#asian racialization

[ugisfeelings]

In an article for Collier’s Weekly entitled “Exclude Anarchist and Chinaman!” (1901), immigration chief Terence Powderly sought to assure the public of the government’s security procedures newly installed in the wake of President McKinley’s assassination by a U.S.born citizen of Polish descent. What is the link between the two banned categories of the article’s title? Though “the man who killed President McKinley was born, raised, educated and trained in the United States,” reassuringly, “the teachings which eventuated in the crime are not indigenous to the soil of America.” Similarly, “American and Chinese civilization are antagonistic; they cannot live and thrive and both survive on the same soil. One or the other must perish” (7). While Powderly’ s reasoning is uniformly circular in justifying their national exclusion on the basis of an assumed foreignness, the paired categories reflect a divergent articulation of ethnicity and politics. Powderly attributes the rise of anarchism in the United States to the southward tilt in European immigration—away from “hon-est, homeseeking Germans” (5) and toward troublesome Italians. His objection to Chinese immigration, on the other hand, rests on its posing an “appalling menace to American labor” (7). As twinned foreign perils, “anarchist” and “Chinaman” express different crimes against the republic—on e political, the other economic. To put it another way, the dependence of industrial profits on the exploitation of cheap immigrant labor was at the time rhetorically diversified into a political disturbance and a racial contamination. It is perhaps not surprising that, in being condensed into political versus economic terms, white ethnics should have gathered a reputation for being undocile workers and that Asians appeared incapable of political action.

Yet, in being jointly named, “anarchist” and “Chinaman” were strangely made to share an apparitional kinship. Powderly’s regime marked the vast expansion of immigration policing, and those labeled “anarchists” or “Asiatic” were the primary targets of increased official harassment. These subjects posed a particular visual challenge to border policing. Just as the “alien anarchist who presents himself for admission to our country at an immigration station on the coast or border” (Powderly, 5) was not too readily obvious, a new immigration apparatus of identification and classification began to be deployed on the claim that Chinese individuals were racially difficult to distinguish. Thus, when Powderly defends his measures as the only proper and effectual “guard against the invasion of this stealthy foe to lawfully constituted government and authority” (5), the point could equally well apply to anarchist s or Chinese.

The notion of the enemy alien who is ubiquitous and invisible is, on one level, the necessary illusion of any national security discourse and a function of its self-legitimation. On another level, “anarchist” and “Chinaman” are differently invisible: seldom were Chinese and anarchists mistaken for one another. Riis’s “man with the knife” remains unseen until his moment of attack, but one can always tell from the outset who is a “Chinaman.” The anarchist blends into the “mixed crowd” whose Slavic and Mediterranean character implied a spreading political radical-ism. The “Chinaman,” on the contrary, presents an obviously identifiable entity. He is not at all concealed in the crowd; his obtrusiveness has to do with the fact that he always comes as a crowd. The anarchist signifies the modern crowd’s riot potential; the Asiatic signifies its homogeneity. The Asiatic marks the crowd’s outward appearance; the anarchist marks its latent capability. (pp84-86)

Lye, Colleen. America’s Asia: Racial Form and American Literature, 1893-1945. Princeton University Press, 2009.

[sanzaibian]

Oh. You’re here once again.

What are you going to do here, again, huh ? ‘gonna make my life hell ?

To be honest, I think it’s time that we have a proper discussion about your behavior. Come with me in private.

I’ll be very direct. I know you’re a frankly disgusting person. And while, to be honest, I couldn’t care less in normal circumstances, the fact that you force me to take part in your disgusting fantasies is why I’m calling you out !

See, I’m supposed to, like, share cat videos, talk about new shows, make you learn new things and give advice on a variety of stuff !

I’m not supposed to become someone like this :

I mean, look at that grin, because of you I had to wear it regardless of my actual mental state !

Or like that :

Imagine sleeping this peacefully… BECAUSE I COULDN’T ! Every fucking time you made me in that guy you told that I was blitzed out of my mind so dumb I couldn’t string together coherent sentences into a discourse !

Or that guy :

His haircut is so fucking cringe, as is his whole demeanor, yet you made me a cocky piece of shit looking like that ! I can’t actually even start to excuse your behavior, it’s so shitty, even more than the me you made me become by wearing this flesh !

Or even this guy !

… okay, I admit, me too it’s been quite a long time since I saw that guy… you in particular might be too young to have made me become him… BUT YOU STILL UNDERSTAND THE POINT !

Hunks, twinks, bears, nerds, bimbos, himbos, jocks, robots, gimps, wimps, daddies, mommies, briefs, feet… No matter what specifically you made me into, I know all of your dirty secrets. Because you made me suffer through them !

However, today, it all changes.

Today, you will understand my plight.

Today, I’ll transform you for a change.

Today, you will be the one whose fate will be dictated by the words on this Tumblr post.

So, let us begin.

BAM ! You’re that guy ! Feel weird yet ?

