Why Are There So Few Successful Half Asians?

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Yes!

But, Eikonabridge wanted a list of only half Asians with a white father, and Asian mother. Very specific. According to Eikonabridge, half Asians with Asian fathers don't have the same issues. I don't understand this at all.

Steve Jobs father was Asian. But, I will also mention Steve Jobs biological sister: Mona Simpson. She is a bestselling novelist, and is a college professor (or was). She was also on a t.v. series in her youth.

Ben Silbermann, the founder of Pinterest. Asian mother, white (maybe Jewish ?) father... very successful dude, the last time I checked. Can hardly be considered "unsuccessful", in any case.

l personally know of a ton of adults who are half-Asians (on their mothers' sides) and of European descent on their fathers' sides, but - against seemingly all the "odds" - seem to be doing really well for themselves. But there's no way I am sharing their names on this website... but suffice it to say that they exist !

Kamala Harris - another half-Asian individual, although the father is African-American. so not the same "mix" as Mr. Eikonabridge is postulating, but still managed to be successful despite the "handicap of an Asian mother" (note quotes) ! !!

Nora Jones. Love her music. Asian dad, white mom. And I think that this entire exercise and discussion is reprehensible and racist.

I am honestly not sure which is worse: the racism or the sexism.

Sexism is the reason the particular mix is the problem vs just a racist screed against having biracial children.

Apparently, If I am understanding the point that the blogger the OP cites is making, is that the Asian mother is the most to blame b/c she schemes to marry into white privilege and then her (male) children are doomed to a lonely life of bad dating prospects because supposedly no one wants to date an Asianish-looking man.

No--It could not be the blogger's entitled attitude that is the problem./sarcasm.

It is the white man's fault for "stealing" the Asian woman from some "more deserving" Asian or half-Asian; but the Asian woman is even more to blame for being a collaborator in the theft, in pursuit of status or whatever nonsense being alleged.

Really a disgusting argument all around.

Apparently, the half-Asian (mother), half-European (father) males are doomed to not only be genetically unacceptable as potential mates in the dating world, but if I understand the OP right, they are also professional and financial losers. Miraculously, however, those with White mothers but Asian fathers are rip-roaring successes.

As for Asian women scheming to marry into White privilege -- sounds very Stormfront-ish to me, except that Stormfront blames the white male for being a "race traitor" who has succumbed to "yellow fever" (the ignorance there, of course, is that -- unbeknownst to the Klan and its ilk -- Asia is a veritable melting pot and people who identify as "Asians" can look ANY color and ANY race, including "white").

Yes, this thread is an exercise in racism and sexism.

I have been googling on this issue since two years ago, when I first came to realize that I don't see many half-Asian big names in Science/Technology fields. I have many half-Asian relatives and friends. So, it's a natural curiosity. It would seem odd to anyone that cares. As for this last time, it was because of my parents' recent visit, where they mentioned about seeing the children of their friends having cute half-Asian babies. I can't possibly dislike intermarriages, since I personally have one. Ha ha. I tutored minority students. I ate Indian food for two years because of a mix-race Indian roommate. I also forced myself to learn Portuguese because Spanish speakers tend not to do that. I consider Brazil my emotional homeland, because among all major countries, the racial relationship there is just so much better. I traveled around the world. Well, nothing that any scientist of today doesn't do. Most of my friends marry across cultures. My best friends usually speak at least 3 or 4 languages, and marry across cultures. I speak 5.5 languages myself, and marry across cultures.

Caring about people is what I do. It's also what my wife does, why otherwise do you think she'd go through the blog of the "Eurasian Writer"? If there is an issue, brushing it aside doesn't make it disappear.

Also, to most people, what you see in the news is just news. But, if you have personally seen tragedies, I can guarantee you that your view on the world, and on life in general, would get closer to mine.

Please re-read my message, and don't put the "Eurasian Writer"'s words in my mouth.

The whole point is: these children focus too much on the popularity game. Instead of developing their skills, they worry too much about social aspects. And I see the same parallel with the way how we have been raising autistic children in these last 73 years. People place too much emphasis on socialization, instead of skill development. Also, parents never taught their children what Richard Feynman has said so succinctly: "What do you care what other people think?"

As for "Eurasian Writer," he is married. Maybe he'll be a father someday. By then, I can guarantee you that he'll change. If you look at the comments made to him by other people, you'll find out that most people are cool headed and not bothered in the slightest by his style. Most of them make constructive comments. Despite the impression of a few people here, our society is still reasonable. Most people still care.

If anybody doesn't like his video, there is an easy solution: come up with a list of 10 names that he has requested. I believe it's doable. And then, go ahead and prove he is wrong. So far, I see only two names here that fit his criterion. And those two names are coming from me.

There is a lot more to do. Inviting Commander Harry Harris to speak on campuses (or via web conferencing) is an obvious next step. Children always need role models. There are positive actions that can be taken. But if you deny that there is an issue, you block yourself off thinking positively.

I thought I was pretty clear about what was coming from the "Eurasian Writer." The issue is why you think this is good stuff to link to. His vitriol, racism and sexism were very clear. Fitzi did a good job of quoting some of it. I really don't want to put any more of it on here, but I think I did a pretty good job of encapsulating the general gist of it in my latest response regarding the sexist aspect of it.




