Why I Won't Teach You How To Pick Pineapples
3.30.2007 ||
I don't pretend to discuss subjects like hockey to people when I don't care for it or don't know it. You won't find me having an opinion about why Pluto is no longer a planet or teaching you how to pick out the perfect pineapple because I just don't know. I also won't ever discuss what it is like to be in the majority because frankly, I don't know.
In fact, being in the majority may discomfort me as I am not used to such situations. I'm a freakin' Asian female engineer-- an Asian woman in a white man's profession working for a white man's company in the bible belt. If I revisit Vietnam, I'm an American and they can pick me out in a second-- still a minority.
But many times, I hear white people discussing race and ethinicity with so much conviction that I can't even say anything in return because it's so pointless. I don't mean to sound prejudice, but I am judgmental so take it as it is. I'm not saying that white people don't have culture. No. I am saying that if you don't live in the Asian, African, Hispanic, etc. cultures, than you don't know what the fuk you are talking about so save your useless breath and talk to the other white guy.
In a past post, I wrote "There is a difference between ethnicity and culture. Ethnicity happens to be the biological aspect of a person's background, while culture is an ongoing social influence in one's life. They are different. Thus, just because you look like you belong to a certain culture, you don't necessarily understand the culture that belongs to it. There is such a thing as "cultural assimilation" and it affects how ethnic someone may be."
If you look white, act white, and *ahem* are white, don't tell me you know about being a minority and that minorties are welcomed everywhere. You will never know what it is like to be a minority until you leave the states and stay somewhere else for awhile. By that, I don't mean Europe or any U.S. owned territory, dimwits. By that, I also don't mean being in a foreign country living with Americans or other whites.
Cultural assimilation is the product of a melting pot--of globalization and integration. One day, people will probably forget the culture of the old country and become what has happened to the white people in America-- assimilated/similar/culture-less. Before you go off on me, I didn't say everyone. The whites of the South are different than those in the North and even political party lines separate people, but culturally, they have assimilated.
I often fear that my children will grow up less cultured if I am too busy to show them and they have white teachers who have never lived the life of a minority. They don't know what it's like to be the only Asian girl in class in a white country-side town. Actually, I hope my kids don't ever go through what I went through, but in a way, I appreciate where I came from and who it has helped me become. I am much stronger than I ever would have been if I went to an all-Asian school. It has never been a crutch, rather, it is inspiration.
It's as if efforts to teach about embracing differences actually highlight differences by bringing more attention to them. Too often, the teaching of culture leads to a discussion on what is or is not "PC". That's what diversity meetings at work show me. That's not culture. That's not understanding. That is fearing words, avoiding conflict, and plain ignorance.
What a joke. They HIRE these white people to teach ME about DIVERSITY? Maybe I am ignorant here, but I can only imagine what corporate America thinks of diversity-- "hire the guy/girl who is not white because it makes us more diverse and diverse is good to the media and public!!!" By no means am I complaining. If it works in my favor, I'm not bitching! If the only discrimination you face is in your academic/work life-- I say you got the long end of the stick, so don't start bitching about affirmative action. It just bothers me when the white guy/girl starts talking about ethnicity and culture as the same thing or as if they have a freakin' clue what it's like. You can't teach what you don't know.
And that is why I won't teach you about being culturally ignorant or about picking pineapples.
Categorized: Grr, Thoughts
In fact, being in the majority may discomfort me as I am not used to such situations. I'm a freakin' Asian female engineer-- an Asian woman in a white man's profession working for a white man's company in the bible belt. If I revisit Vietnam, I'm an American and they can pick me out in a second-- still a minority.
But many times, I hear white people discussing race and ethinicity with so much conviction that I can't even say anything in return because it's so pointless. I don't mean to sound prejudice, but I am judgmental so take it as it is. I'm not saying that white people don't have culture. No. I am saying that if you don't live in the Asian, African, Hispanic, etc. cultures, than you don't know what the fuk you are talking about so save your useless breath and talk to the other white guy.
In a past post, I wrote "There is a difference between ethnicity and culture. Ethnicity happens to be the biological aspect of a person's background, while culture is an ongoing social influence in one's life. They are different. Thus, just because you look like you belong to a certain culture, you don't necessarily understand the culture that belongs to it. There is such a thing as "cultural assimilation" and it affects how ethnic someone may be."
If you look white, act white, and *ahem* are white, don't tell me you know about being a minority and that minorties are welcomed everywhere. You will never know what it is like to be a minority until you leave the states and stay somewhere else for awhile. By that, I don't mean Europe or any U.S. owned territory, dimwits. By that, I also don't mean being in a foreign country living with Americans or other whites.
Cultural assimilation is the product of a melting pot--of globalization and integration. One day, people will probably forget the culture of the old country and become what has happened to the white people in America-- assimilated/similar/culture-less. Before you go off on me, I didn't say everyone. The whites of the South are different than those in the North and even political party lines separate people, but culturally, they have assimilated.
I often fear that my children will grow up less cultured if I am too busy to show them and they have white teachers who have never lived the life of a minority. They don't know what it's like to be the only Asian girl in class in a white country-side town. Actually, I hope my kids don't ever go through what I went through, but in a way, I appreciate where I came from and who it has helped me become. I am much stronger than I ever would have been if I went to an all-Asian school. It has never been a crutch, rather, it is inspiration.
It's as if efforts to teach about embracing differences actually highlight differences by bringing more attention to them. Too often, the teaching of culture leads to a discussion on what is or is not "PC". That's what diversity meetings at work show me. That's not culture. That's not understanding. That is fearing words, avoiding conflict, and plain ignorance.
What a joke. They HIRE these white people to teach ME about DIVERSITY? Maybe I am ignorant here, but I can only imagine what corporate America thinks of diversity-- "hire the guy/girl who is not white because it makes us more diverse and diverse is good to the media and public!!!" By no means am I complaining. If it works in my favor, I'm not bitching! If the only discrimination you face is in your academic/work life-- I say you got the long end of the stick, so don't start bitching about affirmative action. It just bothers me when the white guy/girl starts talking about ethnicity and culture as the same thing or as if they have a freakin' clue what it's like. You can't teach what you don't know.
And that is why I won't teach you about being culturally ignorant or about picking pineapples.
Categorized: Grr, Thoughts
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