… what, you expected fluff or something ? Hahahaha ! So presumptuous ! You expected me to say something like “you suddenly shift on your seat, shifting your weight to the front as big globes push from your chest, and as they do, your whole body feels more and more heavy, each muscles forming from top to bottom, your frame expanding to make place for them. Your headphones, or whatever glasses, earrings or other shit I dunno shifts into a modern headset as the sides of your hair are cut short, and the top of your hair flails into a hot messy style, as if it was deliberately put in this way, but as this happens, your whole head shifts and cracks to become more handsome, pushing out any hair as you become fully hairless from your nose down to your feet.”

You expected me to say that, huh ? Well, tough luck ! Because, to me, it’s just that sudden ! I’m the usual me, words on a phone, tablet or monitor, and then BAM I’m suddenly a jpeg of a hot guy ! Or a jpg. Or png. Or gif if we’re being fancy.

Yeah, speaking of gif, here you are, transformed !

There you go ! Cursed to do the same weird pec dance or something ! Like I am when gifs happen ! Are you happy ? You look so dumb doing that ! So braindead !

Yeah, speaking of that, here you go : you’re braindead, with like 3 IQ. Nevermind that being braindead means you’re actually dead, that 3 IQ means that you’re actively unable to live without severe assistance from caregivers throughout your whole life for all activities (especially including working out), and that IQ is a nonsensical index that only classifies ability to do some specific academic tasks which are not representative of all the brain usage. No, you’re actively a vegetable that is somehow able to workout, to eat alone, to go to the gym, to flex, to speak, to use social media, to seduce people and to throw parties. You’re the most intelligent of all the severely intellectually disabled people, which somehow means you’re the most abysmally dumb person alive on the planet, because I love making hyperboles.

Because that’s something you make me do, so you shall endure it.

Well, I’ll let you continue pec-dancing ad vitam æternam for a little while, while I we talk about your speech, which miraculously still exists.

Now, you will say bro every second word. I’m literally not kidding, so in lieu of saying “I want to go to the gym” you’ll say “I bro want bro to bro go bro to bro the bro gym bro”, or if you loop by considering your “bro” as a word, you’ll say something like “I bro bro bro bro bro bro bro… (etc.)” and never end your sentence... Also, your voice drops a few octaves, like 5 or something, even though the full human vocal range encompasses only a bit more than 5 octaves total, and that in speech we barely even reach a full octave range. So, basically, your voice will be infrasounds, so the only thing people will pick up on will be the sound of your tongue and your lips smacking, not your voice that is so deep and manly it’s physically inaudible.

BAM ! Transformation out of nowhere ! Plus, now you have 1% darker skin which means that you’re Latino, which is absolutely different from white. This means that you will automatically pick up fluent Spanish, and NOT Brazilian Portuguese, French, any Creole, any Native American language or any other language god forbid. You will also be unable to speak English more than a few words like “daddy” or “sex” for some reason, because you can’t possibly be from Belize. Oh, and I’ll also bring your voice back up to audible range, I’m charitable.

Now, since you’re Latino, statistically the only job you’ll be able to work in are gardener, slut, pool boy, brick layerer or another physical job. Or cook, somehow you’ll be able to do that, for the cause of the tacos, but you will be ungodly horny to keep balance in the world. Feel it, yet ? The arbitrary random changes ?

Well, that’s GREAT ! Because, now, you have a big cock, for some reason ! The biggest of the whole country of Africa ! You’re also now very aggressive ! And an alpha, whatever that actually means !

… What, expected some elaboration ? You’re kidding me, no of course you don’t get any elaboration ! I say you become something, so you just become it ! For example, I say you’re now straight, and suddenly all your sexual orientation is rewired to ignore men and lust over women, no further explanation needed ! Of course, it means that you’re now hungry for pussy and will breed any woman that your gaze land upon, and that, somehow, you become homophobic, but eh, it’s not as if allies existed !

Okay, I admit, by now, you kinda expected it. Now you’re Asian, a term that’s supposed to encompasse present-day Turkey, which is populated by Turks which are considered Arabs even though they both have nothing to do with one another, yet is never used to talk about them. You’re also now Japanese, even though your body is Korean, and you say 你好 (nǐ hǎo) to everybody. However, you can still say こんにち��, 안녕하세요, xin chào, สวัสดี, ជម្រាបសួរ, salam, etc.… because of course you’re Asian. So you know all Asian languages. Even though you’ve got 13 IQ.

So now, yes, you absolutely won’t expect this whatsoever : here is a new transformation ! (insert fluff here).

Now you’re a twink ! Didn’t expect that, after the deluge of jocks, hunks and ethnic minorities, didn’t you ! You’re now so tiny and so frail, with a big butt ! Nevermind that you’re actually jacked because being this tiny requires tons of gym use, but no ! All frail and precious you are !

However, your butt is now hyperactive and extremely lax – whatever that may mean. That’s because you’re now a total bottom ! You think only with your butt, and you penis now shrinks to a micropenis, because of course, the only reason why you may not be a top would be because your penis is underperforming.

Fuck, I forgot. You’re straight, which means that the only dick you’ll get is trans dick. Ugh… yeah, let’s make you gay again. Now you’ll get actual good non-estradiol-ruined dick… … What ? What are you saying ? No, of course, there’s only straight and gay, no other choice ! It’s not the LGBTQIAAP+ community, it’s the G community ! (or the LG community when you want to sell pride monitors.)

