8Asians | An Asian American collaborative blog

Very few things can get me to pop in while I’m still vagabonding and give even an inkling of attention for something in another universe. Unfortunately for you all, the recent article about being “hip” to be Asian-American, which coincides with this idea that’s been idling in my mind before I bowed out are what both compelled me to make a few statements before continuing back on the road.

So let me ask what is this nonsense about being Asian-American? With most of the popular media about Asian America circulating the grapevine, it has a very Southern California-centric mentality, and Southern California does not speak for all of Asian America. Not surprising, since SoCal is where some of the best departments for Asian-American Studies is at the university level, and most of the new media hacks are based there in that town where the archetypal person is an unholy amalgamation of Leona Helmsley’s personality, with the body (and self-righteous pretentiousness) of Ignatius J. Reilly trying to fit in a bikini that Kate Moss finds too loose, all screaming about their greatness in the voice of Gilbert Gottfried and Fran Drescher’s illegitimate lovechild.

Southern California does not represent Asian America, contrary to what YouTube and many of the opinions polluting popular and social media seemingly convey. True, a large number of the API community is found in California, but I cringe when more often than not, I come across people who are surprised there are large pockets of Asians back east and the Midwest (places I’ve lived in), and then assume that there is a gravity-like pull that inspires people to inevitably migrate out west.

Let’s look at the problem with the bad romance of 1) the hipsterization of culture, and 2) the commercialization of culture. Liberals are annoying, we know that. That self-righteous, moral blackmail that does nothing more than shock and shame those who do not agree or keep up with the futile race to see who can be most “open-minded”–and “open-minded” itself at times being a badge of pride in nothing as it loses meaning. To me, I go by a classic definition of being open-minded: being able to consider things without necessarily agreeing with them, the reasoning behind those perspectives, and appreciation; whereas this self-righteous liberal and bandwagon hipster mentality is to follow the trend of whatever seems “cool” at the moment and scorn whatever isn’t with copy-and-paste wit.

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