John Oliver urges anti-Asian bigots to learn from history, stop being so predictably American
TV News John Oliver
In his extra-long Sunday story on America’s long and all-too-predictable history of anti-Asian stereotyping, violence, and scapegoating, Last Week Tonight host John Oliver noted, right up top, “I fully recognize, the history of white people on TV generalizing confidently about this subject isn’t great.” How not-great? Cue montage of patronizingly “positive” news pieces citing the “model minority” myth while simultaneously stoking their white viewers’ fears that these culturally supercharged “overachievers” will displace them in everything from the workforce to the classroom. (Tom Brokaw peddling unfounded scuttlebutt about white students fleeing any college class with “too many Oriental face” isn’t the vaunted news-mumbler’s finest hour.)
As ever, Oliver’s ensuing examination of the history, causes, and potential remedies for this once-more resurgent plague of anti-Asian bullshit is both assiduously and acidly reasonable—and depressingly doomed. That since it rests, as Oliver stresses, on “long-overdue, better-informed conversation,” and a “smarter, more nuanced” way of looking at the multifaceted Asian-American experience over America’s history. You know, like the sort of evidence-based, unflinching educational experience about America’s inborn and undeniable legacy of racism that Republicans are currently passing laws to prevent, lest its already-shrunken base of chest-thumping, hairtrigger-defensive white people are forced to deal with actual human reality.
Oliver did his level best to fill in the systemically intentional ignorance of some of his viewers, detailing such all-American, anti-Asian atrocities as 1882's Chinese Exclusion Act (touted in one campaign ad with the phrase, “Hip! Hurrah! The white man is on top!”), to the propaganda fueled (and then excused) WWII internment of Japanese Americans in barbed wire concentration camps, to the flashpoint for AAPI activism that was the 1982 murder of Chinese-American man Vincent Chin. In deference to the calculated omission of Chin’s murder from the (white) American cultural consciousness, Chin was murdered by two white men (Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz), who took out their media-whipped resentment over the supposed predatory capitalist practices of Japanese car makers on Chin, who was both not Japanese, and utterly blameless for these white assholes’ ignorant, murderous thuggery. Oh, and white judge Charles Kaufman eventually sentenced the convicted murderers to probation and a fine, because, as he put it, “These weren’t the kind of men you sent to jail.”
As Oliver went on, doggedly unpacking the complex but ultimately simple reasons behind American anti-Asian rhetoric and violence, the host, as is his way, made the appeal that actually facing up to the truth of easily anticipated white backlash against Asians has multiple causes, but one sure outcome. Noting that “a coalition is not a monolith” when it comes to Asian and Pacific Islanders in America, Oliver broke down how simply averaging out all AAPI-Americans’ attributes and accomplishments in all categories erases the culturally and historically disparate needs of different populations. (Oliver even singling out his one purported viewer from the listed 127 Maldivian-Americans out there, promising long-overdue recognition. Here’s to you, Karim.)
As Oliver put it when discussing the glib “model immigrant” stereotype, it’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t curse for many AAPI people. (He pointed to the alarmingly high suicide rate for young Asian-Americans, and the comparatively low number of such troubled young people who seek help.) Pulling readily available clips of smug white men like longtime presidential advisor Dick Morris, Representative Tom McClintock (R-CA), and gabbling podcast meathead Joe Rogan touting the model minority myth as evidence that American can’t possibly be racist, Oliver explained how the “kickass” (according to Rogan) Asian stereotype is used to bludgeon other, less-“culturally-industrious” minority communities for not just shutting up and being grateful. (White American bigotry is ignorant, insipid, and soulless, but you have to admit that its all-encompassing adaptability is at least ruthlessly efficient. Sort of like when Ash admires the Xenomorphs’ “purity.”)
As to how to combat this, well, Oliver (while making time to objectify Filipino fast food mascot Jollibee, whose gyrating bee-butt and distressingly fluttering eyes can “get it”), plugged away at the whole education and nuanced discussion strategy, bless him. Noting that even his impassioned and acerbic plea for the current mob of Trump- and GOP-inflamed sucker-punchers to wake the fuck up “barely scratched the surface” of American AAPI racism, Oliver noted patiently, “It’s a box. But the thing is, you don’t learn anything from it unless you bother to look inside.” Throwing to one final clip from a 1972 profile in which Mike Wallace (also not his finest hour) chides that his assembled group of Japanese-American interviewees “unlike the Black and the Chicano,” “has it made” thanks to the box white America has sealed them in, Oliver made way for one unidentified man’s summation. “It’s an infringement. It’s a violation of our human dignity because they don’t view us as individuals, as human beings.”
