zboy1 wrote:I've met so many self-hating Asians and Blacks--it's ridiculous. They either love to disparage their own race, deny their own heritage or outright stay away from their own kind.
The self-hating Black is already a well-known phenomenon, so I don't think I'll go that much into it. (Though I'll let Contrarian and E_Irizzary expound on the problem, LOl!) But for Asians--it seems particularly endemic in our communities.
I can understand Blacks hating on their own--due to all the problems associated with the Black race (no offense guys). As for Asians, we're probably the second most advanced race (next to Whites), and have built modern, wealthy societies that equal many White nations (the only non-White race to achieve this).
I think self-hating Asians are even worse than Blacks, in many regards; for example, even in Asia, I've talked to Chinese, Koreans and other races talk sh*t about their own race--while talking up light-skinned races--while being incredibly racist towards dark-skinned races like Blacks, Indians, and Filipinos. LOL!
Asians love to treat their own like crap, for some reason...Sad.
Why the lack of pride? Why do Asians love to attack each other? Why are Asian women so bad to their men? I see this crap even in Asia, smh...
(I love to ask these kinds of crazy questions on HA, because when I post on other forums, they won't touch these kinds of subjects with a ten-foot pole, haha...)
In my opinion, the root of this problem is three fold:
1.most people (in a western context) do not believe in significant racial differences.
2.Those that do suspect racial differences exist do not think deeply enough about the implications of the matter to come to a rational outcome. (which I will cover below)
3.the mainstream media and culture in western countries promotes a kind of "universal" culture/personality which is supposed to be detached from notions of race.
What ends up happening is that because minorities do not acknowledge the existence of racial differences (mostly psychological ones, but also including physiological ones), they are unable to realize that the standards, expectations and common (usually "white") culture which are imposed on them is ultimately incompatible and ill fitting. However instead of realizing that this is a racial (genetic) issue, they instead blame themselves or others. To give an example of what I am talking about, look at this picture:
When you look at this picture, what do you think this guy is like? For me, from what I see the guy in this picture embodies many desirable qualities. He appears to be very confident, trustworthy, broad minded, laidback, reasonable and kind. It is precisely these kinds of bundled personality traits that men in america (regardless of race) are encouraged to adopt, disseminated through both the media and our culture. However the problem is that this particular bundle of qualities (when considered holistically and not separately) is an implicitly "white" construct. As such it fits white people best, and may or may not fit other minority groups as well. That being said, lets try comparing that profile of traits to the traits of your typical asian (or more accurately asian american) person:
-Not extremely confident, but not necessarily insecure either. Tendency goes towards being more introverted.
-Trustworthy, but doesn't have a moral attachment to the concept like many whites do.
-Not really broadminded to various ethical, political, philosophical, etc ideas; however this doesnt imply closemindedness, rather it mostly implies indifference/detachedness or in some cases having a narrow range of interests. Also asians tend to be more pragmatic and concerned with immediate or tangible realities as opposed to abstract ones.
-In terms of being laidback or not, this is a tough one. Its hard to say. I think it would be accurate to say that many asians are quite laidback individuals, but not quite to the same degree as white people.
-In terms of reasonability, I think that asians excel at being detached and reasonable (relative to other races). However our reasonability differs from the reasonability of whites. Asians are more concerned with the facts of the matter itself and whether its correct or incorrect; whites are more reasonable in terms of being tolerant and understanding. (this ties in with being broadminded)
-Finally in terms of kindness. Asians are not intrinsically unkind, however I don't think anybody would ever say that asians are especially kind either. Asians are not known for their bleeding hearts; typically we are seen as being more pragmatic and calculating.
As you can see from the above list of asian personality traits, it is a lot different than the typical traits that you would see in white people. As a result, its no surprise that so many asians are self hating; they are taught by society that they should conform to one standard, when their genes and brains are telling them to conform to another standard. What's more, many western cultures (at least american culture) is at best neutral, or at worst devalues most of the typical asian psychological traits. As a result, in an indirect way, asian americans are taught to downplay or reject their intrinsic genetic traits, this too leads to many self hating asians. I think another common conundrum that occurs is when asian americans try to consciously distance themselves from comfortable, natural ways of acting in order to purposely prove stereotypes wrong. For example, I know an asian guy who really really hates being stereotyped or being seen as a weak asian by society; as a result he tries extra hard to act macho and outgoing in order to disprove the stereotype, but ultimately its an act. Seeing as how I have known the guy for a long time and have had serious, long talks with him, I know that he's actually more of an introvert. However to prove a point to society, he tortures himself by rejecting his true personality and trying to put on a facade. So naturally its not hard to see how he might develop a self hate complex. Another interesting point is that ironically, I have noticed that the majority of self hating asians, actually feel secretly insecure/unconsciously resent white people as well.
I think if somehow racial differences were more recognized (or if at least if racial egalitarianism wasnt propagandized so much), then people would gradually feel more comfortable about just being themselves, instead of constantly trying to struggle against their natures in order to fit in and satisfy their (erroneous) notions of how people are supposed to act in society.
Lastly, I recognize that not every single white person acts in a certain way, nor does every single asian person act similarly, and there are oftentimes exceptions; but I think that the profile of personality traits that I provided (when considered holistically and not as separate traits) fits each race quite well.
Also this even applies in asian countries because the "white" ideal is a globalized idea. Many asians in asian countries want to emulate white ways of thinking and doing; however they are mostly unaware that the white mindset is not transferrable and mostly genetic, thus they continue to engage in self hate because they think they can escape their current personality and way of thinking.