Comments on: Desi Say What?!

By: Fuerza Dulce

Fuerza Dulce — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:26:34 +0000

Apparently "ninja" is becoming more popular as a substitute for the n-word than we know. Check it out.

By: Akash

Akash — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:52:50 +0000

non-chinese literally can not pronounce chinese names

It has also to do with spelling..for ex: 'Qi' is not 'Q' but 'Chi'

By: Oodoodanoo

Oodoodanoo — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 01:34:08 +0000

"Asia" is an artificial construct consisting of all of the northeastern landmass that is not Europe. Asia is the idea of grouping majority-non-white / non-Christian populations together. It is an idea created by Europeans.

I don't particularly care if we're considered "Asian" or not. "Desi" is our word, and it's not a hard concept for non-Desis to grasp.

By: ARC

ARC — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:47:06 +0000

To make the intern happy, I did read an interview with the actor who plays “Other Asian” on Glee and he is going to get more speaking parts/character development in the next season

Razib – thanks for providing a possible explanation for why Chinese people working for multinationals pick a Western name for work. I was wondering if they felt pressured to do this by the company (which I think is wrong, having a “funny” name myself) and thus I was trying to figure out if I should use their actual Chinese name instead. But your explanation is more palatable to me so I can at least give my company the benefit of the doubt

By: Yet.Another.Patel

Yet.Another.Patel — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 23:58:59 +0000

Try bringing a Japanese girl home to your parents (as I did) and see what will happen!

Answer: not fun.

By: Pravin

Pravin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 23:25:10 +0000

White I have been one of the people in this thread talking about how close Eastern Asian and “Desi” students are in colleges and there are quite a few “Harold And Kumar” type friendships, I will say that these Asian organizations are way too broad in concept. I think countries like Iran, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore may offer some mild convergence on some common things with people from the subcontinent. When we bond with Eastern Asian friends, it’s over common demeanors and understanding of family structures and education, stuff like that. I really dont think there is a need for broad ASIAN organizations in colleges. I am comfortable with a subcontinental wide org or an eastern asian organizaiton.

By: SM Intern

SM Intern — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:00:52 +0000

Indians don't have to "try" to be Asian, they ARE, whether you agree with that or not.

Would anyone actually like to address the issues presented in the actual post, all of which were quite interesting? Dropping the N-bomb? South Asian inclusion in AAPI orgs as an afterthought? Whether ninjas are scaling nearby walls as we speak? And will that other Asian guy ever get his own plot or sub-plot on Glee? Discuss. Or shuffle along, so we can close shop.

By: syntaxttrh

syntaxttrh — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:05:21 +0000

I think this whole thing with “Indians” trying to be “Asians” thing is quite ridiculous. First of all, Indians have a hard time affiliating with each other so trying to be Asians is probably the last thing that is possible. In my personal experience, my family identifies themselves as Malayalis first and kind of Indian second. Most of my family here in America rarely interact with North Indians and don’t really fit in when they try to interact with them. During the summers they talk about considering visiting “naatu” which literally means homeland. But when a Malayali says “naatu”, he means Kerala not India.

By: Jonny

Jonny — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:34:58 +0000

In Canada its kind of the other way around. There are way more of us brown people than azns here.

By: San

San — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:13:00 +0000

KolaNutTechie

I would even say that it is the Pakistanis and Bangladeshis who get abused most, since most of those who go to the lower paid jobs are from those countries.

I'm sure Koreans feel a sense of natural pride due to their achievements, heck I even got cousins in India who are proud of indians in the US being doctors and engineers, but I've tried to explain it's because the doctors and engineers from India move to the US.

But the Korean achievement together with their history as an underdog to the Japanese may have fueled their nationalism. Especially as the Japanese superiority was with a racial undertone much more than in colonial powers such as England and France. But racial pride seems to be even more prevalent in the north than in the south, there are even reports of forced abortions when korean women get pregnant with chinese, go figure that..

It also seems, especially in the west that it is the less fortunate among the majority population that resort to racial pride. I guess that can be easier explained though.