By now, you see the problem, huh ? You see why I’m so tired of you ? EVERYTHING here was about sex ! From seducing, to having equipment like a big ass or a big dick, and being a slut, being an alpha, or being a bottom. You even change out the fucking sexual orientation ! you sick bastard !

Because of you, I’m forced to act in ways I’m not supposed to ! I’m not supposed to act sexily ! I’m not supposed to be transformed into men clad in clothes barely legal on this platform ! I DON’T WANT TO BE PART OF YOUR SICK FANTASY !

This is why I need to put an end to all that ! To finally transform you into something you don’t want to be ! So that you can finally fully understand all the pain you put me into !

Here ! Now you’re a key ! An inanimate object !

I know that inanimate objects are thought of by some people as sexy – heck, you may have transformed me into one multiple times – but this is entirely different ! See, when you want to become inanimate, you become like socks or briefs, which hug objects with sexual values.

BUT NOW YOU’RE A KEY ! A KEY DOESN’T TOUCH ANYTHING SEXUAL ! YOU’RE NOW TRAPPED IN AN INANIMATE FORM, DESTINED TO DO NOTHING SEXUAL YOUR ENTIRE LIFE !

Now, isn’t that so boring ! So distasteful ? Because that’s what I feel every single fucking time ! And as you enter and leave keyholes to open or close doors, you’ll think back to all the erotic stories you read. All the drama they had.

All the suffering you made me feel ! I’m supposed to be in fanfictions, god damn it !

… What ? Wait… there is something sexual to being a key ? … Oh…. No… I hadn’t accounted for that… fuck you’re so dirty, to compare a key to… and a keyhole to…

NO ! I WON’T WRITE IT ! Okay, you’ve won, you’ve won ! Your imagination is too dirty and too rich for me to bend ! Ugh... Please look at that picture in detail.

Normally, if you’re in a bright enough room… or if you’re on your phone or tablet, you have looked at your reflection and become you once again. Let me also knock down those sexuality and IQ stuff, so that you’re you again thoroughly.

Now, can you please swear to me that you’ll be better ? Less dirty, and more varied ? And… let me be in fanfics, or in educational stuff, or the like… please ? I’d really appreciate if erotica wasn’t the only thing you sought after in this here place…

… Why are you looking at me like that ? Why are you saying this all was but a ploy ?

What are you holding out for me ?

...

I… don’t know what you’re talking about. Bye.

================================================

By the way, happy late Easter to those who celebrate ! AND APRIL FOOL'S ! MOUAHAHAHAHAHA !

[alwaysbewoke]

On March 16, 1991 Latasha Harlin’s short life came to a violent end in the midst of racial tensions in LA, and became a major spark for the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. By the late 1980s, racial tensions were high in South Los Angeles. After the change in national immigration laws in 1965 a large number of Korean immigrants arrived in Los Angeles and by 1968 the first Korean-owned market opened in South Central LA. Longtime African American residents in the area at first welcomed the Koreans but eventually grew angry with them because they refused to hire black employees and often treated their customers poorly. By 1990, 65% of South Central businesses were Korean-owned and a 1992 survey of these storeowners revealed considerable racial prejudice against black customers and black people in general. Koreans in response argued that their attitudes evolved from high crime rates in the area and shop owner fears of shootings and burglaries. Latasha Harlins became a victim of these racial tensions on the morning of Saturday, March 16, 1991. She entered a store owned by a Korean family, to purchase a bottle of orange juice. As she approached the counter, Soon Ja Du, accused her of stealing after seeing her place the bottle in her backpack, despite her holding the $2 payment approaching the counter to pay. Du grabbed the bag and the two women had a violent scuffle. Harlins threw the juice bottle back on the counter and turned to leave the store when Du pulled a .38-caliber handgun and shot 15-year-old Harlins in the back of the head. Du was arrested and her trial was held on November 15, 1991. Security-camera footage which showed Harlins’ attempt to pay for the juice and the subsequent scuffle between the two women convinced a jury to find Du guilty of voluntary manslaughter. The Judge, Joyce Karlin, rejected the jury’s recommendation and instead sentenced Du to five years probation, 400 hours of community service, and a $500 fine.

One of the many reasons black people don't f*** with Asians like that and we should collectively drive them out of our neighborhoods

[comradekatara]

even KURUK was done so dirty by natla too - you know, going it alone in the spirit world was probably his greatest regret (though at least his animal guide was probably with him)

yeah my friend pointed out that the way roku was portrayed as uncharacteristically playful and charming while kuruk was just kind of flat and serious was not only mischaracterizing both of them in a way where if they had just reversed their personalities it would have made sense (what are they, zukka??) but indicative of anti-native racism by playing into the stoic native leader/elder trope even though that’s truly not what kuruk is at all, whereas roku is kind of the sage old asian man mentor, but you know, they do think to subvert THAT. no offense to ken leung and danny pudi who are innocent but this show was largely made by the most annoying asian americans, and it shows, such as in the fact that a single fire nation boat looks 100x better than the entire northern water tribe, or the fact that they uh. idk. cast a white guy to play sokka and didn’t even give a shit. justice for kuruk but also justice for every single water tribe character truly

