UCLA student rants about Asians on Youtube, gets death threats, withdraws from school.

[everygirl]

A copy of the video can be found here:

News article about response found here: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ucla-speech-20110319,0,6304016.story

Everyone is discussing this besides us.

Three quick thoughts that went through my head after watching this video follow.

1) People still talk on their cell phones? Are their thumbs broken from too much texting? Man, the only person who still calls me is my mother and I never answer half the time. I text her back.

2) I don't think it can be argued that she is being insensitive and offensive. I mean, the ignorance shown there is kind of breathtaking, and I don't want to believe that anyone can actually agree with the sentiments shown there. But I'm not sure if death threats -- real ones, not anonymous ones on message boards -- are really warranted for this situation. Especially since they caused her to withdraw from school! If there's anyone who needs a college education -- maybe an anthropology class? Cultural studies? -- it's that girl.

3) I can't believe anyone that young doesn't understand the internet. How fast videos can spread, and the long term consequences. It's suicide on google. Anyone who searches her name will find that video, for probably years to come. The stupidest thing about that video is her apparent thought that there would be no consequences for filming that.

A pretty good response video can be found here:

Now. Discuss?

[Sparky]

2) I don't think it can be argued that she is being insensitive and offensive.

Whether death threats are warranted is a completely different matter than whether what she says is offensive! Which, in all seriousness, SHOULD NOT BE UP FOR DEBATE.

ETA: The OP's wording confused me, and I read the above line backwards and inside out. We agree on this point--the girl who made the original video is insensitive and offensive. My bad.

But sure--let's all rush to worry about the crying little white girl and how she's been hurt by everyone calling her a racist. Sure. Because that's not racist at all. What about the Asian and Asian-American students at UCLA who received yet another reminder of the vitriol with which some people hate them?

Edited March 22, 2011 by Sparky

[chaospaladin]

Is she taking Spring 2011 Quarter off or is she withdrawing completely?

[everygirl]

:blink:

Whether death threats are warranted is a completely different matter than whether what she says is offensive! Which, in all seriousness, SHOULD NOT BE UP FOR DEBATE.

Hmmm -- not sure I'm getting this here. Did I imply that I didn't think she was being offensive? If so, please don't misunderstand me -- of course I think she's being offensive, stupid and racist. My point was that I think death threats are kind of an extreme reaction to this video. With people like this, one should educate them, ostracize them... but don't kill them?

Anyway, she's probably getting quite an education right now. Even if it's just that you shouldn't put brain farts like that on youtube!

[eklavya]

yea, she is dumb and ignorant, that's proven. and people would've not cared about this 'rant' at all, had it not been the timing. she released the video what, 3-4 days after the tsunami broke in? hundreds of thousands of people, of all nationality and races (not just asians) took an offense because they thought it was a horrible thing to do... being insensitive towards one of the biggest disasters humanity has ever seen. and that too, coming from a college student. am not saying she deserved it, but she should have seen it coming, given this age of media transfer and publicity.

that said, i do feel bad for her, and her family. i heard she withdrew from school last week.

[Sparky]

Hmmm -- not sure I'm getting this here. Did I imply that I didn't think she was being offensive? If so, please don't misunderstand me -- of course I think she's being offensive, stupid and racist. My point was that I think death threats are kind of an extreme reaction to this video. With people like this, one should educate them, ostracize them... but don't kill them?

Anyway, she's probably getting quite an education right now. Even if it's just that you shouldn't put brain farts like that on youtube!

Ohhhhh. You meant that, the fact that she is racist can't be argued against, NOT that one can't make a solid case she is racist. That makes a lot more sense, lol. I'm sorry; I'll edit my first post accordingly.

My point about why everyone is suddenly so concerned about the crying white girl, however, remains.

[michpc]

1) People still talk on their cell phones? Are their thumbs broken from too much texting? Man, the only person who still calls me is my mother and I never answer half the time. I text her back.

