and not even knowing it.
sometimes i think it's the theme of modern "American" life. it was the theme of my day on Friday. i saw an article on the BBC here and i thought it was funny so i posted it to facebook. you can see the ensuing guilt trip there. and yet i still think the article's funny and i don't think my comment is offensive and here's why: there is a stereotype that asians are bad drivers and i can tell you that even many Americans i know of asian descent will affirm this and laugh about it and i can tell you that i have had to share the road with numerous bad drivers some of whom are asian or of asian descent; i.e. stereotypes exist for a reason. But that isn't necessarily what makes the article funny (although that is one layer to it). What also makes the article funny is the fact that I know and have ridden with numerous good drivers who happen to be asian or of asian descent thus there is irony in the fact that this poor Korean woman took forever to pass her written driver's test. What is further funny about all this is that if the world weren't an evil, broken place, then that story either wouldn't exist or wouldn't be run because then the stereotype of bad asian drivers wouldn't be propagated and good asian drivers could go about debunking the stereotype of bad asian drivers. Except that is crap because the world is a broken place and good and bad drivers of all heritages populate the highways and byways of the world so there is an element of despair in this to which the only healthy response is laughter because, if you can't fix it, what are you going to do about it? finally, my comment mirrors the content of the article and, although it may be deemed offensive, was not meant to be hurtful or destructive. i did mean it as a good natured elbow-nudge which, i realize doesn't come across too well in print. however, if you know me (and if you can see my posts on facebook, you probably do. i think i set that setting right anyway), you probably know that i don't think stereotypes are necessarily accurate to any trustworthy degree and so, hopefully, you would catch that joke, too.
and to be completely forthright, I didn't give the article any thought as being offensive until a friend of mine pointed out that it might be. let me stress might here because that is what has been nagging me for the last two days. i don't want to hurt people with my posts - i typically want to make them laugh or be in awe of something amazing and the idea that this article and my comment are offensive was upsetting to me. But, at the same time, that might seems awfully flimsy to me and I don't really buy the argument that hordes of asians and asian-americans are going to beat a path to my door and give me the third degree for the posting or that they are hiding in their rooms, crying over the posting or even just a little bit sad on the inside. I could be wrong about this (like I can be wrong about anything I think or believe) but most people i know of any color or heritage are a bit stronger than that and would either shrug it off or laugh themselves. *sigh* who knows? maybe all the asians who saw that article got pissed and so I am guilty of offending them and so i should apologize and maybe people need to learn how to laugh at stereotypes (and themselves, if that's appropriate) and maybe the world would be a better place if we didn't try to avoid offending each other (i.e. the 'colorblind' theory) but, instead tried to affirm each other - especially those from the same place/cultural space as us so that when we do accidentally step on each other's toes we are strong enough to laugh about it because, let's face it; we are never going to be 1. aware enough 2.knowledgable enough 3.vigilant enough 4.motivated enough to ever avoid insulting/offending everyone. there are just too many ways to hurt somebody (especially in our culture where people look for ways to hurt or be hurt) and too many people out there
