This Is Sure to Piss Some People Off
The Korea Times this weekend had this editorial from a Daniel Hong about the relationships between Western men and Asian women. It seems like the Korean newspapers just can’t get enough about talking about relationships between Western men and Asian women as is evident by the amount of articles that have been published on this subject. Anyway this particular article I find quite offensive. Here is just the start to it:
I had never paid attention to the arrangement of the evening news anchors, a young Korean woman paired off with an old white man, at my local TV channel in Seattle until I heard Sheridan Prasso’s lecture at the University of Washington the other day. “Have you seen an Asian man teamed with a white woman on the news?” she prodded. Prasso, a former Business Week Asia editor, in her new book, “The Asian Mystique: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls & Our Fantasies of the Exotic Orient,” asserted that the Westerners’ misconstrued perception of Asian women made it impossible to create the odd pair.
Ms. Sheridan is alledging that Asian women cannot be put on TV and deliver news to the public due to stereotypes about them. Ms. Sheridan must not get out much from her liberal paradise of the University of Washington because growing up in Colorado and watching the Denver Channel 9 News, the news station has a Asian female news anchor Adele Arakawa who is originally from Hawaii but her grandparents imigrated to Hawaii from Okinawa, Japan. This news station didn’t have any problems having an Asian woman anchoring the news. In fact the news station had two more Asian female reporters, one Quynh Nguyen of Vietnamese family origins and Jinah Kim who is originally from Seoul, Korea.
 Obviously this stereotype isn’t very strong in my conservative state of Colorado if we got all these Asian women all over our television screens giving us the news. So how is this stereotype alive and well according to Ms. Sheridan in her People’s Republic of Washington? I thought liberals were all fair and open minded? Seems like an Asian women delivering the news in Washington shouldn’t be a problem especially with such a high Asian population; unless it’s the liberals that are the one’s that believe the stereotypes. So how did three Asian women get hired in Colorado with a very small Asian population? This may be a shock to some kooks out there but maybe they were hired because they are really good news reporters and the stereotype of submissive Asian women didn’t play into the decision to hire them. In fact Adele Arakawa is a highly respected and recognized news anchor:
Adele has received 5 regional emmys in the Heartland Region NATAS awards, including 3 for best anchor. In 1997, the emmy was awarded for coverage of the Oklahoma City Bombing. In 1999, the recognition came for coverage of the Columbine shootings. And in 2004, the Best Anchor award was based on a compilation of the year’s work. She has also received a national 1st place award in 1991 for reporting from the Asian American Journalists Association. The report was a 3-part series on the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Adele has received numerous other awards from both community and professional organizations.
Adele served as president of the Chicago chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association in 1992. She is a member of the Japanese American Citizens League, the Japanese American Service Committee and the Japan America Society of Colorado.
I have disproved Ms. Sheridan’s theory in 10 minutes of typing. I’m sure there are more Asian women out there on TV reporting the news. Just off the top of my head I see Michelle Malkin on the news all the time. I wonder how much money the university payed her to teach these false allegations to the student at the University of Washington? Our tax dollars at work.
Now that I have proven Asian females can work in the news industry lets move on to other allegations from Ms. Sheridan:
Still on the streets in Bangkok, as she witnesses numerous Asian women escorting Western men with bald heads and pot bellies, she couldn’t help but think, “What are they thinking? What does she want for dating the paunchy middle-aged man?” She believes that the Western man exploited the Asian woman, and vice versa: the Asian woman out of her need for money and Western man out of his sexual desire. Not only from the street but also from the growth in demand for mail order brides from Asian countries testifies to the exploitation, she laments.
It is true the sex industry in the country of Thailand is out of control but that is because of the poverty there. It is the same thing in the Phillipines and was once the case here in Korea. However, it is not strictly an Asian phenomenom. She needs to go to Eastern Europe and see all the exploited women there. Same thing in Africa. The bottom line is that where there is poverty there will be those who will exploit it in the sex industry be it Asia, Africa, or Europe. Also keep in mind that it works the other way around to. I can’t count the number of GI’s in Dongducheon I have seen wiped out by Phillipino and Russian “drinky girls.” These “drinky girls” must not have gotten the memo that they are supposed to be submissive and obey all commands from the Western man.
Here is what will really piss a lot people off:
Later in the discussion session after her lecture, I raised several questions: “Who are those Western men or Americans chasing after Asian females? Aren’t they what the Southern Californians would call, UCLA (Ugly Caucasians Living with Asians)? Aren’t they at the bottom of the Darwin’s food chain that they couldn’t get what they want in their own land because of their low social status and therefore only option left for them is to chase after those Asians? I know, without any empirical data, it’ll be difficult to press the argument” Prasso admitted that it is true partially and added, “Just street wisdom will give us a telling insight. In England where I used to live, they say that if you can’t make it here, that is, to find your girlfriend, go to Hong Kong.”
I don’t know where to begin on this one? But let me just sum it up this way; this may be a shock to these people but maybe the Western men that marry Asian women simply love their wives for who they are and did not marry them because they are alledgedly submissive and exotic.
