Some of you may consider it good news that the top three finalists in the the Geography Bee, hosted by the great Alex Trebek himself, were Indian American. I do not. Some of you may also think fondly on the fact that the last four contestants in last year’s Spelling Bee were also Indian American. I do not.
“Well Abhi,” you say. “Aren’t you at least happy that the top Intel Science Award ($50,000) went to an Indian American?”
No.
I am afraid. I am afraid that most Americans aren’t able to tell us apart anymore. We aren’t all “the same.” I come from a vastly different culture and tradition than those people. I am nothing like them and I am tired of all the “so-called intellectuals” that are all “bhai-bhai” and want to give us all a common label. They don’t care about us so why should we be friendly to them? Ever since Indian-American kids started winning these types of competitions I get strange looks on the subway when I am reading a book. I can hear their whispers and their suspicions. “I know what he is up to,” they think. “All those people are the same. They just sit and study vocabulary lists and almanacs. They just come to ‘our country’ to win our competitions.” Nobody sits next to me sometimes, even during rush hour, all because they think we are all the same. I’m sick of it. I can’t even take pictures at tourist attractions anymore. Park security always comes up to me and asks me if I am forming a database of important geographic sites. Last time a guard mentioned to me that his son had “lost to one of you guys in a preliminary round.”
The solution is clear to me but will take some time to implement. Through forums like this we need to do a better job of educating the public. They need to know that some of us can’t spell and instead rely on readers or co-bloggers to point out spelling errors in their blog posts. They need to know that some of us don’t know which river the Port of Rotterdam lies on. Most importantly they need to know that they having nothing to fear from the vast majority of us.
I don’t know if you guys are like me but every time I read about another “incident” in the news I think, “Great. Now they will think that we are all capable of this kind of thing.” Here was the latest:
A woman teacher in Bhubaneswar has been arrested for inflicting three children with burn injuries on finding mistakes in their homework, police said on Sunday…
On Friday evening, Kabita allegedly lost her temper after she found mistakes in the home work of the kids. She punished them with a hot iron, a police official said. [Link]
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p>Moderates in the community need to come forward and speak out against these types of heinous acts. We can no longer afford to remain quiet while a radical minority dictates our image. We should denounce this sort of thing immediately and work to educate the community by pointing out that a lot of us are only average in intelligence and will work to demand the same from our children.
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p>I just wanted to get a dialog started on all of this before next week. In fact, usually I am a little afraid to even leave the house during this period which I often refer to as “hell week.”
Thank you all for your attention. I look forward to a productive dialog.
I once saw a advertisement board in a small town: Lurn Inglish inn too weaks.
Not at all joking.
M. Nam
damn nerds.
Hey, Garrison Keillor said it best – Welcome to Lake Wobegon where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average. Finally, we are a third of the way towards this eugenic ideal.
I completely agree about educating the public but I don’t think we should not consider it a good thing if Indian Americans (or South Asian Americans) win these types of competitions. There are other minorities that are stereotyped too in worse ways than us. For example there is one group (who I won’t mention but you can probably guess) is stereotyped as being violent/criminal/gangsters but since it is a stereotype and therefore a generalization many of them may be that way but there will be many others that are not. I am sure they want to educate the public too that they are not all the same. That said, they are in a worse situation, since surely we would not find it good to be associated with crime. So what if we are considered to win intellectual competitions, there are way worse things to be stereotyped for, I think we should be glad in some ways and proud that many people in are community are smart but yes, it would be good if the general public would understand we’re not all alike.
Thank you all for your attention. I look forward to a productive dialog.
Speaking of spelling, as the resident English nerd in the house (well, one of them), I thought I should express my preference for “dialogue” over “dialog.” Both are technically correct, but “dialogue” is classier.
At the New York Times, if you do a search for “dialog” you get 250 hits. If you do a search for “dialogue,” you get 26,000.
I have also been a victim of this horrible stereotyping. A man came into the elevator and looked at me and said “Indian, huh?” to which I meekly nodded. “Good at math!” I felt humiliated.