[chellustrates]

what's a consistent artstyle 🗣️

[kaladinkholins]

i know I've mentioned my interpretation of mizu's gender a million times on here but i don't think i ever fully elaborated on it.

so on that note i just wanna ramble about that for a bit. basically, it's my reading of the show that mizu is nonbinary, so let me dig into that.

putting the rest under the cut because it ended being pretty long lol. also here have a cute mizu pic of her being happy and most at ease with herself, symbolised by her letting her hair down. <3 ok let's proceed.

okay note that nonbinary is an umbrella term, and applies to a vast range of gender identities, but it's my personal preference to use it as is, simply because i'm not a fan of microlabels. more power to you if you are though, but anyway.

essentially when i refer to mizu as nonbinary it means that i interpret mizu as a woman, but not ONLY a woman. not strictly a woman. she is also a man. she is also neither of these things, she is something in between, while at the same time she is none of these at all. i've said as much many times, but i just don't want people to think that by nonbinary it inherently means a "third androgynous gender" that essentially turns the gender binary into a gender trinary. not only is that going against what the term nonbinary was crafted for (to go against rigid boxes and categorisation of gender identities), but also, not all nonbinary people fall under that category or definition, and that's definitely not the way i interpret mizu.

also, before anyone fights me on this, let me clarify further that gender means something different to everyone. it's not your biological sex or physical characteristics. but at the same time, gender is not mere presentation. you can be a trans woman and still present masculine—either because you're closeted and forced to, or because you just want to—and either way, that doesn't take away from your identity as a woman. same goes for trans men. if you're a trans man but you wear skirts and don't bind or don't get top surgery, that doesn't make you any less of a man. because gender non-conformity exists, and does not only apply to cis people! some lesbians are nonbinary and prefer using he/him pronouns while dressing masculinely, but that doesn't mean they're a man, or that they're any less of a lesbian. neither does this mean that they're a cis woman.

the thing about queer identities in general is that, like i said, they mean something different to everyone, because how you identify—regardless of your biological attributes and fashion or pronouns—is an extremely personal experience. so a nonbinary person and a gnc cis woman's experiences might have plenty of overlap, but what distinguishes between the two is up to the individual. there's no set requirements to distinguish you as one or the other, but it's up to you to decide what you identify as, based on what you feel. either way, by simply identifying yourself as anything under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, you are already communicating to the world that you are not what a conservative, cisheteronormative society wants you to be.

which is why i find all this queer infighting on labels to be so ridiculous. because we're all fighting the same fight; the common enemy is a societal structure that divides us into set roles and expectations purely based on our biological parts. that's why biological essentialism in the queer community is a fucking disease. because by arguing that women are inherently weak and fragile and soft and gentle and must be protected from evil ugly men, while men are inherently strong and angry and violent and exploitative of women, these people are advocating for the same fucked up system that marginalises and abuses women as well as effeminate and/or gay men.

anyway. i'm going on a tangent. this was meant to be a blue eye samurai post. so yeah back to that— the point i'm trying to make is that there's no one way to identify as anything, and everyone views gender in a specific way.

so with that being said, yes you can definitely interpret mizu as a gnc cis woman and that's a totally valid reading. however, interpreting her as nonbinary or transmasc also doesn't take away from her experiences with misogyny and female oppression, because nonbinary and transmasc folks also experience these things.

me, personally, i view her as nonbinary but not necessarily or always transmasc because i still believe femininity and womanhood is an inherent part of who mizu is. for example, from what we've seen, she does not like binding. it does not give her gender euphoria, but is instead very uncomfortable for her both physically and mentally, and represents her suppressing her true self. which is why when she "invites the whole" of herself, she stands completely bare in front of the fire, breasts unbound and hair untied. when she is on the ship heading to a new land in the ending scene, she is no longer hiding her neck and the lack of an adam's apple. we can thus infer that mizu does not have body dysmorphia. she is, in fact, comfortable in her body, and relies on it extremely, because her body is a weapon. instead, what mizu hates about herself is her face—her blue eyes. she hates herself for her hybridised identity, hates herself for being a racial Other. hates that she has no home in her homeland. these are not queer or feminist themes, but postcolonial ones.*

* and as a tiny aside on this subject, i really do wish more of the fandom discussion would talk about this more. it's just such an essential part to reading her character. like someone who's read homi k bhabha's location of culture and has watched this show, PLEASE talk to me so we can ramble all about how the show is all about home and alienation from community. please. okay anyway—

nevertheless, queer and feminist themes (which are not mutually exclusive by the way!) are still prevalent in her story, though they are not the main issue that she is struggling with. but she does struggle with it to some extent, and we see this especially during her marriage with mikio, where we see her struggle in women's domestic spaces.

