 How can Asian Americans be more effective in politics? Let's talk about this. Oh, man, this is a trending topic right now because this is election season, Andrew. In the past, there were Asians running on the left. Right now, there's a few Asians running on the right. But this is just a topic that is top of mind right now for the more politically-minded Asian crowd, Andrew, because there have been a couple of instances that have popped up, of course, over the past four years that have sort of highlighted what are the potential downsides of Asian Americans having very little political willpower. Yeah, no, I think people are starting to realize, be like, hey, Asians not having political power in America actually does matter. And if we want all the help that we can get and all the support, we have to be represented in those fears. So we are going to be talking about how Asian Americans can be more effective in politics. I know that, you know, let us know in the comments down below what you think. Hit that like button right now. But you know what else can make Asians more effective in the dining room? In the kitchen, we got Sma La Sauce. Check out the Instagram page at Sma La Sauce. We have a lot of cool content. Get yours right now. Do you think it's true that Asians don't understand how politics impact their life? Or is it more that they know that it does but they just don't really care? I think a lot of Asians in the back of their mind, they kind of understand that it does. But I think a lot of Asians, to be honest, believe that they can outwork it. So they're like, it's all good. I'm not paying attention to politics. I'm just going to keep working and I'm going to be fine. Or, Andrew, not just outwork it. Let me challenge you there or supplement it. Outadapt it. Like in the sense that they're like, well, you know, however the system shifts, I'll shift even more. So versus like, I believe that other more Western groups of people, they're more like, I want the politics to shift to where I'm at. But the Asians are more like, wherever the wind blows, I will blow too. But that whole attitude, and this is to the next point here, is that in our culture, being Asians, like is that culture that we carry over from Asia? Maybe it's the Confucian culture from like East Asia. The ability to fit into dynastic imperial systems. Yeah, or the tumultuous like political kind of histories that we come from like coming over here. Like, and that kind of doesn't make us want to be political in America. We're just like, okay, you know, we just come to America and we just want to make a better life. I don't want to think about politics. I don't want my kids in politics. I want them in engineering doctors. I think that's actually a mix. I think that some Asians don't understand how like, I guess the puppet mastering trickles down to them. And some of them are aware of it, but they're sort of like, I guess hopeless that the Asians as a group will amass any power within that system or that like pyramid. So why even try to begin with, why open up that can of worms perhaps, right? Or do Asians think that our capital economic power is going to speak louder than political power? Right, right, right. But if you really understand, once you move up high enough in the value chain in capitalism, it inevitably becomes heavily intertwined with politics. I would say a lot of Asians are more at like the low and the medium level in terms of even though the median numbers are very high, very few Asians are at that ultra high tier of capitalism where it is hyper intertwined with politics. You're right, you're right. So David, are there some quick things that you can point at before we get in the comment section? Yeah, I mean, like how are some ways- Functionally, listen guys, as an info, so this is going to be complicated under all you college kids out there, especially, you know, you guys are in the most political phase of your life. In a simple sense, more Asians would have to dedicate more of their brain power effort slice to thinking about politics and navigating those ladders. So like, essentially here is a pie chart right now, Andrew, there's a very, very tiny slice of that pie chart. That's probably what in a bird's eye view that the community is dedicating towards politics right now. That pie slice would have to increase significantly. Would it have to at least be as large as the pie slice for Boba? No, the Boba slice is probably higher than the political slice right now. For sure, I think so. I think it's got to feel fun. That's what I think Andrew Yang was trying to do. I do say, and you know, regardless of politics guys, take the politics out of it, the policies and the stump speeches or whatever out of it. Vivek Ramaswamy, he does make it look fun. He's trying to make it look fun. He's trying to make it look hip. I think he's losing steam, but yes, he did. I mean, dude, when he first started out, the gate with those interviews, it was looking like, hey, that's that smart, like type of Indian guy that I know that I went to college with. Kevin G is ripping all these white pundits apart. No, it looks fun, right? Can you change your culture? Like you were saying earlier, if a lot of Asian culture, and I think it's oversimplification, but there's truth and it is rooted in Confucianism, is it more Confucian to