Yanan Wang writes in the Washington Post:
A column published over a week ago in the New York Times began with what the writer calls “an awkward question”: “Why are Asian Americans so successful in America?”
Nicholas Kristof is no stranger to controversy, and the framing of his first sentence indicates that he knew he would be wading straight into it with a piece titled “The Asian Advantage.” But perhaps even Kristof did not expect the magnitude of the pushback from the Asian American community to be so great that it would prompt him to post a follow-up on Facebook this Saturday.
“My column last weekend on Asian-Americans sparked lots of conversation and criticism,” he wrote, addressing at length the various objections to and interpretations of the column. “Thanks for joining the conversation, whether you were patting me on the back or whacking me over the head.”
While many Asian American commenters said they appreciated Kristof’s attempt to clarify his points, the post likely befuddled others. What could be objectionable, after all, about a column representing as fact the achievements of Asian immigrants in America?
But to many Asian Americans, the column’s opening gambit isn’t just awkward. It’s offensive — and dangerous.
Comments at WP:
* Yanan, you’re posing strawperson arguments. Which conservatives have said “ALL” Asians of color are successful? Which have said all Asians of color are “IMMUNE” from white privilege? A few idiots, and now that’s the dumb argument you’re going to easily topple?
And now to criticize the progressives: they LOVE to trot out the Hmong (and a few other groups as Cambodians) who admittedly do poorly. But it’s funny to see the progressives virtually CELEBRATING the Hmong so that they can claim the evil racist policies of the privileged boring white dominant people are alive and well . Unfortunately for progressives, these Asians of color represent a very small part of the dominant Han, Korean, and Indian students of color who, e.g., dominate STEM majors. Notice what I said: they dominate. I didn’t say ALL stem majors are Asians of color. Some Asians of color even major in education (mostly a joke among other majors). And some Asians will be working in the restaurant or the factory for the rest of their lives. But an amazing number are becoming physicians, computer scientists, lawyers, businesspeople, et al., BOTH women and men.
So Yanan, please stop with the supposed strawperson arguments by calling out the conservatives who claim ALL Asians of color are successful and recognizing not all make such a stupid claim, and please call out the progressives who LOVE to use the relatively small groups of Hmong, Cambodians, etc. as the CELEBRATED example of Asians of color doing poorly in hopelessly racist AmeriKKKa, while there might be other factors (which hopefully can be overcome) to account for the anomaly occurring with these small groups of Asians of color.
* Good God, this is the fourth Post article of this morning that is nothing but standard Post race-baiting…I mean RACE-BLEATING. We’ve already been treated to a middle school that canceled its student officer election because too many white kids won; former NBA player Chris Webber teaching a Master’s-level course on Sports and Race at Wake Forest; and comedian Chris Rock making a “joke” insinuating that RGIII was benched because he was black.
Old newspaper philosophy was “If it bleeds, it leads!” Now it is “If it’s Race, Make it a Headline – Post-Haste!”
* I see these “We’re not the model minority you think we are” articles pop up occasionally, usually written by some Asian Democrat apologist. Yes, we get it that not ALL Asians are smart and successful, but statistically speaking (and statistics don’t lie), Asians outperform all other ethnic groups when it comes to graduation rates,out-of-wedlock pregnancy rates and incarceration rates. Look at the student populations of UCLA and USC and any number of other universities and it’s quite obvious they’re doing something right. We understand that Asians, who mostly vote Democrat, kind of spoil the Democratic agenda that minorities can’t get a fair shot in America, but it is what it is. Take a compliment.
* A genetic disposition towards intelligence combined with a culture of intact families and respect for academics and work. How could they not succeed?
Prejudices are another word for experience.
* Sorry Asian-American whiny people, If you really want white Americans to think less of you it will take a lot more than a few posers in academia and the media shouting out their grievances about “orientalism” or whatever else they picked up in America Sucks 101. Nope, you’ll really have to up your game and do a lot worse in things like divorce, children out of wedlock, incarceration, etc. Oh, and you’ll have to tell your younger siblings and other relations to stop studying and drive down those GPAs and standardized test scores! Until then, we in white America aren’t even going think about coming up with any new racial slurs to apply to you.
* But Asians in America ARE smarter than average (excluding Cambodians and Laotians).
Indians, Chinese, and Filipinos are far more likely to immigrate to the US for their skills as MDs, nurses, STEM graduate students, computer programmers, entrepreneurship, and engineers; when compared to, say Mexicans and Central Americans who are here to work in the fields and clean our bathrooms.
It is not just work ethic, intelligence is mostly inherited and work ethic is inherited in part (there is a test that can be administered to 4 year olds that is highly correlated with adult success). European Americans even after all of these generations are also a cut above those that stayed behind. Blacks descended from slaves were inversely selected. Cambodia killed all their smart people, which is why the refugees are near the bottom of the list in success in the US.
Asians are stereotyped as highly intelligent because so many of them are. Blacks are stereotyped as lazy, welfare criminals because so many of them are. If they don’t like it, they should convince their fellow Asians to dumb down or their fellow blacks to book it up and get a job.
* Asians don’t fall for this PC trap. You are a model minority. People who process refugees from all over the world tell me that Asians are the most obedient, rule following people while Africans and Middle East people act the most entitled, and always complain about how everything is not up to their expectations. Unfortunately, these are the people who become a burden on our societies. Not so much Asians. They are exceptional and how funny they work from Wall Street to Silicon Valley and yet I have never heard a single one of them complain about racism. In fact they are extremely well settled and integrated into American society while maintaining their unique identities. Also, I am not sure why Black Lives Matter people talk about brown people. I have never seen any brown people complain like these radical, lazy, entitled , people who constitute Black Lives Matter. Look what happened to Venezuela after the radical left took over that country? Never, ever let them do it here. They are immature with ego and narcissistic tendencies who like to constantly find victims because that gives them an adrenal rush and makes their useless existence worthwhile.
* Oh please, a minority of who went to study some useless degree in identity politics or cultural studies took to twitter to criticize Kristoff doesn’t negate the fact that Asians are model minorities. Also, the majority of who are extremely successful don’t have time to take to twitter and criticize an article. In Germany the Vietnamese community which came during the war and then faced incredible backlash by the Germans has now go on to become the most successful minority community in Germany even surpassing Germans. That says a lot about Asian community. You don’t like because then it negates the idea that everyone else is responsible for your fate and destiny.
* So Kristof is a racist. We kinda knew that already didn’t we?
But kudos to the ostensibly Asian reporter for highlighting Asian grievances without acknowledging the biggest one of all; enthusiastic state-sponsored anti-Asian discrimination in university admissions.
* The reason the liberal intelligentsia is so sensitive about this point is that it has the potential to blow a massive, catastrophic hole in their central argument about “white privilege.”
South Asians are brown-skinned. In some instances, really brown skinned, as in darker than African-Americans. Although many immigrants from there are doctors and lawyers and engineers, many others are cab drivers and gas station attendants. Considering how little time they have had in this country, their success in not only medicine/engineering but also law, journalism, business is astounding. To deny that fact is ludicrous.
It gives liberals the willies.
* Well, all I know is that Asian-Americans don’t riot and loot, don’t shoot each other daily in the ghettos, and don’t have Asian Lives Matter militancy, in America, like another race.
