One common complaint I see of weeaboos is that they have unrealistic perceptions of Japan from watching anime and that's bad, and harmful to people of Asian descent; therefore, they deserve to be socially punished. Now, it may very well be harmful to people of Asian descent, but one commonality I notice among these weeaboos is that most of them are teenagers. My first thought in response to that is: Teenagers are stupid. That's why they still have curfew, that's why there are laws against statutory rape, and that's why we have juvenile court proceedings. Teenagers may fancy themselves mature or grown-up, but in reality they still have major problems with impulse control and other areas because their brains are still not mature.
Not only that, but having unrealistic perceptions of other another culture from consuming media or otherwise hearing about it isn't exactly unprecedented. Many old-time immigrants to America thought our streets were
paved in gold, and indeed some took that rather literally:
Quote:
An old Italian saying summed up the disillusionment felt by many: "I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, found out three things: First, the streets weren't paved with gold; second, they weren't paved at all: and third, I was expected to pave them." In spite of the difficulties, few gave up and returned home.
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snpim1.htmAnd in modern times, TV shows spread the world over make people think it's cool to live in America. When I travelled along the old Route 66 to get here to California, a Russian friend I know online thought that was awesome as crap. In fact, prior to him bringing it up, I did not even know I was taking that route. Apparently, these TV shows have a huge impact on perceptions. In fact, I think that certain cities often showing up on American TV a lot (like Los Angeles and New York) probably makes people think those locations are cool, too.
If freaking grown-ups have these misconceptions, then what do you expect of teenagers?
Now, they tell me, But still, Asian-Americans are harmed by them, and thus this should be stamped out, with regards to Japan. Certainly, but go easy on the teenagers! Again, teenagers are stupid! People need to having unrealistic expectations of freaking teenagers. It's these unrealistic expectations that gave us the "superpredator" myth and juveniles increasingly being tried as adults in criminal court, and that pedophiles try to exploit when they rationalize their crimes against minors. This has caused serious damage to teenagers, especially teenagers of color (due to the intersection with implicit racial bias), and we're just now trying to finally undue that damage. The reason why we have protections for these teenagers in the first place is: Teenagers are stupid! Not only that, but they are starting to form identity at this age, and if you label them "superpredator," for example, and make
that their identity; well, what do you expect?
(I notice, too, that most of these complaints about teenagers having unrealistic conceptions of Japan come from other teenagers.)
Now, I agree Orientalism is a major problem, and even as a white person I cringe when other white people are doing that as well, but that's a cultural problem, not a problem of one specific person. Nevertheless, I am in agreement that whites, especially white ADULTS, should try to rein that crap in.
Farther down in the thread you talk about a real issue.
But that real issue has little to do with anything you have said in this OP.
I am a native born American who has taken car trips across the US, and I ALSO think that its "cool as crap" that you got to drive route 66!
Dont know why you have a problem with your Russian friend appreciating the significance of Route 66.
In fact your Russian friend has a commendable grasp of American geography that should be applauded. Most folks in Europe think that the Wild West starts at the city limits of New York City, and have no sense of the various regions of the US that you go through as you go west. In contrast your friend does seem to grasp that.
Second:you're implying that Japan as a country is somehow a victim of American teenagers who consume animie. I doubt that you could persuade Japan of that because they make tons of money exporting that stuff to us! Just like Hollywood makes tons of money exporting Rambo to the world.
However (not in this op, but farther down in the thread) you DID show that animie conventions attract creepy wierdos who threaten young women (as women, not as Asian Americans). So I concede that that could be a real problem. But those creepy wierdos would exist in society anyway whether animie existed to draw them to one place or not.
This one actual real issue you're talking about has little obviously to do with any of this other stuff about "Orientalism" (whatever that word even means) that you're dragging in to it.
Not an expert on Animie but I know that in FYE stores some of it you cant buy with out an adult ID, and some of it is "clean" enough to buy without ID. Buy maybe even the "clean" stuff maybe isnt all that clean. So maybe you're right that animie should be monitored for minors more than it is.
06 Feb 2016, 3:45 pm
