Asian Stereotypes

"Oh, he MUST be smart because he's Asian."
"She must be good in math and science because she's Asian."
"He won't do that [insert crazy activity here] because he's Asian. Asian people are squares."
"I want an Asian girlfriend because she'll take care of me."

BLAH BLAH BLAH FREAKIN' BLAH.

These are just examples of some of the circulating Asian stereotypes that people say. We've all heard them, whether they're coming from people of our own race or people from different races. These stereotypes have been around for an extremely long period of time, and obviously, they're here to stay. Stereotypes don't seem to go AWAY, but rather, more just seem to be forming and adding to the already long list of Asian stereotypes. This simply means that, more incorrect judgements are being made about Asian people based off of one's appearance, what the media is portraying, and some claim that it's based on "knowledge", but I believe that it isn't really knowledge - it's more the lack thereof.

I understand that there are some people who really prove the stereotypes to be true and who can be categorized under one of the many Asian stereotypes, and yes, some people may know someone like this firsthand; however, I don't think that people should begin to form ideas and expectations of an entire race based on a few people that they know that fulfill the stereotypes. Just because the majority of R&B artists are black doesn't mean that I'm going to assume that all the black people in the world can sing or rap - that's a false judgement, not based on facts, but based on mere observations.

So if stereotypes are made by mere observations, why are they still around today? Stereotypes are still around and still being formed today because we, as a whole, don't fight against it. We just take it in stride and laugh it off. Even though it's difficult to break free of the common stereotypes made, it's not impossible. Another reason why the Asian stereotypes are still around is because we form stereotypes within our own race. Yes, some of the stereotypes can be good, but some are also bad.

"He must be able to sing because he's Filipino."
"She must be stuck-up because she's Filipino."
"She must eat chicken feet because she's Chinese."

So, we're all tired of these stereotypes, but why do we form stereotypes within our own race? We should stop making assumptions based on simple observations or based on one experience, and we should start looking at things as a whole. Everyone's different - just because one Chinese person may eat chicken feet doesn't mean another will. For all we know, they despise it. If we're really tired of stereotypes, we should stop forming our own and stop allowing people to make these assumptions - good or bad - about us simply because we're minorities.

--Kim [=

PS: Thanks Donna, for fixing the layout! [= Looks lovely.