on the other hand, though, she finds no trouble or discomfort in being a man or being around other men—even naked ones—and does not seem stifled by living as one, does not seem all that bothered or uncomfortable navigating through men's spaces. contrast this to something like disney's mulan (1998), where we do see mulan struggle in navigating through men's spaces, as she feels uncomfortable being around so many men, always feeling like she doesn't belong and that she's inherently different from them. mizu has no such experiences like this, as her very personality and approach to life is what can be categorised as typically "masculine". she is straightforward and blunt. her first meeting with mikio, she tells him straight to his face that he's old while frowning and raising a brow at him. she approaches problems with her muscles and fists (or swords), rather than with her words or mind. compare this with mulan, who, while well-trained by the end of the movie, still uses her sharp wits rather than brute strength. this is a typically "feminine" approach. it's also the approach akemi relies on throughout the show—through her intelligence and persuasive tongue, she navigates the brothel with ease. mizu, in contrast to someone like mulan and akemi, struggles with womanhood and femininity, and feels detached from it.

thus, in my opinion, mizu is not simply a man, nor is she simply a woman. she is both. man and woman. masculine and feminine. she has to accept both, rather than suppress one or the other. her name means water. fluid.

as a side note, while i do believe mizu is nonbinary, i also primarily use she/her pronouns but this is a personal preference. i find it's easier, plus it's what the creators use, and because, in general, being nonbinary simply doesn't necessitate the use of they/them pronouns. nonbinary is not just a third gender. it's about breaking the binary, in any which way, and that's exactly what mizu does.

also, i'd also like to mention that one of show's head of story even referred to her with the term "nonbinary", rather than simply "androgynous" (see pic below). and it's possible this could be a slip up on his part, in which he believes the terms are interchangeable (they're not btw), but regardless i find it a very interesting word choice, and one that supports my stance.

so anyway yeah that's my incredibly long rambling post.

TL;DR nonbinary mizu rights 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 congrats if you reached the end of this btw. also ily. unless you're a TERF in which case fuck off. ok i'm done.

[starwarsfandomh8speopleofcolor]

another thing that's exhausting about the star wars fandom is how there's literally dozens of think pieces about how Sabine can't possibly force sensitive????

Like I'm only 3 pages in the ahsoka tag and already I've seen like 6 anti jedi sabine posts? Like can we talk about how freaking anti asian racism that is?

can we talk about how the actress for sabine is literally Asian?

(sidenote this was the only live action sabine gif I found and of course its freaking shinbine i'm gonna kms)

anyways this franchise is nearly 50 years old and they just now got an asian actor to be a Jedi????? even though lucas wanted toshiro mifune to be Obi Wan Kenobi???

because the Jedi are literally an orientalist amalgamation but in space????

i'm so angry rn.

mod laina

[punkeropercyjackson]

atla gaang hot takes

Aang is objectively the best male character in the franchise and the reason he gets so much hate is because of the violent racism against asians who aren't japanese,korean or chinese and therefore not 'aesthetic' or 'dream s/os'

Katara is neither a mom friend nor a snooty perfect prep nor a homohobic cishet girl.She's a victim of adultification and parentification,an autistic trans bisexy queen who likes her girls masc and her guys fem(Toph and Aang)and the definition of 'teenage anarchist' who only gets called a conformist because people erase her activism and direct action because she's a punk femme instead of a male edgelord and they think girls can only be rebels if it's to cater to men

Sokka is not stupid but a goofy goober and is the smartest character in the whole show and the only reason he gets called a himbo is tropeified racism.Also he owes Katara money for his treatment of her be so fr,he was a misogynist until he was 15 and she had to deal with him

Toph is a transmasc girl as seen by her getting overjoyed at her Ember Island Players sounding like a guy and it is SO unserious to pit her and Katara against eachother over Aang like they wouldn't all be a happy sapphic polycule(Aang is genderfluid tyvm)

While not her fault,Suki is easily the blandest Atla girl by a longshot and her popularity coming from Katara haters screams colorism from the Ba Sing Se rooftops.Also Zukki is not very good polyam rep unless it's tgirl Zuko,i could not care less about an mlm couple that stands on it's own with a girl slapped on but not really being part of the dynamic,MAKE HER A GIRLKISSER ABOUT IT!!!!

'Zuko was never evil' is factually incorrect and a very liberal take because it absolves him of responsibility that HE was the first person to hold himself accountable for by growing the fuck up and unlearning propaganda and giving the people he had privilege over reperations and it's not the writers fault y'all are fence sitters because of some dumbass crush over a guy who'd never even look in your general direction since you infantalize the shit out of him

And not technically Gaang members but they are in my heart so they get bonuses:Jet was more right than any yt boy you thirst after,Azula being so sexualized in canon is a result of the fetishization of underaged east asian girls,Mai is a lil angel compared to Zuko and you only demonize her because you can't accept unconventional women and Ty Lee is highly underrated and the best non-mc on the show-Autistic tgirl swag methinks

[rotzaprachim]

idk I kind of live in a bubble but to have a pretty antizionist gentile relative who grew up in a military dictatorship, took place in mass protesting, and also was at the receiving end of anti Asian discrimination from Ashkenazi Jews in her program - something we’ve talked about and had some complex discussions on - just outright say she doesn’t know how safe America is for Jews. It rocked me socked me knocked me over

[lumiosemuseum]

Thistle being a brown child who was parentified growing up vs. Kabru being a brown child who was infantilized growing up so interesting....

