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James Hong: What will the US be like for Asian Americans over the next 50 years?

blog.jhong.org

1–7 of 7 posts

Re: James Hong: What will the US be like for Asian Americans over the next 50 years?

#2
At the end of his article he says he hopes he is proved wrong. I hope he is wrong too, having Asian-Americans in my own immediate family. Part of the possibility of that madness happening comes from idiotic governmental policies that tend to divide the country into factions

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_No._10

instead of promoting national unity in regard to common humanity of all inhabitants of the country.

Re: James Hong: What will the US be like for Asian Americans over the next 50 years?

#4
The biggest potential military threat to the US in the future does appear to be China. (IANAG: Though I am not a general, so take this with a grain of salt.)

We've already fought, in some fashion, arguably, 2 wars with them (Korea and Vietnam, though obviously they had a lesser role in the latter), they have over 4 times the population, could field a gigantic field army, have massively increased their industrial base, and we've become massively dependent on them for their manufacturing, letting ours atrophy. (Which may decrease the chance we'd start a war with them, but increases the chance it would hurt us if one happened anyway.) And Taiwan is the most likely flashpoint to start a shooting conflict since after 50+ years they still act like it's just a rebel province (hilarious!).

So yeah, if that happens, I could see how there would be a risk of hostility to Asian Americans. (Btw, I'm not a fan of that term, however, because Asia includes large parts of Russia, it includes India, Iran, etc. and yet as commonly used the term AA does not include people of those regions, which is bizarre. Therefore I like the older, but somehow now un-P.C. term of Oriental, because it more specifically refers to the culture cluster of Jap/Chi/Kor/Thai/etc.) Plus, the governments of both countries will likely continue to want a Big Boogeyman to scare their citizens with, and focus aggression outward. The US and other countries have done it many times in the past, and I see no reason why it won't continue to happen in the future, unless some extreme change happens either to the nature of government, or the average intelligence/education/gullability of people.

Also, given the topic, I'm curious as to whether this thread will devolve into references to Hitler (bingo, too late!), or whether I'll get downmodded for using the 'evil' word Oriental. :)

Re: James Hong: What will the US be like for Asian Americans over the next 50 years?

#5
Frankly, I found this article a little insulting, and the comparison of the USA to Germany prior to the Nazi movement completely out of line. The fears the author voices may have been a real possibility 50 years ago, but the author makes a load of assumptions here, real leaps:

1. China and the U.S. will compete for resources 2. They'll compete in a brutal way 3. This will sour "Americans" against ALL Asians 4. Racism and genocide will result.

Give me a break. Well sure, and an asteroid might hit the planet tomorrow. It's possible, but it's entirely unlikely.

Re: James Hong: What will the US be like for Asian Americans over the next 50 years?

#7
James, you're a good man, but try not to get being asian wrapped up in the right wing agenda. Bigotry is generated by lack of exposure. If you want to influence people, then get out in front of large numbers of people with a positive message (think Bill Cosby and Barak Obama). You have to forgive those that are ignorant - many of them come around with exposure (and sadly some don't - but don't let them distract you).

Getting nervous and planning to run away is what rich wimps do when they don't understand the power of influence they can wield to change things. I'm pretty sure that's not your inner character.