links for 2011-03-15

The majority of the responses I’ve seen from my fellow Asian-Americans has been highly disappointing — full of misogyny explicit and implicit, slut-shaming, etc.

And fat hatred too, it seems. Note to self: pay more attention to where the comment section begins.

I’d seen the first one commented on in librarian discussion groups. The general response is “This girl is a racist idiot who has never been in a library.” Americans talk on cell phones in libraries all. the. damn. time.

I too have seen some of the responses to Wallace’s video and instead of focusing on her words, they focus on her appearance, which is unfortunate. In regards to the video, what concerns me is that she felt the need to record these thoughts on camera and post it to the internet. Thinking racist thoughts is one thing, but expressing them for the word to hear is another. I hope she learns from this.

Uh..to the UCLA girl, a LOT of the white students I see in fact DO speak on their
cell phones in the library. I work there, I know.

Ms. Wallace doesn’t deserve to have her life threatened. It’s terrible that she decided to go on a racist rant, and even go so far as begrudge people trying to find out about their family members who may or may not have been affected by the tsunami. Very mean-spirited, even if it’s done with a “casual” tone.

And her insistence in describing “American manners” and what “Americans” do really grated on my nerves. I say American when I mean USian a lot. A LOT. But it hugely bothered me when she said it. Maybe because she was lumping us all together? Maybe because it sounded incredibly ignorant? I dunno – but I’m gonna try to watch my phraseology in that vein more vigilantly from now on.

All in all, it was quite a racist show she put on. I hope that things die down enough that she doesn’t have to fear for her safety anymore tho. I hate it when POC always have to be/tell each other to be the “bigger person” and swallow the ish that white people dish out, but I can’t get behind threatening a woman with violence. Even if she is a big fat racist.

I agree that Wallace should not be expelled, but she absolutely needs to be put through some kind of remedial classes in human relations. I’m just waiting for her parents to appear and defend her rant.

this response is funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPWy4iuxjQ4

I agree with most of what you’re saying, including the rage from Asians and Asian Americans (and their allies). Watching some of the responses on YouTube so far, I do wonder about the particularly sexist element in the critiques. I’m all for getting pissed and calling out Wallace’s racism and how her white female privilege plays into what she said and is doing.

But this?

“Somewhere from the midwest, judging from that corn-fed fat face of hers.”

I’m calling foul.

Nicely done Alexandra Wallace, you should apply for an internship at Maclean’s magazine.

I commented on a video that was done particularly well. The guy asked why she was hating on family. But then his joke about her fake Chinese speak was questionable I guess. I would have considered it an in-house joke. But I found it subversive cause he was addressing the way people typically stereotype Asian people with the r/l mix-up.

The top rated comment was about some guy wanting to motorboat her breasts with his “tiny Asian dick.”

What the fuck does that have to do with the content of her video?!

the comments calling her fat and making fun of her appearance are stupid and add no meaningful points to the discussion. but its the internet, and youtube. there’s tons of trolls who say stupid things to get rise out of people. saw repeated trolls on response videos/parodies that were somewhere along the lines you “you ch8nks need to die down” and etc. i think there are also lots of people who would say things they would never even consider to say ‘in real life. saw this vid today and my coworker was blabbing on about “pc” and this poor chick and blablab. some people just don’t get it.

You know Andrea – that’s on me. Sometimes I still don’t think out all my words. This is one of those times that makes it blatantly clear that being a member of a group doesn’t mean you’re always sensitive to the group. (i.e. I’m a big girl that still [apparently] throws “fat” around where it doesn’t belong. I dunno if there’s a pun in there. Anyway.)

So mea culpa on my previous statement. I should’ve said, “even if she is a racist jerk.”

It’s all love.

As far as commenting goes, I say let her have it. She got herself into this ridiculous situation and she wouldn’t have if she was more considerate or at least had half a brain. Or if she wasn’t a racist. She knew that she was doing something stupid and offensive, I can’t believe she’s crying and regretting it now as if people are supposed to pity her. If you are going to act all bold and say dumb sh*t then a “boo-hoo, woe is me, I don’t know what I was thinking” apology later just makes you look even more pathetic.

I’m actually disgusted by her quite frankly. Like I said, she’s fair game now, the fun part of that whole “freedom of speech” thing is that it goes both ways. She had her turn now she’s on the receiving end.

What did Ms. Wallace think putting up a racist video rant online? That only her friends would get to see it?? Now the whole world knows she’s racist against Asians/Asian-Americans and what’s more her video will forever be associated with the terrible earthquake/tsunami in Japan. Hopefully she learns to sincerely regret her actions…with that said I agree that sexist rants about her appearance will do nothing but actually cause more people to ally with Ms. Wallace, who might have otherwise taken her to task also for her wrongdoing. One -ism does not cancel out another -ism…

What kills Wallace’s fauxpology for me is the whole “I don’t know what possessed me to do it” ish. At some point, even the Devil’s gonna roll up and be like, “That one’s on you, homie.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zulEMWj3sVA&feature=related

Yes, this may objectify Ms. Wallace at times, but overall, I thought this was amusing (great lines like “are you freaking kidding me, if you have an epiphany every single time you study that means you’re probably doing something wrong.”) and a catchy tune to boot.