Asian Work Is More Valuable Than Asian Lives

Does America only care about the work that Asians do and America doesn't actually care about Asian lives? That's what this Time Opinion article is saying. Yeah, this is going viral right now It was written by Indian American author Mithra Kalita and the first time somebody sent it to me I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna talk about it But seven people sent it to me and that's when I knew we had to cover the article real quick get into the internet reactions And then give you our takeaways. So make sure you like subscribe to turn on your notifications guys I think that anytime a very respected publication like time magazine covers Asian American issues that normally exist on reddit Andrew it's sort of like reaches outside of the Asian American II bubble. Yeah, you don't mean it's not in that sphere of the internet anymore time magazines like the whole internet Yeah, I mean at the end of the day someone had to write this and then they had to get edited It wasn't just like a blog post But anyways guys this conversation has been happening on the internet for a while, but she put it all together very succinctly David What are the topics and main points that she covered in this? She opens up with a quote from her professor that says hey, you know I would only hire Asians if I could you guys are all so hard-working and then at first she goes Yeah, you know that's kind of good But it really bothered me because it was super reductive because a lot of Asians are considered hard-working smart and diligent But you can also flip that to be docile meek and submissive It's almost like the stereotype that like black men are like bold and strong But then on the flip side that's also viewed as intimidating and aggressive, right? She also points out how public opinion on Asians, especially East Asians has gotten way worse because of kovat She also mentions that Asian success and companies is usually capped off It feels like that they make up very very few leadership positions even though they make up a ton of other lower positions and She also mentions that we need to value ourselves beyond just being good students and good workers and we need to have others somehow see That value and she also asked for people to see the nuance in the Asian American community for example 80% of non-citizen Indians have undergrad degrees in America only 34% of non-citizen Southeast Asians have it And yeah, just overall she's just saying, you know People just need to stop seeing us as great ROI workers like they just that might have been good enough for our parents But for us as the second gen that's born and raised in America. We need more than that to feel whole to feel Human and Mitra, let me tell you something as somebody who has written Multiple rap verses about this exact topic. I a hundred percent agree with you. We've also talked about on our channel I'll show you this clip from a music video that we did seven years ago with our friend Oh boy, and basically I say this exact thing. Anyways, we'll play it Unless we're employed, yeah, I mean I thought you summed it up pretty well She didn't mention the frugal part in her thing But I don't know. I don't know maybe Mitra Kalita was inspired by your verse. Maybe she she saw it I mean back in the now, I'm just kidding. We just have parallel thinking and to be honest This is just actually overall in a way true Let's get into some reactions and some real-life people who are commenting because David I think a lot of Asian people have stories that kind Confirm what yeah, and like we said when time magazine like confirms it It's just way different than you wrapping it in a 16 bar verse Anyway, the first reaction was I agree I've experienced this firsthand I've outperformed everyone at my job and never got promoted and I was only truly Appreciated by the team after I left and everything fell apart It's almost like I was the quarterback, but I was never treated with the respect and glory that a quarterback deserves Yeah, no, I mean listen a lot of Asians They feel like they do a great job at their work and they're given a lot of responsibilities and everybody's like hey, bro I believe in you man. You the man you the man. You got this though. You're the man You are gonna handle this, you know this weekend while we go skiing and snowboarding because you know, it's not you got this, bro So why don't you just get somebody else to do your work for you? Oh Need you to update those models for me But Billy aren't you supposed to there's a crazy Steven Unquote that relates to this, right? Yeah, I love this Steven Unquote from the actor. He always says, you know Sometimes I wonder if the Asian American experience is what it's like when you're thinking about everyone and no one's thinking about you Yeah, I mean that's real talk man I do think it's like slowly slowly changing but cultural changes way slower than people think it is internet changes quick Culture on the ground IRL changes slow. I would say this man Like it really depends if you're like, mr. Kalita second-generation educated probably parents were educated You you like do good in your professional career like at a yappy job fortune 500 or whatever like some sort of accomplished institution That's