Anyway, I’m assuming the writer Daniel Hong is Korean because of his last name, but he is clearly a racist, along with Ms. Sheridan, and by association the Korea Times for allowing such a piece of trash as this article to be published. I find it interesting that a Korean man and a so called open minded liberal are the ones passing along and reinforcing the negative stereotypes about Asian women. In their effort to defend Asian women these people have actually only furthered harmed their image and have shown that they are the real racists not Western men. What is really sad is that they probably don’t even know it.
Hey GI are you tired of killing korean school girls and now you want to rape more of our women. GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY COUNTRY.
Your copious research on the internets and the unique wit you muster about "People's Republics" aside, i think you may have misread the quote…
Granted, the writing is rather miserable and opaque, but look again where she says, ". . . made it impossible to create the odd pair." Isn't the odd pair she refers to the imagined anchor team of a an Asian Male/White Female? She wasn't doubting the possiblity of Asian American female anchors… she was doubting the possibility of Asian American MALES being coupled with white women as news anchors… A proposition that is more or less true, though your internet research might turn someone up, i'm not sure.
btw, isn't the old chestnut, "here i thought LIBERALS were the one's who are supposed to be open-minded" a little bit worn out by now? Your feigned surprise just makes your writing seem tired and stale. Just have out with it why don't cha? – "Liberals are all lying hypocrites!" At least it's direct.
I don't think I misinterpreted the quote because the article was about Asian women and not Asian men, plus I have seen Asian men on the news too anyway.
Also, I don't think all liberals are lying hypocrites. It is just that the type of liberal like Ms. Prasso think they are doing the world such a great service by their "progressive" cause when in fact they are doing more harm and don't even know it.
Hey, you hit it on the nail. My Asian wife and I have been married 34 years, and let me tell you SHE AINT SUBMISSIVE!! Wow, who in their right mind would marry a woman who is submissive regardless of ethnic background, none that I know of and if they did, when she gets to America that situation will end as soon as she meets the neighbors. Sort of like the Eddie Murphy story about bringing a black chick from Africa here and how she became Americanized, and wanted a divorce and "Eddie, I want half"!! I've found most Koreans are racist, especially to Koreans who marry Americans. Well I could go on, but, you made the point.
Hey Kim!
Want GI Korea the f*ck out of Korea? It's easy. You go to the Blue house and protest demanding that they formally ask the 'evil' GI's to leave. Ya know, kind of like the Phillipines did. Bam, GI packs up and leaves. That easy. Win-win all around.
Protesting at Yongsan, or Camp Red Cloud, or Camp Casey does jack squat other than waste everyones time and annoy some poor conscript riot police. It's your f*cking government (to use your colorful phrase) that is the decision maker, not GI.
Also doubt GI Korea has personally killed any Korean School girls. Frankly, doubt he even has the AVLB on his 248. If you know different then enlighten us, please.
Guys like Steven Kim above are the one's that really give Korea a bad image. Fortunately they are a small fringe minority but there out there and their vocal. Just read my Hanchongnyun post. I think the fact that he can't find a Korean girlfriend says more about him than it does about western people in general.
Anyway I don't get worked up about people like him because like I always tell people I have seen worse anti-Americanism in America than here. In America I have had red paint thrown at me by a mob of 3,000 hippees at Ft. Benning protesting the School of the Americas and I have been called everything from a war criminal to a baby killer by protestors before the last war.
My dad actually got in an altercation with one of these kooks one time when a member of a known communist group called the American's Workers Party called me a war criminal after my dad would not except a brochure from them and told them he was proud he had a son in the military serving in Iraq. I wish I could of been there to see my 56 year old dad put a whooping on that pot head college kid.
However, I do find it ironic though that I protect the freedom of speech Mr. Kim uses to conduct vicous and vulgar personal attacks against me with and he doesn't even know me. Once again I think that says more about him than it does me.
You are correct, the Daniel Hong article pissed me off. Now I have to admit, I guess I am part of the "problem" because I do not date American girls anymore. Been there, done that and got the alimony T-shirt. Any man who thinks Asian women are "submissive" however, has not been around too many I think. Japanese women are every bit as manipulative as their Western sisters. They do however make a man feel better while he is being manipulated.
I think there are plenty of us who chase Asian women, becuase we like them. We like their attitudes towards sex ( which do not have as many hang ups as American women do, we like their beauty, we like the lack of excess pounds, we also understand going in the door that their are cultural differences, and in the case of divorced men such as my self, we have also learned to reciporcate when we are treated well. So we treat the ladies well.
Its all crap.
Hey Mr. Kim,
Been there, done that, 30 years ago. As an invited guest of your country ,I didn't kill no school girls or rape any women. that doesn't mean i didn't enjoy their company. (weren't many "Round Eye" women around at the time) thanks to US you can openly critise your gov't, maybe we should have left you to the NK's back in 52. don't forget, some Americans, Ugly or not, have payed the ultimate price for your freedom
"I don't think I misinterpreted the quote because the article was about Asian women and not Asian men."