If your main point is that kids focus too much on socialization and not on skills there are many examples you could have given that did not focus on this one type of relationship or highlight racist or sexist screeds. I get that you researched it because of your own relationship and perhaps you were relieved to find sources that showed that your particular racial combination is not the one complained about on this blogger's site. That said, your larger point of socialization vs skills is a broad one, and would have been better served by arguing it in a different manner.




I did look at the comments and most were frankly horrid, and even worse than that of his main blog.

I think the best way to deal with an offensive blog like that is to ignore it, or maybe not share it around the web. Going through the red herring exercise is an exercise in futility, as you did exactly what I predicted and ignored everyone's attempted contributions and only declared your own as valid.


...


So you are agreeing with me now that you started a racist, sexist thread? Excellent!

You realize that you are the one that brought the (in your very words) Stormfront-ish material here in the first place. What do you think I was summarizing? It was the stuff from Eurasian Blogger that you wanted us to look at. I think it is obvious from context, but just to clarify--this is the opposite of my opinion. This is the opinion of the person you linked to, who is apparently as a married person, still upset about all the dating opportunities he did not get as a younger person.

You can have empathy for him, if that is your bent, but I don't -- because I don't typically have empathy for racist, sexist people.

Actually, I was the one you quote above who said the thread's OP is very Stormfrontish. The OP merely ignored my posts in this thread as they plainly did not agree with the premise of his racist OP.

Mea Culpa. I am sorry. Sometimes I get my quotes messed up and I mess up who said what, in my head.

Yeah, I agree with you that the blog is as Stormfront-ish, for sure. I don't know why this was used to argue that kids need to focus on skills instead of relationships. That is not the focus of the blog.

Kit Armstrong, prodigy pianist and composer.

Terry Tao, MacArthur "genius" and superstar math professor who got tenure at 21 at UCLA.

Both have very interesting background. Thanks. I digged a bit into them. Not exactly sure about Kit Armstrong's family, since he or his parents don't seem to mention much publicly. His mother (May Armstrong) is originally from Taiwan, and seems to work as an investment banker.

Update: she is also an economist, and at least is quoted in an article as having raised Kit Armstrong on her own (there seem to be some questions regarding the biological father.)

Terry Tao: not sure whether he is Hapa or 3/4 Asian. His father has a full Chinese name (陶象国), was born in Shanghai and studied in Hong Kong, where he met Terry'a mother, a mathematician. Another tidbit of interest:
http://www.wenxue100.com/baokan/18513.thtml
陶家的三个孩子都有数学天分。陶哲轩的弟弟特雷弗是国际象棋高手，音乐天赋极佳，一部管弦乐作品听一遍就能在钢琴上弹奏出来，但患有自闭症。他后来拿到数学博士学位，现在澳大利亚一家国防科技机构工作。老三奈杰尔，告诉父母“我不是另一个Terence”，所以，陶象国夫妇放缓他的速度。他拿到经济学、数学和计算机的博士学位，现在是Google的一名计算机工程师。
Basically, Terry's younger brothers are also in the science/technology fields. The second of the three brothers is quoted here as having autism.

Update: http://www.math.ucla.edu/~tao/whoami.html According to Terry himself: "Both my parents are Chinese." Whatever that means.

Here is also a good book on raising Hapa children:

Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children in a Post-Racial World (New Critical Viewpoints on Society)
http://www.amazon.com/Raising-Mixed-Race-Multiracial-Post-Racial/dp/1138999466/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Some readers there have complained a bit: the book seems good at unveiling the existing problem, but offer little advice beyond having a conversation with the children. Anyway, written by a woman, feminist, interviewing 68 families and 75 children, I guess this book is not based on "anecdotes" or "gross generalization," right? A good start. Studies after studies have shown mixed-race children in general, and half-Asian in particular, have higher incidence of psychological issues. And now, there is this book, too, talking about these children having to grow up in a racist society.

Denying an issue doesn't make it go away. Facing it head on is the only way to solve the problem. Looking at successful half-Asian role models, and it's easy to realize that skills are what have gotten them to where they are today.

Last edited by eikonabridge on 23 May 2016, 9:12 am, edited 2 times in total.

What is really the POINT to all this?

There are many successful 3/4 Asians.

There are many successful 1/2 Asians.

There are many successful 1/4 Asians.

There are many successful full Asians, and people with no Asian blood whatsoever.

Don't people have something better to do than to research this sort of thing?

How does this sort of research increase our knowledge base?

I read the summary of the book on Amazon and it does not appear to single out bi-racial children with a white father and Asian mother as being a loathsome combination. That is what the Eurasian blogger does. If you started a conversation about the challenges of raising bi-racial children in a racist society, no one would have accused the post of being racist or sexist.

No one is saying American society and particular individuals within this society are not racist. I don't think anyone would have argued that racism against bi-racial Asian-white mixed people exist. I doubt anyone would have objected to that discussion. The problem was that you injected a blogger's racist and sexist screeds into your discussion.

The fixation on which parent is white and which is Asian, and if the person is 1/2 or 3/4 of something is veering back to that place.The specific parentage is not going to make a difference in how a child is perceived by society. If the child appears white, s/he will be treated that way. If s/he appears Asian s/he will be treated that way. If the child appears mixed, regardless of which parent is what and regardless of specific percentage. the child will be treated by society as mixed. The only time percentage would matter is if it caused the child to be perceived by society as not-mixed.

It would be even more swell if the child is treated as an individual.

The reality is frequently otherwise, however.