East Asians Discover Chic

I miss the old stereotypes.

The mathematician, the engineer, the poorly grown mustache and a closet full of hardly stylish clothing a decade behind the times. But what's this now? Irony is posh meets the East Asian American community? I suppose it was only a matter of time until the insatiable American virus known as assimilation consumed yet another group of people.

Mind you, the seemingly ethnically insensitive language here is admittedly ironic, or meta ironic, but as a person of East-Asian descent, raised under a quasi-Japanese paradigm I reserve the right to be a hypocrite. Or just an asshole. But I suppose neither is a right. The cold hard anecdotal facts: East Asian women have consistently styled themselves on par with the rest of American chic. Due in large part, to the over objectification of women, not only in American culture, but global commercial culture.

East-Asian men on the other hand, have warded off the forces of cultural/stylistic assimilation by merit of 2 factors (in my most humble of hypothesis of course)

1. "I shouldn't mess with that kid, he's Asian...I should treat ethnic minorities with respect and decency as to not be seen as a racist bungholio. Also, he might know kung-fu or karate and might be able to kick my ass." (Thank you Bruce Lee)
2. "Harmless, and good for the economy."

But as interactive mediums, chiefly the Internet has led to the mass diffusion and compartmentalization of culture, the solidarity of the East Asian American identity (at least in the midwest) has also fallen subject to the same diffusion. We've seen the Asian fraternities, and celebrities becoming more and more prominent in popular culture. Now we're seeing a new class of Asian, focused on more than just staying clean, or just having something from Old Navy on their backs.

Oh well, we'll just have to see whether this douche baggery will turn East Asian-Americans further into "the office."