The 8Asians Writers Talk About: “Yellow on the Outside, Shame on the Inside”

By Guest Writer | Friday, January 30, 2009 | 11 Comments

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chiaother09yellow on the outside 200x301 The 8Asians Writers Talk About: Yellow on the Outside, Shame on the Inside “With just my three simple Asian Pride Theorems, I can reveal the truth about Asian culture — whether it’s Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. — and all the reasons why Asians do the things that they do. First, Asians are obsessed with money and will do anything to get it. Second, money is conducive to the status that Asians seek, hence “doctor or lawyer.” Third and uppermost, Asians want power: the power.”

And THAT would be the abstract of Anson Chi’s online self-described novel, Yellow on the Outside, Shame on the Inside. A quick look at his resume (Paid Slavery! Miseducation!) and the stock photo of the angry shirtless guy yelling in a wheat field obviously shows that he’s got some stuff to get off his chest. Is “money, status and power” really our personal motto?

But more importantly, what would the other 8Asians.com writers think about Anson Chi’s manifesto? Find out, after the jump.

Christine: my only question: How is a former model that studied music qualified to make these assumptions especially if his paid slavery was in technology? The guy has some serious mom and dad issues to deal with.

Bo: Ummm…I want money, status, and power. Well then, I must be Asian! He’s a genius!

Moye: My trashy, gambling and alcoholic extended family can completely disprove his theorems.

Bo: So this was my armchair 5 minute psych analysis of the guy upon reading his site and the book abstract:

Dude grew up in a TX community where he was probably one of a small handful of Asian-Americans. He felt isolated and alone. Started developing a slightly nihilistic, misanthropic worldview. Went to college and majored in something that seemed appropriate but totally wasn’t his interest or passion. Found himself in one dead end, passionless job after another and his misanthropic personality didn’t win him any fans in the workplace. (Did anyone else notice that he had 6 jobs in 6 years?) He probably felt unappreciated and misunderstood. The world hates him! Experiences a quarter life crisis. Discovers Ron Paul and suddenly all his theories about isolationism and triumph-of-the-will are validated. Decides to write a book excoriating the one thing that he believes to be the bane of his existence – his asianness.

Jun: but he is right about one thing… At least for Koreans, the majority of the Korean families & many Chinese families I know only came here to make money…

Tim: My dad came to the U.S. to get a Ph.D. in comparative literature. He always planned on going back to Taiwan, but never finished the doctorate … and instead spent his time trying to figure out how to keep his head above water feeding a wife and 3 kids. It was definitely not about the money (unless you think comparative literature Ph.D’s are raking it in). That being said, I can sympathize a little bit with the guy as I also grew up in a completely white suburb. But I got over it.

Jun: … my parents came to America because they wanted to get the fuck out of a country that basis success/net worth/status on degrees, diploma’s and other pieces of paper, which rendered their future dim because they didnt graduate from high school. Which is the reason why they actually supported me in my middle/high school football career and my decision to pursue a career in a design field and not a tech/buisness/law/medicine career. Theres plenty wrong with Asian society, and the topics this guy brings up are CLEARLY some that do exist… even if he is approaching it in a complete off base direction…

John: I don’t think it is politically incorrect to say that some cultures are prone to certain things than other cultures. Japanese and Asian cultures do tend to be more oriented towards group goals, etc…. while it is clear that American culture supports and celebrates individualism, consequences be damned.

Christine: I think my whole thing with this guy is the self-hatred that I can’t decide whether he’s serious or being ironic. I agree with John in that it is a sweeping generalization that eventually is a stereotype enforced – and THAT is something I have trouble accepting in anyone. And the biggest issue I have with the “Asians coming ‘here’ just to make money” deal is that OF COURSE they came here to make money – we’re all here in North America making money so we can feed, clothe and shelter ourselves in a state of comfort to which we find acceptable – some people really NEED an HD Plasma screen mounted on their wall and a drafty mansion – I’m happy just visiting them.

Jun: Just cause a guy is crazy doesn’t mean you cant learn anything… Rush Limbaugh is crazy, but that doesn’t mean I never learned anything or haven’t been informed the several times I listened to his radio show… and to be clear, I was never siding with this dude, just saying the foundations of some of his claims are more than true.

