It's so fascinating to me that the principle of "judge people on their merit, not on their race" grew out of minority (African-American) civil rights struggles, and yet it is constantly being co-opted by people who use it for the promotion/inclusion of the majority group at the expense of minorities. The point of…

This is not the same group of women. The women in this article are from the city of Daegu. If you're referencing the same poster on Reddit as I am, that poster specifically put up this picture as a contrast, to show that another group of Korean beauty pageant contestants (who happen to be from Seoul), without makeup…

You make some relevant points, but to your last comment, South Korea isn't in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asians, for that matter, probably have more ethnic heterogeneity and phenotypical diversity across the board than East Asians.

I already made this point on Gawker, but this is NOT the Miss Korea pageant. This is a regional beauty pageant in the city of Daegu, for its representative to the Miss Korea pageant. So it's a much smaller pool of individuals than those selected for the entire country. I understand that people Westerners LOVE to talk…

Er, I think you responded to the wrong comment. Maybe the wrong article. Possibly the wrong website.

Hmm, according to this document, "crimes of moral turpitude" still form a rather broad category. Domestic abuse is mentioned in the form of incest and child abandonment, but not partner violence specifically (there's a general category for assault with various types of intent). In terms of denying naturalization,…

That sounds like the father's interpretation of why his son was denied citizenship. I would think that an arrest of any nature would be a impediment to obtaining citizenship; it sounds like the father is annoyed that beating women is illegal at all. Unless someone knows more about the immigration process than I do -…

Actually, the movement to replace "Oriental" with "Asian" in the US goes back even further than that. While most Americans under the age of 50 do know that "Oriental" is now an obsolete term (at least in the US), most don't know how or why it happened. It really has nothing to do with food and rugs vs. people, it…

That reminds me of Sherman Alexie's recent comment. What's interesting is that unlike the anti-race-mixing sentiments by the stereotypical demographic opposed to interracial unions (uneducated, redneck), this particular type of disapproval can be seen amongst people who are otherwise considered intelligent, liberal,…

An actor can affect an accent from another part of the country. That's part of acting. What's stopping an Asian American actress with a California accent from "cultivating" an "all American" accent as well?

Yes, many people who live in East Asia still use the term "Oriental"; the exclusive use of "Asian" to denote people with ancestry from that region is very much an American phenomenon. People tend to think it's because of some distinction between people vs. food and rugs or some such nonsense, but it's really because As…

The geisha whose life the novel was based upon, Mineko Iwasaki, filed a lawsuit against Arthur Golden, whom she claimed divulged her identity against her wishes and misrepresented aspects of the geisha profession. She ended up writing her own book to set the record straight.

Is there something wrong with "East Asian"?

I am fascinated by the case of James Shigeta, a Japanese American actor-singer whose career began in the 1950s and who, from the looks of this compilation video, had an array of roles—including many romantic leads—far more diverse than any Asian American actor working today. Compared to him and Sessue Hayakawa, it…

Sandra Oh played the lead in a Canadian film, Last Night, a role which also had nothing to do with being Asian. The director later remarked that he hadn't set out to deliberately cast an Asian woman in the role, but that when the film was released, interviewers in other countries would ask him things like, "Why did…

I keep thinking that Margaret Cho could have taken this approach, thereby using the experience to "enhance her relationship" with members of the Korean community, but instead chose to write a self-aggrandizing piece seeking validation from her mainly non-Korean fanbase which already agrees with her.

Not quite reading the tenor of your comment, but she is way more culturally American than Korean - there's no question about that. However, the point (which you might be trying to make here, I can't tell), is that older Koreans, like the ladies at the spa, don't view her as an American, they view her as a Korean, and…

I don't disagree with your observations about the ajummas; it's a losing battle to expect them to change their attitudes. Also, the publication of this article in a place like Jezebel puzzles me. I don't see the value in seeking high-fives from an audience that, for the most part, isn't aware of and has no empathy for…

Do you have a link to where Park Bom talks about this? I would be really interested in hearing what she has to say about this whole issue.

Yes, K-pop has international fans. Personally, I like 2NE1 and I hope they succeed, but I know that the global popularity of K-pop is WAY overstated by Korean and K-pop media outlets. (That list you linked to of Western celebrity "fans" who "support" K-pop includes Daniel Radcliffe who said he was given a Girls'…