together to talk about this topic on their show. We were all for it.
As Akypti gently suggests, people at the 44’s tend to place a higher emphasis on race theory, postcolonial theory, and intellectual discourse, but if you don’t mind the deeper level of discussion that includes such discourse, I’m all for it. If you’d like to do it on the FOC show, that works; if you’d like to do it outside of their show, that works too.
One last thing–I think unity is great, but I also think that we need to express our differences as well. I’ve seen some mighty crazy things coming out of the Asian American blogosphere, and while we can overlook slight differences in opinion, certain drastically differing viewpoints can prevent meaningful dialogue. The most we can do is try, and we should.
Feel free to let us know here, or on our blog or forum (both of which are R rated), how you would like to proceed. We’re happy to engage you if you’re willing to listen. Feel free to bring Bo.
Jaehwan
The Fighting 44’s
Posted on 27-May-08 at 9:32 pm | Permalink
Grace Chu wrote:
In any demographic (which are all, to some extent, artificially constructed), you’re going to get divisions, schisms, conflicting world views. That’s just the way things be, yo.
But since I gravitate towards confrontation and debate like a moth to a flame, I’m all for this crazy idea. Include the 2 out of 5 bloggers who are APA on my site in this pow-wow if it happens.
Posted on 27-May-08 at 10:14 pm | Permalink
Akrypti wrote:
Grace, totally!
Posted on 28-May-08 at 10:02 am | Permalink
Akrypti wrote:
jaehwan:
Those weren’t “our” members. They were from MM.
Posted on 28-May-08 at 10:05 am | Permalink
Colin wrote:
Why bother?
It’s going to be thing anyway; a ton of talking with very little listening.
Posted on 28-May-08 at 10:05 am | Permalink
Akrypti wrote:
I disagree, Colin. Well, no… What you contend will definitely happen without rules and guidelines. If the agenda is set up and it’s well organized, there will be listening. I..think/hope?
Posted on 28-May-08 at 11:06 am | Permalink
jaehwan wrote:
Akrypti:
Those guys were on the bi-racial blogpost were from MM? Wow. They were definitely very rational and respectful, more than I would have expected. Or maybe I just have a negative impression of mm. Let’s definitely get them in on the conversation!
You have my e-mail too.
Posted on 28-May-08 at 11:16 am | Permalink
William Lee wrote:
Hi, this is William Lee from Fallout Central. We would absolutely love to host a live conference via the Fallout Central podcast. We will be in touch with Ernie (8Asians.com) and Jaehwan (theFighting44s.com) and will keep you posted. Note: This Sunday’s feature interview is with Ernie, so be sure to tune in!
William Lee
FALLOUT CENTRAL
http://www.falloutcentral.com
Posted on 28-May-08 at 1:14 pm | Permalink
lordonlow wrote:
I’ve come far enough to have experienced many a “good will summit” to know that if I had a gun to my head and had to bet, nothing practical will emerge from this. That’s not trying or even being pessimistic; it’s being honest based upon history and the odds. And I want to emphasize that that feeling has NOTHING to do with criticizing *intentions* which I believe are genuine.
But intentions are one thing while *action* based upon strategy for APAS/nationals here is a world apart.
What sets apart APAs and even Asian nationals here in the States from Blacks, politically speaking, is their utter lack of practicing fundamentals.
If you look at history, the halcyon 60’s/70’s produced a mish-mash of goofy stuff, from flower power to other forms of “jerk-off-ness”. But that generation was crucial on several fronts: fighting against a pathetic war, ousting a very bad president from office, fighting for civil rights, and fighting for women’s rights. Any one of those on their own, particularly by today’s standards of non-effectiveness, is huge. The fact that that generation was actively engaged and played major parts in all of them make them a remarkable generation.
And just about EVERYTHING reflected their sentiments: music, film, books, athletics, the counter-culture lifestyle, even the way they dressed spoke to a dis-satisfaction with the status quo.
Take the Black movement then. There were many divergent views, but even prominent athletes made their voices heard, in no uncertain terms. The point is, that “something in the air” permeated *everything* to the point where a black athlete - Curt Flood - secured his place in history by leading the fight for free agency and thus forever changed the course of modern sports.
But something even more important emerged for blacks then: consciousness. It became activated, and in turn prompted ACTION.
Again, there were many diverging views in the black power movement, but if you look at the vanguard, the Panthers, what do you see? A concrete plan, based in reality. Of course, that was the famous “Ten Point Program” that very clearly and concretely set their agenda for goals.
Contrast that from 4 decades ago with APAs/Asian nationals in America today, and we’re not even close to their insight and strategy *then*.
This explains why blacks who, with even their kookiest leaders (take your pick) will still find a “hook” to them, because even the crazy ones will occasionally speak the truth.
APAs don’t do that. Instead, they are mired in a constant process of in-action, apathy, ignorance, eating our own, eating our tails, circular arguments, “theory”, and perhaps worst of all, looking toward the academy for answers.
Listen, Dr. Huey P. Newton *was* a PhD, but don’t get it twisted, because he always maintained that the “brothers off the block” made the best Panthers, because once they were policitized, they had the genuine zeal that only comes from living in reality and realizing that “theory” is an abstraction. Life is played out in the streets. In the immortal words of David Hilliard: “Theory’s alright, but practice is supreme.”
And few except perhaps white people LOVE to talk shit like the few APAs who consider themselves “smart,” “politicized,” “aware,” “engaged” or (ugh) “educated.” For them, armchair and Monday morning quarterbacking are their leagues, and that’s where it ends.
So what does all of this rambling mean? For a business, there’s the timeworn phrase “best practices”. For sports, it means having a game plan. And if it’s one “fundamental strategic absolute 101″ for both, it’s that you *never* stick with a losing plan. As evidence just look at this administration’s losers who have played their part in backing us into an oil dependent corner, and yet say that the answer is to drill MORE.
So, first stop a losing plan, and then think about and analyze what makes practical sense on a concrete level. Set your goals small and close at first and then work backwards from there; that’s how you formulate a plan. If you don’t have the success you hoped for in the given time you wish, then you have to make adjustments. That’s what the process is, whether it’s war on the battlefield, a political campaign, running a business, playing sports, or, yes, “APA issues.” It’s fundamentals.
If I could at least see those first baby steps by APAs/nationals I’d throw my lot in with enthusiasm.
Posted on 19-Jul-08 at 3:56 pm | Permalink