Trending on Youtube: Racist Rant against Asians

I just reviewed a video of a Caucasian female student deprecating the behaviors of her Asian peers in a way that can only be described as "racist". If your life has yet to be blessed by the video, you may find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7XAJo3rQn8&feature=related

According to the video's title, her name is Alexandra Wallace, so I shall refer to her as Alexandra for the remainder of this post. Alexandra is allegedly a student at UCLA, which would not be surprising since UCLA does have a large Asian population relative to many colleges in the United States.

What struck me first was Alexandra's attempt to temper her rant by starting off with a "We know that I'm not the most politically correct person, so don't take this offensively. I don't mean this towards any of my friends". Then, in a display of glorious insensitivity, she goes on to make insulting, blanket statements about Asians. She focuses on two specific issues: 1) The fact that "without fail", the parents of Asian students visit the campus to serve their supposedly incompetent sons and daughters and 2) the fact that Asians always talk on their phones in the library.

We'll deal with each issue separately.

1) Asian Parents Pamper their Incompetent Children

First, this is certainly not a phenomenon that is common to every Asian college student, or even the majority of Asian college students, or even the majority of Asian college students at UCLA. As someone who has lived in Southern California my entire life, I have befriended a large number of Bruins, and if Alexandra cleaned her worldview lenses and took another look at her student body, she would find that many of her international peers are quite capable of fending for themselves. There may be some that do not even have family in America.

Now, is it true that some parents do pamper their children? Absolutely. This practice traces its roots to a cultural phenomenon that swept many East Asian countries a few decades ago, and it continues at a mitigated prevalence and intensity today. For instance, during the salaryman era in Korea, around the mid-20th century, mothers wholly dedicated themselves to their children who studied day and night, driven by ambition motivated by family pride. Studying was considered the sole duty of the children of that time period. That cultural belief may have bled into the life of Alexandra's Asian peers, but who is to say that their behavior is wrong? or perhaps more specifically, harmful? Many scholars have described American culture as, on the whole, universalistic and individualistic. It is because of this universalism that we often find it difficult to even comprehend other cultures, much less accept them. It is also well known that East Asian cultures are more collectivistic, which would partially explain the parents' impulses to serve their children excessively. We need to view this situation with greater cultural sensitivity and perspective.

2) Asians Always Talk on their Phones in Libraries

As with the previous issue, this is not as prevalent a phenomenon as Alexandra makes it to be. I understand that she is stressed by finals and as a result, may pay greater attention to such disturbances, thus exaggerating their frequency. But this does not excuse her tirade, and while I found her imitation of Asian vernacular to be amusing, let's not kid ourselves by saying she isn't attempting to mock said language.

Am I condoning the actions of the students who rudely (yes, rudely) disturbed the peace by answering their phones? Not at all. Alexandra, you are correct. They should respect the library rules outlining proper behavior in quiet study areas. However, there is a whole constellation of possible rationales as to why those Asians inadvertently prevented you from reaching your nirvanic epiphany, and only one of those is plain inconsiderateness. In other words, they aren't trying to be rude. They aren't trying to sabotage you. They may instead be ignorant of the cultural practices found in America and, more specifically, in the libraries at UCLA. This can be easily corrected using proper communication and empathy. While a rant also may accomplish this goal, considering the backlash to her video, I think Alexandra would now agree that this approach is flawed.

I would like to end by noting that many of the comments under the video are as inflammatory and racist, if not moreso, than the rant itself. Notwithstanding the fact that I find Alexandra's post to be repulsive, the antagonism that her video has generated saddens me even more.

I am interested in your opinions and perspectives. Please leave a comment below. Thanks for your time!