Offensive “Asian Girlz” by Day Above Ground angers Asians with sexual & racist stereotypes

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Los Angeles-based rock band Day Above Ground made a big deal of its July 27 debut video release of “Asian Girlz,” but it’s backfired and led to intense condemnation from Asian and Asian American groups and individuals. Add me to the list, please.

This song and accompanying video is offensive on so many levels I’m practically speechless. It traffics in lowbrow racial stereotypes and low-bro sexual braggadocio about its subject line, Asian women. The combined IQ of the group must be abut 10, given their pre-teen horniness and neanderthal attitudes. It’s hard to imagine any other intent — social satire commentary, a criticism of sexual objectification of Asian women, clumsy attempt at post-racial parody — than a bunch of dudes who fantasize about Asian women and their “creamy yellow thighs… slanty eyes” and other body parts.

I hate the ching-chong wonton font that’s used for the title credits. I hate the ching-chongy intro melody that evokes Asia Hollywood-style which crops up at various points in the song. It’s an aural code as immediately identifiable as buck teeth and squinty eyes. I hate the smug white privilege that oozes from the singers’ faces as they croak “You’re my Asian girl.”

And I hate the creepy strip tease participation of model Levy Tran as she goes from enjoying these pint-sized pinheads’ attention as they sing to her from a birdcage to letting them jump into the bathtub with her and swim between her legs. Yuck. I mean, really yuck.
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Montbello High School Drum Line to perform during CDBF 2013 Opening Ceremony

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It was at Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock’s suggestion that the nine members of the Montbello High School Drum Line got the chance of a lifetime — to take the second historic flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on United Airline’s new direct flight between Denver and Tokyo.

The students raised money for the trip with the help of sponsors, and they performed their synchronized drumming at the U.S. Ambassador’s home in Tokyo, and several times in Takayama, Denver’s sister city. The news report below is a sample of a half-hour special that airs this Friday, July 19 at 9:30 on KDVR Fox31. These students were cultural ambassadors for Colorado in Japan.

So the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival is proud to introduce the Montbello High School Drum Line as one of the highlights of this year’s Opening Ceremony.

The Opening Ceremony, which begins at 10 am on Saturday, July 27, also includes a spiritual Eye-Dotting Ceremony with chanting Buddhist monks to awaken the spirit of the dragon boats; a dynamic Dragon Dance; and an Olympics-style Team Parade. The Drum Line will get the chance to perform in front of Mayor Hancock, who will speak during the ceremony.
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TV news FAIL: KTVU anchor reads fake names for Asiana pilots, has no clue what she’s saying

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(Note: KTVU attempted to use copyright law to remove this video clip even in instances, like mine, where the clip is essential to the discussion about it, for critical journalistic purposes. The station said it was removing the clips to protect the Asian community: “By now, most people have seen it. At this point, continuing to show the video is also insensitive and offensive, especially to the many in our Asian community who were offended. Consistent with our apology, we are carrying through on our responsibility to minimize the thoughtless repetition of the video by others.” It didn’t take long for the attempt to fail.)

See Updates at bottom

Seriously? San Francisco TV station KTVU aired a monster of a mess, when its anchor read the purported names of the pilots on Asiana flight 214 that crashed at San Francisco Airport. During the noon newscast, anchor Tori Campbell said the pilots were Captain Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk and Bang Ding Ow. Really? Seriously?

Think about it — look at the names. Use one or two brain cells. And no, they’re not even close to being Korean names. Ugh, this is as bad as it gets. It’s not funny, and it’s a sad and unfortunate reflection of the state of the news industry.

This is a tragic FAIL on a couple of levels:

1. Who would submit such a nasty, racist “news release” to media? Do they think it’s funny?

2. How could a news organization — especially in San Francisco, which is not only where the crash occurred but a city with a very large and diverse Asian population — accept this kind of claptrap without either confirming it, or just plain LOOKING AT IT? (Here’s an AP story that ran, among hundreds of papers, in the SF Examiner from July 8 that lists two of the pilots’ names as released bu Asiana.)

3. What’s the chain of evidence that sees these names when they’re submitted? Producers? Directors? Reporters? Anchors (she obviously didn’t catch it)?
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You gotta love it: “Asians eat weird things” by Fung Bros. w/ AJ Rafael

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Brilliant, smart, funny, right on and righteous. Makes me wish I live in LA, and could shop at 99 Ranch anytime I want. I love this video. I love all the food in this video (will have to try the couple of things I’m not familiar with).

Kudos to The Fung Brothers David and Andrew, and singer AJ Rafael for some sunny summer Share. Forward. Embed.

Racist trolls come out from under their rocks following Asiana plane crash

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I shouldn’t be surprised or disappointed anymore, and accept the fact that there will always be idiotic people in the United States who probably function perfectly normally most of the time, and then turn into stupid racist haters the moment there’s some sort of tragedy in the world that involves people of color. Two years ago, I was dumbfounded that Americans would rant and rave about the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan and claim it was somehow “god’s revenge” for Pearl Harbor. What?

But the glibness and ease with which such racist drivel finds its way from pea-brained individuals to the social webs is still shocking. Here I’ve been following the crash of the Asiana jetliner at SFO (an airport I often fly to and from) as a human tragedy, but a miracle with only two casualties. I’ve felt empathy for the families of the two schoolgirls who were killed, and the many survivors who were injured. But the fact that most of those onboard survived — and that 123 survivors were able to walk away without being hospitalized — is nothing short of amazing.

But of course, the human stories of the crash don’t matter to the racists who immediately feel the need to respond with jokes about Asian stereotypes (we’re lousy drivers, har har) and hateful cracks about North Korea (hellooo, Seoul is in South Korea, and this was not an attack by Kim Jong Un on the US).

That such a lowbrow, juvenile mentality switches on so quickly shows that racism and prejudice are still alive and well just beneath the veneer of political correctness that the haters always complain about. Scratch the veneer just a bit with a news event like this tragedy, and you’ll see nothing but ugliness ooze out.

That’s why I write about these issues over and over.
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