Posted on 05/01/2002 9:55:19 PM PDT by wkhjr
(Howard Lein) Haha... I only hope you're including your original email when you post my comments. Hopefully even your conservative buddies are honest (and bright) enough to recognize that your writing and logic are pure trash. Actually, why don't you give me the link to the thread over on the New Republic? I'd be happy to provide some more comments for your amusement.
Howard Lien h-lien@northwestern.edu
-----Original Message----- From: k haney [mailto:khaney@bham.rr.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 11:20 PM To: Howard Lien Subject: Re: get a life
(Me)That alone was priceless! Perhaps you should try to elicit your 'feelings' with more logic and less profanity, if at all possible. We are having a hoot with this on Free Republic.
Thank you ever so much,
Idiot from Alabama ----- Original Message ----- From: Howard Lien To: 'k haney' Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 9:09 PM Subject: RE: get a life
-----Original Message----- From: k haney [mailto:khaney@bham.rr.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 8:15 PM To: Howard Lien Subject: Re: get a life (Me)You really have too much discretionary time on your hands. Perhaps you should get a job to better occupy yourself, because that chip on your shoulder is a heavy burden to carry. I could personally give less of a crap of your self-aggrandized, hyphenated-american status. I could go about all day bewailing how unfair life in america was for Irish immigrants, and all of those 'offensive' drunken Irish, or stupid Irish jokes, but guess what? I DON'T! I don't give a crap that Notre Dame University call themselves the 'Fighting Irish" (obviously denoting that Irish people are drunken, belligerent and violent people by their mere ethnic heritage - all of short stature, with hideous red hair and horrible beards).
(Howard Lein) You obviously missed the first line of my reply which was "Hey, it's a free country. You have a right not to care about this... " Now who has too much time on his/her hands?
(Me)But wait a minute! You obviously feel some sort of victimization here - perhaps, like the 'leaders' of the 'black community', you ARE a VICTIM! You are UNABLE to compete in society merely because of your ancestoral lineage? Hmm, well, after seeing the results over the past five years of Asian performance on the MCAT, it seems that those who described themselves as Asian OUTPERFORMED everyone else in both biological and physical sciences by a long shot (they didn't do so well on verbal skills, but beat the blacks and hispanics with a vengance - however, it should be duly noted that most applicants were in country on visas, while the overwhelming majority of blacks and hispanics who tested were natural born citizens - jeezus christ! The average Asian on a visa applying for med school has a better grasp of english than a natural born citizen? Stop being so hard on yourselves!) I have no idea how us 'micks' performed, as that is not a politically correct way of describing myself, or at least it was not asked for the test. Perhaps a conclusive study might reveal low test scores by Irish descendants because we were either drunk, in a fight, or maybe both.
(Howard Lein)Apparently, somewhere along the way, you have confused our website with someone else's website. Likely, you've read that article by that idiot Michelle girl and have taken her ideas about victimization and whining and somehow associated them with us. Too bad those are her words, not ours. Although they have nothing to do with this issue anyway, do you see any mention of victimization, MCAT scores, or not being able to compete on our website? No... Idiot.
(me)You are correct in that it is a free country, however becomming less free everyday. Also, nobody is begging anyone to stay. I gave up being 'Irish' to be an American. Were my Irish lineage so goddam important, I would move back there. My hint to you is that "Delta is ready when you are" (they fly to several Asian destinations), and if being "Asian" is so much more important than being "American", well you are on the wrong continent. Although, and you obviously have considered this, a corporate, financial shakedown is a bit more difficult over there, if not impossible. In addition, very few Asian countries recognize the basic human right to free speech, which we so enjoy over here (oh dear! another concept of old, dead, whities!).
(Howard Lein) Sometimes I wish the people who wrote us email were more intelligent... Oh and we are eternally grateful to "old, dead, whities" for coming up with free speech. Since my great-grandfather was born in China, I obviously don't believe in human rights. Fucking idiot. Why don't you join the ACLU and help protect free speech?