(Hat tip: Mike)

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Christopher

I’m here to post a comment from reading this via RSS.

As bloggers all of you put a lot of time in this site and the quality shows. This site certainly isn’t trying to be elitist and the laid back atmosphere of discussion is quite refreshing.

Yet, this post, and others, sometimes do not adequately explain the problems are of urgent concern among the Asian population. The mini dialog is nice, but what is the main point that your readers should take home from this post?

I know .. I know.. “But if you are Asian we expect you to just understand all the issues and roll with our jokes” I’m sorry but in 2009 it takes a bit more effort then a quick satire filled post to get the message across to some people.

This post currently presents only a narrow minded complaint sprinkled with humor when it could showcase so much more – proving it to be a valuable asset to your readers.

1. Buy the book and review it from cover to cover. Post the review here. The author might have a point. Or he might not. But untill every person who has commented here reads the book you will never know if the man had some spark of genius insight to his witting or if he was just a racist lunatic.

2. Open up a forum for your readers. Let them talk about things. Every word counts.

3. All the bloggers on this site need to ask themselves a question: Why do you write for the 8Asians.com website? Post those answers as individual blog posts. Make the answers as deep as possible.

Also…

I could probably be a great guest “blogger” for this site. And I’m quite interested. Yet, according to your blogger requirements my race disqualifies me from consideration.

Even so, I think it would be a huge boost to your readership to have a few non-Asian bloggers. As Asian bloggers you share at least one common bond – an outside non-Asian viewpoint might be the catalyst needed to dive deeper into the issues at hand.

(Note: I’m not saying you need a non-Asian posting here, just that the extra viewpoint could only be a bonus to the discussion every now and then.)

Just needed to get all that off my chest. I hope my previous rant will not be taken out of context; so please try to zero in on my main points and think about what I was trying to say with my not so eloquent words.

Good luck! Love the site!
Christopher

Edit: You do have a forum! The whole my.8asian subdomain confused me. Please note that from the main site the links to the forum look more like recent comment links then recent forum activity links.
http://www.littleyellowdifferent.com Ernie

Christopher: Thanks for your feedback. I’d love to talk more about some of your concerns with you further, but would like to take the conversation off the comments to e-mail, and you used a fake e-mail address to prevent spam (understandable, altho we keep e-mails private.) Can you drop me a message through the “Contact Us” link at the top of the page so we can continue the conversation? Thanks.
James Wu

don’t you think it’s funny that these 8asians writers haven’t even read this book yet they judge it by its cover? i wonder how they would feel if someone was to judge them by the cover (color) of their skin. i’m not sure about you but for me, hypocrisy is what comes to mind.

and unlike the 8asians writers, i have actually read the book but so far up to chapter 11 since i just started last week and i have to say that it is extremely witty and hilarious. the author touches on many important aspects of asian culture (a lot of the subcultures) and even has solutions about many of the social problems that asian americans today ignore. i’ll be honest in that i don’t agree with everything in the book but at least i gave this book a chance unlike the 8asians writers.

so my point is to say, do not judge a book by its cover and as a christian, i would like to also post Matthews 7:1 — Do not judge so that you will not be judged.

anyway, judging others without getting to know them is what causes prejudice and racial hatred. just like judging an author’s work without reading it is what causes a lot of prejudice and hatred.
http://chopstix.wordpress.com/ Moye

so you guys don’t have an issue with one asian male summing up our entire race based on three principles?

i agree that it’s not right to judge a book by its covers, but we’re talking about an actual, self-published book (so i don’t think any analogies to race and prejudice would apply). how many of us have picked up a book, read its summary and judged whether or not we would want to flip through its pages?

if anything, our responses has shown the extreme diversity within our community, which is not something that can be summed up in a single book.
Daniel

You all have good points.
It would be very fruitful to have others of non-East Asian background to post some views. Also there’s a lot of diversity within the Asian community, so much that really one book or one lifetime isn’t enough. Finally, shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover. For example, I did the same things before I read a little on the Koran (english trans.) and realized how much this book and the believer’s community have also been greatly misunderstood.
Bo

