I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one but I'm quite into foreign entertainment overseas from Asia. From music, movies, talk shows, etc. In a way, I've had a fair share of seeing Asian faces in just about every genre, character and story one can imagined and beyond. Even if it's not mainstream in North America, it is fairly recognizable and Non-Asians, growing in numbers too, are sort of into it. It's not just anime, martial arts or adult content but spread out to many other venues. In short, the arguement that people ought to support the entertainers for the sake of having an “Asian face” isn't really enough to move others.

My second point is how some of the material and reception towards ethnic entertainment is related to life experiences. Most people are aware of how diverse the Asian American Community is, but the amount of different life experiences is enormously vast. Between generations, education, occupations, locations, anything you can name. Some have actually experienced violence due to their heritage while others only faced verbal insults, and the attitudes towards both are going to be different. On a milder note; we can make jokes regarding how hard Asian parents push thier kids in school, piano or “nerdy” activities, however there really is a significant portion of Asian Americans who have never gone through that. Or some probably did, but the methods and reactions towards those experiences are probably different than the common perception.

With so many factors to include, it is going to be hard to create and maintain some type of collective form of ethnic genre for Asian Americans.

My last point is a bit more philosophical and relates to anyone, of any background and occupation. While the direction and work effort is in your control, at times, the results could be beyond your hands. For whatever reason; the fruits of your labor may not be so sweet according to the amount of work put in or vice versa could happen. Basically speaking, sometimes we can not ignore reality.

However, it's not the end of the world but anyways, this could get personal for people to think about and I think I could stop elaborating on my points of personal opinion now.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one but I'm quite into foreign entertainment overseas from Asia. From music, movies, talk shows, etc. In a way, I've had a fair share of seeing Asian faces in just about every genre, character and story one can imagined and beyond. Even if it's not mainstream in North America, it is fairly recognizable and Non-Asians, growing in numbers too, are sort of into it. It's not just anime, martial arts or adult content but spread out to many other venues. In short, the arguement that people ought to support the entertainers for the sake of having an “Asian face” isn't really enough to move others.

My second point is how some of the material and reception towards ethnic entertainment is related to life experiences. Most people are aware of how diverse the Asian American Community is, but the amount of different life experiences is enormously vast. Between generations, education, occupations, locations, anything you can name. Some have actually experienced violence due to their heritage while others only faced verbal insults, and the attitudes towards both are going to be different. On a milder note; we can make jokes regarding how hard Asian parents push thier kids in school, piano or “nerdy” activities, however there really is a significant portion of Asian Americans who have never gone through that. Or some probably did, but the methods and reactions towards those experiences are probably different than the common perception.

With so many factors to include, it is going to be hard to create and maintain some type of collective form of ethnic genre for Asian Americans.

My last point is a bit more philosophical and relates to anyone, of any background and occupation. While the direction and work effort is in your control, at times, the results could be beyond your hands. For whatever reason; the fruits of your labor may not be so sweet according to the amount of work put in or vice versa could happen. Basically speaking, sometimes we can not ignore reality.

However, it's not the end of the world but anyways, this could get personal for people to think about and I think I could stop elaborating on my points of personal opinion now.

As much as I do like that there are more Asians in the media nowadays, a helluva lot of the roles they're placed in are so ridiculously stereotyped. I don't think it's wrong to call them out. I think the blame is being placed in the wrong place, honestly — if the media made an active effort to accept more Asian-Americans into better roles, we wouldn't have anything (well, maybe just less) to complain about.

While I like to see success amongst Asians, ultimately I'm going to support what I like in general. I like that Yao Ming is in the NBA but I'll support Dwight Howard over him just because I think he's a more exciting player to watch. I'll support and enjoy Ken Jeong on the movie screen but there's handfuls of other white/black/purple actors who I enjoy too.

If the ultimate goal of our society is to be color blind and not ask for detrimental treatment because of our race, then we should not be asked for preferential treatment because of race either. It can't go both ways, and if you want to achieve success, it shouldn't be because you're a good Asian comedian/actor/singer, it should because you're a good comedian/actor/singer period.

Don't ask me to like you more because you're Asian just as you're complaining that we're “hating” on you because you're Asian.

Do your best at what you're good at, and the people will follow.