45 Comments
The take down of Andrew Yang and pro assimilation at 23:48 was perfect. Oliver really nailed how much Yang is a self hating first generation Asian American.
Oh fuck Andrew Yang. This is just one more reason to add to the pile of reasons of why he sucks.
Precisely. I hope nyers send him packing HARD.
I get a deep sense that Andrew Yang would like to make history by being the first person elected and serving as mayor of New York city while living in Greenwich Connecticut
Or quitting after one week and running to Greenwich.
The moment he became a semi reddit and Twitter god I kinda figured he wasn’t as great a person as most people thought. Boy was I right after his Palestinian comments and everything Oliver mentioned.
During the pres debates he talked up bringing in the “strong talent” from overseas as the way to improve immigration citing his own family (his father was a ph.d who worked for GE) thus proving Oliver’s point. Yang’s totally the first gen Asian American who looks down on the working class immigrants and first gen members and thinks all they should do is “work and study harder.”Chrissy Greer schooled him on the faq podcast and exposed his racism.https://faq.nyc/2021/01/22/andrew-yangs-new-york-math/
Oh god I remember that. The man is a fraud and is only out for himself.
Seriously. Tusk Consulting=Max Shreck, Yang=Oswald Cobblepot
https://www.cityandstateny.com/articles/politics/new-york-city/andrew-yangs-mayoral-campaign-being-run-lobbying-firm.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/nyregion/bradley-tusk-andrew-yang-mayor-nyc.html
This nails it.
Out of curiosity, I typed in John Oliver Andrew Yang and there’s the “Yang Gang” whining that Oliver was pushing Asian hate against him.
Let me guess, all profiles with white, male faces? They seriously are almost as bad as MAGA. (Though I wouldn’t put it past them to storm the NYC Board of Elections if he loses.)
This nails it.
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/andrew-yang-nyc-mayor-race/?fbclid=IwAR1dVtpto8r0Hc3-WleHBYLN_4GrMT30NvZ5Jx7efI7-0P2C2nghZG-GiQY
It’s amazing how much of our shit is bound up in “work for peanuts to create more artificially cheap shit, because die.”
LOL wow I never heard Yang suggested Asian Americans wear red, white and blue to show how “American” they are. Weird that such a seemingly smart guy wouldn’t see that dressing like the average MAGAt may “score points” with someone like that but who gives a fuck what those dickheads think? And do you think you’d ever truly be seen as equal in their eyes no matter how many flags you wore? Come on.
Says the politican who really leaned onto stereotypes. I recall at several debates Yang said I’m an Asian man who likes math, not to mention that pin he always wore that stood for Make America Think Harder. Ugh.
He also was big on “welcoming the ‘strong talented’ immigrants” which is the least subtle way of saying wealthy educated immigrant. Oliver pointed out how that makes the situation worse.
that’s unfortunate because I strongly agree with his button but I assume the unspoken reason he wore it is because he’s Asian and they’re all smart and good at math, duh
It’s also incredibly dangerous. I’ve known an extremely racist son of indian immigrants, in Switzerland, supporting and voting for the far right party (SVP/UDC), and who admittedly used to be bullied in school because of his skin color. He didn’t just over-compensate by wearing flags, but also by successfully, deeply adopting an “I am even more of a white supremacist than you, can we be friends now” persona. It’s the same (understandable) psychological and social defense, just pushed farther. It’s sad and obscene. And that’s what makes the ‘token’ in any xenophobic party.I feel sorry for that Yang guy, whom I don’t know at all. I kinda see where he’s coming from (we all sometimes want to adopt signifiers of belonging in front of others who may imagine us the enemy, but it works better if we’re in the dominant group), but it’s still a very wrong take, more visibly so when you contemplate it from the outside. And, slippery slope fallacy notwithstanding, it’s one step down a very toxic route.Another commentator mentioned assimilationism, and yes, there’s that. And as if it wasn’t bad enough (and as nothing is “enough”), there’s also racist over-correction as a next stage.
I met a Pakistani (?) taxi driver in England once (around the time of their controversial ad meant to show how “we’re all alike under the skin” by showing a white person having their skin colored with a black Sharpie) and was stunned by how racist and anti-immigrant he was (in his mind England’s economic problems were due to “all the Eastern Europeans”). Stupid naive me thought immigrants would be more understanding and even welcoming of other immigrants but boy was I wrong, and I have had several other comparable experiences since then. I guess depending on how awful your immigrant experience was you might adopt a “MINE!!!” attitude about the world but it’s still super-depressing.
This “spare me, accept me, I am the good migrant unlike those who followed me they are the bad migrants” attitude is all the more depressing as it validates xenophobic discourses (“but even THEY are racist between each others, so, stop defending them”).Humans.
As always, it isn’t white people beating up Asians on the street, but y’all ain’t ready for that convo.
