77 thoughts on “Drop it like a FOB”

  1. i think its funny, it may be mean but immigrants also make fun of us. How did we get the “ABCD” title? Most degrade us more than we would of them, labelling us as sleezy, cultureless, no moral values.. and so on… Most bollywood movies portray us as someone that would not even fit into the community, as an outcast. and most often seen as the vilians.

  2. There are a couple of things that need to be considered here. In any instance a pejorative is invoked, or an epithet is hurled, any form of emotional hurt that afflicts the person at the receiving end is very real. The jocular response of telling them to lighten up tends to reveal two things, firstly, the acknowledgement that something abrasive had been said, but should be dismissed or seen solely for its amusement value and devoid of implications. In essence, it is an attempt at decontextualizing it. The other, is the more overt delegitimization of the recipient's discord. 
The etymology of "fob" is unclear, but intuitively it refers to those who arrive on American soil by sea. By extension, this would have been used to disparagingly describe either early Irish and Italian immigrants by a predominantly Puritan America, or later in the 20th century towards Cubans, or the boat people of Vietnam who literally washed up upon the shores of Hong Kong, Chiang-Mai, and Terengganu. Obviously it is used as a nefarious allegory towards people who arrive destitute, under duress, or both. Fob also characterizes the people's inability, refusal, or plain refrainment from conforming to new societal norms. It is obvious that it is this language that has been co-opted by most immigrant communities in the later half of the 20th century, and comes from a point of privilege and power. By having been born and naturalized in this country, they reassert their privilege, and reaffirm their power over their own kind who struggle with the simplest things like strange intonation and voice inflexions. In a desperate attempt at reconciling with this new cultural and existential dissonance, these new immigrants would either attempt to marginally adopt their new culture, like in speech which is usually impossible due to its ingrained nature, or revert to only what they know. Ultimately, both these coping mechanisms work to their detriment as far as their inter-personal dynamics with their naturalized peers go, because it forms the basis of which their derision is forged and perpetuated.
The notion of reverse-disparagement, the portrayal of NRIs as confused and audacious individuals in Indian cinema, does not hold up entirely, for this simple reason; the portrayals of NRIs is fictitious, the portrayals of FOBs is malicious. Anyone who has watched Indian cinema would not be hard pressed to concede that it is by no means an accurate account of reality (and therein lies its charm). Fixed linear plot trajectory is compromised time and again (Mumbai one minute, Mattehorn the next, nuff said), so naturally the collective validity in the portrayal of every character is non-existent, from the burly hero to the bumbling NRI. However, the same rhetoric cannot be employed with the "Drop it Like a Fob" video, because it shrouds its malicious intent with the cloak of satire. Although satire in its refined form is self-deprecating humor, that is not the case here because there exists the "us and them" dichotomy within the social context, "us" being the hip, urban, and synthetically endemic, "them" being the socially awkward, geeky, and pressed hair foreigners. The video merely serves as a tool of ridicule, and reinforces the power dynamic.
Of course, the most incensing feature of the video, is how it categorically eschews social consciousness by dropping gems like "Immigration comes to get you, marry like a fob..". In a time when the rampant subjugation of South Asians and people of color is done with the cover of immigration and security, the video posits a very simple solution to the infringement of civil liberties, by marriage to a citizen, which yet again invokes  the power dynamic via dependency, ensconced  deep within the subconscious. If only this sad attempt at humor was done with at least a modicum of sensitivity, it would have been palatable at best, yet still way off mark on amusing.

  3. “Why is everyone hating on this video…”

    Well, if we remained silent, it’s safe to say the “FOBs” would then believe all us ABCDs share the same funny-bone. But we don’t and therein lies the point: don’t use one of us to label all us and we won’t either.

    It’s about mutual respect and if not that, maybe just realize that FOB-jokes had their heyday with Chico and the Man and died with Margaret Cho.

    Now, if it were some midriff-baring Aunty singing “I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly…” or a NYC taxi-driver singing “I’m Singh Baby, yes I’m the real desi… Will the real Singh desi please stand up?” …

    Then we could do business.

  4. American and British and Canadian Desis have been hated on FOR YEARS WITHOUT COMMENT!!!

    We took it like men.

    Some people cant take a joke.

  5. By making the stupid video the American Born juvenile jackasses just gave credence to one their own stereotypes (of bigotry against FOBs) There is no cure for stupid

  6. I asked my ‘dogg’ how I should respond to references that these creative satirists are being called ‘purile jackasses’, she licked herself and left the room.

    This is all really too much. It’s gotten to the point now that people can’t be called fat, for fear of insulting fat people, and people can’t be called slow runners or low jumpers, or some guy who just sucks at basketball can’t be told so becuase his ‘feeling’s might be hurt.

