Cho Seung Hui's Anger

I chatted last week with a relative who's living in New York and talked about Cho who killed 32 people in virginia tech.

He was anxious in responding and told me that he went into college in new york and experienced how he was bitterly discriminated as asian.

We as asians always experience this not only from white people but from fellow asians as well specially with our affluent neighbours.

Some believe that Cho seung Hui's Anger was not only due to his mental disturbance but also maybe due to the hostile environment probably he was in.

How do we face discrimination?

Opinions anyone?

<br><br>Post edited by: linsi, at: 2007/04/25 20:39

i remembered last christmas during a church assembly.
all was fine, but a friend next to me whispered, telling me

&quot; uh-oh, our asian neighbours here are rich and advanced pertaining to south koreans, taiwanese and japanese &quot;

the rest were Filipinos and mostly domestic helpers
so to speak.

i could not deny there is always a stigma..and mostly
third world nations are at the bottom rock of such.

As asians,how do we face discrimination?

Dear Linsi,

No everyone is an anthropologist to be interested and not judgemental in the way other people chose to live or behave. The terms 'Asians' is also a very broad term.

Whether you live in the US or Japan you will come across people who are 'narrow minded' and the 'fear of difference' will lead to discrimination.

The 21st century world is and can no longer be 'uni-cultural' or inhabitated by one kind of nationals. It also depends on how one was brought up.

We have seen enough of 'genocide' in the name of 'ethnic cleansing' and it's up to every one of us to make sure they do not happen again.

Exchange of ideas like we're doing now will help, I suppose. My suggestion to you when it comes to 'discrimination' is you either take no notice or have pity on that person for his or her 'ignorance' and move on. Life's too short to be unhappy and being annoyed by 'such pettiness'.

They say, &quot;there's no way to happiness, happiness is the way.&quot; Read a lot of Jewish jokes and find out for yourself how 'humour' can give you strength even in times of adversity.

How do we face discrimination? I agree with warazein's suggestion; Pay the &quot;ignorance&quot; no mind. On Cho's case, sure, he must have had several harsh experiences but no matter how hard you shuffle the facts, nothing would justify his shameful, inhumane action. Besides, Cho is not the generalization of Asia. He just happened to be Asian.

I could attest to the fact that discrimination, sometimes blatant, sometimes subtle, does exist and will exist no matter where you go, no matter who you are. Change is too hard to swallow for some and that is a constant but I do believe that with continuous education and practice, discriminatory acts will be lessened and eventually eliminated.

My personal suggestion: Just keep doing what you must do, reap &amp; enjoy life's blessings.

I am not sure if I follow the logic of this thread. Are Asians indeed discriminated? Where? In the US? Can one measure discrimination in a society from the sentiments that follow just a week after such an incident? I dont think so. If one wants to measure the level of discrimination, at least one should wait till the waves of a particular incident cool off a little. In the US as a whole, discrimination is not one thing. Asians may be the target in one segment of society and may be the ones discriminating in another segment. I would say the blacks and the Moslems are far more often the target of discrimination. But overall, being a multi-ethnic society as the US is, I would say there is very little discrimination in any direction, comparatively. There is certainly no formal discrimination. A little private bias here and there, yes, but in fair portions to almost everyone. It levels out in the long run.

Discrimination in Asia among and inbetween Asians appear to me to be a far worse problem. Anyone who has lived in Asia, anywhere in Asia really, knows the hatred and the scorn felt and openly uttered inbetween some Asian cultures.

So, Asians are discriminated against, yes, but foremostly by other Asians and foremostly in Asia.

(My 10 Cents)

dear warazein and kayum,

Amazing positive outlook, I hope it would be so strong so that all who reads it would be encouraged.But sad to say it’s not that easy, people tend to nourish broken hearts and it takes some of us here in AO to spread the gospel of inner strength to make them feel human enough. I posted this thread because as asians we are subject to much degradations in the likes of moslems and africans .

Can anyone tell us why is this so? Why do we stereotype white people as far more advanced, more beautiful, better, and richer than the rest of the world? Is this just stereotyping or is this the truth?

( am speaking of general basis not isolated cases)

<br><br>Post edited by: linsi, at: 2007/04/26 20:23

I agree with you Igor, i agree.

Here in Hong Kong, ethnic minorities donot have the chance for a scholarship to a university education.

In every eshtablishments, ethnic minorities are looked down upon.

Most of the time chances for improvements are denied too.

But people subject to such can do something isn't it?

: I posted this thread because as asians we are
: subject to much degradations in the likes of
: moslems and africans .
:
: Can anyone tell us why is this so? Why do

From a historical point of view, I believe I can. Discrimination based on physical features appears to have been ancient society's most common and most effective form of access control. In prehistorical society access control to the area of one's tribe was vital to the welfare of that tribe. As agriculture spread, it became even more vital. I am not sure if human tendency to discriminate based on outward differences is biologically inherited or if it is a learned skill. The fact remains that we can find this in almost every human society.

In my work I argue that discrimination based on linguistic analysis is a fairer and more effective form of access control. It is fairer than racism (because many societies practice immigration and you can wind up with such a thing as a black Chinese or an African of Chinese descent) and it is more effective than passports (because passports are routinely forged - and in particular high numbers by the governments that issue them). Mastering a particular dialect is infinitely more difficult than forging an access code (electronic or paper-based) and linguistic analysis will ultimately replace access control in many areas where passports are used today.

Discrimination used for access control purposes is not illigitimate as such. In the same way that I have a right to screen who enters my building, a village may under certain circumstances have a right to screen who enters their area and a nation may under some circumstances have a similar right.

We should distinguish between the following:

- Screening related to access control
- Screening not related to access control
- Personal bias

All of them involve and are based on discrimination. The first one is a prerequisite for the functioning of modern society. The second one is unfair and serves no purpose. The third one may be seen as fair or unfair, it may be seen as having a purpose or as purposeless. In most western countries one rarely finds screening based on outward features not related to access control. The discrimination that we find and which will in most cases disgust us in most Western societies are personal bias that we see as unfair, but we can nevertheless not eliminate personal bias through any other way but through changing people's perception of other people. And do not forget, sometimes personal bias speaks in our favour, too. We might have landed that job or we might have attracted our spouse due to positive personal bias. I think we have to learn to live with personal bias.<br><br>Post edited by: Igor, at: 2007/04/27 05:17

As a French, I I just said that in my country, the Asian are the less discriminated, far less than African. Tis is mainly because they are rarely involved in criminality.

therefore since discrimination and biases are part of human factors, they are here to stay.


hi jacques,

french are french right
you have the
french horn
french wine
french fries
french tips (nail polish)
baguette bread
mademoiselle
moulin rouge
monsieur
french connections
and the french gift to the US
lady liberty..

everything french

maybe, many wish they should
have been born french

(lighter side)<br><br>Post edited by: linsi, at: 2007/04/29 02:21