The UCLA Mess

As most of you may have already seen this video gone viral overnight, I am only posting here to talk about the actions of the reactions. Yes, I could go on and on about the stereotypes spewing out of her mouth (and that's only in the first 2 minutes, as I was so disgusted to watch it until the end), how she keeps contradicting herself saying she's not a racist nor is it meant towards any of her Asian friends, or how this girl's vision of the world is so skewed she doesn't realized that she needs to check her sensitivity about Tsunami victims now that it's Japan's that's hurting. I can certainly go into the history of racism towards Asian Americans,  and I can certainly cite examples of current swipes at our community done through mainstream media, but I'm not going to. Why? Because for one, I dont need to, or I don't think I need to. I'd like to safely assume that any readers of the Yellow Rage blog are intelligent enough to have that knowledge already and are socially aware of those kinds of things to not need to warrant an academic lecture out of me, especially not on my blog. What I'm more concerned about is the reaction of viewers.

I first learned about this last night (Sunday) through a tweet from Disgrasian, and later retweeted putting my own two cents in. Like most people, I was angry at the entitlement this girl felt she had, but also that she felt her opinions were going to be backed by everyone who saw her video. I figured the internet would have their fun with her, and she would get what she deserves in the end. When I woke up this morning and saw yet more of my Facebook friends posting and reposting, and that the Youtube channels hosting her video had been bombarded witheven more racist and sexist comments, not to mention that some people started posting her address and phone number, my anger started to shift towards the reactions of the viewers. Don't get me wrong, I still feel a seething rage that makes me glad I do not live anywhere near the UCLA area, but how are we supposed to vilify this girl and make her own responsibilities to her actions when some of the things done in retaliation are equally unjustifiable, or, in the case of posting her personal info, a lot worse? People are going to keep sharing, emailing, reposting, retweeting, and posting comments, but what does that do besides making this girl another popular internet sensation? What about writing to the Dean of UCLA (which you can do here at chancellor@ucla.edu), or how about having a thorough discussion in your social studies or media class? Simply clicking and sharing is not enough. Neither is posting foul comments about her physique or race -- sure it may make you feel better but you know that girl isn't going to read it, so who are you putting the show on for? If you don't care who sees it, or the consequences that may follow then are you any better than she is? She thought she was exercising her freedom of speech, what are you going to do with yours? It's like we seem to have forgotten that the first principle of making change happen is to be the change we wish to see. That girl could've easily asked whomever it was to be quiet, or ask the Librarian to do it. That girl could've had a convo in private with her Asian friends and they could've easily checked her before she went public with her rant. Now we have this UCLA mess.

I'm posting this video here with the simple request that if you feel something, say something, but please do so in way that is constructive and not directed at anyone or anything in particular, but at change itself.

--Catzie