    I think that people should first develop a slightly thicker skin to these kinds of thing. I find little difference betweeen this video and weird al yankovic. These folks simply took a popular song and placed some well placed, and often funny lyrics to them. Tell me the truth, how many people do you know who have gone to India and gotten married in a week so that they can bring their wife here w/ a greencard? I know at least a couple. The point is that the FOB and ABCD have different social customs and mores, and making fun of one another is a fabulous way of bridging gaps and not isolating ourselves.

    I would love to hear a video response to us second-gen Indians who think we are black, listen to hip-hop, go to Ivy-league schools and don’t know how to kiss (reference to sepia posts)

    In the end, the most important thing to do is just have a little sense of humor and realize that bagging on people because they are different is part of….my dogg is back in the room and I have to go.

  7. FOB and ABCD have different social customs and mores, and making fun of one another is a fabulous way of bridging gaps and not isolating ourselves.

    bridging gap by making fun of them (in a way telling them how we are different from you and better than you) .. this is a new one :-))

  9. Have you guys heard of MC VIKRAM? He has actually made some songs about fobs also, but the thing is I know the guy personally and he has a ton of fob friends that think his songs are hilarious. Believe me, he doesn’t try to offend anybody by making these songs because the stuff that he talks about on his songs, he used to be and act that way himself. The reason why he’s talking about it is because he’s making a display of before his partial assimilation to the American culture. He’s a really good friend of mine and he just loves getting people to laugh.

    -Jeff

  10. Well, have you guys seen russell peters? you all would hate him…the only reason he made it into the comedy industry is through his jokes on all kinds of fobs!

  11. It’s gotten to the point now that people can’t be called fat, for fear of insulting fat people

    Yeah, I know what you mean. What’s next – not being being able to call homosexuals ‘faggots’ anymore for fear of insulting their delicate egos? Or not being able to call the mentally retarded ‘tards’ while beating your chest repeatedly with the side of your hand? That would be a sad state of affairs, indeed.

    I find little difference betweeen this video and weird al yankovic.

    I agree completely.

    should respond to references that these creative satirists are being called ‘purile jackasses’

    Sarcasm aside, I admit, calling them ‘puerile jackasses’ was over the top. I don’t know these guys and it’s possible they were just trying to do something fun, and like I said before I don’t think this was malicious. I will try to be less judgemental in the future.

  13. “u guys suck”

    some of us think an inch-deep, the rest think deeper. so, get your peanut-butter out of my chocolate.

  15. u guys a jipped! its a parody and its damn creative! and it definately is humourous!! u’s need to get a grip and stop acting like a bunch of goras who think everything is offensive!

    THANK YOU COME AGAIN!

  16. I dont think making jokes about FOB’s is malicious per se. All jokes need to be considered on a case to case basis before they are classified as malicious. At the same time nor are all jokes not malicious. Some jokes are malicious or racist and they should be called as such. I am however not a big fan of Margaret Cho. I dont have a problem with her making jokes about her once FOB family and mocking the accents of Korean FOBs. However what I dont like is the fact that when she pretends to speak like her family or a Korean FOB she starts squinting her eyes ( which is just weird because her eyes are already squinted, so she doesnt need to squint them anymore to look more ‘asian’) Anyway I find her squinting of eyes a little disturbing. Thats not making fun of people’s accent. Thats making fun of the physical features of a whole race. Its akin to an African American comedian, inflating his nostrils or puffing up his lips, when he is pretending to speak like they do in the hood.

  17. i’ll tell you what this is – this is insane and disgusting. You guys wouldnt probably think so cuz u are groomed in a culture of insult invasion, WE ARE NOT

    This shit right here is RACIST – just cuz u indian americans lost ur fucking identity to acting like black and/or white folks doesnt mean u bitches can patronize us with not being into all that crap – and fuck..if u actually do .. then u are more pathetic then i thought u guys were ..

    HECK YEA .. .I AM PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN… WHY…cuz where i come from everyone has an identity and a sense of pride in that culture, which was, is and will be much richer than anything this bhenchot country will ever have.

  18. haha, this country is the richest in the world, but whatever. do you not have any humor? these guys are just messing around, and it’s a pretty funny video.

    there’s a fine line between pride in your own culture/race and just being arrogant and too defensive about it. some of you guys seriously need to watch comedy central or go watch a comedy movie

  19. hey lol.. dis wuz pretty gud tri tuh compare de real vid to deze Gz hahaha! its jkz

  20. the video is pretty funny…lyrics are great…check out our south asian comedy website http://www.pariandharvin.com and our rendition of “drop it like its chaat”…mind you we had never seen or heard of drop it like its fob…but i think it was cool

  24. you guys are all retarded, this vid was funny as hell lighten up and pull the stick out of your ass

  26. wow…drop it like it’s chaat is so much more subtle and inclusive than drop it like a fob (despite the weird transgendered stereotype dancing in the background of whatever that was). maybe you can give lessons to the drop it like it’s fob kids.

  27. “you guys are all retarded, this vid was funny as hell lighten up and pull the stick out of your ass”

    Son, you’re grounded, go to your room. And tell your friends that until they learn how to read, write and speak, they can’t come over anymore.