Before I begin, please let me say that all the following statements are huge generalisations. I am highly aware that there is (infinitely) more to the topic than meets the eye; it's just that I don't feel up to analysing and discussing more of it today.
The term "Asians" is used by most white people to describe any people who come from the continent of Asia, or those who look like they come from Asia. When I was first exposed to this trend, I was optimistic. I thought that they did it because they were trying to be politically correct. You know, because they can't tell what kind of asian you are and wouldn't want to offend you by calling you say, Chinese, when you were actually Japanese.
But the more I heard the term being bandied around, the more I suspected that this was just because they couldn't be bothered to learn about the different people and cultures that come from this continent. And I'm not just talking about the drunk ones who commit drive-by verbal shootings ("Stupid Asians, go home / speak English/Ching Chong Chong!").
You see, even after they are informed of your nationality, they hardly ever bother to describe you to others by your nationality. They don't go, "Sarah, remember her? She's the Cambodian/Singaporean/Filipino/Sri Lankan girl."
They don't even go, "Sarah, remember her? From South-East Asia?"
They go, "Sarah, remember her? The Asian girl."
They don't do this to other white people/non-Asian people. It's almost always "You know, Colin. The Italian/Irish/Polish dude." I suppose, though, you can't really blame them. They can't really say "You know, Colin. The white guy." when they themselves are white.
At first I thought they had some system of classification, a specific one like:
Dark hair? Check. Yellow-toned skin? Check. Tilted/small eyes? Check. He's an Asian.
But when they started to call Indians and even middle-easterners Asian? I was incredulous--they look nothing like the traditional sense of the term "Asian". It seems like their mental checklist went more like:
Is he white? No. Is he black? No. Hmmm... He's Asian, then.
(I am not unaware that the Americans, who are slightly more "exposed" to different ethnicities (!), also have "latino"/"hispanic" in their vocabulary as well. I do not apologise for any sarcasm this statement may have implied.)
It was quite sad to see that in their minds, the easiest way to go about things was to dichotomise the racial division of the world. Black, white, black, white. Unknown/Other = Asian. The catch-all group.
I wonder if "Asians" will ever develop a stronger identity. I wonder if people other than "Asians" themselves (whatever that means) will come to realise that we aren't all just the same.
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Anyway. My aunt sent me an old joke this morning:
A Chinese walks into a bar in America late one night and he saw Steven Spielberg. As he was a great fan of his movies, he rushes over to him and asks for his autograph.
Instead, Spielberg gives him a slap and says “You Chinese people bombed our Pearl Harbour, get out of here.”
The astonished Chinese man replied “It was not the Chinese who bombed your Pearl Harbour, it was the Japanese”.
“Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, you’re all the same,” replied Spielberg.
In return, the Chinese gives Spielberg a slap and says “You sank the Titanic; my forefathers were on that ship.”
Shocked, Spielberg replies “It was the iceberg that sank the ship, not me.”
The Chinese replies, “Iceberg, Spielberg, Carlsberg, you’re all the same.”
