Jeremy's parents have graduate degrees but had to file for bankruptcy in 1995. from New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/s...res-lins-achievement.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 For Shirley and Gie-Ming, money became tighter as their family grew. Not long after they bought their home here, their debts forced Gie-Ming to file for bankruptcy in 1995, according to court records. After a reorganization of finances, the case was dismissed 11 months later.
I think you experienced some "ish" in your life but subconsciously suppressed it due to the trauma. You said you're from Boston area right? It's okay people deal with things differently as you say.
From the same New York times article: Though the Lins live in Palo Alto, their family home is a modest ranch, with roof tiles that are slightly warped and a small, patchy front lawn. There is no basketball hoop in the driveway and the house is on a block that features tightly packed homes, chipped fences and utility poles with fading signs posted on them about a missing orange tabby cat named Emma.
It's not always blatant. Most of the time, I think the greater damage comes from things like social exclusion rather than outright bullying. At least you can physically fight back against that kind of stuff. But it's the social devaluing that really has the long-term effects.
The article says that Asian American students "reported" being bullied the most. That can be interpreted sooooo many different ways. Your dramatic psuedo-psychological post is just one such example of a possible explanation. Someone reading the reports could say: Asians are melodramatic types who play the race card when people don't agree with them. How about Hispanic kids are thick skinned and don't bother reporting when some one calls them a name? Black males know that Omar from The Wire was the baddest dude ever so they don't feel threatened by teasing? Dumb white kids assume that the fat white kid making fun of them will work for them one day so whatever. All just possible explanations. And at least as viable as suppressing grade school bullying (I was working on my doctorate in Psych so I may or may not know a thing or two on that) could be. Oh yeah, I live in NOVA. Got my tickets for the Rockets on the 23rd of Feb. You gonna be there?
I think you get it. For whatever reason Asian themed films or Asian actors have not achieved real blockbuster or star status here. It seems a lot more "good" Asian films were made a long time ago. These days almost everything in Hollywood is about making money. Guys like Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chow Yun Fat were given staring or co-staring roles and those films didn't do well in the box office. So Hollywood decided to stop backing those films. I agree Asians Americans are a hard market to target. Many families made education a priority so we usually dont blindly support people of own race in movies or tv unless there is some substance or quality in the work. While other minorites will go see bad movies just to show support for their community. Maybe we're just entertainment snobs.
Did the Lin family move from the ranch house? According to the video, the neigborhood nor his parent's house don't look too shabby. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CLzrLXQIbwM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Yup, that's how Asian-Americans got to be crowned the Model Minority: by taking out the "race card" whenever someone breathed on them.
I hate watching stuff like this. I get so jealous of guys whose job it is to work out. I'm out of shape.
The interior of the house is quite simple: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IqBb8J_JM4E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Mmm I'd appreciate if you didn't assume what my life was like or what I experienced. As I said, I seem to have sidestepped it (maybe it's yet to come - maybe my boss will suddenly start bullying me!?!?! ). But I meant that people have varying experiences.
I didn't say that. I said it was a possible explanation for the higher reports of bullying by Asian American students.
Most Asian parents don't want their children to become actors (or athletes). They like Jeremy since he has a degree from Harvard.
Asian actors are simply not given a chance. Either their roles are whitewashed, or their roles are stereotypical and extremely limiting. Jackie Chan and Jet Li were given starring roles in what were essentially genre movies that didn't challenge them to broaden their appeal outside of the kung fu niche. Chow Yun Fat is a HK legend but he was only given a few movies, and just because they weren't blockbuster smashes, the sun set on his Hollywood career. But those guys are foreign imports. Their ceiling is inherently limited due to the language barrier. So where are the Asian-American talents? As I said, it's not as if there are all these unproduced movies that are just waiting to be cast but cannot be made because Asians are being too nerdy and studious and model minority to become actors. The roles simply don't exist and Asians are systematically discouraged from even entering the profession, which becomes a feedback loop that self-justifies the lack of diversity in the media. There's no one solution, but I think it's just a matter of time before things change. Remember that about 66-75% of the Asian-American population is foreign-born. As that proportion shifts to favour American-born Asians, I think we'll see a lot of activity from young Asian-Americans who are dissatisfied with being invisible or ridiculed in American culture, and who will do something about it. Jeremy Lin's a great example. He's a 2nd generational and part of the idealistic Millennial generation. Did he dream of buying a big house in the suburbs and teaching his kids English? No, he wanted to be a baller. I think we'll see a lot more like him in the coming years.