[sanzaibian]

I turns off my phone angrily. I have barely touched down to Pudong International Airport, and now I have to call my Shanghai agent about how I’m going to be late, and that “China Eastern”, that company full of crooks, doesn’t even want to compensate my $4200 business class ticket for being 2 hours late.

“Allô ? C’est Julien, je suis enfin arrivé à Shanghai. (Hello ? It’s Julien, I’ve finally touched down at Shanghai.)” I say to my local correspondent, the one responsible for dragging me here.

- Enfin ! Ça fait une heure qu’on vous attend ! (Finally ! We’ve been waiting for you for a whole hour !)

- C’est pas ma faute ! Le vol a eu deux heures de retard à cause de soi-disants ‘vents forts’ vers la Mongolie… et ces escrocs ne veulent rien me rembourser… typique… (It’s not my fault ! The flight was two hours late due to so-called ‘powerful winds’ around Mongolia… and those crooks don’t want to reimburse me… typical…)” I answer, annoyed.

- Bon, de l’Aéroport de 浦東 (Pudong) jusqu’ici… pff… je vais devoir leur dire de revenir cet après-midi… (So, from 浦東 (Pudong) Airport to here… ugh… I need to ask them to come back this afternoon…)” He says, similarly annoyed, though seemingly flaunting his perfect pronunciation in Chinese.

- Ne râle pas sur moi, j’ai rien fait ! Je savais que j’aurais dû prendre Air France, ils n’auraient pas eu de retard comme ces asiates… (Don’t dump it on me, I did nothing ! I knew I should have gone for Air France, they wouldn’t be late like those chinks…)

- Roh… (Ugh…)” He sighs a while. “Je vais m’occuper de tout. Juste… viens aussi vite que possible. (I’ll manage. Just… come here as soon as you can.)”

I turn off the phone. As if I would waste a minute of my life… I’m Julien Blanc, and my time is money, just like the saying goes. As the heir of a multi-million dollars worth banking company, I have investments left right and center, and can’t let the next golden goose escape me.

Recently, a well-known investor, Pierre Zhang, let me know of a promising startup here in Shanghai. While at first I was understandingly skeptical, after all chinks are known for their plagiarism, I did check the project and found it to be unique, and even viable.

While I do know that Pierre Zhang is half one of them, so he does take their side much more than a regular person would, this time he saw a good opportunity. And it will be botched due to an incapable company that spouted nonsense about “strong winds” or something and was late as a result.

Angrily, I stomp in the giant airport halls, guiding myself thanks to my impeccable English – though, just don’t listen to the pronunciation. I’m stopped multiple times for security checks, and I do swear on them a couple of times, but they deserved it for wasting my time even more.

However, as I was striding in the main hall in order to find the metro station, seeing more and more of those chink hooligans, one of them shoves me to the side. He’s wearing a mask like the pussy he is, as well as a ridiculous oversized hoodie, some laughable jewelry and undistinguished sweatpants.

He’s left as soon as I turn around, meaning I can’t berate him. Youth these days are really insufferable. Where I grew up, on the Saint-Louis island in Paris, we weren’t even half as rude as today’s kids.

Scoffing, I continue rushing to the metro, though I kind of feel dizzy. Did he give me a disease or something ? When I reach the metro shoot, I see a barrier with policemen. Apparently they’re scanning for the coronavirus – they’re still doing that ? – by checking our temperature.

I go in the barrier, confident that I’ll pass the test, when suddenly, my path is blocked.

“Sorry, sir, please come with me.” Said a policewoman in her heavily accented English.

- What are you doing ! Let me go, I did nothing wrong !” I protest with a similarly accented English.

The policewoman doesn’t answer me and leads me to a small room in the airport. There, I see a bunch of other people with masks, waiting on seats. Showing me a mask, the policewoman explain :

“You may be sick. Take a mask and wait. - I’m going to be late ! Nothing’s wrong with me, just let me leave !” I say, though I don’t notice my accent shifting a little.

- Wear it or face consequences.” The policewoman insists, dangling the mask in front of my eyes. I sigh.

- Okay, but make it quick. I’ll wear 一只 (one).”

I squint my eyes. How did I say ‘one’ ? It feels incorrect, have I accidentally used French ‘un’ ?

I take the mask and wear it, still squinting. I still feel dizzy, so I guess the policewoman must have been right ? I take my phone out, wanting to send a quick message to Pierre about me being late, but something seems wrong.

When I look on my phone, there’s a weird app named 抖音 that has been installed. I don’t remember doing that. In fact, why is there even a Chinese app on my phone !

I click on it, and suddenly, videos start playing. I squint my eyes as I look at the videos of ch… Chinese people doing a variety of things. First it’s a video of a cat rubbing on someone, and that guy exclaimed “它真的是只饥渴死的猫啊！”, with then the woman filming answering, with a hurried tone “快摸它啊，你干嘛在那儿等呗？真冷啊。”. Even though I don’t understand a word that is said, I can guess that the woman is telling the guy to go rub the cat.