Umm, yes you did indeed misinterpret the quote.
"Plus I have seen Asian men on the news too anyway."
Really? Like how many? One?
You cited Michelle Malkin as an example of a prominent Asian-American female journalist?
As in Michelle Maglalang Malkin, the woman who wrote the book In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling in WWII and the War on Terror?, who despite being a minority herself, justifes the mass internment of Japanese-Americans in prison camps during WWII and advocates similar methods based upon racial profile for the current War on Terror?
Now I know you're totally clueless. But then again for all I know you might agree with her right-wing neocon politics.
Here is the actual quote:
"Have you seen an Asian man teamed with a white woman on the news?" she prodded. Prasso, a former Business Week Asia editor, in her new book, "The Asian Mystique: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls & Our Fantasi! es of the Exotic Orient," asserted that the Westerners' misconstrued perception of Asian women made it impossible to create the odd pair.
Initially she is talking about the male news anchor and then she talks about miscontrued perceptions of Asian women make it impossible to create the odd pair, which I take to mean the opposite of an Asian male and a white woman, which would be an Asian female and a white male which I have seen before. If she is talking about Asian males as news anchors why would she bring this up in an article focusing on Asian females? Granted I haven't seen as many Asian males on the news as females but I'm sure if I did around the internet I could find a few. The first one that jumps out at me is one I saw on the news in LA. The female reporters from Denver jumped out to me because I watched them every day. I'll do some research on Asian male reporters and post on it.
As far as Michelle Malkin I pointed her out as an example of an Asian female reporter being exposed prominently on television news. Personally I like to read her blog every once in while and I can't help but see her on the news all the time but I don't necessarily agree with everything she says. The way you quote her it sounds like you read her more than I do.
You got some pent up anger, you need to relax a bit.
Admit it, you misread the quote. "The odd pair" refers to Asian man and white woman. In the very first sentence, the writer mentions the "young Korean woman paired off with an old white man" on his local TV channel in Seattle. Reading comprehension 101, my friend.
And you telling people to relax because they're pent up is amusing, considering the vitriolic nature of your post. Methinks thou doth protesteth too much. You're the one who needs to fall back a tad.
Actually, I read the quote the same way as Galang and Bluejives… I think that you're twisting her comment one turn too far, my understanding from the context and sentence structure seems to clearly indicate that the 'odd pair' she refers to is a Asian male/white woman anchor team.
The point being made is that while there are plenty of Asian female news reporters and anchors, there is a dearth of the opposite – Asian males appearing onscreen in the same roles. I do think she goes too far in slyly asserting that the *reason* may be that for middle America, seeing white male/asian female on TV is 'okay' while watching an asian male/white female anchor team somehow is not and echoes of miscegenation? It may be as simple an explanation as a lot more Asian girls go into journalism than their male peers, which may be so – I've seen a lot of Asian female news reporters featured prominently, but I'm struggling to recall *ever* seeing an Asian male as a news anchor on either the local or national levels (though once in a while it happens on CNN International).
[By the way, this is my first visit here, happening to be following random blog links today… I was in 2 ID from May 92-93.]
For those interested about Asian male news reporters check out this latest post. Hopefully this will end the controversy about both Asian male and female news reporters.
http://jetiranger.tripod.com/BLOG/index.blog?entr…
I guess this would make be the biggest Bolshevik whitey-hater in the Republican Party.
Marmot,
Don't inflate yourself to such megalomaniacal proportions — you are a small potato. Your birdbrain merely absorbed your socialist environment and now blogging has allowed you to parrot your indoctrination.
There is something quite comical about a self-imagined elitist. Something adorably small, furry and cute — like a marmot.
What is creepy is a grown man and supposed "warrior" like the GI kissing your rodent butt.
Oh! I get it. You are a "Republican".
Does that mean the Republican party isn't infiltrated with socialist change agents?
Marmot, "out yourself" — remaining a closet commie-sexual is beneath your dignity. Be proud of who you are — come out of the closet.
I agree sally.
Marmot wishes he was a Kyopo. Marmot will agree that stabbing Americans is "wrong". But spends all his free time making excuses for korea. Jodi is just another backstabbing kyopo.
I hope more americans get the knife. That is the only way those dumbshits will reaize that their korean "buddies" hate them.
Sniffy,
Thanks for supporting the truth.
The Marmot and GI look good on the outside, but something is deeply dysfunctional underneath despite the thin layer of "Republican veneer". I suspect zombification by socialist vampires that have turned them into the obedient living-dead.
The truth is the Korean collective is a treacherous entity filled with deceptive smiley faces. Sweet faces that give Marmot and GI a feel good delusion about global harmony.
The wet-dream of "progressives" in Republican clothing.
what is your real email adress silly sally.
[…] My prior posting about the Daniel Hong article has caused some interesting debate across the Korean blogosphere. Make sure to check out The Marmot’s comments section on this issue and also Jodi from the Asia Pages provides her views on this issue. Finally, Plunge provides a link to a funny sight dedicated to bitter Asian men worth checking out. […]