so here is my reaction from another blog I have.
I seem stupid.
Haha, Apparently I seem stupid. Well not apparently I kind of knew this. If you have read anything written on here you would come to the same conclusion. If you equate intelligence with posts about defecating penguins...well, then I guess you can't judge intelligence very well and we should get along just fine. Pull up a chair, the tea party is just getting started.Anyway, I was checking my junk email account over the weekend and found an email saying that someone had posted a comment on the mirror of this blog. By mirror of this blog I mean the same page except not updated and almost forgotten, I made it exactly for the reason that this post was born, so that non-xangians could post comments. The reason it has become abandoned, dilapidated and retractable..wait scratch that last one, is because I can't get pictures to show up without them being sliced in half and well if you can't fit a whole picture of me posing with my trophy at the thumb wrestling tournament, then really, what's the point?
At first I giggled with such glee and intensity that my neighbors stomped on their floor to quiet me...but then I read the comment and my heart nearly shattered into thousands of pieces and the tears wouldn't stop flowing no matter how hard I tried to dam up my tear ducts with duct tape, isn't that what duct tape is for? So, the comment came from a post I made a really long time ago. Here is the link to the mirrored site. http://toemah.blogspot.com/2006/12/blog-post.html
So here is the new comment that burned me to the core and made me re-think everything in my life and what I hold dearest.
"you seem stupid.
newsflash: Asian people have "slanty" eyes. drawing them as such isn't racist.
you tried to come off as an edgy commentator and failed miserably."
Haha, I was smiling when I read this, I thought it was an awesome comment and I thought my dear friend anonymous nailed it on the head.
But then I actually re-read my entry and just had to pull some stuff out of it Allow me to quote myself.
"The questions are mostly only interesting to hyper sensitive asian american studies scholars or racists though. Oh and I guess people that like to take really small things and turn them into big arguments might find this discussion interesting."
So I make this statement in the first paragraph. Basically saying let me make a big deal out of nothing, not saying let's burn all of his work!!! How dare he, that racist bastard!!??!!
"Is it insulting that a non-asian is drawing chinky eyed scantily clad women in revealing outfits almost fetishsizing them? Is the equivalent of this me drawing african americans with gigantic lips sitting on a fence eating watermellon? Or Mexicans wearing sombreros sweating in a field? Probably not, but does the race of the creator limit what they can draw and how they draw subjects? This is where I think it gets tricky. Of course you can't limit what an artist draws or say that only asians can draw asians or be influenced by asian art. I agree, and I feel like I have little to support any other view than this. But at the same time the argument about this exists. Can I as an Asian American male write a novel where the main character is an African American and not be seen as perpetuating stereotypes and broad characterizations? I guess if I am good enough and aware enough I could. But what do i really know about african american life, why should i even be weighing in on this. Any portrait that i paint must be influenced by who I am. Or am I wrong, does literature and art have a way of reaching across the boundries and the process of creation is colorblind. In truth, Simon might actually know more about Asian culture than I do, does me being Asian give me an automatic pass, when I write about Asians? I guess it would kind of have to but can you kind of see what I am talking about?"
I feel like I am asking more questions than making steadfast declarations. I barely even say or commit to a side, kind of just raise questions that I think could be discussed. Key word, could, not should, but could. I never say his eyes are the worst part, although I think they are. Asian eyes can be drawn as something besides thick black lines. The problem for me would be the overall picture, the eyes plus the situations the girls are placed in. Sexy Asian nurse bending over? Could be seen as offensive, that's all I was saying, I was actually asking is it offensive, not even saying it was.
"I am purely approaching this as an antagonistic thin skinned, race card playing person. The devil's advocate, the political asian that organizes the boycott of abercrombie and fitch and the ray fong shoe. I just wonder if this is something that would be taken on as a cause of these people."
Again I say that this isn't an issue I lose sleep over, just something that I think my professors could rally against, because, that's what they do, protest the smallest perceived slights against the Asian race. Because they are racist and hate the establishment. That kind of comes with the territory when you are an ethnic studies professor.
"Does race factor into what an artist can create and whether or not it is seen as offensive. I like Simon's prints and i would consider getting some, but I think that I might feel better if they were done by an asian. That's just me though people can obviously look past who created it and I think that in reality they should. I just have this jumbled idea that somehow someone could argue against his art and his representations of asian women, but I don't know if they wold have the same reactions if he was asian. Do you think this is true or is it just me tryin to think like an angry asian american studies professor? Did any of this make sense or was it all as mashed up and jumbled together as it felt for me as I wrote it. I didn't proofread it either so that could add to it, I think I said the same thing 5 times but who's counting right? Was this even close to an interesting issue or just pure madness that makes no sense at all."
The top bolded part is the main question I was asking. Does the race of the creator or artist have a factor in the subject matter that they tackle? Would it be weird for me to only paint African Americans, in slightly stereotypical ways? Do you inherently assume that I am portraying stereotypes because I am an outsider painting things that do not stem from my own self? Or does the art itself break through who the artist that created the work is? See what I was going for? This thing wasn't focused on the mere fact that Tokidoki paints his girls with thick black lines for eyes. I don't think anonymous really understood what I was talking about. I feel like anonymous was a Tokidoki fan and got butt hurt because I mentioned their idol Simone. The "newsflash" part was fucking awesome though. Haha, that is like the douchiest thing to say. Newflash buddaaay...
I also don't get the edgy commentator part. I mean I was drinking mountain dew while piercing my tonsils and riding my bmx bike while writing that post is that what they mean? When I spilled my dew was that when I failed miserably? Or is an edgy commentator like Bill O'Reilly or Rusch Limbaugh? If edgy means retarded, evil, and full of hot air, I should be thankful I failed?
Anyway thank you anonymous, I will try and be less edgy next time that way I will not fail miserably, I will also stay tuned for all of your newsflashes, in case something important comes over the airwaves, keep me up to date budaaaay. This is an APB for anonymous, I love you...
Ok so above was the reaction to the first comment. Below is the second one.
" Wow, you're a pretentious, politically correct twit. You're not clever, and you're simply shooting yourself in the foot."
again from anonymous, you sultry, sultry bastard. First off let me say that you are right I am far too politically correct. If you read my writing you can tell that I am very serious and I find my self to be the most cleverest person ever. I don't know how people even find this blog, because I haven't written on it forever, but jesus you Toki fans are out of control. (I left jesus with a lowercase "j" how is that for politically correct suckaaaas) But hey whatever, I wish I was more clever so I could come up with more to say, but seriously, you may want to re-read the entry, or the highlighted parts. Thanks for stopping by and caring enough to comment on a crappy un updated blog though. Cheers mates!!