Hey, I say the author is asking for any judgement and ridicule that he gets. You don’t put out PR materials with the sort of nonsense he lays out and not expect people to “judge the cover”. He asked for it and we gave it to him. If he was looking for some academic critique of his work, he needs to work on his marketing skills. Or go find some academic sociology journal that will take him seriously enough to publish it.
Rich

I’m sorry, but this was one of the most difficult readings I’ve done in a while. It was endless bitching, complaining, and ranting. My impression was that his entire book was based on a confirmation bias (and a hell of a lot of bitterness). Most of the arguments he made from the get-go were unsound and fallacious.

While I can admit that his narrative (and consequently, his theorems) could be related to by other children-of-[Asian]-immigrants, like some of the previous posters had said: everyone’s different. Everyone has different experiences in their upbringing, and not every Asian wants/loves money, status, and power (nor do they perceive those three specific things in one way – its subjectivity is different person-to-person). You can’t pigeon-hole an entire group of people based on the experiences and opinions of one or several individuals within that group (even if they may make up the “majority” of said group – there’s too many variables to account for).

And Bo, I completely agree with you. If he truly wants to pursue writing (as he mentioned in his book), he needs a lot of brushing up to do, and should probably pursue either creative writing classes, or social science classes to avoid the fallacies that made up most of his writing. His theorems alone would have gotten him booted out of my Arts & Contemporary Studies program.

I’ll say one thing though (okay, two) – I did find a FEW things that I could relate to, but again, that’s not conducive to his theorems. And if this is his way of venting and seeking out a channel to just wig-out, he did a great job – who needs a therapist when you can write all your whoas away on-line, for public consumption?
Kim Lathrop

I haven’t read the book—-so I’m not going to post about it—just about some comments from the posters—-I’m a ‘white guy’ with feet in both cultures—-adopted Chinese, Chinese wife and family (party members) in China.

So on the subject of ‘just here to make money’ —the obvious come back is if not that—then what? —to feel the cultural ‘love’ in America? After two Chinese Exclusion acts which made it illegal to be both Chinese and in America at the same time from 1880′s—to WW2. ??

And what are we to make of the American liberal press that is so down on Chinese culture — to its very roots? (many of the loudest voices against the Chinese during the time of the 2nd. exclusion act were the labor unions, Communists, and liberals…) –so of course, to this day, the disconnect still exists—those same ‘family values’ —placing the greater good—working for the whole society, placing self second—is the antithesis of liberalism.

There have been so many horrible misguided examples of that in the western press–even very recently—world wide—-the one that comes immediately to mind is the liberal presses’ drum beat during the run-up to the Beijing Olympics—-not about the celebration, or the competition, but about all the security—prima fascia evidence of this repressive authoritarian—even despotic society—-while, two weeks ago—-during the Obama inauguration—-the even MORE confining, overbearing and yes, opressive security—was just a necessary precaution during the free exchange of power of the world’s greatest Democracy..

Its changing slowly now, and 8 Asians is a great sign that Asian identity is alive and well….. as it should be, since Asia, and particularly, China is the heir apparent of this young century……
Gao

So i assume none of the writers on here have read the book? I just finished reading it and I say it is a good book.

For the most part, he is very sincere and his experiences are very true in the Asian community. I’m sure some of you are goign to argue and say “oh my parents never wanted me to be a doc/lawyer/blabla” well guess what? Youa re the exception.

Also, the author stated how his parents came to the US with no education so for the Asian Americans whose parents came to the US to study for a degree and such, you may nothave experienced what the author wrote because most like your parents are not as focused on making money and actually know the American culture.

The part about the hugging is completely true!
http://profile.yahoo.com/ERFDXEKL6RZRF3TVYHO4PHZG2Q Emmanuel

I gotta agree with Gao Those people that have not read this book should not flame it. Read it first then hate,, not the other way around.

To Moye > Every one of us has picked up a book, read its summary & judged whether or not we would want to flip through the rest BUT we do not go writing critiques & criticism on something we have not read which is what you did. That is the BIG difference

Great book & I cannot wait to read more

8 Asians