The true issue with Colbert

   So Colbert did this, a tweet that comes up with a blatantly racist institution to support Asian American culture. And the internet along with many Asian Americans went on a storm. However, turns out the tweet was taken out of context and the actual video was this, where he conflates the association made by the Red Skins for the Native American with this fictitious racist Asian American focused organization. Now many a person on the internet have risen up from the intellectual cornucopia to defend Stephen. They claim that the original use was proper and the right blend of satire. However, I believe people are missing the larger point as to why so many Asian Americans are upset.
    Minority voices and images have historically been used for the entertainment of a white populous. The minstrel show wasn't only for African Americans as many Asians, Latinos, Native Americans and many more minorities find themselves caricatured and put on display for a white audience's amusement. Nowadays such blatant racism is called out. In its stead we find a stream of subtle appropriation going on. Minority culture is taken and fetishized, used as an object for the rhetorical purpose of mainly whites. And therein lies the issue with Colbert's bit. As a straight white man, Colbert has many privileges others don't have. Even more specifically Colbert certainly has no true understanding of the plight faced by minorities via the media. Yet he finds that he can use their images and stereotypes as tools at his disposal to provide entertainment that everyone but the group being used (in this case Asians) would enjoy. Now can an Asian American make this joke and do it successfully? Perhaps. I'm unsure if I could speak to that seeing that I am not Asian American, but that's a debate that would happen within their particular community, not out in the public for the media to grab hold on. Simply put, there are some jokes you make with people in your own community and to have someone take part in that discourse as if they were entitled to do would be considered off putting. Also the tweet had Colbert's name on it and was associated with comedy central so he should definitely share blame. None of this it wasn't me "Shaggy" type bullshit. 

Welcome Rich White America

Bienvenidos Rich White America, please feel free to make yourself at home
Kick off your boots and and take a seat at your table, crafted down the street.
Oh you don't know how to read the menu, no worries, English and money accepted.
And we'll fry your brat some chicken fingers too because he doesn't like ethnic food.
And you'll pass favorable judgement on us, smiling wide, proving that we can all get along,
just as long as I know my place and you know your place and we're all in place!
Ahh enjoy my island breeze as my children struggle to go back.
Please speak your Rosetta Stone Spanish as my kids struggle to pick up their native tongue.
But they're Americans! Really? So they have rights? To life, liberty and the pursuit of the next paycheck.
And as for the poet? Oh he's just a whitewashed sell out at a liberal arts college. But the author doesn't      matter

Yo waddup Rich White America, please feel free to make yourself at home.
Slum it up on my trains and whine over the smallest inconvenience.
It's fine, I'll still dance and ask for some much needed money.
Excuse me Ladies and Gentlemen, pardon the interruption. But I'm trying to sleep.
So please stop being sloppy drunk because the midnight shift doesn't have an after party.
And no I won't be taking a taxi. I'll walk after my hour and half commute.
Yet I'll still see you at my, street fairs, cultural events, wearing the Puerto Rican flag during the parade.
Don't worry my best friend is Puerto Rican, you say as you mispronounce his name.

Hello Rich White America, welcome to your campus.
Don't worry we've decorated it with all the necessary ornaments:
Old buildings named after you (if you're a man), A beautiful diag with a grandiose library and plenty of    minorities to make you cultured!
Please enjoy your Americanized versions of our food and talk about that one time you went to a traditional  Chinese (Southern) restaurant with your friend.
Also we have your houses lined up in a row as close to campus as could be.
Don't worry those minorities won't be given a house or if they do it'll be out of sight, therefore out of mind.

He's just an angry minority complaining because he's oppressed!
Yea, this is why he'll never be successful, he just wants a hand out!
Also this is reverse racism, I'm going to demand you take it down!
My family worked hard for the policies and positive biases they received!
Doesn't sound quite as poetic.