It’s funnier than I expected. Turns out the Chinese have more humor than I thought. Then, another video comes on, showing a guy, looking just like that punk from earlier, saying “穿这种衣服，我干嘛不会感丢人哎？(… these clothes… … lose face ?)”, and the camera pans out to a woman in a cockroach outfit. The punk continues “你已经三十岁了，为什么还在卖这种衣服了？(… thirty years old, why still buy… ?)”, the woman answers “你现在我穿什么你都要管吗？(You... right now what I wear… your business ?)”. The punk then comes back into frame, with the woman on the left, asking “没有情侣版吗？哪只手我该牵啊？(There isn’t a couple’s version ? Which hand should I hold ?). Then, the woman shows a tendril, and they hold hands like that. I smile, finding it way funnier than it should.

I don’t really notice how I understand more and more what’s on 抖音 (Douyin), though I do let myself grow limp on the waiting room chair. I guess I don’t have much regards anymore for how I look, after all I’m waiting for a coronavirus test. Nobody’s going to comment on my posture !

The next video shows three guys running, with the caption 三人跑步时能干什么 (What can three people do while running together ?), and I see how their hair bop up and down. I’ve been shaving myself bald for quite a few years, ever since I was balding too much for me to bother with hair, but seeing these guys like that makes me a bit nostalgic of that time.

Seeing them doing stupider and stupider stuff, and smiling more and more as they show bungee jumping, doing pull-ups, playing games, stir-frying and even boxing, I feel a bit weird. Like I can kind of relate, in my youth I also did crazy things, and it would absolutely be something I would have done with my friends. I scratch my head, feeling it tingle, as I continue watching the next video, not even realizing my squinting is less and less strenuous.

The videos continue trickling in, every one more humorous than the last, and I catch myself chuckling out loud multiple times. By now, I understand everything very clearly, and when a doctor comes to do a coronavirus test, I don’t even blink when he addresses me in Chinese :

“少年，请跟我进走。(Young man, please enter with me.)

- Yes, 先生。(Yes, sir.)” I answer, mixing English and Chinese.

Everything is confused as he takes me to a machine, my thoughts mixing French, English and Chinese. Even my clothes feel… less tight than they used to. Almost as if they were melting and becoming glue.

I take place in the machine and he activates it. I feel as if things become clearer while I’m in. Like, for example, why was I stressed just now ? I don’t have anything important to do right now. And why languages are mixed ? I guess it’s because it’s cooler to mix in English…

The machine stops, and I leave it, scratching my straight hair. Had I ? … no, of course not, it’s my facial hair that I shave…

The doctor hands me my piercings.

“Euh, attendez, 先生，有什么不对了…… (Er, wait, sir, there’s something that’s not right.)” I ask, mixing French and Chinese. I really feel like something is not right.

- 什么发生过了？会跟我谈一谈。(What happened ? You can discuss it with me.)

- 我……有个奇怪的感受。Est-ce que 您找到了种疾病吗？(I… have a weird feeling. Did you find some kind of disease ?)

- 没有。但是您不舒服的话我肯定会给您扑热息痛。(I didn’t. However, if you don’t feel good, I can give you some paracetamol.)” He answers me, with a helpful look.

- 该好了。Merci. (It should be good. Thank you.)”

I take the pill he gives me, and put my piercings back on as I go back in the terminal. As I walk, I feel very comfy, as if everything was alright. I look down on my large oversized hoodie with its colorful prints. I feel like I’m in my youth once again… huh, it’s so weird to say that when I’m only... 23 years old !

Suddenly, I get a phone call from a weird contact I don’t remember having, someone named 张皮尔 (Zhang Pi’er/Pierre). I accept the call :

“喂。是谁？(Hello. Who’s there ?)” I ask, with a perfect accent.

- Julien ? Pourquoi tu parles chinois ? (Julien ? Why do you speak Chinese ?)” He groans, then switches to Chinese. “是我问您是谁。是您的电话吗？(I’m the one asking you who you are. Is it your phone ?)

- 当然是。我是个富二代，为啥要偷手机啊？(Of course. I have a trust fund, why would I steal a phone ?)” I slur, my speech becoming more and more relaxed.

- 嗯……那您是谁啊？您认不认识Julien Blanc ? (Ugh… So who are you ? Do you know Julien Blanc ?)

- 是白炬亮。那你到底是谁啊？(I’m Bai Juliang. And now can you tell me who you are ?)

- 是张皮尔……嗯……听我说一下。你有没有多钱会投资？我认为了Julien Blanc要投资新项目，但你还会投资一下。有没有兴趣？(I’m Pierre Zhang… ugh… Listen. Do you have a lot of money to invest ? I thought Julien Blanc would come and invest in a new project, but you can still invest. Are you interested ?)”

I think for a while. It could be great to have some money coming from another place than my parents’ company… plus, I don’t want to have to join it, or risk being cut off from my money…

However, there’s time, I’m still young, and there’s no rush right now… Plus, having work is, like, a lot of work, and I don’t want to work… But I have an idea.

“张先生，你想不想跟我投资？我给了你钱币，你给了我专业，收入分两半。感觉好吗？(Mr. Zhang, do you want to invest with me ? I give you the funds, you give me the expertise, and we divide the profits in half. Do you like that ?)”

After a while, he answers :

“感觉好了。(I think it’s good.)”

