Provincial Minds in Los Angeles and Race

By Johnny C | Wednesday, January 16, 2013 | 21 Comments

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“We should be worried about online silos [news, information, opinion, and discussion communities that are dominated by a single point of view]. They make us stupid and hostile toward each other.” Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia and Citizendium

Six years of living in Los Angeles reinforced several conclusions in my head: 1) if New Jersey is called “the armpit of the union” then Los Angeles is by far the asshole of the union; 2) my faith in Bill Hicks’ “Arizona Bay” philosophy that the world would be better off when the earthquake strikes and the floods sink L.A. beneath the waves, flushing all the jerks, traffic, pollution, lawyers, self-righteous liberals and pompous conservatives, and the rest of the freaks away; and 3) the over-emphasis on race and political correctness distracts people from seeing the overall picture that results in problems that people ASSUME is a result of being born “the wrong” race–for race does not explain social hierarchies and economic realities or other discord, it’s that perception of race and value added to it which are the results of those problems.

I don’t doubt that race is an issue that exists throughout parts of the world, I just don’t think that the whole “You’re white, you have privilege and power” and “He’s black, Affirmative Action is the only reason he got into UC Berkeley” attitude is going to solve anything, nor does it answer the questions raised when asking why things exist as they are. Sparing myself from meaningless and pretentious platitudes and puerile pricks, life around different parts of North America and multiple countries have led me to reject racism and race relations as a lens to perceive and explain reality.

A quick sprint through a few highlights of race and culture with Asian Americans in Los Angeles, which I find to be a lot more unique to the political and cultural makeup of the urban necropolis with bleached hair and ultraviolet tans:

- Ethnic studies classes where it was hard to separate the experience and the framework of interpreting history WITHOUT turning people into militant lunatics with a myopic and dismissive “you don’t know what it’s like to be oppressed” victim’s attitude and attacking anyone who even QUESTIONS that perspective as ignorant. Don’t get me wrong, but I had a few good instructors and peers, read a few decent works, but the crowd ranged from slackers looking for an easy A writing a paper about racism in their personal experience (easily exaggerated) to violently provincial and parochial, self-righteous, “I am fucking holier than thou” misanthropes.

- Lambda Masta Beta Asian “fraternities” who prided themselves on brotherhood and assembled into a herd of dunderheads sitting on the staircase and pretending to be tough while glaring at any non-Asian male with an Asian female and hazing Asians who did not have the “privilege” or “spirit” to be initiated and accepted into their little boy’s club. The only constant I saw was a lot of overcompensating for a lot of insecurity amongst wannabe gangs with no real goal in practice besides being Asians hanging with Asians.

- Student “culture clubs” where grappling with questions of culture, it often becomes more of a bubble tea drinking and shaved ice or restaurant-trawling club with many people of the same ethnicity and a few “outsiders” where “discovering” culture seems to be the question that gets left unanswered every year. My British Chinese girlfriend at the time went to one meeting and left when one person’s attempt to explain was “Oh we’re all Americans anyway, doesn’t matter what we do that’s Chinese” forgetting the fact that many colleges have non-Americans in attendance too (again, more parochialism and provincialism, even if the patriotic sentiment can be praised).

- Asian Film Festivals made worse by YouTube “celebrities” with perpetual sticks in their rectums that causes them to lift their noses up high towards anyone who doesn’t buy into their personality cult. The prior three experiences are typically what shape the pretentious and pompous directors and actors who appear in these festivals and present themselves as these paragons of authority on race and social commentary, who had likely slept through a few high school American history classes, took a few ethnic studies classes in college, went to some hack film school, settled in with a group of like-minded (re: small-minded) individuals to make (terrible) films that they screen in these events where everyone gathers around the silver screen to praise Asian faces rather than substance and art. They then project their “authority” to explain race as the problem (as if it’s the only one and explanation to all the issues in the world) on countries they have never traveled to and know nothing about. So while the archetypal pompous film director, whose worst experience in racism was “feeling rejected because he was Asian” suddenly thinks he’s the authority on race in his art (crap), he also somehow thinks his “racism” is akin to the oppression of black slaves and Jim Crow America, who in turn exports this lunacy in his work. Though I’d love for these people to be hung by their underdeveloped testicles and have lead pencils jammed into their useless urethra, I take satisfaction in knowing this is as good as it gets for most of them: three film festivals a year to feel glorious before reality comes when the self-importance is fed by a few fans.

