FSTDT Forums
Community => Entertainment and Television => Topic started by: Ultimate Paragon on September 09, 2015, 10:05:58 am
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/yifen-chou-white-author-uses-asian-pen-name-because-it-helps-him-get-published-more-often-10490578.html (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/yifen-chou-white-author-uses-asian-pen-name-because-it-helps-him-get-published-more-often-10490578.html)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/08/a-white-guy-named-michael-couldnt-get-his-poem-published-then-he-became-yi-fen-chou/ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/08/a-white-guy-named-michael-couldnt-get-his-poem-published-then-he-became-yi-fen-chou/)
Maybe they should have made the entries anonymous, with the identities only revealed after being selected.
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I would think that the real issue is why the (supposed) ethnicity of the author is even a factor in the first place when it comes to getting published. But no, let's just have a witch hunt instead, what could possibly go wrong?
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Yeah, I have no idea how to feel about this.
Does it make sense for race to matter when it comes to getting published? Ideally not, but, well, racism exists. You can't actually get race-neutral results without blinding of some sort, as UP suggests. I can totally see people thinking "I probably have some unconscious bias against non-white authors, so I should try to make an explicit effort to include them more" and overcompensating.
In that sense, did Michael Derrick Hudson somehow steal an opportunity from Asian authors? Well, maybe, but if anything the whole thing suggests there's no shortage of opportunities for Asian authors. His case could have been a fluke, but assuming it's not, there's nothing being stolen here.
Did he sour people on trusting anyone with an Asian name? Again, maybe, but probably not. People might be more careful checking that authors are who they claim to be, but that's not gonna hurt actual Asian authors.
Did he "appropriate" Asian names? I don't know, I don't understand cultural appropriation as a thing. I mean, in the broad sense it means people from one culture doing things associated with another culture, but that's not an inherently bad thing*.
Did he do "yellowface", as one blog put it? I mean, it's not like he dressed up as a Chinese stereotype for the purposes of parody. He just faked being Asian. It's not obvious to me why that's bad.
Did he offend people who suffered mockery and discrimination for having Asian names? Yes, definitely, and it's totally understandable for them to be bothered by it. But, well, people have lots of different personal experiences that mean that for anything you do someone has an understandable reason to be bothered by it. It's not Hudson's fault that other people were assholes (as far as I know, anyway, it's possible he was an asshole himself against someone over their name).
Was it unwise to do it? Almost certainly. Anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to the general discourse on race would have predicted this would blow up in his face when he was found out. But that doesn't justify a witch-hunt.
TL;DR: Everything is a giant mess when it comes to race.
*at least I hope not, given that I'm doing that right now by writing in English.
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I don't see how a nom de plume can be racist or cultural appropriation. Unless the author purports to be writing an autobiography then I don't see how it can matter.
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Did the name not to anyone off? Yi Fen Chou. Anyone who asks why I day that, say it aloud a couple times. What I got was Y' Effin Chow.
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Did the name not to anyone off? Yi Fen Chou. Anyone who asks why I day that, say it aloud a couple times. What I got was Y' Effin Chow.
...now that you've said that I can't read it as anything other than "Yiffin' Chow." Two kinds of people, I guess.
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Did the name not to anyone off? Yi Fen Chou. Anyone who asks why I day that, say it aloud a couple times. What I got was Y' Effin Chow.
...now that you've said that I can't read it as anything other than "Yiffin' Chow." Two kinds of people, I guess.
I suppose it does work up a mighty appetite. ... I'll see myself out.
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chow?
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/ChowChow2Szczecin.jpg/266px-ChowChow2Szczecin.jpg)
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Chow it's older slang for Asians. I've not heard it since Honky was a thing. But yeah.
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Did the name not to anyone off? Yi Fen Chou. Anyone who asks why I day that, say it aloud a couple times. What I got was Y' Effin Chow.
Yi-Fen Chou is the name of a real person (http://jezebel.com/of-course-that-white-man-poet-stole-the-name-yi-fen-cho-1729900950) though?
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Did the name not to anyone off? Yi Fen Chou. Anyone who asks why I day that, say it aloud a couple times. What I got was Y' Effin Chow.
While I know what you're saying, why are you writing so weird? Are you tired?
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Did the name not to anyone off? Yi Fen Chou. Anyone who asks why I day that, say it aloud a couple times. What I got was Y' Effin Chow.
While I know what you're saying, why are you writing so weird? Are you tired?
A combination of pretty good weed and autocorrect. Sorry, I'll do better in the future.