Abhi:
No joke, man. It is incredibly inconvenient to not be able to utilize Word’s automatic spehlchek when I am writing these posts. I actually have to use the dictionary and look up words.
Argggh! He’s one of THEM. 🙂
To Mango Lassi:
I had someone say that exact same thing to me “Indian? You must be good at math?”. My retort – I swear to god this was a spur of the moment repartee –
“Irish huh? You must be good at bullshitting!” (what with the gift of blarney and all…)
MangoLassi – Why did you feel humiliated? The guy who said these words to you lacked basic manners. Pity him or pray for him..do whatever you want …but don’t feel humiliated.
I had someone say that exact same thing to me “Indian? You must be good at math?”.
They usually ask me for a slurpee.
Hasty generalization is definitly bad. However, I agree with #4. It alot better than stereotyped as morons. I always feel proud and “happy” on these type news and broadcast liberally.
I usually hear them whisper, “Thank you, come again” and “This is not a library”! and then snigger behind my back…the lot of them, punks.
MangoLassi – Why did you feel humiliated?
I know I feel humiliated when I am asked for a slurpee.
AmfD
May I ask why ?
I know I feel humiliated when I am asked for a slurpee.
May I ask why ?
Because no one wants to work at 7/11 unless they have to.
Do you work at 7/11 ? If not, then why should you feel anything when some ignorant fool tries to stereotype you ? My point is that you shouldn’t be the one feeling humiliated. Either try to educate the ignorant guy or take no heed.
If not, then why should you feel anything when some ignorant fool tries to stereotype you ?
But when they sit in my car thinking its a cab, its very inconvenient.
AMFD:
Ouch. It can be humiliating to be associated with working at 7/11, the gas station, taxis, etc only if one doesn’t want to be mistaken for being of a lower socio-economic status.
Ouch. It can be humiliating to be associated with working at 7/11, the gas station, taxis, etc only if one doesn’t want to be mistaken for being of a lower socio-economic status.
I am of course kidding. No one has asked me for slurpees!
Brother, I feel your pain. I can’t count how many times when I’ve been amongst the brown, and we’re all of a sudden presented with an adhoc need to do some kind of discount/commission/currency exchange calculation, and the whole group – chanting some strange mathematical witchcraft – comes up with the right answer without even missing a beat in the conversation, while I’m stuck trying to find the calculator on my cell phone.
And then they look at me like they’re asking why I even exist.
It hurts man. It really does. It’s time to put an end to this shame. After all, even with subpar intelligence, I could be president.
Honestly, when I first read Abhi’s post, I thought he is being sarcastic or this is some kind of humorous post. Then as I read the comments, I realized he was all serious and that many of you really are uncomfortable with this ‘stereotype’ as you put it.
Hmm..interesting.
Here’s what I think: I don’t see any thing wrong in Indian American kids winning spellinng bees or geography quizzes. If its a stereotype, its a positive stereotype, and no harm done. If some one thinks that I must be smart because I am of Indian origin, isn’t that an advantage to me? Why should I get humiliated? If I feel that the other person has made the comment (Good at Maths!) in an unpleasant manner, then yes, I have the option of giving a fitting repartee, or ignoring the comment. But by getting humiliated, I am doing a disservice to myself.
Stereotyping is human nature.Even in India, we have many stereotypes about foreigners.
More later. I need to think more and understand where you guys are coming from, really.
wait…so none of you tell them on their face right away?
Kumar, you had it right the first time.
I have thrown in the towel by the way. I have written two satirical posts in two days and half the people think I am being serious. This town just doesn’t appreciate me. 😉
Here’s what I think: I don’t see any thing wrong in Indian American kids winning spellinng bees or geography quizzes. If its a stereotype, its a positive stereotype, and no harm done.
It certainly does seem like a positive stereotype. Until I remember how many times being smart and Indian got me beat up in middle school.
I don’t think the stereotype of browns as spelling bee nerds exists yet.
Have a look at the trailer for the movie akeelah and the bee – “you are going up against a bunch of rich white kids”.