old world, but you don't have the societal love that's very different than like the people I knew growing up Their parents are refugees AZN enclave, you know You grow up in an all Asian zone and you just only work with other Asians. You don't really care about this You might be able to theoretically Understand that this is the way it is in the corporate world or like the mainstream world But you don't care because you're living in your own world Yeah, I mean if you talk to a lot of those people who kind of live their life in the enclave and you told them About this article they would just be like, yeah, I know that's why I live here, right? It's like living in this of course guys. We're in America. What do you expect and we're like, but but but but but what? I don't think that many people at arena nightclub think about this article to be all right So one opposing view that did make a good point was like hey guys Listen I really don't think it's as much of a race thing as it is a Capitalism thing because in the US in America, man, they don't care about anybody who doesn't add value even if you're white, right? It's just so happens that white have been white people have been here and they may have some advantages So they have more value so they get treated better, but it's like not about the races the value It's more just like a coincidence Yeah, and that also like being white helps you get into better systems and get you better opportunities to show your true value Perhaps that makes a lot of this is always the class warfare versus race warfare Argument, and I think there's a lot to be said for it. I think there needs to be more discussions about it It needs to be delved into deeper. However, uh Yeah, when you put it this way, it makes more sense in the class warfare where I don't know It's a 50-50 to me. I did I think capitalism feels a lot of like racism and stuff like that, but It's tough to say. I think it's different for different people, right? Like even if we were to judge the dominant group, right? Let's just say that you could theoretically even just say whatever is white, right? I think there's like ten different shades on the spectrum of like how you would feel but each shade is large enough that you could Be wholly contained within that shade and all of a sudden now you're the blind person feeling the elephant where you think that that's the whole World, but that's just one segment that you happen to be deeply entrenched in moving on the number three response was yeah They love us in America as long as we just shut up and do the work, you know I do and you know, I agree there's some element and you could say that it's either self-imposed System imposed or both of like Asians feeling like either a neutrally welcome house guest in America Yeah, you know mean where we're like, oh, yeah I got to do the work just to like stay in the house Whereas everybody else is like feels like they were born in the house and they're like, uh, you know, not the adopted stepchild Yeah, and I think that it also comes with leverage Let's be honest. Remember when LeBron was told to shut up and dribble and that reporter I forgot who said it It was a white lady. She got in some trouble Yeah, because she said shut up and dribble But then it was about such a big issue about like black rights and you know black lives matter She was like be like be grateful. We let you in that position like you're rich basketball player You make millions and millions of dollars a year to play a smart shot app and I don't know I think there's obviously some small fraction of people in America that look at Asians that just go do the work Shut up, you guys are just lucky that we save you from whatever war-torn messed-up place You guys see from you guys you guys have the highest incomes you guys blah blah blah So you guys are good shut up and then that and then everybody else is like yeah But I'm actually not even getting paid as much as I should be and I'm not Respected by any of you guys and I get microaggressions at work and nobody asked me how my weekend was even though everybody else asked each other how everybody's weekend was and there's some people are like We have we saved your grandpa saved your grandpa in the helicopter. You remember in the boat and This is straight out of the North American playbook adopt the good nice unique things that and then appropriate them as your own This was another response. Like I said, I think appropriation Melting pot fondues versus tossed salads. I think Mosaics, you know stained glass I think that there's pros and there's cons but it's funny because like for example Andrew Uh, I do think this is kind of true the left side in America They tend to focus on the cons in the right side They tend to only focus on the pros, but the truth is there's pros and cons to every schematic Everything you do there's pros and cons and the last reaction of course was about this all this invisibility and this sense of like just Shut up you ROI worker Just be the cog that we need you to be and just be a team player be that glorified role player It ultimately affects Asian men the most right? Yeah I think the argument is that they're like dude because it also affects our dating and social life the most even though it also affects The the