be submissive to the preexisting Western system that we're entering? Or is it more Confucian to try to shift the system to be more Confucian? Which one is more Confucian? Well, it's gonna be hard to shift the system because you're not in control of the system and the system is the system. That's like moving a boulder by yourself. It's nearly impossible. Why would you bet on it? But yeah, it's more likely you change your culture. And your type of thinking, yeah. And the truth is, the parents are probably, it depends, some parents, for example, Taiwan, South Vietnam, hyper-political, right? Very political places. Lots of Taiwanese and politics, lots of Taiwanese Americans. But you could be from a family that is hyper-non-political. So usually people's political leanings or their political activation levels is highly tied to the political activation levels of their parents. Right, and not to mention, little side note, it is even hard, I do think, for people of mainland Chinese descent or that were born in mainland China to rise up in politics at the moment. Oh, for sure, because people would doubt their loyalty or doubt whatever they've been compromised or whatever. It would just be another layer of an obstacle, yeah. Yeah, yes, yes, yes. I mean, obviously if you're from a country that is viewed as an American ally, it is completely different than coming from a country that is viewed as a rival, right? Somebody said, focus on issues that we can all support. I think that that's probably also one of the biggest things holding Asian Americans back, Andrew, is they can't agree, right? But there probably is some base level agreement, for example, stopping random attacks on Asians or whether that's Asian businesses being especially targeted because the people feel like Asians are soft, whether we're in our house and we have like gold in our mattress or we're at the small businesses and they just feel like it's nothing's gonna happen. Asians getting charged with assault when it's self defense, I think that most Asians would you agree can get behind that. Right, I mean, you're saying that these all kind of fall within Asians being safe though, like safety. When the immigrant shop owners get the raw end of the deal or they get less infrastructure deployment than another sector. Right, these are not old, but you're saying that Asians need to identify the issues that they really care about. I always thought that Asians really only care about three main things. If you could satisfy the Asian voter with three main points, they would probably vote for you being safety, schooling, and just like economics, whatever. And those are theoretically bipartisan and they don't really fit anywhere and anybody's tops to agenda right now, right? Exactly, exactly. Ultimately, let's just get into the comments section here and let's analyze some of the comments Andrew. This guy said, Asians need to be more assertive. I've seen South Asians be very assertive in the workplace, telling stories about their community and they're more assertive about pushing back against racist narratives in their countries of origin. How much do you think that's true that obviously, I'm not saying, you know, the South Asian experience, it is different than the East Asian and Southeast Asian experience. Just the immediate phenotypical perception is different from the society. But like the, I would say, I always say the biggest difference is that South Asians, they seem extroverted, whereas East Asians and Southeast Asians seem introverted. Yeah, I mean, introvert, extrovert, I think that's an easy way of labeling it, but I would say more that South Asians are a little bit more proactive with their communication of who they are. I think a lot of East Asians and Asians, we tend to be reactive when things happen. Then we pop up and be like, yo, wait, that's not right. You're saying we'll protest after the horrible thing already happened, right? Yeah, but then like South Asians, at least in the workplace, you know, they would probably be more communicative right off the bat, and therefore setting the tone of their identity. You know what I mean? You're saying they're getting ahead of it. Kind of, kind of, kind of, yeah. This guy said, we need to learn more about each other and the issues that are both common and unique to different Asian communities. How much is this true in the sense that Asian Americans, they might only care about their specific type of Asian, and they're not caring about another Asian from a different country of origin? Yeah, I think I do agree with this comment. I think that it's tough, depending on like what your goal is, because if your goal is just to change a couple of issues, then you gotta just focus on those. But of course, I hope in a macro that Asian Americans would know more about each other. Yeah, sometimes I would say, even when you take a large community like Chinese that has incredible income diversity, Andrew, sometimes there's a pretty big split between the rich, middle class, and poor. The group is so big, those almost break into their own factions with their own leanings. Somebody says, we have to build our financial base to be more effective in political donations. Money ultimately talks. Yeah, I do think so. And I think the donations thing is where a lot of like older Asians have trouble with