You'd be surprised. I haven't been to a college library since my undergrad (class of '06), so I can't comment on that, but at the public library where i worked on most of my applications, you had to go to the quiet/study rooms to avoid loud, rude people talking to others and on their cell phones, not to mention children running around and screaming, etc. Once I realized that, i avoided it on the weekends at all costs because generally the reading and study rooms were totally full and if you were lucky enough to find a seat in a more common area, it was way too loud to concentrate. Kind of sad.

[id quid]

I thought this was a very reasonable response to that video.

[qbtacoma]

Thanks for posting that thought-provoking response video, saecla vincere - it bucked me up enough to watch the original video, which I had been avoiding.

I doubt this woman would benefit from going to an anthropology class. In my experience the students who are forced to be in classes with a heavy emphasis on diversity will deeply resent it and sulk the whole time, as well as mulishly refusing to even consider the authors' perspectives if it doesn't immediately jive with them. They think in terms of us vs. them to such an extent that they don't even recognize the fact that there is no such thing as THE black or THE Asian perspective, so any experience voiced by people of color they take as oppositional and, of course, self-centered and wrong. I don't know how students like this can be jarred out of their complacency, but they see efforts to do so from a mile away and have already hardened their minds against it. As you can tell, I tired quickly of such classmates.

And you know what? Fuck this woman's opportunity for a degree. Her classmates don't deserve to be subjected to her. If she expressed those thoughts to another person it would be bullying, and I think it is progress that we can say (via social pressure) "No, this perspective is so invalid that you can't meaningfully contribute to the community here anymore." It isn't like she was making the most of her educational opportunities while she was there, so maaaaaybe this reaction will snap her out of it. Even if it doesn't, UCLA is better off without her.

As for the death threats, well, just goes to show that bad behavior is universal, especially when you throw in the anonymity of the internet.

[Golden Monkey]

The remixes of this are incredible. This is my favorite:

[qbtacoma]

Wow. That was incredibly catchy.

This is the first time I've really checked out the YouTube thing where people post videos and then have conversations with other videos. I kind of like it. It's like having cool conversations with random strangers.

[beanbagchairs]

Incredible... stupidity at its best

[thesnout]

I hope this girl learned her lesson. She tells people not to take it offensively. What was she thinking? "Hoards of Asian people...". This is a multicultural/multiethnic/multiracial world. UCLA isn't going to stay prodominently white forever.

When I would hear people on their phones I would either tell them to shut up and move or I would be the bigger person and move myself to a quieter area. I hope this serves as a lesson to how fast videos can go viral. This behaviour can mess up a individual's future. Imagine she goes in for a job interview and the employer is like "Ohhh, you're that girl from the video..." not hired!

And the whole "ching chong, etc". I can't believe she even did that. I mean really? Clearly this girl needs to have a real epiphany.

oh boy...

[hello! :)]

No need to feel bad for her. My prediction is that she will survive just fine. There are plenty of other states in the USA that will be more than happy to welcome her, unfortunately.

[was1984]

[quote name=hello! ' timestamp='1301190638' post='232576]

No need to feel bad for her. My prediction is that she will survive just fine. There are plenty of other states in the USA that will be more than happy to welcome her, unfortunately.

[hello! :)]

@was1984 I wasn't pointing at any particular state.

[hello! :)]

Hmm.. My point is that, IMHO, it isn't far-fetched to imagine that she might find it easier to find forgiveness and sympathy in another area of the country that may be more homogeneous (ref. this great link posted by Sparky). I'm certainly not saying that this will be true for everyone that she meets there, nor am I asserting that those people who would be sympathetic to her situation wouldn't see anything wrong with what she had said.

I am saying that, on the whole, California has some of the most diverse cities in the nation (Los Angeles, in particular). So comparatively, there may be some places out there that will be more welcoming to her – but not "welcoming" in the sense that they support her words or whatever.

Hope that clarifies a little bit...

Edited March 27, 2011 by hello! :)