Do You Prefer Making Friends With Other Asians?

[adoumri]

This might seem like a dumb question, but I have to ask it:

Do you prefer making friends with Asians and why?

I'm asking because I have this Corean friend from high school that recently asked me why I am so interested in having Asian friends. She told me that she is content having just a few Asian friends but doesn't go out of her way to make more Asian friends. I, however, like meeting Asian people because I feel more readily accepted by Asians and can relate more easily about cultural things.

There are other things, especially how Asians are treated as one racial group in the U.S. w/o any regard for ethnic/cultural differences. It gives a sense of comraderie when I meet other AAs.

Maybe the other question is: Why do some Asians avoid having "too many" Asian friends? Can you have too many Asian friends?

[cattygurl]

There are other things, especially how Asians are treated as one racial group in the U.S. w/o any regard for ethnic/cultural differences. It gives a sense of comraderie when I meet other AAs.

I'm asking because I have this Corean friend from high school that recently asked me why I am so interested in having Asian friends. She told me that she is content having just a few Asian friends but doesn't go out of her way to make more Asian friends. I, however, like meeting Asian people because I feel more readily accepted by Asians and can relate more easily about cultural things.

That's too bad, regarding your Corean friend. I don't think there's any need to limit yourself in terms of friendship and have a quota on friendship like that. :? I mean, why pass up an opportunity for meeting great ppl? Who cares if your friends are mostly asian? What's wrong with seeking out more asian friends? :roll: That's almost like saying there's something wrong with asians hanging with other asians. :x

While I admit I don't always *neccessarily* feel an increased or decreased sense of cameraderie with people based simply on race. In terms of AAs, I've had a lot more in common with asian ppl that grew up in predominantly non-asian surroundings because that's my background. I've also had a lot of luck with AAs that have immigrated when they were older (immigrated in their teens/college). I admit I do have a preference for non-Japanese AAs (I'm a J-A), but that's because I really try to stay away from the gossip/rumor milss that can be fierce in one's own community. At the same time, I don't go out of my way to avoid J-As, I'm just very careful to avoid the gosspimongers.

In real life, I live in an area with predominantly white/hispanic populations, so I don't have the opportunity to get to know many asians, but considering that over half of my friends are through the internet, I've enjoyed meeting as many asian ppl as I can online (and hope to meet them in RL!). Personally, I don't have anything against having good friends- the more the merrier.

[Kuroyama]

Admou...

as a Devil's Advocate I can understand where your Korean friend is coming from. If you are going out of your way to befriend people just because they are Asian, then that sets you for problems. It is in fact reverse racism.

Before I come off like Captian Hypocrite (Being a Black man with many Asian friends) I should explain that people are people regardless of skin color. Lots of Asian peeps are great people, but lots are also dicks. You cannot expect an Asian guy or girl to "be" a certain way just because of what they are on the outside.

Yet, Asian peeps tend to hang out with like peeps. As such if I make a friend of one person it almost defacto makes me a friend of his friend. Of course the opposite also can be true. Just hang loose and let nature take its course.

Of course, I dont have many AA friends, most of them I met through school. So by way of comparing numbers they are outnumbered by the number of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Taiwanese, and Korean friends I have made since school. My point being that the dynamic might be a little different because of their place of birth and degree of cultural immersion.

[toml]

A lot of the things that I like to do relate to Chinese culture in one way or another, e.g. Food, entertainment, gossip, etc.

So most of my friends end up being Chinese, with a few other Asians thrown in.

[enygma]

Since college, all of my friends happened to be Asian. I just find that it's easier to relate to them.

[minbo]

I don't go out of my way to make friends with Asian people. I make friends with peopel who are around me and share similar views and tastes. Often out of a group of people if there is an Asian person we tend to hit it off but there is no concious effort for or against this.

[Taliesin Stormheller]

I have friends of all colors. There are both Asian and non-Asian assholes, and nice folks. However, I've found that teenaged white boys, especially those of the 'punk' persuasion, almost universally have some kind of beef with me.

[adoumri]

That's interesting all the responses. I tend to be more like toml--I naturally gravitate towards Asians but primarily because of childhood experiences--lived in neighborhoods with different racial compositions and was discriminated and ostracized by non-Asians (whites, blacks, and lesser degree Latinos) because of my race. But I was curious about how people who had not experienced so much discrimination feel about making friends.

[ric]

IMO

Sounds like a self hater to me, or the " I WANT TO FIT INTO mainstream, but at same time still wants to hang woth asians..."

How is making friends ever a number game anyways? Sounds like she spends too much time wanting please others in relations to herself perceptions than just being her

I mean isn't it natural to be drawn to others of same race, kin, ethinc, culture, sub culture, class, religion, politcal idealism etc.....

[Le Sheng Liu]

I don't seek out any particular ethnicity of people to be friends with. If they're interested in the same things I am and are cool to kick it with, then it's all good. With that said, most of my interests are in liberal activism, documentary/foreign/independent cinema, and psychedelic substances. And I'm not exactly color-blind either. I noticed a long time ago that when I tripped on weird-ass hippy drugs or got arrested in a protest against the Iraq war, all the people around me were white.

I didn't choose this path to whitewash myself. Hell no! In fact, I wish I had more Asian peers involved in the causes and activities that I happen to like. Unfortunately, none of my Asian buddies that I've known since elementary/jr high developed the same interest for films I like to see, causes that I support, or substances I like to do or talk about. They just like to go clubbing and bar-hopping, which is played out especially since I don't drink. So there's not much left for us to do together. I'm also rather annoyed that most of them aren't politically active or even give a rat's ass about current affairs. I'm not sure how many of them even vote.

I can only control and only choose to control what types of interests and causes the people I hang out with like. I just can't control their skin color :?

[cattygurl]

With that said, most of my interests are in liberal activism, documentary/foreign/independent cinema, and psychedelic substances. And I'm not exactly color-blind either. I noticed a long time ago that when I tripped on weird-ass hippy drugs or got arrested in a protest against the Iraq war, all the people around me were white.

Good for you! Kep up the activism! :D I've noticed in RL I've had a hard time finding a lot of ppl that were interested in political activism to start with, and most of the ppl that I "clicked" with in terms of personal/political interests were usually not Asian. I've gone to many protests, and aside from protests dealing with AA issues, the number of AAs protesting/politically active has always been pretty low. One thing cool about the 44s here is that many people are aware of current events, and we have a good number of politically active ppl. I love the internet. It's allowed me to connect with ppl that I would not meet otherwise. In fact, Da Tao is very savvy on current/international events! :D Please post any political stuff under Beneath Heaven. We'd love to hear and learn more from your experience!

I'm a cinephile (recovering cinephile to be honest, since I don't have the time to do movie-watching like I used to) and I love documentaries. My netflix queue has over 300 films, and that was after 5 sessions of browsing. Sigh.

It's great that you're interested in independent filmmmaking! We definitely need more AMs in the media end of things. do you have any current projects going? Need an extra ?;)

[Le Sheng Liu]

Yeah, I'm working on another feature. It's gonna be a documentary again, so I won't be needing any actresses/extras. Which is too bad, cuz yer kute :lol: