The Fighting 44s

I want to make a post about some accusations that have been leveled at us from time to time by those within and outside Asian American activist circles. (I’m not going to be able to post anything really substantial until May at the earliest.)

I’ve given numerous responses to these sorts of accusations in the past, but I’ve decided to broach these matters again to try to clear things up as simply as possible, on the front page, where everyone can see these thoughts as opposed to the forum. If this does generate some discussion, I may organize and present my thoughts in a more thorough and formal manner later.

First, the racism accusation. A few people seem to think that we hate whites and/or white males and/or and believe in Asian supremacy. None of these is true. Many of my own thoughts and convictions have been shaped by some very insightful white males, and the “Integral” theory with which I run this site was developed by a particularly adorable old white male named Ken Wilber. I have a great love of Western philosophy and Western culture, and in fact, on a very a personal note, I moved to Vancouver two years ago and for the first time in my life, all my good friends here are white. (Ironic, considering the city.) The best of my new friends in this city is in fact a white male dating an Asian female. (They’re both aware of Asian American, visible minority, and feminist issues, and generally agree with my positions.) I firmly disagree with the notion of a “supremacy” intrinsic to any race, and most people who know me or my online persona know that I carry an amused contempt for the stupidity of all peoples, and I mock Asians, whites, blacks, Aboriginals, and everyone else with an equal and loving glee.

I think that these beliefs and convictions (again, many of which were shaped by whites) are obvious to anyone who approaches our site with an open, reflective, and ideologically untainted mind. It seems, however, that our current academic institutions have succeeded in making people think that they’re open, reflective, and critical while they propagate a certain type of liberal ideology. (And I say this as a self-identified “liberal,” but one who respects and reflects on intelligent and well-informed views presented by liberals, conservatives, and whoever else.)

Given that we have never promoted hatred or violence against whites or presented ourselves or our “race” as superior, I can see two broad ways that people have come to the conclusion that we’re racist: (1) it’s an irrational reaction to my sometimes passionate writing-style and the overall race-based tone and theme of the site, which has no basis in what we actually say, and (2) it’s an irrational reaction to our position on the “Inter-racial disparity.” We’ve gone over that in-depth, and I don’t intend to re-enter that discussion here; suffice it to say you can’t have a race-based organization and then choose to ignore the racial lines on which your existence and authority are premised when it inconveniences you, and especially when it hurts the people you’re supposedly representing. There’s nothing racist about recognizing a race-based social reality, something advocates do anyway when they form their race-based groups.

Next, the sexism accusation. The founders of this site are all male, but since its inception, we have put the utmost effort into encouraging, developing, and nurturing female participation and perspectives. In fact, right now we have an equal proportion of active administrators/managers of this site: three males (Lopan, Jaehwan, and I) and three females (blockthebox, ellencho, and JadeDragon). We’re all quite aware of the various forms sexism may take in society, from the gross and explicit to the subtle and structural. We believe in gender equality and in viewing men, women, and the transgendered as human beings.

Again, since we have never promoted hatred, violence, or structural limitations against women (white, Asian or otherwise), and we have never presented men as being superior, I can only see two broad ways that people could conclude that we’re sexist: (1) it’s an irrational reaction to the somewhat “masculine” tone of the site, which has no basis in what we actually say, and (2) it’s an irrational reaction to our position on the “Inter-racial disparity.” Again, we have no desire to “control women’s bodies,” or subjugate explicitly or structurally, and we do not believe that being against the “IR disparity” for our leaders and representatives is such an attempt to control. There are quite a few educated, reflective, socially-aware, and “feminist” (or “post-feminist”) women who agree with us.

Next, I want to very briefly lay out my position on feminism (keeping in mind that this is a very comprehensive topic). Without going into an intricate and abstract discussion on just what feminism is and where it comes from, I think most of us can agree that if you believe in gender equality and viewing women as human beings of equal “worth,” dignity, potential, and all that good stuff as men, you’re some sort of “feminist.” I and every other intelligent person on this site and forum agree that feminism, in this broad sense, is great, and that patriarchy exists and is bad. As all of today’s liberal academics know, things have gotten very complicated in the social sciences in the last few decades, and beyond what we just said above, there’s a lot of debate about what’s “good” for anyone these days, especially with the advent of pluralism, and where “intersectionalities” start to happen, like where gender issues “intersect” with race issues.

Broadly, I believe that both are very important, and that a healthy form of AA feminism would be a great boon to Asian-American women and men, and humanity in general. However, I haven’t seen it yet; I see insecurity, identity confusion, mental colonization, holier-than-thou cry-wolf attitudes, and a strong tendency to assimilate into the white majority while rejecting Asian men and authentic Asianness (while selling popular white conceptions of Asianness). I see people calling this rejection, assimilation, and narcissism an “integration” or “self-acceptance” or “self-discovery” or “making peace.” This saddens and angers me to no end.

I see a gang of little girls, scared of your own slanted eyes and dark hair, running as far from big mean daddy or embarrassing mommy as you can, trying to pass off sweet ‘n’ sour chicken balls as Hainan ji fan and feeling good about “helping your community” as you do. And that’s something we will not tolerate, and that’s something we will attack whenever we see it. That’s not feminism; that’s an insult to feminism. And if that’s what AA feminism currently is (and seeing the people involved in AA feminism, the types of relationships they’ve formed, and the types of things they say, it certainly looks like it), then we reject its sick, irrational, and fearful presence for something better.

Finally, one critic of ours has told us to “grow up.” Again, on a personal note, all but one of the founders and administrators is either approaching 30 or has soared past, and we all have a very good appreciation, at this point, of family, social, and professional responsibility. We have some understanding of what it is to reason, to love, and to apply philosophy and morality to a world that, really, doesn’t give much of a fuck. We aren’t career academics, we aren’t socially or emotionally-stunted individuals, we aren’t idealistic wet-behind-the-ears/ repeat-what-my-social-science-prof-with-clear-emotional-issues-says students, and we know what the fuck we are talking about. We believe, again, that anyone with an open, reflective mind can see this in what we’ve said and accomplished with this site.

Instead, in typical knee-jerk cry-wolf liberal ideologue fashion, you call us “racist,” you call us “sexist,” you tell us to “grow up” because we have a position that doesn’t fully agree with the one you’ve been taught. Does this sound very “grown up” to you?

We’re something that many of you haven’t seen before; we have ideas which integrate the liberal and the conservative, the pre-modern, modern, and post-modern, and we draw from science, social science, psychology, moral and legal philosophy, and our own comprehensive experience in forming our views. Our positions are well-considered, self-reflective, and presented in good faith; we do our best to honor and incorporate as many other viewpoints as we can. All we ask is that you recognize this.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 4:04 am and is filed under Politics, Sex & Relationships, Social Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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