- It’s made worse now that we give credence to YouTube “stars” due to their large number of views, but if we really were to use popular opinion as an authority, then the greatest song of the sixties and seventies generation was “Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies, nothing by The Beatles, Rolling Stones, or Jimi Hendrix and the like. That’s like saying the large number of views on Justin Bieber justifies that his “art” is “good”.

I don’t doubt that there have been some remarkable individuals from all over the world drawn to L.A. and that there are actual intelligent and cultured people in Los Angeles, and I definitely don’t dismiss the race hypothesis altogether because it’s a collective projection that is prevalent in L.A.–I just have encountered very few people who can go beyond thinking race automatically leads to oppression and privilege, and where those same forces at work are benefiting from that tunnel vision of refusing to see problems that exist before, after, and beyond race, creating the global disorder at play thanks to globalization.

Looking at econometrics, with a recent article on Mother Jones about lead, the “hidden variable” to explain the criminal element. You can say “Aha! Black people! Race is still an element, math proves it!” but to critically look at it, one of the questions should be “What CREATED that racial divide that existed before the division?” Can’t say “race” because retrofitting one modern hypothesis and looking to make things find fit into that explanation doesn’t prove a point, it is rationalizing with confirmation bias. Another example: we can agree that poverty is bad, but what are the REASONS that CREATE poverty? Race and poverty are symptoms, not the cause. But as anyone who is likely to violently argue, the one sentence summary of this missive: the hidden variable that can explain problems (especially in an econometric analysis) is not race, that’s the lazy, uneducated, self-assured man’s approach.

photo credit: Emmanuel_D.Photography via photopin cc

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ijang

In short, multiculturalism is an epic failure, and this coming from an ethnic who lives in one of the most multiculturalism cities in the west

I sincerely hope this type of western thought doesn’t infect Asia
disqus_SVVrX1dS46

Finally, an interesting article that isn’t about ‘Do Asian Women have the Smallest Vaginas’ or an article about Asian food and flatulence. Although, I don’t fully agree with what the Author says and it feels like a very reactionary post from Johnny, I appreciate his insights and think he has a good point to make. Nice one!

And to the previous poster ijang, like it or not, the world is getting smaller. It’s not the easy road to take, but we need to learn to work and live side by side even if we don’t necessarily work and live together. I do take your point on multiculturalism. I am a British Chinese and feel that previous government’s promotion of multiculturalism is damaging to the British identity, leading to extreme parties/sections feeling left out and without a voice. But I don’t want to get into that too much, just thanks to the Author for an article that wasn’t about Asian poon. 8Asians, let’s do light hearted but c’mon.
LTE2

“the over-emphasis on race and political correctness distracts people from seeing the overall picture”
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You can say in America, I have suffered, therefore I am.
http://twitter.com/heyitsjohnnyc Johnny C

The same “ethnic” you think is affected also happens to have lived in eleven countries, eight of them being Asian, so this kind of analytical thought is not necessarily “western” nor does the article say multiculturalism is a failure, it is referring to how race alone does not necessarily mean “multicultural” or explain poverty, social hierarchy, and any of the problems that are prevalent in societies.
http://twitter.com/heyitsjohnnyc Johnny C

It’s a pleasure and honor to have some readers like you who appreciate going beyond mere consumption of pop culture memes and juvenile posts on anatomy with regard to race. While I’m not the most qualified to comment on British multiculturalism (as the scope of my understanding is limited to two of my girlfriends being British Asians), I can definitely say that there are different societal attitudes and approaches to multiculturalism, and America (especially in Los Angeles) tends to think its paradigms are the standard for all multiculturalism. Of the few multicultural societies I’ve lived in, I’ve felt there was a stronger emphasis on race rather than ideas or attitudes, and that there was an assumption everyone was immigrating, not being a short-term expat, which I as a denizen happened to be.
http://twitter.com/heyitsjohnnyc Johnny C

Sir, you have just helped me to have a hearty laugh with that remark. Nice one.
LTE2

“I sincerely hope this type of western thought doesn’t infect Asia”
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I recall many many years ago when Japan was still the economic scourge of America, the dreaded Rush Limbaugh had said; The best way to defeat the Japanese? Send them our culture.
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It worked!
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Now lets get China in our sights!
LTE2

“Sir, you have just helped me to have a hearty laugh with that remark. Nice one.”
.
Not everyone appreciates my insight and commentary. I just got my Twitter account unsuspended for the 3rd time in 2 months.
LTE2