because unless they really understand the political system, a lot of older Asians don't wanna pay money to support a political figure. Right. But that's how you're part of America. I think there's a hypocrisy amongst Asians sometimes where we're all like crying out loud being like, we just wanna be treated like every other American. We're just like every other American. And then it's like, yeah, but are you involved like every other American? Are you voting? Right, cause you're saying the stats aren't there. Are you involved in the civics of your city? Do you care? Are you like a good steward of your community? To be honest, I'm not saying Asians are bad stewards but I don't think they're very involved a lot of the time. Well, they tend to be more involved in their own family's issues or finances. So we kind of have to put our money, I mean our effort where our mouth is. This guy was talking about the assimilation plan that East Asians and Southeast Asians have versus South Asians because South Asians, they maintain their more, I guess, cultural names. Yeah. And they have their weddings be more cultural like less Westernized. But at the same time, they also have more leadership positions simultaneously. It is interesting. Yeah, I mean, I think we have to learn from our South Asian brothers and sisters on how they're. Well, I think it is different because they're fundamentally, they're more like an ethno-religious group. Whereas East Asians will never be ethno-religious. We will never have the second part. I mean, first of all, there's a lot of divisions amongst that group, by the way, like on the micro scale. Due to the religion. That we wouldn't even be able to tell from the outside actually. Only if you like really talk, personally talk to people like that. But no, I mean, I think English fluency is a huge aspect and their culture just being a little bit more, I guess, communicative, that helps a lot. I'll just say this. I think that the South Asian community, obviously colonized by the British for like 300 years or 200 years or something like that. Like, I think that they've had a lot of time to like gestate and think about the parts of their culture that they want to keep in the old ways and what they want to keep in the new ways. Yeah, they, they, they eat. I'll tell you this. Asians, there's not a cohesive plan. Well, I think it's, oh man, should we delve into this? I mean, I think it's tough because I think Asia is so powerful, like East Asia is so powerful between Korea, Japan, China and Vietnam. And then, you know, on a lower end, Philippines and Indonesia. Those are such, it's a lot of strength right there. So a lot of Asians tend to think, oh, we'll just be the bridge between those two versus ever fully becoming American. And being our own like powerful group. Yeah, but I think when South Asians come here, like Indians in my opinion, they're like, I'm not as concerned about being the bridge. I'm concerned about just succeeding in America. So I think it's two different levels of thinking. But one level of thinking prepares you more for leadership in America. And one level just prepares you to go back and work in Asia House factories. Yeah, I agree with you. Long story short, it's almost like you arrive in this new Western house, Andrew. Do you view yourself as a perpetual guest in the house? Like, it's your first time. Like, is it okay for me to sit here? Can I use the restroom? Or are you like taking ownership of your position as a citizen, which by the charter and by the constitution means that you should be just as involved in the household as everybody else. Yeah. Somebody was saying, what most people don't understand is that immigrants have been largely been used by the left to stay into power. As immigrants, people generally have no power. They're easy to brainwash and they're easy to convince on the basis of racism identity. This is basically what this guy, by the way, I'm not saying I agree with this comment. This guy was basically saying like, Asians shut off their critical thinking political brain because it's just assumed that they're supposed to be aligned with the left due to platitudes or something like that. I think that's partially true. Like, I can see why you said that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, I think that the truth is, people are starting to critically think more and make their own decisions based on their own principles, right? But like you said, because it's not an ethno-religious group, there's not necessarily any principles. Everybody's like gonna have different principles and value different things. And like, their American identity is gonna develop differently and what's their balance of their Eastern identity and their Western identity and which specific portions that they took. This guy is saying, Andrew, I'm generally realizing this now that no political group cares about us in America and it's making me appreciate the political apathy of my parents and their generation. Why should I spend so much time educating myself on all these different nuanced political issues when my vote doesn't even make a difference and I'm just gonna get targeted by both sides for hate crimes anyway? I don't know where you live, but I guess if you're in California, you could say your vote doesn't matter. But what I will say is, Is