Hot Topic: Asians Are A Joke

My trip to New Zealand a few weeks ago was one of the most memorable trips in recent memory. We went up to the glaciers, kayaked to a small island, and were mildly ridiculed by a group of white men. That's right. While walking out a Chinese restaurant somewhere down the South Island we passed by a group of people who looked at my family and I and spouted a string of ching chongs. 

Let's get to it:

When racist Alexandra Wallace vlogged about Asians at the UCLA library 3 years ago, the world went mad. Her signature quote, 'ching chong ting tong ling long,' was the joke of the century, but I don't think it occurred to many people that that kind of mockery towards Asians and South Asians are still rampant even today. Oddly enough, it happens nearly everywhere. I feel like Asians can never truly be sneer-free from any foreign country.

I understand that with our slanted eyes, yellow-toned skin and harsh-sounding language we are prone to be the butt of every joke. Unlike the Africans, we are not stereotyped as being fast, strong, or well-endowed. Unlike the South Americans we're not stereotyped as being tough criminals and gangsters. The only positive stereotype we have is that we are nerds. That's it. But our presumed intelligence is overrun by rude remarks about our size or appearance, and for women, we're almost always subjected to fetishization. 

What I find most offensive isn't the fact that many white people have the audacity to come up to us to say gibberish, but their blatant disregard for our respective cultures. There are approximately 21 countries in East and Southeast Asia alone, yet we are clumped into a single country that they find fits best. 

When my sisters and I were in Amsterdam, two men yelled 'Gangnam Style!' at us. Now, as an Indonesian, I thought that that remark was completely unnecessary. Heck, even if I was Korean I probably wouldn't be very pleased. I don't go to, say, China and yell, 'What does the fox say?' to the first group of white people that I come across because I assume they are Norewegian. Or how my Sri Lankan friend was called a 'fucking Paki' by a racist Australian because hey, all brown people must be Pakistani. Or how someone basically told him off for taking over Australia. I mean, let's not forget who took over the Aboriginals here. 

I know that white people who travel to foreign nations—especially to remote places in Southeast Asia—might be subjected to a similar experience, but the underlying motive is completely different. My Australian friend gets approached by Indonesian children (and some adults!) every time he visits Surabaya so they can take pictures with the bule. Because the difference is many Indonesians, especially those who aren't very educated or westernized, see white people as the more civilized and superior race. Men have posters of Britney Spears circa 2001, boys have Beckham or Messi jerseys, and girls lighten their skin with over-the-counter whitening products. So to some, seeing a real life bule is like seeing a deity. How kind of him to grace us with his presence! Please, tell us more about your world. 

While in some countries, we are treated like aliens. No one invited us abroad and yet we almost always flourish financially everywhere we go. Our flat noses, copper-dyed hair and odd dining etiquette make us an easy target. If the world is a high school, we would be the funny-looking science dorks who spend way too much time together in the labs after hours.

I find it funny that in 2015, there are still people who would come up to an Asian family to mock them right to their face. What would that accomplish? How would saying ching chong to my Australian-educated family be satisfying in any way? How does calling a Sri Lankan a Paki benefit either party? Why do some white people feel the need to verbally recognize our difference when traveling abroad? Because I have never been approached by non-whites in that way. 

In addition to our strange appearance, our respective vernaculars are so far off from the English language compared to other languages that it's difficult for us to pronounce the roman alphabet. I often hear the Vietnamese or Chinese accent being mocked by white people but rarely do they ridicule European languages. For them, imitating a language is all fine and dandy, but there is always a tinge of condescension when mimicking our Asian dialects. Even when the uneducated Indonesian children see a bule, they will rummage through their years of sporadic English lessons to spout relatively-understandable phrases. But somehow, ching chong is enough for educated white people. They mock us for trying, and mock us if we don't. 

I've always brushed off these remarks. It didn't happen very often, I thought. But how many times does it have to happen for people to recognize that this isn't okay? I think it isn't just about being an asshole to Asians when traveling or living abroad, it's about viewing Asians are more than a joke or a human calculator.