“Looking at econometrics, with a recent article on Mother Jones about lead, the”
.
Interesting article but one must think unless kids ate the lead found in soil, the lead in the air had to be the controlling factor and if that is the case, any high auto traffic area would have been a rich source of thuggery and murderous rampages (often not the case).
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The issue may not have been the lead itself, but the diet of the affected residents. Higher income may have allowed a nutrition better able to resist the effects of lead.
http://twitter.com/heyitsjohnnyc Johnny C

Well, though I have been annoyed at times, I realize you and I share one thing in common: a bold audacity to speak our minds (although not often in agreement), especially when unpopular amongst the masses, so I do raise my glass to you, sir.
ijang

It was supposed to be ‘ethnic korean’

Regardless, multiculturalism has set up a political and social narrative that blames those differences too quickly on race, leading to way too much racial disharmony

What you’ve written is more enlightened than the average westerner, but it will never become mainstream thought. Race based politics lurks behind every issue, and isn’t going to go away anytime soon. That, is the failure of multiculturalism.
http://twitter.com/heyitsjohnnyc Johnny C

Thank you for clarifying, my apologies for misunderstanding; and yes, it’s not going to be mainstream thought anytime soon, and that’s generally the way a lot of thinking and meditation on the topic is. Unfortunately, it’s also become so ingrained in people’s identities and value sharing that many feel it’s a personal attack to try and look beyond the forces of race and immediately dismiss ideas like this as “wrong” and “ignorant” and “bigoted” which is expected when up against large herds who don’t want questioning identity in terms beyond what’s familiar and normative to them to be challenged. You won’t be surprised at some of the more violent responses I’ve had to pieces like this and others, but stand for something or fall for everything, I believe.
LTE2

I must defend Los Angeles, they had always taken great pride in their shallowness and superficiality. Los Angeles is important only because it’s the home base of the American movie industry, remove the film business, Los Angeles would pretty much be the Sandusky, Ohio of the west coast.
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The attitudes you described are pretty much found where ever Progressives in America accumulate. They’re thick as fleas in New York and even where I grew up (hint: the armpit of America).
LTE2

“it’s also become so ingrained in people’s identities and value sharing”
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Asians as victims will never ring true due to their level of accomplishment. If there is any direction they should go in the search for greater recognition, it should be to promote themselves as a people with great untapped potential for America. Accentuate The Positives as the old song used to go.
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American Blacks have long experience at working the victimization plantation and they seem content to be viewed as history’s greatest victims. Victimization may make one feel good for a bit but long term creates self defeating behavior. You simply can not be a great people and victims at the same time, it’s a total contradiction.
http://twitter.com/heyitsjohnnyc Johnny C

Those labels you often talk about sound quite ironic (referring to the attitudes behind the people wearing them) from an outsider perspective. Also, I actually enjoyed my times going around NJ when I was living in Northampton, MA and driving around to see the general region a hell of a lot more than L.A., and would much rather be in NJ than anywhere near L.A.
LTE2

“NJ than anywhere near L.A.”
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Most of my family lives in California and I have been to LA a few times. I favor the Moro Lake area of California the most, L.A. the least.
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New Jersey appreciates your vote of confidence in them. There are a lot of really nice areas in the Northeast, the biggest drawback of the area is the ever increasing property taxes.
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I was much amused to read the county I live in here in PA is now considered one of the 10 hottest in America. The only real evidence I have seen is the nice property tax increase we got last year (I gather the hotness is due to being in a prime location in the Northeast). A Hollywood movie company was discussing the purchase of a building 15 blocks from my home for conversion to a movie studio. Could aid the resale value of my house by stating you can have a chance to watch Angelina Jolie drive by.
david0688

“I must defend Los Angeles, they had always taken great pride in their shallowness and superficiality.”

Much to the detriment of everyone else. There’s a reason people call L.A. “Lala Land” or “Hollyweird.” I couldn’t live there, for an extended period of time
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honky wonky

Johnnh C should add himself to the list of stuck up twits above.

but I do give him kudos for almost naming names of Quentin, Koji and Steven that’s promoted ad nauseum on this website.

come out and just say it, Johnny C
honky wonky

what does having to lived in 11 countries have to do with you being better or more knowledageble on anything?

you always flaunt it around like some kind of merit badge, but it doesn’t make you more insightful into anything rather than just a egotist
honky wonky

actually, Hitler and the Nazis thought of themselves as victims.

Israel think of themselves as victims. Serbs and Hutus thought of themselves as victims…

and that eventually leads to justification for atrocities…

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