The ad is not racist, as many people have claimed. It’s not even xenophobic: it uses an attractive woman to represent a China which is beating America through hard work, and because America is stupid. The worst that can be said is that it assumes a dubious zero-sum conception of economics, whereby if China gets rich, the USA must get poor. (Well, that and also it employs some horrible puns.)
So why all the fuss?
The ad portrays China as a competitor (which in many ways it is). This is problematic because competition forces people to choose sides, even if the competitors otherwise respect each other. In particular, the ad (unintentionally) invites Chinese-Americans to choose sides. Chinese-Americans don’t want to choose sides, and resent the suggestion that they need to. The truth is that their loyalties are divided: they have racial, familial, and cultural ties to China; there are also reasons why they or their parents left China, they have friends and jobs here, and they genuinely want to fit into their adopted homeland.
I don’t have a problem with divided loyalties. Anyone has any number of commitments, and sometimes these commitments conflict. But we love to deceive ourselves, telling ourselves that we can have everything at the same time. We hate when other people suggest that we can’t. And the more likely it is that our commitments are really going to come into conflict, the more we hate the suggestion.
A lot of huffing about ‘racism’ and other forms of ‘prejudice’ reflects this kind of insecurity about belonging. Apparently Lisa Chan wasn’t insecure, so good for her.
Cross-posted at Johann Happolati.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
hahahaha,
divided loyalties….
to use that cliche “the personal is the political”
well, early on after having some nasty online encounters with feminists, I thought the manosphere was the place for me…
but with all the white nationalists that would love to see me dead, where do I stand….
yup, the word is “cognitive dissonance.”
Safest to hate and distrust everyone I guess…
I couldn’t find anything on Lisa Chan except that she was raised in the Bay area of California, USA. I assume she was born in the USA and is a born U.S. citizen, but I simply don’t know and am not sure where she was born. There are many 2nd, 3rd, 4th 5th etc. ethnic Chinese yet American citizens in California as there are from other ethnic East Asian descent such as Japanese and Korean.
Peter Hoekstra was born in the Netherlands and came here with his family when he was 3 years old. I believe he was born a Dutch citizen and became a naturalized American citizen, but I could be wrong on that. If Peter Hoekstra was born a Dutch citizen and Lisa Chan was born an American citizen, then Hoekstra could never be President or Vice President of the USA while Chan could when she becomes 35 years of age. I wonder if Peter Hoekstra is somehow related to the deceased Dutch politician Pim Fortyn as the vague resemblance is uncanny.
People who complain about this video advertisement being racist ought to be asked if they are a bunch of(U.S. Army question when you unnecessarily complain or complain too much: Does your pussy hurt?) mental weaklings. I found nothing to be racist about this ad at all. I don’t understand what fool would hate Asians because of this ad who didn’t before. If it was a European nationality up there(e.g. the threat of Russia), hardly any Whites would complain, and they would be less likely to be listen to if they did complain. The Whites would be told to shut their mouths and have derogatory questions asked of them or made to them. I know that it’s one set of standards which is higher for Whites and a lower standard if you are of another race.
China certainly is an economic threat to the USA. Our ruling elite and our common people have let this go on too intensely for too long, and now we Americans are in serious trouble. I don’t hate China or any other East Asian nation or its people for this, and nor should you. Their rulers were only doing what is best for their people while ours weren’t. Playing I’m a BIG PUSSY waiting to be fucked violently by a penis filled with diseases and ready to abandon you and your unborn child by playing the race card will not help you, your race whatever that may be, or your fellow Americans of whatever race because for as much as I loathe to say it the USA has been that pussy and China has been that dick too intensely for too long.
I’m a Gentile White Christian Catholic 44 year old man who was a Soldier in the U.S. Army, a veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, did an Army tour of South Korea, was an English as a Second Language teacher in South Korea and have visited Japan, Hong Kong and Macau as well as lived in Britain as a university student and visited Ireland, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria plus Italy. I can tell you that if you are a born and raised in the USA American of Asian(and other person of Asian descent raised in any Western Country) descent that you will have a more difficult time adjusting to living in Asia than even Whites did. I saw and heard it ALL THE TIME. The Koreans called you BANANAS(Yellow on the outside, White in the Middle) and other East Asian ethnicity people agreed and laughed at that description. Most Americans of European descent and of Asian desent would have an easier time adjusting to living in a European country than an East Asian country which is still a developed 1st world nation like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. Other Asian countries will be more difficult to adjust to.
