In Fine Company

The Perez Hilton of Asian American blogs (with far more captivating and newsworthy posts though), Angry Asian Man has come out with a list of "30 Most Influential Asian Americans Under 30"

He's cited designer Alexander Wang, presidential assistant Eugene Kang and rocker Karen O in the list. I was amused to read that a couple of friends and acquaintances have also landed on the list.

But I was especially excited to find that two of my editors (and friends) have made the honorable mentions list next to the likes of Utada Hikaru and Daniel Henney. Congrats, Michelle and Ada!
Michelle is my managing editor at KoreAm Journal and Ada at Asia Pacific Arts. They're both talented, hardworking, ambitious mentors and amazing young women. I can only hope to reach their status in the near future.

Make room for me on your list next year, Angry Asian Man.

Ok, for serious, no more blogging for a couple more days.

Until then!

Open Your Eyes, Miley!

I'm a little behind on this but a couple of weeks ago, Miley Cyrus, Disney pop sensation ("sensation" being the right word because this girl's talent and worth is totally sensationalized by the Disney machine) was found in a picture with a group of her friends doing this...

At first glance, one can say, "okay. It's just a picture of a girl having fun with her friends, making some goofy faces."

One can even interpret these faces in many way. Maybe they're pretending to need glasses! Maybe they're potheads! Maybe they're constipated!

But upon closer inspection, it's pretty obvious that this is a completely racist picture of a bunch of white folks pretending to have chinky eyes. Note how the one Asian dude in the shot isn't making the face at all? Note how some people (Miley included) are pulling their eyes taut to achieve the oriental look? Note how one genius in the back even put his fingers up to his mouth to adopt a buck teeth look reminiscent of Charlie Chan's (incredibly racist) Breakfast at Tiffany's character?

Genius

Inspiration

Gotta give him props for being precise and detailed!

Now, I'm not the biggest advocate for anti-racism or anything. I understand that people make mistakes sometimes. We've been brought up in a world where stereotypes exist and racism still lingers. As much as we try to become as open-minded and loving of our neighbors for who they are as a person rather than the color of their skin, it's still typical to make jokes about certain races, to make comments generalizing a group of people, to behave a certain way around them. I'm not saying it's acceptable. Just that it's typical.

However, Miley Cyrus is a celebrity figure. The comments she says, the faces she makes, the pictures she takes, weigh a whole lot more than the average human being. There are little girls who don't even know what racism means who dance along to her songs and sleep on "Hannah Montana" monogrammed pillows at night. I know that she's only 16 herself and just trying to grow up in the public eye but she's been in enough photo scandals to know that anything she does on film will be scrutinized, analyzed and criticized by society. By taking a picture making that kind of face and then letting the photographer keep the picture and post it up online only shows that she doesn't care what message she is sending out.

My sister was in her "7 Things" music video and told me that on-set, Miley wouldn't take pictures with any of the young girls who asked her. Taking pictures with her fans, those that feed her livelihood and made her who she is, is a no no but you know, taking "goofy," ignorant and utterly tasteless shots, that, she will do!

So as is typical "Disney It Girl Gone Bad" fashion, Cyrus has come out with a sort-of statement explaining the photo:

"I've also been told there are some people upset about some pictures taken of me with friends making goofy faces! Well, I'm sorry if those people looked at those pics and took them wrong and out of context! In NO way was I making fun of any ethnicity! I was simply making a goofy face. When did that become newsworthy? It seems someone is trying to make something out of nothing to me. If that would of [sic] been anyone else, it would of been overlooked! I definitely feel like the press is trying to make me out as the new 'BAD GIRL'!"

Girl, you need to (no pun intended) open your eyes if you think that the picture was just goofy. If you think people are "making something out of nothing," why don't we just put up a picture of a bunch of people with hay stuck in our mouths and greasy long blonde hair in our faces and see how you feel about that?

Asians are offended by racist actions like pretending to have chinky eyes because we've had a history of being taught to hate our smaller-than-white-people peepers. We've had a history of thinking that the smaller your eyes are, the less attractive you are. So when you go and take a picture trying to mock our eyes and then say that you weren't trying to do that but was just making a goofy face, you've not only made fun of us once by taking that picture but twice by saying that the face you were making was goofy. Thanks! I quite love walking around with a "goofy" face 24/7.

What Miley Cyrus did was not okay. And I hate how other people out there also think that it was. On Zap2it, the commenters to the article would say these like, "she's only a kid!" and "I don't see what the big deal is!" Um..okay, just because you're a kid doesn't mean that you can get away with racism. If we don't punish her now, how can she grow up to become a responsible, race-conscious adult? And the big deal is that no one ever makes a big deal when there's racism targeted towards Asians. John Imus' infamous "nappy headed hoes" comment drew outrage all over the country, this hardly made a ripple.

On the other hand, there are people who are angry about this and insults Miley back by calling her just another ignorant "country hick." That's kind of racist as well, wouldn't you say? How about we say that Miley Cyrus isn't just another ignorant country hick. She's actually a very lucky girl who's able to live out a dream most other girls would kill for. It's harsh being under the spotlight all the time but you can't expect the fame, glory and moolah to come without some costs, can you? With great power comes great responsibilities (yes, I totally pulled a "Spiderman") and she needs to learn how to be a proper role model whether she likes it or not. If she doesn't want to be one, then GO AWAY. Let Selena Gomez take your place.

Oh! And I also found the Grammy performance Cyrus did with Taylor Swift (whom I girlcrush on madly) She totally ruined Taylor's gentle song with her nasally and crass hooterin' and hollerin'.

Hmm..Taylor Swift's eyes are known for being fairly cat-eyes and slim, I wonder how she feels about Miley calling her eyes "goofy"?

Inspiration for this post: Angry Asian Man

*Edit: FINALLY a real apology issued on her official fan club website...

Posted on Feb 08, 2009

"I want to thank all of my fans for their support not only this week, but always! I really wanted to stress how sorry I am if the photo of me with my friends offended anyone. I have learned a valuable lesson from this and know that sometime my actions can be unintentionally hurtful. I know everything is a part of GODs ultimate plan, and mistakes happen so that eventually I will become the woman he aspires me to be. Peace and love, Miles."