I get a lot more references to al queada and apu. Yesterday I had a homeless crackhead come up to me and start praising Iraq and the Taliban in order to get some money off of me.
Throw in the towel? What, you hate Arabs too now, Abhi? And don’t try throwing sand in my face by denying it.
And, come on, “Kumar” (vat? at no 42 you say?) says “.. some kind of humorous post”. That’s pretty weak “praise”, don’t latch onto it so quickly. Have some brown pride, dude!
stereotyping is very bad, and i don’t appreciate it myself. that being said, there are exceptions to all rules. look at white people, they’re racist and arrogant.
Abhi,
If you were serious about subverting the stereotype, then I can help out. Let me dig up all my report cards…
Yeah, same with the Arabs innit (only they’re copying colonial whites)
I don’t think we have it that bad. I’d rather be mistaken for a maths/spelling dweeb or a slurpee administrator than a dole bludging gun totin drug lord/gangsta/pimp.
forget indians stereotyping foreigners what aboiut indians stereotyping indians of other subcultures(south indian, sikh, guju, bengali, north indian etc)
mightman hehe cool repartee assuming no serious repurcussions now and later (although not wise) then again it was just an impulse. what does the blarneystone have to do with bsitting? sarita- u serious? rough school.
and the sikh jokes are annoying. i mean they are one of the most economically fwd/hardworking groups in the country to my knowledge. of course i’m not in touch with the sikhs or for that matter the indian/indian american community. maybe i’d be more partial to them if i spent time around sikhs(ie maybe i’d observe that the jokes have some truth)
u (i mean indians) could explain to others(when feasible) that the indians coming to the us are highly educated and many are the cream of the crop from india i think. so naturally theres at least some reason why indians are smart although it doesn’t explain all the indians in the spelling bee etc. perhaps u could explain the pressure to do well in school.
also i wouldn’t attack the whites. they maybe racist but perhaps less than indians(that’s the impression i have now perhaps from reading forums) and many other groups. plus being an indian in the us isn’t that bad. as said above we could have the stereotypes that blacks have. ive read and heard indians are notoriously racist. anyway some guy off the street thinking u make slurpees isn’t the worst stereotype. ok ok i just remember the ocmment about radhika getting beat up. surely it happens. so if the stereotypes are contributiong to that then that sucks. then again the stereotypes are to our benefit sometimes. so i dunnow. though i have sympathy for the kids. do we really need the benefit of the stereotypes if some kids gonna get beat up? i guess the best thing would be if there were no stereotypes and we were just p;eople.
Yea yea it’s a satirical post, but it seems people do take it seriously! … to that:
Abhi… Please not be throwing in towels. I was also being sarcastic about the being humiliated. Well I did kinda feel bad because I almost failed calculus and still don’t know what 6 x 7 is without using my fingers.
I like the fact that tonnes of desi kids are dismantling the stereotype. Whenever I see desi kids with bull-rings in their noses, skateboarding or dropping e at the 2 raves I have been to, I really want to go up to them and hug them. “Good for you beta” I want to say.
also the terrorist stereotype is the really bad one. good thing i was in college by the time 9/11 happened. ever get asked if you are related to another indian in your school? that happened in my hs by a pretty smart person. also a disclaimer ive made dumb comments about other gorups(well 1 group i can remember) so im guilty too. i told my paki pashtun(northwest pakistan, southeast afghanistan(maybe south) friend that she came from an archaic culture i think before she was my friend. well actually ive made more bad comments about other groups a few times(the 2 that i can remember were out of anger). one was in 6th grade other in elem school. although thyre not brain dead comments ie the comment i mentioned above.
i was asked if i eat monkey brains once. guess thats from indiana jones: the temple of doom.
RP:
This is exactly what I now wonder about when I recollect how I used to be picked on and roughed up for being brown. Apparently, the “model minority” myth doesn’t exist in super rich, uppity white neighborhoods.
This model minority myth isn’t evenly distributed in the American society. I think that generally the politicians and journalists prop up this myth the most, but in terms of average people, I’ve met some who believe in this myth while others have never even thought about Asians as brainy and rich.
