the random oracle

This article on NYMag is quite provoking, if not thought provoking.  Definitely have a lot of thoughts running through my head, but the initial ones are:

• The author has a lot of issues that go way beyond race.  I mean, who says,

  The first step toward self-reform is to admit your deficiencies. Though my early adulthood has been a protracted education in them, I do not admit mine. I’m fine. It’s the rest of you who have a problem. Fuck all y’all.

  Can you imagine a world where this guy would be happy with the state of things?  I didn’t think so.

• People tend to blame things on the most obvious reason.  Often, the most obvious reason is racial or cultural.  Remember, plenty of non-Asian people are shy, and plenty of non-Asian people are not natural leaders.  On the other hand, plenty of non-Asian people study hard and plenty of non-Asian people are drilled to take tests.  There is clearly a correlation, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves and call it causality.

  This has become more evident after living abroad. I notice that often-times I see people behave in a way that I’m not used to and I’ll think to myself “why do French people do that”?  Usually on second thought, the fact that they were doing something weird had nothing to do with being French, it was just that that person did something weird.  People do weird things in America all the time too.  Now clearly French people do things in a different way than Americans, but by and large the range of variation is the same: you have shy French people, you have loud obnoxious French people, you have studious bookworm French people, and everything in between.  Again there is some correlation, but no causality.

• When one does this stereotyping to oneself (e.g. “I’m not a good leader because my parents raised me with Asian values”), it’s a red herring to try to overcome that obstacle by distancing oneself from those values.  To be sure, “Asian values” do exist, although somewhat nebulously… I would personally put valuing education, being humble, cherishing family, and a strong work ethic under that umbrella.  Others might choose a different combination, or might include less flattering qualities such as being self-effacing.  But at least for the values that I hold, I see no incompatibility between them and being a strong leader.

  Certainly, if one looks at actual Asian societies, there is no lack of initiative and strong leaders.  Especially in China, one sees examples of bold leadership in the private sector and, I would argue, also in the government.  And not just men, but women as well; there are more self-made female billionaires in China than in any other country in the world (including America).

• Following up on the previous point, last I checked, things like humility, hard work, and perseverance are still considered qualities.  There’s no guarantee that they will take you to the top, but, in the right proportions, I don’t think these qualities hold you back either.  You can be humble, hard-working, and persevering and simultaneously be charismatic and a good networker.  I think most people would agree that there’s nothing more annoying than someone who climbs to the top by virtue of politics and ass-kissing alone.  Playing the political game is unavoidable, but (perhaps this is naive of me) in most cases someone who is actually talented and a hard worker and reasonably charismatic will get ahead of a brown-noser who offers nothing else.  I’m pretty annoyed by articles like this that present the false alternative, either you can be a leader or you can hold onto “Asian values”, but not both.

• I think he’s right about the Bamboo Ceiling, there are definitely external factors that limit the rise of Asians in America.  What I wrote in the first few points is mostly about how Asians stereotype themselves, but it is undoubtedly true that the wider world stereotypes Asians in a similar way.  I think that fortunately he’s also right that a lot of people in our generation are bypassing the Bamboo Ceiling by working outside the box, starting their own businesses and stuff.  Changing the external perceptions of Asians is just as important as changing the self-perception.

• The word Asians is still annoying.  Does he mean to include South Asians?  It’s unclear; he mentions them in the section about the Asian Playboy, but then nowhere else.  Does he mean Asians everywhere, or just in America?  Probably the latter.  And what do I mean when I say Asian?  I’m not sure.  Mostly Chinese actually, I think.  In any case, we need better-adapted vocabulary.

• I’m always annoyed when I read an article about race, and usually it just talks about black and white.  The more modern and up-to-date authors include Hispanics.  Rarely, if ever, anything about anyone else.  It turns out it’s just as annoying in an article about whites and Asians where it seems like no other races exist.