Here We Go Again....
Let me start this post off by conveying my sympathy and condolences to the family and friends who lost someone they love in the shooting at Virginia Tech last Monday. In a way I suppose we all lost something....
It has been a week of soaking up all the coverage from the shooting at Virginia Tech. As the days unfolded I began to notice a noticeable trend w/ the media coverage on television. It was curiously slanted a bit. I could not put my finger on it exactly. Then it crystallized on Wednesday night when I was speaking to one of my friends before we went to the Ozomatli show, regarding what she thought of the coverage of the VA Tech shootings, since she was East Asian. And like me, she noticed the usual tactics by the news outlets (as she put it perfectly) of "othering" the shooter since he was not a white "American" kid. From an immigration point of view, he was an "American", but not naturalized. She explained how she found it interesting that the media keep reiterating that he was South Korean, even though he has lived in the United States since 1992. Therefore, a majority of his socialization as a person has been as American rather than Korean. She continued on by telling me about a commentary the Robert Siegel did on that day about this very misinformation by the media. Essentially Siegel talks about how the shooter grew up very American and that his writings depicted problems very American, not Korean. I found this extremely interesting b/c I dont EVER remember hearing about school shootings in South Korea. I dont remember hearing about writings by students in Korea talking about pedophilia as it relates to Michael Jackson or Catholic priests. These as Siegel put it, our stories of our news pages. Not to mention the shooters apparent affinity for guns. The shooter was American. Yeah, his ethnicity was South Korean, but to think for a second he is not American would be very naive. He was just American as those kids from Columbine, or the other number of school shootings that have occurred in years passed in the United States. This brings me back to the feeling I have when people ask me what I am and when I respond with American I generally get the response of "no really what are you....like where are you from?" Or when Im in India, Im always looked at as American even though the customs and values I grew up w/ are Indian. Its an interesting juxtaposition people in my position find themselves-not really having a culture that is completely ours or fully accepting of us. I remember reading in a Time article a year or so ago about this issue and having hearing it termed the best way Ive heard. One of the people in the story said we're the hyphen between Asian and American.
As Im sure w/ all Asians, I was guilty of hoping the shooter was not Indian once they had information was Asian. Can you blame me when there are conservative talking heads out there saying things like this before having all the facts.....
Who is the “Asian” Mass Murderer at Virginia Tech?
The post has since been removed by the author bc of "the slimy comments from the Nazi-infested Media Matters for America cretins." I began thinking about the backlash that could possible occur from people (and law enforcement like this Indian was subjected to). Some things that went down after September 11th (and continue to go on to this day) are still fresh in my mind. The piece of the reporting that I found as interesting was the reference the media made to the shooter's parents. Whenever they made mention of his parents they always followed it up w/ their profession-owning and operating a dry cleaning business. Now this made me shake my head for two reasons; first the renewing of the East Asian stereotype of owning and operating a dry cleaning business; second, the double standard the media has when referring to minority and white parents which I would muse is spawned from the first reason. Example, the Duke rape case. Whenever, the three lacrosse players' parents were referred to their profession did not follow their relationship to their son. Why is it relevant in this case, but not w/ the Duke situation? Is their a dichotomy between the two different demographics? Albeit it may be a subtle nuance to some, but its these little things that you notice when you've been "othered".
It has been a week of soaking up all the coverage from the shooting at Virginia Tech. As the days unfolded I began to notice a noticeable trend w/ the media coverage on television. It was curiously slanted a bit. I could not put my finger on it exactly. Then it crystallized on Wednesday night when I was speaking to one of my friends before we went to the Ozomatli show, regarding what she thought of the coverage of the VA Tech shootings, since she was East Asian. And like me, she noticed the usual tactics by the news outlets (as she put it perfectly) of "othering" the shooter since he was not a white "American" kid. From an immigration point of view, he was an "American", but not naturalized. She explained how she found it interesting that the media keep reiterating that he was South Korean, even though he has lived in the United States since 1992. Therefore, a majority of his socialization as a person has been as American rather than Korean. She continued on by telling me about a commentary the Robert Siegel did on that day about this very misinformation by the media. Essentially Siegel talks about how the shooter grew up very American and that his writings depicted problems very American, not Korean. I found this extremely interesting b/c I dont EVER remember hearing about school shootings in South Korea. I dont remember hearing about writings by students in Korea talking about pedophilia as it relates to Michael Jackson or Catholic priests. These as Siegel put it, our stories of our news pages. Not to mention the shooters apparent affinity for guns. The shooter was American. Yeah, his ethnicity was South Korean, but to think for a second he is not American would be very naive. He was just American as those kids from Columbine, or the other number of school shootings that have occurred in years passed in the United States. This brings me back to the feeling I have when people ask me what I am and when I respond with American I generally get the response of "no really what are you....like where are you from?" Or when Im in India, Im always looked at as American even though the customs and values I grew up w/ are Indian. Its an interesting juxtaposition people in my position find themselves-not really having a culture that is completely ours or fully accepting of us. I remember reading in a Time article a year or so ago about this issue and having hearing it termed the best way Ive heard. One of the people in the story said we're the hyphen between Asian and American.
As Im sure w/ all Asians, I was guilty of hoping the shooter was not Indian once they had information was Asian. Can you blame me when there are conservative talking heads out there saying things like this before having all the facts.....
Who is the “Asian” Mass Murderer at Virginia Tech?
Here’s what we know about the murderer of at least 32 students and maimer of at least 28 more at Virginia Tech, today:
* The murderer has been identified by law enforcement and media reports as “a young Asian male.”
* The Virginia Tech campus has a very large Muslim community, many of which are from Pakistan (per terrorism investigator Bill Warner).
* Pakis are considered “Asian.”
If I were Asian, I’d be legitimately upset with this broad generalization of the mass murderer’s identity.
Why am I speculating that the “Asian” gunman is a Pakistani Muslim? Because law enforcement and the media strangely won’t tell us more specifically who the gunman is. Why?and it finishes w/ a BANG.....
Even if it does not turn out that the shooter is Muslim, this is a demonstration to Muslim jihadists all over that it is extremely easy to shoot and kill multiple American college students.
The post has since been removed by the author bc of "the slimy comments from the Nazi-infested Media Matters for America cretins." I began thinking about the backlash that could possible occur from people (and law enforcement like this Indian was subjected to). Some things that went down after September 11th (and continue to go on to this day) are still fresh in my mind. The piece of the reporting that I found as interesting was the reference the media made to the shooter's parents. Whenever they made mention of his parents they always followed it up w/ their profession-owning and operating a dry cleaning business. Now this made me shake my head for two reasons; first the renewing of the East Asian stereotype of owning and operating a dry cleaning business; second, the double standard the media has when referring to minority and white parents which I would muse is spawned from the first reason. Example, the Duke rape case. Whenever, the three lacrosse players' parents were referred to their profession did not follow their relationship to their son. Why is it relevant in this case, but not w/ the Duke situation? Is their a dichotomy between the two different demographics? Albeit it may be a subtle nuance to some, but its these little things that you notice when you've been "othered".
posted by ndnokayplayer at 11:59 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home