professional careers of Asian women too, but Asian men social lives are gay. Yeah Yeah smashed think the concept is and there's I'm not saying I fully agree with it that Asian women have more flexibility to Shed the social invisibility whereas Asian men are gonna stay in a socially invisible pocket Um long story short guys, by the way, those were not our words other those were reactions from the Internet I mean, what are your overall takeaways man? Because you know, like I said, we've been talking about these issues for a long Andrew you had predicted this in your verse Everybody go back and listen to Andrews verse about it. But like what is the takeaway? I I think that part of it is More time in America right and more leverage time and leverage Because because if you're immigrant kids and you grew up in an immigrant household that probably does oftentimes make you a little bit different Maybe that doesn't allow you to fit in as well or it's harder to fit in at work at your White corporate job or whatever, right? So I think that you got to still give yourself some credit if you made it to a certain point give yourself some credit pat Yourself on the back, right, you know, you don't want to like not you don't want to take this for granted However, you got to understand that at some point once your leverage is high enough You got to just go after and take it you got to ask for respect and I think demanding respect Can't be uncomfortable and even if it is uncomfortable You still have to do it and you have to eventually Learn to enjoy it because my one criticism of the article and I don't think Mithra Kalita Intended there to be solutions in it is there's no solutions But Andrew like you said you need more time and leverage but the time and leverage comes this way, right? It comes with more media representation But that's people needing to actually proactively fight for it. Nobody's gonna give it to you Right time in the market is just time in America, right? But also the leverage component comes with a higher population right in terms of raw number, but also politically active like voting numbers Yeah, but there's the unification issue was very tough because exactly scattered across the plot chart on a micro scale I would say if you're someone who's gonna rise up at work no matter what your work is Maybe if you're the manager of a dominoes or whatever, I mean, I'm still saying you're still at a higher position there But I guess what I'm saying is like there's so much popular Asian culture out right now that it's easier than ever To expose people to it and to gain people's respect or at least introduce them to your culture I understand 20 years ago 25 years ago at work There was like nothing cool like even the restaurants weren't cool back then, right? Right, you know, it's very hard your co-workers to like a company happy hour at an Asian bar There wasn't ever or the Asian bar would be like to hood or to enclave. There was no everything everywhere all at once There was no crazy rich Asians. There was no Shang-Chi. There was no great cool Asian fusion restaurants by a tattoo Now I feel like they're like elevated enough that you totally could take your like boss and your team Yeah, or if you're the team leader and that's a soft culture way of doing way things like that's a soft power way of doing it but other than that obviously gaining the leverage and just like Imposing your will man, like honestly, it's like just just just going up and taking it I think it's really shedding that like I'm a foreign guest that's unwanted here So I'm gonna be like asking if I could sit on this couch Asking you if I could get a drink asking if I touch can touch this lamp you know what the most American thing is and I'm this is my last point one of the most American things is To walk around like you got a big old stick in your pants, right? You got to walk around like you have the confidence and you and people will actually buy into it That's how also by that way. I run than other countries. I think it's different than Europe I think it even could work slightly different Canada or Australia which is obviously other Anglo New World countries America is particularly this way you have to come in bold or else it's almost like people just doubt you or don't respect you even if you have the metrics to back up your point if you don't deliver it with a certain level of swag and confidence and just Big big eggplant energy. Yeah, you know in the positive way in the pop most positive way But yeah, anyways guys, let us know in the comments down below what you think about all of this I mean has is this a conversation that you've had before do you relate to any of these viewpoints and do you agree that? Asians just still to this day after all that Asians do in their positions They still do not get we just these underplayed role players that are like outplaying their contract And do we need to get a starting role to get more reps, you know to get it take more shots It deserve a bigger contract. I would say so But who's gonna do the work because this game doesn't give you anything Anyway, I don't think there's right or wrong answer. It's just what you think Let us know what you think in the comment section below until next time way to hop out boys. We out. Peace