Irish Blood, Korean Heart
(Yeah I know it's a shitty title for a post, but it's not every day that you can reference Morrissey and not be obscurantist)
It's 1:45 am and, as far as I can tell, I am the least Asian person in the library.
For those of you scoring at home back in the States, when you say 'Asian' over here most Brits will think of people from the Subcontinent (i.e. Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshi) and not East Asians (or "Orientals", to breach the prevailing PC zeitgeist). What makes this difference in nomenclature more odd is the somewhat sinister undertones that accompany the use of this categorisation. Daily one sees, splayed across the front page of the trashy Evening Standard, some story about a gang of hooded Asians engaged in ASB (Anti-Social Behaviour, essentially a term the government cooked up for youths loitering and vandalising). George Galloway's (literally) bruising campaign for the Bethnal Green and Bow seat in the House of Commons for the anti-war Respect party was marred by violent canvassing, fatwahs, and other sorts of threats from "Asian" constituents. The most loathed demographic in England, beyond the chav--another oddity of British sociological inquiry that will have to be explained another day--is the Asian. Even at the tolerant LSE, where there are students from more countries than there are members of the UN, there was some controversy over Asians and R&B in the student bar--though, admittedly, this IS a pretty dangerous mix.
This is particularly disorienting for the newly arrived. In America, 'Asians' are not really the target of any systematic discrimination--Ice Cube's Black Korea being one of the more noteworthy exceptions (click here to see the lyrics to this hillariously racist number). In fact, I always thought of Asians as being the socially acceptable minority in the US: hard-working, industrious folk who know the answers to hard maths questions; who keep to themselves without a fuss; and who provide for your nail painting needs or sell you that essential bag of cheetos and the microwavable burrito to temper that pernicious case of the munchies at 4:30 am on a Tuesday. I guess that's how I could always reconcile my laziness: it was the curse of the lazy Gweilo insinuating itself into my otherwise motivated Korean self. But here, things are a bit ambiguous: my socially acceptable half, while Caucasian, is Irish, which doesn't exactly have the same status as it might in America: the hard-drinking, hard fighting type, while heroic to the Yanqui, is frowned upon here. Then I have that creeping Asian identity holding me back as well. No wonder I am writing this and not studying for my exam on Monday. Luckily, I have both the proclivity to accept abject poverty and live on handouts in addition to a burning drive for success, so I guess I don't have anything to worry about with my future.
It's 1:45 am and, as far as I can tell, I am the least Asian person in the library.
For those of you scoring at home back in the States, when you say 'Asian' over here most Brits will think of people from the Subcontinent (i.e. Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshi) and not East Asians (or "Orientals", to breach the prevailing PC zeitgeist). What makes this difference in nomenclature more odd is the somewhat sinister undertones that accompany the use of this categorisation. Daily one sees, splayed across the front page of the trashy Evening Standard, some story about a gang of hooded Asians engaged in ASB (Anti-Social Behaviour, essentially a term the government cooked up for youths loitering and vandalising). George Galloway's (literally) bruising campaign for the Bethnal Green and Bow seat in the House of Commons for the anti-war Respect party was marred by violent canvassing, fatwahs, and other sorts of threats from "Asian" constituents. The most loathed demographic in England, beyond the chav--another oddity of British sociological inquiry that will have to be explained another day--is the Asian. Even at the tolerant LSE, where there are students from more countries than there are members of the UN, there was some controversy over Asians and R&B in the student bar--though, admittedly, this IS a pretty dangerous mix.
This is particularly disorienting for the newly arrived. In America, 'Asians' are not really the target of any systematic discrimination--Ice Cube's Black Korea being one of the more noteworthy exceptions (click here to see the lyrics to this hillariously racist number). In fact, I always thought of Asians as being the socially acceptable minority in the US: hard-working, industrious folk who know the answers to hard maths questions; who keep to themselves without a fuss; and who provide for your nail painting needs or sell you that essential bag of cheetos and the microwavable burrito to temper that pernicious case of the munchies at 4:30 am on a Tuesday. I guess that's how I could always reconcile my laziness: it was the curse of the lazy Gweilo insinuating itself into my otherwise motivated Korean self. But here, things are a bit ambiguous: my socially acceptable half, while Caucasian, is Irish, which doesn't exactly have the same status as it might in America: the hard-drinking, hard fighting type, while heroic to the Yanqui, is frowned upon here. Then I have that creeping Asian identity holding me back as well. No wonder I am writing this and not studying for my exam on Monday. Luckily, I have both the proclivity to accept abject poverty and live on handouts in addition to a burning drive for success, so I guess I don't have anything to worry about with my future.
posted by Det. John Kimble at 01:46
2 Comments:
Good luck on your finals! You are STILL undeniably 'the shit', as you were back in the day.
Keep ya head up my White Chocolate Brovva!
-Jill
Ah. That explains the difficulty in showing emotions or warmth! Yup, must be the genetics.
Post scriptum: fine fine, admittedly after a bottle (each) of that parisian 5 bucks supermarket red you do warm-up. Bonne chance on those exams and it's great having you back. My vocabulary will now further improve .
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