Critical Race Theory is, at its very core, racist as fuck.
I’m shocked you liberals are still talking about about all the anti-Asian hatred, considering most of it comes from black people.
Do you know why you think we excuse racism from people you presuppose are also liberals? Because you excuse racism from your like-minded cohort.It is called projection and the local movie theater is hiring.
are still talking about about all the anti-Asian hatredWell, it is still a relevant issue, considering the attacks on them.most of it comes from black peopleOliver debunks this simplistic generalization in the episode, if you ever get around to watching it.
Oliver debunks this simplistic generalization in the episode, if you ever get around to watching it. Can’t. Shitposters are a pretty primal breed.
I’m not defending this weirdo, but I will say, as an Asian with some experience in the field of being Asian, most of the overt, loudly screamed anti-Asian language I’ve been subjected to has almost exclusively come from black people in the street. Some of the normal “Bruce Lee!” shit, but others more profanity-laced. Basically, outside of elementary school, almost all the hate-language has come from black people. but also black people with clear mental health issues. And teenagers, who are jerks across the spectrum so I don’t even count them.
The less overt, insidious anti-asian behavior, though, has been from people in positions of authority, which is usually white people. This ranges from college students and professors to—surprise!—cops and landlords.In my experience, liberal/non-liberal has never played into it so i dunno what this person is talking about…
Does he also “debunk” the FBI statistics which conclusively show that blacks – by a large margin – commit more violent offences against Asians than any other racial group?
“Oliver debunks this simplistic generalization in the episode, if you ever get around to watching it”Nope. He addresses the historic tensions between the two groups. He doesn’t address the fact that African Americans are regularly committing most of the violent Anti-Asian hate crimes especially in New York and San Francisco.
You liberals or you people ? I see you ……you’re a horrible racist who is too lazy to actually watch the whole clip or read the whole article
YOU GET BACK IN THE CORNER!
OK, I’ll follow you down this hole. So…. We shouldn’t be concerned about Asian hate because it comes from Black people? If it comes from Black people, that means it’s… bad? Wait, I think I get it! If Asians and Black people hate each other and that sparks violence, it’s not a big deal because “normal” people aren’t involved. Right? Let minorities fight it out, it just means less problems for “real Americans” in the long run! OK, finally makes sense. Thanks!
Even more shocking, these liberals keep talking of antisemitism (even though we all know it comes from those dirty muslims) and of islamophobia (even though we all know it comes from those dirty jews). Thank god we’re here to denounce all these racist races.
Did he mention anywhere in his segment that all the Asian hate crimes are being committed by black teens? Seems relevant
I’m slipping this in to either
1. complain about how disqus isn’t letting me see my old posts, or
2. complain how disqus isn’t letting anybody see any of my posts.
If anybody sees this, please tell me, do i have spinach on my teeth?
I watch every Last Week Tonight in full, regardless if the main story is on Tucker Carlson, search warrants, payday loans, etc. But for some reason, even though I’m Asian and this was the story they’ve done that was most relevant to me, I didn’t couldn’t get through this and watched Legends of Tomorrow instead. Normally I don’t mind getting angry late on a Sunday night, but this one… I just wanted to watch something fun. Once I saw this was an extra-long episode… just couldn’t do it.
I get it, as an AAPI American myself this is all too real, but I encourage you to get to the end of the segment, because he does point out some ways the rising and long gestating hate can be countered.
The majority of European Americans aren’t ready for that video or the facts.
*“Pulling readily available clips of smug white men…blahblahblah”*Did Oliver manage to pull any clips of random Asians getting sucker punched in broad daylight by black people? Because that’s been happening quite a lot. Seems like it’d be quite an omission if he left that out.
“ the truth of easily anticipated white backlash against Asians”
Imagine being so dishonest as to pretend the recent plague of black-on-Asian violence is due to a “white backlash”?
I’m not saying it’s not a thoughtful piece, but I really wish liberals would stop sucking so much with statistics. As evidence that Asian-Americans are suffering, he cites that suicide is the leading cause of death of Asian-Americans aged 15-24. What he doesn’t say is that their rate is lower than the national rate of suicide, and even bringing in suicide to the discussion is harmful because of the preconceived notions about Asians and suicide. Asian-Americans commit suicide at about half the national rate. It takes the minimum of critical thinking, and I hate that even a thoughtful show like LWT seems unable to understand how stats work.
I wonder if this balances the scales from all of the CIA lies he perpetrated on his Anti-China episode.
There was a really racist comment on here earlier today and good for the AVClub for taking it down. I guess flagging comments really does work.
However, I wonder if I’m the only one having been grayed for having sarcastically pointed out its racism.Whatever.