Anyone not of the Oriental race or especially of that particular East Asian ethnicity will have difficulty climbing the socio-economic hierarchy. East Asians born and raised outside of that country will have more difficulty than the native born and raised people. If you are East Asian but not of that ethnicity, you will have a harder time too. If you are not East Asian you will have the most difficult time of all. However, poor behavior from a non-Oriental person is without a doubt more tolerated. You as an East Asian person of race no matter where you are born and raised expected to know what the proper behavior is and act accordingly; yet, if you don’t, then you better learn quickly and well is the Oriental train of thought. Life is a tradeoff everywhere you go. Not everyone has the same options. It’s certainly true in East Asia.
Developed 1st World nation East Asians are almost as respectful of women in most ways Westerners are. In some ways they are more respectful, and in others less respectful. They are different. Prostitution is widely accepted and more open there, but motherhood of married women or especially widows is more highly regarded while that of divorced women and women giving birth to bastard children is regarded more negatively in developed East Asian countries. The elderly are more highly respected in East Asian countries. The worst nation for the bastardy rate is 2% in Japan of all live births, while in the of Asian descent mothers bastrdy rate is 14% and climbing higher in the USA. Other devloped 1st world East Asian bastardy rate percentages are lower than Japan.
This is a long commentary. I wanted it to be shorter, but found i couldn’t do it. It’s well worth the reas though.
President Theodore Roosevelt was right that you are either an American and loyal to the USA or you are not. He was addressing my ancestors and others ancestors. My ancestors were Polish, Irish and Catholic Christians. He was of the orgional majority stock being White and Protestant Christian. He was addressing Catholics, Jews and other religions as well as races other than White, different White European Ethnicities not of Northwestern Europe. I have strong affection for Polish and Irish people and even Catholic Christians worldwide over others, but I know my first loyalty is to the American people of whatever race, ethnicity or religion. I’m tierd of being forced to show loyalty to people who will put their racial and national origion above being American. I’m also tierd of there being one higher standard for Whites and Christians of ant race and a lower standard for other races and religions. Even as a Gentile White European descended Catholic Christian, i know how to show respect and gratitude to the ideals Gentile European descended Protestant Christians and their descendants living today founded our country on. Many who are not of this race or religous beliefs don’t want liberty, don’t want to respect others especially if they are Gentile Whites or are Christian of any race. I warn you if you were sent to live in any non-white country especially if it was of any religious belief which wasn’t Christian or post-Christian, you would soon find out what real prejudice is not the Faux Prejudice in your mind. By the time they got done with you, you would come crawling back begging for half od what you had here. I’ll use an U.S. Army sayingsfor any of my future detractors in the nest 7 sentences. Does your pussy hurt? Has my big strong dick hurt you? Good, you deserve it! The smartest thing to come out of your mouth is my dick! Do the world a favor by shuting up! If you need help shuting your stupid mouth then put my dick back in your mouth! The best thing you can do for the world is be a cum dumpster, you STUPID BITCH!!!
@SWAB:
That was rather cryptic, but, like I said, *everybody* has divided loyalties in one way or another.
@doclove:
When I was in Holland, I was struck by how similar *everyone* looked.
Thanks for your observations. They fit with my own (probably more limited) experience.
—
One thing I already sort of regret omitting from my initial post is the observation that the Chinese in particular seem to very prickly about perceived slights to their country or ethnicity.
Political Correctness is a multi-faced beast that can attack anyone without mercy.
But still, I have to say it: in Canada, the issue of the Natives has been a major pain for anyone trying to bring financial accountability to government spending, where money in the tune of around 5 billion dollars a year go to First Nations communities.
I never got a sense that they are true Canadians, but rather would as a people keep sticking it to ROC.
I think it is a wonderful commercial calling for possible protectionism of the US economy. Hoekstra seems superficially like a good politician and Lisa Chan is possibly demonstrating her loyalty to this country in spite of her ethnocultural and racial background. I think if that is the case it is admirable.
@Lovekraft
Of course the Turtle Islanders do, they see whites as invaders, and are supported in that view by the Left.
Most people are head-in-the-sand types. They want to believe that life is as they intend it to be, not how it is. This means they’re afraid of “war” and want “peace,” even though these are illusory and manipulative terms.
Realists understand this is a struggle. There can be only one superpower, and it will rule both Europe and Asia. In fact, the sooner that someone wins, the more “peace” we all have.
But your average person wants to hide from that.