(me)Best of luck in your shakedown of Abercrombie and Fitch - I enjoy my new shirts (yes, they were still available in Birmingham - perhaps a protest march here?). I am only saddened that "No ticky, no laundry!" was not among the themes. If such ethnic generalizations are offensive, then it stands to reason that they might very well be based in some truth, although in my thirty-one years here I have yet to encounter an Asian dry cleaner. Maybe we are discriminating somehow? After all, don't all Asians own dry cleaning businesses? Perhaps there is some local racism here........
(Howard Lein) Do you realize you've mentioned to directly contradict yourself? God... why can't we ever get intelligent writings, instead of mindless drivel... I am idiot boy from Alabama. I read an article by Michelle. I assume everything she says is accurate. I waste my time and other people's time by writing incoherent emails about something I don't know anything about. I am an idiot.
(me)This message has been forwarded to syndicated talk (hate, in your terms undoubtedly) radio hosts Neal Boortz, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Larry (egads! a black man!) Elder. Have fun!
(Howard Lein) Oh no! We're so scared. Fuckin idiot.
(me)By the way, 'racism' is probably not the correct term you are looking for - I suggest you use 'bigotry' as it is far more correct.
(Howard Lein) Your writing is terrible, buy yourself a dictionary. You're an idiot. ----- Original Message ----- From: Howard Lien To: 'k haney' Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 6:38 PM Subject: RE: get a life
Hey, it's a free country. You have a right not to care about this and I have a right to think that this is important and act on that conviction. I've included a few thoughts below in case you're curious why people are upset.
-These shirts portray a stereotype that many people (including many of Abercrombie's customers) feel is racist and offensive
-These people have a right to protest and discourage Abercrombie from selling these T-shirts
To understand, you need to know a little bit about Asian American history, which is not taught in schools. Briefly, these shirts are highly offensive because for much of America's history, Asian Americans suffered from official discrimination: They were not allowed to become citizens, vote, own land, intermarry, immigrate (immigration from Asian countries was banned for over 50 years), among other things. The laundry shirt, for example, is offensive because for a long time Asian Americans were forced to take jobs as laundrymen (and restauranters) because they were not allowed to do other jobs. This is the source of the Chinese laundry/Chinese restaurant stereotype. I do not think the stereotypes or discrimination are funny and I don't appreciate Abercrombie exploiting them to make a profit.
While some may argue that Abercrombie might have intended to use these shirts as parody of negative stereotypes, the reality is that many of its customers buy into these stereotypes.
Would Abercrombie ever sell a T-shirt that depicted African Americans as drug dealers, rapists, and lazy welfare recipients?
No... so why is it ok for them to sell t-shirts depicting Asian Americans as ignorant restaurant owners, laundry men, and massage parlor operators who can't speak English right?
These and other stereotypes are why people say things like:
Oh he’s Asian, but he speaks English so well!
Oh he’s Asian, he must be smart, studying to be a doctor or computer programmer
Oh she’s Asian, she must be quiet and polite
Oh he's Chinese and he's working for a nuclear laboratory, watch out he might be a spy
Stereotypes cause people to assume things about others based solely on the color of the skin. Stereotypes can also make people feel like they don’t belong in their own country and and they can have devastating consequences e.g.:
-Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American who was killed because some laid-off autoworkers thought he was Japanese
-Joseph Ileto, a Filipino postal worker who was shot to death by a white supremacist
-and most recently Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Americans who have been harassed, attacked, and killed because of 9/11 events
There are a variety of other reasons people disagree with these shirts, but time limitations prevent me from discussing them in detail.
-----Original Message----- From: k haney [mailto:khaney@bham.rr.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 11:50 AM To: mail@boycottaf.com Subject: get a life
I am laughing my butt off! I am going to A&F ASAP to get these shirts - they will be a lovely addition to my "Fighting Whities" shirt from Colorado. Good luck with your shakedown of A&F!
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