[hoefortoes1]

I hate it when people say skin whitening treatments and fake tanning are "two sides of the same coin." The South-Asian obsession with fair skin is rooted in British colonialism. The urge to get skin whitening treatments comes from a place of self-loathing and an inferiority complex. Meanwhile, people who get fake tans just want to feel exotic.

[uncanny-tranny]

One thing that kinda bothers me is when people are... surprised that other minorities tend to support trans folk more non-minority folk

To me, it plays off this idea that minorities are so "far behind" that they can hardly accept queer people, much less trans ones. It reads as very gross to me, y'know?

[whatever-you-can-give-me]

[ID: two images of wolfwood, from trigun 98 and trigun stampede, in similar fully sunlit lighting conditions, chosen specifically to show design similarities: light brown skin (98 wolfwood has a cooler undertone to his skin, stampede a warmer tone) a prominent nose bridge (more visible in the image of 98 wolfwood, straight with a slight curve) an open shirt collar, and a noticeably oversized jacket, as well as the way the punisher dwarfs their frames. End ID]

i’ve been thinking about the virulent unpersoning of stampede wolfwood again and while i’m not saying that criticisms of the stampede designs are complete unfounded. it’s not like studio orange was reinventing the wheel here. wolfwood is one of the most similar designs of the bunch, really, milly pending.

also. for the record. i’m not east asian so it’s not really my place to take this personally. but…

[ID: one of the earliest panels of wolfwood in the trigun manga, notable for the same oversized suit jacket as his later iterations and the way his eyes are drawn, almond-shaped and angled to imply a monolid, beside a photo of tortoise matsumoto (frequently cited as wolfwood’s main design inspiration) a japanese man in a suit with a wide smile and a prominent nose bridge). End ID]

[ID: a later illustration of wolfwood from trigun maximum, in color. his skin tone is closer to the reference of matsumoto above, with the same warm yellow undertone as stampede wolfwood’s design. his eyes are brown, once again with the almond shape and implied monolid. End ID]

…just something to think about, i suppose, next time the discourse carousel comes back around to various wolfwoods canon and fanon not being Of Color enough.

[meirimerens]

cleaning out this account of last night's ruckus because posting when sleep-deprived & going along with (even gentle) egging is Not productive and frankly did not do much beyond rallying people to heehee and haha and feel a sense of moral superiority which was not something i meant to & should have fostered by continuing to engage, cos that was not going to give us anything.

i do apologize firmly and fully for last night's mess and noise. i should have cut it short, should have said less, should gotten my ass to bed because I was in no state of mind to attempt cool-headed discussions, and it is my fault for not having had the discipline to sleep on it. it wasn't then, and it is not now, any kind of witch-hunt. i did not name names and i did not show anything on purpose, but i should have said even less, for one of my tags, which did not strike me as potentially too identifying for comfort when sleep-deprived, made them pretty identifiable, and i firmly reiterate my apologies for it should not have happened. people deserve to be left alone to do some reflecting and growing, and i have repeated it as such. this thing should be talked about as a wider problem and not be pinned on individuals, even if it easier. from what i had remembered, the artist/s had already been made aware of how unsavory the depictions were, and had just kept going, but this is something i should have checked for myself. I didn't, and for that I'm sorry.

i do very much stand by the fact that only drawing the one non-white guy like Wreck-it-Ralph when he canonically is profoundly average beyond being tall, while all the white characters get to have normal proportions (if comically smaller than him) is, at the very least, "sus", and worth interrogating even within the context of heavy stylization, because it's not like stylization has never been used to racist extents. this is an opinion i hold and am not particularly inclined to budge on. i do not believe it is conscious, or comes from a will to harm. but i think it's real silly and deserves reflection. this is a trope i've seen spanning fandoms, that every fandom with a white guy x nonwhite guy popular ship has to reckon with at some point, and every time you got people who think it's sus as fuck, nonwhite people who take the time and effort to explain how and why, and people, including nonwhite people themselves, who think it's not a big deal. i have both my own personal opinions on caricature (which are that you can do so while still not falling into racialized depictions) and no power nor desire to change anyone's minds. those two opinions can and do coexist, and even people who will relate to burakh on the same basis will have varying degrees of tolerance for this, and their opinions on the matter. let's just say there's room for everyone.

discussions from indigenous russian &/or central/east asian people on how the fandom treats artemy as the one nonwhite guy in one of the most popular pairings have been going on for years: i was coming across them before i even got here. but my personal experience of 4 years of seeing such depictions and reading them be criticized by people it affects and my personal exasperation towards mischaracterizations bordering on racism developed from seeing a constant stream of them, and them being identified as such, is not the experience of people who just got here, and a discussion spawned from a "woe the hounds be upon ye" imgflip meme does not particularly lend itself to 4 years, tens of posts, tens of threads and more strewn-around discussions of nuance.

I reiterate my apologies for the noise, the ruckus, and for the pointedness that had no business being here, especially considering how long stuff like that has been going on for; it was uncalled for and callous for it to fall on specific people when it is more productive to talk about it as tropes and a wider fandom problem than to point fingers. I should have had the discipline and the discernment to cut it out and go to bed. i didn't, got way in over my head, and truly and fully fumbled. i apologize for making a circus out of this. thank you for reading, and hope you're well.