Chinese migrants risking it all for the American dream

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I feel the exact same way about Japanese people vs people of other East Asian nationalities. Japanese culture is a special interest of mine which was why my sister took me there as a surprise birthday present.

Having watched Japanese enterrainment for many years and researching all I could find about their beautiful and rich culture I can pick up on all the subtle differences too. Like how in their language each vowel is only spoken a specific way, how a Japanese kimono looks different from a Chinese cheongsam, how a Japanese "ryu" dragon tends to be drawn with less toes than those found in the Chinese culture, and honestly even the way the people in Japan dress seems to differ from how a lot of Chinese people dress.

I don't really know how to explan it but when me and my sister were in Japan walking around the cities and train stations everyone had a very uniformed way of dressing. There wasn't much distinction in the way they dressed. The high school students all wore their matching uniforms in groups with their classmates showing the schools they belong to, the adults were all dressed in very beige or black business or even casual attire, etc.

I guess coming from a small town in the US where everyone tends to dress casual and students never wear uniforms unless they attend an actual private school, it wasn't really something I'm used to.

At an empirical level, all migrants to the US don't buy into wokeism. BTW jews and east asians aren't unique in "risking it all for the American dream". Nigerian migrants have additional barrier of being lumped with African Americans when it comes to also having to deal with anti-blackness and assimilation. Yet they are one of the most successful migrant groups in terms of financial acumen and higher education, When you speak of "re-racialising" east Asians and Jews, The first generation of South Asian and African migrants have never had a break. In the pecking order east Asians and jews look down on them yet they remain resilient in the face of social/economic obstacles/glass ceilings. Quite a testimony to their resilience and hard work. So pretty much all migrants have no time to deal with wokeism. The latter is an invention made up to retaliate against civil rights movements for other marganalised groups.

Asians were never unracialized like the Jews were.

"Wokeism" or whatever you want to call is a toxic reality no matter how often people try to deny or minimize it. Wokeism is a toxic reality no matter how often racist, right-wing, and other malevolent actors destroy the credibility of the "anti-wokeness"

I agree with you 100%. I was going to say something yesterday about his frankly offensive point of view towards Asians and Jews but was afraid that I would be way too emotional in my response and thus get myself in trouble again...

But yes the Woke movement is really a toxic ideaology that had done just as much harm to our society as the MAGA movement. I consider them both to be two sides of the same coin.

Uuuuh, I want some of what you guys are smoking. Must be strong stuff.

I disagree. My parent's American friends grew up in California in the 1950s and even way back then there was a recognition that Japanese Americans were > other marginalised groups (even after Pearl Harbour). By the 1980s/90s it was quite clear that east Asians were unracialized because Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea reached 1st world developed status (you could argue Japan is more advanced than the US). The creation of the "model minority" refers to these groups and they don't illicit the same reaction as other POC. Everyone knows this, In Australia being from these communities means coming from a higher SES group.

I meant literally. In America Chinese have always been primarily defined as members of the Yellow race. For decades Jews were considered primarily an ethno-religious group that happened to be white.

I get what you are saying. It reminds me that when Americans watched Mad about you, Friends or Seinfeld they had no idea actors were Jewish and probably don't care. If you are non-practicing jew in America you are literally just white. Whereas I suppose Chinese can't leave being Chinese.

The characters on Seinfeld were widely recognized as Jewish. It wasn't seen as a negative, and one didn't have to be Jewish to enjoy the humor. Likewise shows in which the main characters were presented as Irish or Italian.

Perhaps in NY? definitely not in Australia. My parents watched Paul Reiser, Seinfeld and cast of Friends and other sitcoms not realising the cast were jewish or jewish origin. Most people do not care. Not just Jennifer Aniston, there's Scarlett Johanssen as well in the Marvel franchise,

Not exactly. In the case of Seinfeld, the characters are "coded as Jewish" which, as I understand it, can have a negative connotation, but in this case it's just that the audience, or at least much of the audience, will see them as Jewish New Yorkers. In particular, Jerry Seinfeld's comedy style is typically Jewish. Also Jason Alexander. I don't know how else to explain it.

I can't think of any film in which Scarlett Johansson plays a Jewish character or a character coded as Jewish, although she may have. Similarly Natalie Portman or Gal Gadot. Ironically, in the film Garden State, Portman played the non-Jewish love interest of a Jewish character. It is, however, widely known that she's Jewish.

In contrast, you have a show like The Nanny, in which a Jewish actor, Fran Drescher played a character that was explicitly Jewish.

In The Golden Girls the character Sophia Petrillo (an Italian Catholic on the show) was played by actress Estelle Getty who was Jewish in real life.

I read in an autobiography that the writers of the show grew up in New York City and they explained that the "overbearing New Yorker mother/grandmother pushing her children to get married" archetype is common in both the Italian culture as well as the Jewish culture. Which is why Estelle fit the role so well.

Fran's relationship with her Jewish mother Sylvia in the show "The Nanny" reminded me of Dorothy's relation with her "Italian" mother Sophia in "The Golden Girls". Both mothers were portrayed as obnoxious and pushing their daughters to get married.

At the time I was and still am amazed that a show centered on New York secular Jewish styled humor with very obviously New York secular Jewish coded characters would be beloved all across the country. I look at it as the symbolic high point of the golden age of the American diaspora.

I didn't know a single person in 90s Australia who called Seinfeld a "jewish comedy". It was American/NY. For most of us the only way we identify a jewish person is if they are wearing a yamaka or orthodox suit. Fran Drescher's nanny character might have played to the stereotype a bit but nobody really saw Jennfier Anniston, David Schwimmer, Helen Hunt, Paul Reiser or Jerry Seinfeld as Jewish unless they were super interested and looked up their bio, even then who cares! they are good looking "white" Hollywood stars.

Well don't flatter yourself, we have plenty and I do mean PLENTY of TV sitcoms about good-looking African American Hollywood stars.

The Cosby Show, Sanford & Son, Family Matters, The Wayans Brothers, Fresh Prince of Belair, That's So Raven, Sister. Sister, Good Times, Kenan and Kel, Everybody Hates Chris, The Bernie Mac Show.

And YET I can't think of any popular American Sitcoms that focus on the lives of Asian Families living in the US.

It seems Jewish culture and stereotypes are different in Australia then America. In my description of Seinfeld I called them secular Jewish characters. Secular Jews describe Jews that are assimilated and non or mildly religious.

The Friends characters were Generation X upper middle class white Manhattanites. I did not see them as coded Jews.