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| Stop the PRESS! TEMPBOOGIE has been OFFENDED (again) Take MSN's "China Quiz" by By Myriam Gabriel-Pollock here like I did.
http://encarta.msn.com/quiz_321/china_quiz.html
(I scored 9/10) After I got the results, I did some googling, because question #2 with the Panda was bothering me. The description was:
"This bamboo-eating mammal, discovered as recently as 1839, exists
naturally only in the cool mountain forests of the Sichuan (Szechwan),
Shaanxi (Shensi) and Gansu (Kansu) provinces of China:"
I knew that the answer was probably Panda, but in my head I was thinking, no way it was discovered in 1839. The Chinese have known about that bear forever. So I did some Googling, and of course it turns out the Chinese have known and written about this animal for thousands of years. This is from a credible internet website, the foremost expert on the Giant Panda:
"In Ancient Chinese History: In the
Western Chou dynasty (over 3000 yrs ago), two books : The Book of
History and The Book of Songs take note of an animal "Pi"
that resembles a panda. Pi or pixiu are ancient
chinese names for the giant panda. In the Qui dynasty ( 221-207 BC ),
the earliest dictonary describes the mo, the giant panda, as a
white leopard with a small head, short limbs and black and white
markings. It is said to have eaten copper, iron, and bamboo stems.
The Annotated Readings of the Book of Songs, refer to an animal
zhu yi or bai hu as an animal resembling a white bear.
With the many names and different discriptions it becomes hard to
tell if the discriptions are of a giant panda or another animal.
In ancient China the giant panda was considered rare and a symbol of
might and bravery. The panda has been apart of Chinese culture for over
2000 yrs. When the Empress Dowager Bo (179-163 BC) tomb was opened
2100 yrs after her death, a giant panda skull was found along side her.
A historian noted that in the Western Han dynasty(206 BC - 24 AD) the emporor had a garden of rare species, the giant
panda was his most treasured animal. The first emporor of the Tang
dynasty is said to have once held a banquet where he honored 14
subjects by presenting them with panda skins. His grandson son is said to have sent two live pandas with several pelts
to Japan to help seal trade agreements.
Introduction to the Western World:
The giant panda was not known outside of China until a French missionary and naturalist Pere
Armand David is brought a dead specimen by hunters on March 23 1869. He writes:
"My Cristian hunters returned today after a ten-day absence. They
bring me a white bear, which they took alive but unfortunately
killed so that it could be carried more easily, The young white bear, which they
sell me very dearly, is all white except for the legs, ears and around
the eyes, which are deep black. The colours are the same as those
I saw in the skin of an adult bear the other day at the home of Li, the
hunter. This must be a new species of "Ursus", very remarkable not only
because of its colour, but also for its paws which are hairy underneath, and
for other characteristics."
-http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/2695/gpan.html (geo motherfuckn cities beeyotch)
Can it be that, for the Author, in order for something to be "discovered", a white person has to actually write about somewhere? Nevermind that a skull of a Giant Panda was found in a chinese tomb that is over 2000 years old. Until a white person acknowledges an animal's existence, it is merely a figment of my imagination?!? Some Freud shit right here. I'm sure that the author didn't mean no harm, and its really pretty trite but y'know, I don't scour the interenet looking for stuff like this, it just finds me. Its one thing to read the RANTS and RAVES of CList, which is basically a racism/hate bulletin for internet cowards and such, thats totally different. Anyways, the world is far from perfect, and there are much bigger problems in the world today than the occasional Eurocentric Freudian slip. Just a little rant here...
ScreenCAP of the affront
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| UpdateFor all those holding your breath, I beat Dragon Ball Z. Although I unlocked some new game elements, I will probably just return it to blockbuster, thus ending my brief and sweaty affair with the world of BallZ. On a scale of 1-10 I would probably just give this game a C- and recommend it to my brother as a prank.
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| Nerd of a Different VarietyYesterday I used my blockbuster free monthly credit to pick up an XBox game, and since they are really limited now in XBox games (most are now in xbox360, ps3 or wii) I ended up pulling DragonBallZ Sagas from the shelf. This is my First Contact with the world of BallZ and let me just say so far it has been an eye-opening experience.
