Colin Kaepernick

Whatever you believe about the ethics of sitting down, don't tell me the easy thing to do would be to stand silently with one's teammates.

I couldn't disagree with more.

Sure, Colin Kaepernick may have made a political statement by not rising for the signing of his National Anthem, and it may very well be an effective one in terms of his stated goal of "raising awareness."

But don't tell me it was the hardest thing he could have done. 

Don't tell me he chose NOT to do the easiest thing.

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On Blackface

But these little historiography lessons doused critical theory don't move the needle at all. In fact, I think for most average observers, and those who are not POC, they are flatly unconvincing. Think of it this way: you telling me I can't do the right thing vis a vis race relations 'cause I don't understand the "structures," the "systems" of oppression and how they work in predictable ways is codswallop exactly in the same way a Christian telling an atheist he can't be moral because he doesn't know Jesus is bogus.

Don't do blackface simply because it is disrespectful. If POC convince white people of that, I suggest POC should accept that win and move on. I don't think it is wise to foreclose the "face-saving" way out for white people, which is the plausible deniability (and it may be true or not true) that they had no idea indeed precisely how much offense they have caused, and therefore how much disrespect they are on the hook for.

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Be the spider: Walk on Water

TENSION of course can lead to a mighty snap, it can be all too much. That's why tension has to be managed.

A divided society, in the truest sense, is beyond tension- appeals to reason or moderation don’t work in those cases.

The very middle class that is the cornerstone of developed economies’ tax base, the very electorate and spine of 1st World civil society is under pressure. A middle class that is distinguished from the lower class by reaping few or no social benefits and entitlements, but is distinct from the wealthy in that it may be education-rich but relatively asset poor, where income is primarily from wages and not from asset appreciation and capital gains, is really feeling the crunch these days.

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Active Versus Passive

In High School in California I was always told to use the active voice. Somebody "did something," "Pedro smacked Juan," "the glass fell from the rooftop." It wasn't that the baby was eaten by a dingo... no, no... "the dingo ate my baby."  

This is how headlines are written MUCHO active voice

This is how headlines are written MUCHO active voice

But the Chinese way is different.

See below: literally "In Ngau Tau Kok on Chun Wah Road an Old Fella Was Struck Dead by a Minibus."

If I sound cold and callous in using these tragic traffic accidents as grammatical showcases, I don't mean to. I just want to use a stark example of how people approach ideas differently. The constant here is grief coupled with shock coupled with voyeurism, there is a Chinese-Western commonality there. But in terms of how those ideas are thought of and conveyed, I think there are some subtle cultural differences.

And those bones of contention, the backstreets where Chinese and Western disagree, well, that's where there's tension, and that's where there is an enormous blue sky of untapped cultural space to explore. 

That's where I want to be. Ask me questions. Tell me a story. Let's explore it together.

No bias. That is the only way

When we talk about race and racism, when we talk about Black Lives Matter or discrimination or sociology or colonialism or oppression and assume we are talking about being mixed we fool ourselves. These are side topics. They are the lobster macaroni and creamed spinach. The coal face of being mixed is none of these things. The heart of being mixed is dealing with conflicting ideas. That is all. When we jump into colonialism and racism and so forth, as our starting engagement with being mixed we make a whopping and unnecessary error.

Who is to say mixed people can't be racist? Who is to say mixed people cannot ipso facto (by the very fact of their existence) be colonizers? Of course we can be. But rather than immediately suppose that being racist and being colonial is wrong, AKA borrow someone else's justice framework and apply it from above, I say going to basics is the only way. What are people doing today? Where are people truly at today? What are the fundamental conflicts that people have to juggle, the real ones, I mean the ones not that they will knee-jerk talk about but the ones they need to divulge?

Rather than be trigger-happy with value judgments I say that to be mixed everything has to come under question. That is the only way. That is the only starting block to begin this marathon.

No bias. That is the only way.

 

 

 

Owl in The Suburbs of Sydney

This little guy just popped out of nowhere. Rather... He was always there... I just popped out of nowhere. 

Owl

Owl

As I've gotten older I have gotten more superstitious. I don't know why. I am allergic to whistling indoors, for example ("whistling up the wind" is one of those itonclad sailor taboos, plus I have a fondness for Russian culture and they do NOT whistle indoors). Seeing this mythical animal juxtaposed against such a pedestrian and suburban setting, bucolic though it may be- just makes me wonder- not think but wonder.

The World Would Be a Better Place If Only Racist People Stopped Being Racist: Agree or Disagree?

What gets me about Hapa is it has no urgency. Whether it may appear optimistic or not, the crucial thing is Hapa doesn't care.

Hapa's central mission is to end racism, which is a noble idea but that doesn't mean that the thinker of a noble idea is noble itself. You can tell me that you masturbate because it is the safest sex, but that doesn't mean you aren't a wanker. Robin Hood was noble and all in his vigilante efforts to implement a folksy "trickle down" economics in medieval times, but he was still a thief. 

Rather than being optimistic, I posit that Hapa is actually indifferent.

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