Bloggers and Forum Runners Aren’t Advocates
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Just generally, I should mention that I don’t really consider this web stuff advocacy. I mean, sure, you can write emails to sponsors of racist things and disseminate information on racial things, but really, advocacy is starting real organizations and hitting the streets. This is just some writing in virtual space. I don’t delude myself into thinking I, or any of us who are primarily internet talkers, are actually doing anything near real “advocating.” Of course, if you’re doing this in combination with doing real things and hitting the streets, this doesn’t apply to you.
I think perhaps the Reappropriate person and others who do the blogging/ forum thing took my article personally, not just because they’re personally invested in the issue, which is understandable, but also because they thought I was actually talking about them, which wasn’t the intention at all.
I just wanted to clear up what I thought to be some ridiculous ideas floating around there, the primary one being that Asian males who don’t like seeing their leaders with white partners are somehow trying to control and possess and subjugate them from a “position of privilege.” That criticism disgusts and offends me to my core. Did I mention some Asian females don’t like to see that either?
The criticism also makes me laugh. It’s not too often you hear about Asian-American males being able to oppress people from positions of privilege, except maybe in Amy Tan books and the like. Ah, dear Amy. I miss the days of reading Joy Luck Club and hearing about ghosts and magic feathers and baby-killers.
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Vetrean
5:57 am | Jul 21, 2007Perhaps I’m simply too sleepy(and seeing as it’s been about 21-22 hours without sleep and a party, that could be it) to think intelligently, but it seems to me that your ‘Did I mention some Asian females don’t like to see that either?’ seems kinda faulty as a reasoning.
It sort of strikes a bell within me because it’s somewhat similar to when comedians will point out one member of a race and say ‘hey, look, he/she thinks it’s funny, it’s totally okay!(lol o’donnell mebbe?)’ I do understand that the situations are different, and that obviously you can’t speak for the Asian female population in it’s entirety(seeing as your post is based entirely on that premise…), it just seemed a bit similar.
Oh well, it’s not really the same thing, although it still hits me as sort of strange.
Also, did you ever actually clarify ‘AF/WM’ when talking about race advocacy and IR relationships? ‘Cuz if you didn’t, I don’t see what there is to discuss.
And I can probably anticipate a bunch of posts debunking this, but I’m done, I can’t think anymore and I can’t remember the rest of what I was planning to write anyway.
Ike
9:52 am | Jul 21, 2007I’m hurt, D. You’re the second person to call me out on not being an advocate. =(
I don’t think there should be a big disjoint between being an advocate and an blogger/forum participant. The internet is a good way to get information to a large group of people who wouldn’t care enough to attend a rally. It’s also a good way to get people to know about real events. And increasingly, the internet is becoming reality - just look at all the contributions to the Obama campaign that have come through websites. We could probably use a little more discussion about advocacy here.
lycheng
1:44 pm | Jul 21, 2007I understand what D is saying. In the context of D’s IR features piece, the distinction between an advocate representing an advocacy group and an advocate writing on the internet is an important one.
1. Advocates on the internet (blogging, participating in Forums, etc.) really are only speaking on their own behalf. They might voice an opinion that a great majority of people agree upon, but at the end of the day, they only need to be held accountable to themselves.
2. Advocates in an Asian American advocacy organization, like the Organization for Chinese Americans (OCA) are suppose to represent all Chinese Americans. So they have to be accountable to all Chinese Americans, members and non-members alike. In that context, D can write about job requirements. By the way, I’m not picking on OCA per se. It’s just an example.
Dialectic
4:13 pm | Jul 21, 2007Vetrean, the situations are completely different. My point is this: I’m not taking an anti-feminist position, particularly when my position applies to males AND females, and in the wider context, that I maintain that there are ALWAYS limitations on rights.
The position that I’m seeing taken against me is, “I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, and you can’t stop me, but you can’t do whatever you want, whenever you want, and I’M THE BIGGEST VICTIM.”
Because when you say that, you justify everything you said before by saying everyone you criticize is in a higher position of privilege than you, so they can’t say shit back. When the world is actually much more complicated and nuanced than that.
Dialectic
6:35 pm | Jul 21, 2007Oh and lycheng, thanks for your response. I agree completely.
awong
11:20 pm | Jul 22, 2007I still see blogs as online journals and just that, only that its the “in” thing to do. Activism needs to be at the local level, but thats hard to do get people together.
CJF
12:00 am | Aug 08, 2007disgusting huh?
I have to sit through my Laotian barber blabbing onto me about how she knows all these other hapas who are sooo pretty, about how the Asian mom had the husband with the most beautiful blue eyes. About how my fat ass would be a model in Asia because they are hapa obsessed (that’s for the tip I believe, LOL).
I mean, we might as well be in the time where Eugenics was practiced in the US. Lets sterilize Asian men and White women and allow Asian women and White men to screw each other for perfect kids >