For years I have seen online handles like SSGoku, SaikouTrunkz, XLVegeta, Gohan, etc, without having a clue. Anyways, playing this game doesn't really make me an expert on the whole dragonball Z thing, but it does give me a glimpse into this alternative universe, and that is when I say to myself, NO THANKS. You will NOT see me sitting indian style at the floor of the newly added Manga Section at Barnes and Noble with a stack full of black and white print nerd encyclopedias. No thanks. I feel like once break the seal and read a few books, you just can't be normal anymore. Before you know it, you will have poorly sketched dragonball Z characters all over your meeting notes. I can definitely see the appeal though for the younger crowd. It is sorta similar in formula to Inuyasha, but less corny.
Well, I ended up playing until 3:30pm, last I left it, I was Goku and was fighting some androids that invaded the planet. I agree with the review from Gamespot in that it is a "braindead beat'em up" adventure, but I disagree that it is ugly. The graphics are extremely well done for Xbox and they manage to keep a very cartoon anime look throughout the game. Also, the variety of moves are fun and the braindead part goes well with an ice cold MGD. I'm gonna try to wrap this game up by Thursday and move on with my life as soon as possible.
PS: note the IRONY in this screenshot I took of my blog.
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| Interracial Dating, its so Progressive!Disclaimer: I have nothing against Interracial Dating. I am completely for it actually. This is about something else completely.
I was busy working, but took a break on Craigslist, and was in the Rant and Raves area, when I found these Rants and Raves. Although I didn't write these two, I think they deserve to be read.
FIRST POST:
Found in Rants and Raves, Entitled: Some Asian American Feminists Are Brainwashed Hypocrites
original link here: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/rnr/674770913.html
I'll just quote the good stuff.
"In my opinion, yes Asian countries, just like all countries in the
world, have gender problems and issues that go back a long time in many
cultures. However, Western mass media constantly stereotypes, and thus
influences millions, including Asian females, on the idea that Asian
men are somehow way more sexist or chauvinist or oppressive than the
average male."
"This gives some White males what I call ‘White Knight’ syndrome, and
also gives some self-hating, brainwashed Asian girls a convenient
excuse to hide their White worship."
"Additionally, some superiority complex White Knights, and their
brainwashed Asian feminists, bring up foot binding, as evidence of
horrible Asian male oppression. Yet when is the last time you heard
White men accused of being sexist and oppressive for tight suffocating
corsets, or for metal chastity belts, or even painful plastic surgery
in modern times? Foot binding was sad, but just like with beauty
treatments White women used to do and still do, these kinds of
practices are really pushed by other women, thinking that’s what men
like (which is a global gender issue, not a specifically ‘horrible
Asian men’ issue)"
"Anyways, this brainwashed hypocrisy is the reason why certain Asian
American feminists have the lunacy to claim to make Asian American
films ('Joy Luck Club', 'Finding Grace', 'Red Doors', etc), when
they're really films about Asian females basking in their White worship
and excluding or bashing Asian men. What a joke."
"The phenomenon of Asian women shunning their own men is alarming and problematic.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070511/OPINION04/70511017/-1/OPINION05
The one major exception to the finding that women wanted to meet men of
their own race was Asian women, a vast majority of whom stated that
they strongly preferred meeting non-Asian men.
The primary explanation offered by most Asian women was that they
wanted to be matched with tall men, and they insisted that practically
all of the Asian men they knew were short. But when I would ask if they
would be willing to meet an Asian man if he were tall, most would
simply shake their head and say they would rather not.
Of course Asian men were difficult to match because, as I previously
stated, the one group of women who did not want to meet men of their
own race was Asian women."
SECOND POST: from an Asian Female
original post: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/rnr/679565994.html
How interesting that Asian men are stereotyped as being "backward" in
how they treat women, while white men are supposed to be the saviors of
Asian women. I've known very few Asian men who grew up overseas, so I
can't really give an opinion on their sexism or lack thereof. However,
I HAVE known plenty of white men, and I CAN say that many of them
display an alarming degree of racism and sexism in their relations
toward Asian women, which seems to directly oppose the "savior" idea.
I am a half-white, half-Asian woman. People usually think I am
completely Asian. I was born here, but as I'm sure many other
Asian-American women experience, men still sometimes expect me to do
all but put on a little dress with a slit up the side and serve them
tea. I've heard more bad driving jokes than I care to remember, and
comments like "I guess you have that opinion because you come from a
different culture" (I don't know where you're from, but I grew up in
the American culture), and of course the ultimate mouth diarrhea by
Asian-o-philes who think with their little heads before they speak: "I
LOVE Asian women!" (Honestly, when would a man ever feel the need to
tell a black woman that he LOVES black women, or a white woman that he
LOVES her sexy vanilla complexion? Even leaving aside the disturbing
question of how you can lump one billion individuals into a uniformly
lovable category, the fact that you don't expect her to be offended at
such a generalization shows that you think of her less as a human being
than as a compliant object with no thoughts of her own.)
