Rise of the Tiger Nation: Asian-American Success
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Rise of the Tiger Nation: Asian-American Success
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Re: Rise of the Tiger Nation: Asian-American Success
#2The debate around the original asian exclusion acts is kind of interesting to read. A lot of articles from the time are reproduced online. The common sentiment was that white americans didn't want to compete with people willing to work 16 hour days. The fear was a generally compromised quality of life. Of course all this nuance gets boiled down to mere "toxic racism" by the NYT. I mean it's not like large numbers of asians willing to study huge numbers of hours a week have had any affect on quality of life or opportunities for today's students...
Re: Rise of the Tiger Nation: Asian-American Success
#3'Success'
As an Asian male, even though I might be highly educated, make a comfortable amount of money, own properties, be a productive citizen (blah blah blah), nothing softens the blow of hearing women (both Asian and non-Asian) saying they'd never date an Asian guy or saying Asian guys aren't attractive. Or seeing advertisements/movies that always show mixed couples as White male - Asian female. Or watching 21st century American movies/TV shows that still typecast Asian men as asexual action stars / comedic relief.
If I had to choose between either this 'success' or being a white male with less success, I'd easily choose the latter.
Re: Rise of the Tiger Nation: Asian-American Success
#4I wonder how much of this is because American immigration policy is basically a high-pass filter for Asians. When my dad came over in 1959, pretty much the only way you could immigrate to the U.S. was to be highly educated and work your ass off to impress some organization that would sponsor you. Nowadays it's much the same thing with the H1-B system: one of the largest categories of Asian visas is specifically to bring in highly-educated tech workers. It's no wonder that they and their kids tend to do well; they wouldn't be able to come here if they couldn't.
Re: Rise of the Tiger Nation: Asian-American Success
#5The debate around the original asian exclusion acts is kind of interesting to read. A lot of articles from the time are reproduced online. The common sentiment was that white americans didn't want to compete with people willing to work 16 hour days. The fear was a generally compromised quality of life. Of course all this nuance gets boiled down to mere "toxic racism" by the NYT. I mean it's not like large numbers of…
The important word being "compete". As far as I know Americans are fine with poor people working multiple jobs for minimum wage. In fact the sentiment often seems to be that they are not working hard enough. If you want to avoid a "race to the bottom" you raise the bottom.
Re: Rise of the Tiger Nation: Asian-American Success
#6'Success' As an Asian male, even though I might be highly educated, make a comfortable amount of money, own properties, be a productive citizen (blah blah blah), nothing softens the blow of hearing women (both Asian and non-Asian) saying they'd never date an Asian guy or saying Asian guys aren't attractive. Or seeing advertisements/movies that always show mixed couples as White male - Asian female. Or watching 21st c…
This basically sucks, but it's the nature of the dating game. People have a right to be attracted to the people they're attracted to, even if that involves excluding an entire race. It's depressing to see all the match questions on OKCupid that say "Do you strongly want your mate to be of the same race as you: Yes", but that's the way it goes.
I've also found that there are many white women who say they're not interested in Asian guys, but when the right guy comes along, they suddenly change their mind. I have several white female friends that never considered dating an Asian guy and are now dating/engaged/married to one. My parents were an Asian male and a white female, and I'm dating a white girl.
Re: Rise of the Tiger Nation: Asian-American Success
#7'Success' As an Asian male, even though I might be highly educated, make a comfortable amount of money, own properties, be a productive citizen (blah blah blah), nothing softens the blow of hearing women (both Asian and non-Asian) saying they'd never date an Asian guy or saying Asian guys aren't attractive. Or seeing advertisements/movies that always show mixed couples as White male - Asian female. Or watching 21st c…
Status symbols change over time.
Re: Rise of the Tiger Nation: Asian-American Success
#8I wonder how much of this is because American immigration policy is basically a high-pass filter for Asians. When my dad came over in 1959, pretty much the only way you could immigrate to the U.S. was to be highly educated and work your ass off to impress some organization that would sponsor you. Nowadays it's much the same thing with the H1-B system: one of the largest categories of Asian visas is specifically to br…
This selection bias is evident when the performance of first generation Asian Americans immigrants is compared with the performance of second and third generation Asian Americans. The drive that pushes poor (by middle-class American standards) immigrants to succeed causes them to push their children to succeed in school. But this drive appears to be diluted over subsequent generations.
Re: Rise of the Tiger Nation: Asian-American Success
#9'Success' As an Asian male, even though I might be highly educated, make a comfortable amount of money, own properties, be a productive citizen (blah blah blah), nothing softens the blow of hearing women (both Asian and non-Asian) saying they'd never date an Asian guy or saying Asian guys aren't attractive. Or seeing advertisements/movies that always show mixed couples as White male - Asian female. Or watching 21st c…
This basically sucks, but it's the nature of the dating game. People have a right to be attracted to the people they're attracted to, even if that involves excluding an entire race. It's depressing to see all the match questions on OKCupid that say "Do you strongly want your mate to be of the same race as you: Yes", but that's the way it goes. I've also found that there are many white women who say they're not intere…
> It's depressing to see all the match questions on OKCupid that say "Do you strongly want your mate to be of the same race as you: Yes", but that's the way it goes.
Yep, you should never rely on online dating as an Asian guy in the West. It's a complete waste of time.
> I've also found that there are many white women who say they're not interested in Asian guys, but when the right guy comes along, they suddenly change their mind.
The key is to meet women in real life and deemphasize your race as much as possible. Of course, you will still have to be that much better than a white guy in other categories (be personable/funny, be in shape, be wealthy, dress nicely) to make up for your race, but meeting women face-to-face makes it much more difficult for them to just outright dismiss you.
This is because that latent racism feels much more acceptable to women when they're sitting alone, in private, in front of their computer. On the other hand, when they're in a public social setting, they (just like everyone else) feel judged by society. For an Asian guy who wants to date white women, that social pressure is the best weapon for combating racism. After breaking past that initial barrier, the rest is up to the individual.
Re: Rise of the Tiger Nation: Asian-American Success
#10'Success' As an Asian male, even though I might be highly educated, make a comfortable amount of money, own properties, be a productive citizen (blah blah blah), nothing softens the blow of hearing women (both Asian and non-Asian) saying they'd never date an Asian guy or saying Asian guys aren't attractive. Or seeing advertisements/movies that always show mixed couples as White male - Asian female. Or watching 21st c…
> nothing softens the blow of hearing women (both Asian and non-Asian) saying they'd never date an Asian guy or saying Asian guys aren't attractive
This complaint is common, but I also find it a little bizarre. Do ugly women get super offended when guys all want to date attractive women?