Yes well, I eat fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is why I’m so feeble and bad at sports.
Vivo:
Don’t forgot about the eyeballs bobbing in the bowl of soup from Indiana Jones. I used to get asked that all the time. Also, apart from being asked whether I was related to the other 2 Indians in high school, I was also asked if Gandhiji and I were related.
Another thing: why do you pray to cows?
Where the hell was that model minority myth when we needed it? 🙂
Not too long ago, I was asked by a guy who works for Unitrans if I’d like to fill out a survey. As he gave me an empty form, he noticed my Ohm necklace and said,”That’s a really unique necklace. Is that Arabic?” I was kinda pissed, but tried not to show it. “No, it’s Hindi, actually.” “Oh,” he shrugged, “close enough.”
I felt like throwing the stupid survey in his face.
regarding Abhi’s posts, you gotta look at the category he puts them in to know if he’s serious or not. I got ur back, Abhi 🙂
Whatever smarty pants, look who’s talkin!
O’DOYLE RUUUULZE!!!!
it’s funny how almost everyone posted their scores and majority of them are over 7/10.
Being sterotyped as someone good in math and geography is not as bad as some of you have made it. After all..India is the only country whose prime-minister holds a doctorate from Oxford..and whose president is a missile scientist 🙂
Wowzers, some of you actually care what white people think of you? Puh-leez…White people will think what they want to think; they always seem to, despite how the world around them actually looks.
What’s important is for you to not buy into these dominant stereotypes, to know the diversity in our desi America — that there are South Asian-American football nerds just as there are spelling bee nerds, that there are desi rappers, police officers, and ad execs just as there are desi doctors and engineers. Don’t worry about how others stereotype you; don’t give them that power. Just act however you want. The fact is that there are still so few of us as a percentage of this country that chances are you’ll be a trailblazer.
Abhi,
Keep it coming, machang. The park security line? And the Port of Rotterdam? The radical minority dictating our image? I actually laughed out loud.
Please don’t deprive us of future such occasions to mourn about women clutching their dictionaries when we enter elevators.
also i wouldn’t attack the whites. they maybe racist but perhaps less than indians(that’s the impression i have now perhaps from reading forums) and many other groups.
only whites can be racist because only whites have power. racism = race + power (or is it race X power, i forget). racism != race, and since only whites have power, then only whites can be racist (since if power = 0, racism = race, which is absurd!). if it is X, well, racism/race = 0 for non-whites, since non-whites have no power, so racism = 0, since race can not equal zero (racism/0 is undefined and ludicrous since we all have a race, although it is just a social construct and has no biological reality, excuse my brown ass). get it?
look to all the problems in the world and look in your heart, and you will see the answer within: blame the white male patriarchy. they the are nephilim of this age, as gods they seek to bring their wonder-working power but they only spread oppression and their eurocentric values like individualism, godlessness and deracination. hell, if it weren’t for white people and their ideologies which introduce abrahamic concepts like logic, skepticism, empiricism, systematic thought and humanism as opposed to spirituality and dancing around fires worshipping mother earth i might still believe in god!
…racism = race + power (or is it race X power, i forget). racism != race, and since only whites have power, then only whites can be racist (since if power = 0, racism = race, which is absurd!)…
razib, be honest! You brought out the equations just to impress Neeraja, isn’t it? 🙂
they the are nephilim of this age Um, when have they not been nephilim ?
But I just hope you were being facetious in your last post, right? I need to ask, ‘coz my sarcasm radar is down for repair.
…he noticed my Ohm necklace…
Ohm? Talk about anglicization..(Sorry, couldn’t resist!)
But I just hope you were being facetious in your last post, right?
no! i curse the white man for his gift of ‘civilization.’ i curse him for banishing the mystery and the wonderment from the world with his* linear and cold systematic thinking. what we’ve lost, we can never reclaim….
Dude– I agree with you completely. We Indians take ourself bloody too seriously! Can we just blame it on the parents?!
Me fail English? That’s unpossible!