Humans of New York annoy me

          Yep, I'm back again for some good old fashion hating. For those of you who don't know, Humans of New York is a Facebook group that aims to tell the stories of New Yorkers "One story at a time". It does this by posting a picture that is presumably the person or people the story is about and then leaves a small caption that explains their "story". Sometimes these captions are long and extensive, explaining a very detailed story for us all to revel in. But often it's not. Instead we are treated to obfuscated nonsense like "It constantly depresses the shit out of me that we have to die", cut to a picture of a man on a bicycle cab sitting down and you too can be a self patronizing asshole who likes to indulge in pseudo meaningful nonsense. My point is simple: that isn't a story. Hell that isn't even productive. Yet people rush over to the post, shower it in likes, while engaging in what could only be described as an emotional circle jerk.
          My true bone to pick with Humans of New York doesn't stem from the people posting. I believe most people who post are trying to vocalize their story any way they can. I feel the readers are the ones who fetishize these posts, consuming them as if they are emotional and insightful porn. Why I feel Humans of New York encourages a shallow consumption of the human experience is because often the stories are syncopated into short blurbs to keep up with the pace of life of the average 21st century college student. The observer doesn't engage with the story because there isn't enough to engage with. When someone says "My stepdad was always demanding that I respect him. Yet he didn't respect me at all," I still know absolutely nothing about his story. That story could be mapped onto anyone with a step dad and while many might be saying "that's the point", I find this lesson in universality to be redundant. It only takes a few "universal points" to prove to me that the human experience can be similar across the board. I thought I was learning this kids story, but clearly I'm not. I don't know anything about his situation with his step father or why his step father shows him no respect. I don't know how this kid is struggling with it and how it has affected him. I don't know what respect manifests as in the mind of this kid. In fact I know absolutely nothing about his story and I gain nothing from this blurb other than the common adage that "to get respect one must earn it (or give it, or something like that)." Yet people keep flocking to these posts, sharing and re-posting. Why? It's because it makes us feel better. These posts aren't about the people posting them, but about us. We want to engage in what we think is a high level of emotional vulnerability without actually dealing with the details that makes the emotional vulnerability so frightening. We want to gain spiritual understanding without even drudging through the difficulties of conceiving life's important questions. We want wisdom without ever understanding the true gravitas of that wisdom as it occurs in the real world. And Humans of New York gives us all of that with no emotional commitment (or reading commitment) required. Even the comments are self serving, often finding a way to insinuate that the commenter had already had that knowledge or experience and this post just confirmed it.
      I want someones story to be juicy. I want the details to run down the sides of my mouth like the juices from a freshly peeled Orange. I expect recoil and difficulty as I sift through scenarios I have never been in. And empathy on my part requires true concentration because I must truly try to put myself in the shoes of another, not merely assume we've been wearing the same footwear.


For your entertainment I made some HONY submissions of my own. I'm not sure if they'll make the cut though.

I used to be afraid to stand up for people. Now that I'm older, I still don't stand up for anyone. 

Follow your dreams and perhaps you can live an average life with an average job, but hey at least you have a college degree. 

Sometimes people ask, what's around your neck. I just ignore them 

As a kid I wanted to be a doctor. Now that I'm an adult, I've decided to be a lawyer instead.

Puerto Rican Politics

         
                      We are the gatekeepers of Latino solidarity. The reason this is the case is because Puerto Ricans are prime prospects for the new Latino model minority. Puerto Ricans by liberty of Puerto Rico's status as a commonwealth, all have American citizenship. This reality is often ignored by political advisers who intend to lump the Latino vote as pro immigration reform and against immigration. It's not that simple, especially for Puerto Ricans. Puerto Ricans who only have Puerto Rican family truthfully have no bone to pick with immigration reform. It matters little to us. In fact, some Puerto Ricans are staunch opponents of immigration reform (as shown in this article) for the same reason many non-Latino Americans are against immigration reform, it threatens job security. However, when the NY Times begins releasing articles about how immigration reform might affect Republican policy, it becomes clear that there will be places where the Puerto Rican vote will matter. The GOP does not need to win the Latino vote, it needs to win enough of it. In solidarity the Latino block is strong in certain parts of the country, but in areas such as New York and Florida (places where there are high Puerto Rican populations) the Puerto Rican vote (mixed in with a smattering of Cuban votes who have been given asylum) can be enough to turn the tide, allowing Republicans to have their cake and eat it too.
                   We have a choice. We can side with the Republicans against our Latino cousins or we can remain unified in policy demands. This solidarity may cost Puerto Ricans politically in the short run. There are particular policy goals that are salient only to Puerto Ricans, such as the statehood/ national recognition of Puerto Rico. But these goals are far too particular for Puerto Ricans to expect the Latino block to make demands on, hobbled as it is. Long run political outlooks are far more promising. If we can insert ourselves into the bedrock of political influence in the country, then we can begin making good on unilateral goals that help all Latinos, including Puerto Ricans. We will not longer have to ask to be given a seat at the table we made, we will sit in the chairs we brought ourselves. But if we are to falter. If we begin to side with the Republicans in the ballot box, then we will forever be second class citizens, unable to decide our own fates because we have sided with a party that does not recognize us as equals. Do not let Marco Rubio fool you. Instead we need to supersede political alliances. We need to do what is right for Latinos, not what is right for Democrats and Republicans. What is clear is that the Democrats have our interests at a much higher priority than the Republicans. This article from Gallup confirms that there are more Latinos in the Democratic Party than there are in the mostly white Republican Party. We cannot trust any body of politic but ourselves. We can only depend on a Latino block that will not treat us as second class citizens. I cannot force any individual Puerto Rican to make a choice, I only hope that years from now you won't regret placing your children at the mercy of a political machine that doesn't respect them.