Then there was also "You're prettier than all the other Asian girls
around campus, because your eyes aren't as slanted" and "It's so
amazing that a white man like me should have crossed paths with a sexy
Asian girl like you" (It's weird for two people to meet who live in the
same city?) and of course we can't forget the one time I heard, "Asian
women are great! They REALLY love to cook and clean and have sex with
their boyfriends!"
But you know what - all this drivel, as much as it may hurt at the
time, is better than the alternative. Because there is always the fear
that whether through chance or canniness, a man who thinks these things
will not let them slip out of his mouth and we will actually date
without my realizing that he is with me because of these stereotypes he
has of the submissive Asian doll. And this might happen. I have to
admit, I AM "nice" in relationships. It has to do with my general
approach to life. I don't think there's any progress to be made in the
world unless people truly try to understand each other's points of
view, and I think that's the only way to make a relationship work over
time. But I don't think my reasons for being caring and accomodating
are going to matter to a guy who just sees my Asian features and thinks
"Good, someone I can dominate and control."
I recently researched the phenomenon of the submissive Asian female
stereotype. Well, I guess "research" is a loose term. I googled
"submissive Asian women" and read the first few pages of what turned
up. What disturbed me the most was a perspective I saw over and over
again. Simply put, the notion that white men date Asians either because
they view them as less of a challenge or because they see Asians as
culturally inferior: less intimidating to pursue than white women, who
are higher on the so-called scale. Quite honestly, I have no interest
in a man who pursues me because he is afraid of a challenge and prefers
some sort of comforting, sweet mommy figure. I also have no interest in
a man who pursues me because he has combined racism with low
self-esteem to decide that he can't get the blonde who is his first
pick, so he had better go for me as an easier second choice. If this is
the demographic that prefers Asian women, our selection of white men is
poor indeed.
Maybe you're wondering how I have so much personal experience with
men who like to stereotype Asian women. The answer is that I opened
myself up to it for a few years, without realizing until recently what
they were doing, and why it had bothered me at the time. I grew up in
San Francisco and throughout my entire childhood, I scarcely remember
one racist comment. Thus, I was completely unprepared to come to LA for
college. When I got here, I was thrown in with people who came from
everywhere. Many of the ones I knew had hardly ever seen an Asian
before. That's when I started hearing comments like the ones above. I
didn't get it. I would be hurt, confused, even flattered by statements
that should have deeply offended me (this is embarrassing, but at the
time I actually took "You're prettier than other Asian girls because
your eyes aren't as slanted" as a compliment") and only recently did I
start putting everything together and realize that it was all racism.
In regard to the OP's post on how Asian and Asian-American men are
portrayed unfairly by the media and treated with disdain by society, I
do agree. I've heard many comments from men and women (including Asian
women) about how Asian men are not "manly," not appealing, just not
good enough. The submissiveness that so many people project onto Asian
women seems to also describe how Asian men are viewed in America. The
difference is that this submissiveness is seen as a desirable quality
in women, while it is a turn-off in men. I think that everyone -
including Asians themselves - needs to rethink their model of the
submissive Asian. Take this idea out, hold it up to the light, study
its imperfections and misassumptions and recognize that the idea needs
some major work. Work on yourself. If you're a man and you LOVE Asian
women, ask yourself if your reasons are good. If you're a woman and you
just WON'T date Asian men, again ask yourself if there is a good motive
behind this universal exclusion.
I’m only addressing white men in most of this post, but I’ve heard
equally racist remarks from black, Latino, and Middle Eastern men. I
just haven’t met as many, so I’m confining myself to talk about white
men. My call for people to reexamine their attitudes is meant for
everyone, though.
Hopefully things will have changed by the time I have daughters. Right now, we’ve still got a long road ahead of us.
Words from the Bogart: I am all for interracial dating, and everyone loving each other. However, it is sad to have heard so many Asian females in my life tell me explicitly that they only date white men. And even if its not explicit, there are some that you can tell will only date white men, for whatever reason, they have made up their minds. It is a hard path sometimes to be an Asian male in this world, especially in this country. I don't know this from experience of course, my goodlooks and wit always kept my queue full with women of all different flavors and colors. But I know Asian guys that don't even date Asian girls anymore because it is just easier to find white girls that like them. Pretty sad state of affairs.
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