this too pessimistic? Where he's like, yeah, I'm glad my parents didn't teach me anything about that because I realize now it ain't worth it. But you don't need to know everything. I mean, I feel like just pick your top three or four issues that you care about and more know that. I think that there is a thing, I think there is pressure from Asians to be like, listen, if you're gonna be a political Asian, you better understand issues. While it's like, I think it can be more simple, man. That's what I think. Somebody said not to be a pessimist, but if you wanna prioritize Asians, it's not happening. The only Asians that get any movement in this system are the ones that prioritize others before Asians and it doesn't matter which side, left or right. The best bet is to change, is just voting with our pockets and choosing which sides we do and do not support. At the end of the day, democracy in the West is an illusion of choice. Those with the most money and influence have the power. A general cynical view, not to say that they didn't make some valid points. And other people were just saying, you know, we can be drowned out so easily at only five to seven percent unless we really increase our numbers and have a bunch of kids that it's just gonna be hopeless to like spend our brain power thinking about this. I'll say this, I do not think that Asians should take away any of their brain power or their brain slice that they're distributing currently to their own careers, to their own savings and helping out extended family members or members of their community. They should not siphon any of that and put that into political thinking. Now they could siphon off from maybe how much we're going to EDM shows or how much we're spending on watching animes or going to the boba shop or what are some other, you know what I mean? That we could siphon off some of that energy but don't give up the core of what obviously a lot of Asians that they view as our number one A or one B mission here in America. All right, so this is some last things, Andrew. And this is what just some guys saying. Overall, the main thing is money and resources. On the organizational side, we need to donate and support advocacy groups that align with what you believe in. On the political elected side, we need to donate and support candidates through all levels of government that align with your issues. On the bureaucratic side, we need to build relationships with those who work for the city, state, federal to move the needle and on the community side, ensure that the majority of the local community are in agreement with on a candidate or issue from then you could try to gain support of people from other races and other backgrounds to gain, you know, more consensus. Ultimately Andrew, what do you think? Because these are all things that he listed off that Asians could do, right? But will they do them? And what's the future? Because like we said, there's a lot of Asians Andrew, they're looking at a lot of incidents that pop up whether we're not feeling protected enough by the police or this thing or that thing, where we're like, hey man, having more political willpower might have solved this issue, but I don't know how much I can change to fix this for the future. Got to learn from the Indians, man. We got to take some notes from the Indians, man. East Asians, man, I'm not saying I think the Indian community nailed it, but they definitely seem more well adapted into politics while still maintaining a lot of their culture. So I think that that is something we need to be looking into and like learning from them, which I'm sure a lot of Asians do learn from them as well. You mean how to be more Asian and more American at the same time, right? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think they're, I don't know if they're more Asian, but they definitely keep certain Asian customs more pure. Maybe they compartmentalize them more or something like that, guys. I don't know. There's something about East Asian culture. It could be Confucianism. I'm not putting my finger on it, but I guess what I'm just saying is like, we could do a better job and we can actually have more representation in politics moving forward. And I think it is important. And there was a time in my life where I was like, F politics, man, F that system. I don't care about any of that. I, they don't care about us. But if you don't care about yourself, people are gonna notice. You know what it is, man. And I'm gonna say this. I just had this thought. I didn't even write it down in my script or anything. I realized that Asians just gotta understand it from a functional perspective. I think sometimes Asians that are like hyper political on the left or the right, but you know, maybe more on the left, they like try to sell you on this, like care about everything in the world and care about every issue that I care about to a 10 out of 10 level. And it's just like, that's a hard sell. You should just kind of sell it. Like I'm saying it right now, just from like a functional perspective, like it's gonna help you have a better day to day life without needing to like, you know what I mean? Like I'm not saying don't be a bleeding heart. I've been to all types of rallies, like way more than your average Asian person has in America, at least, you know, I've seen it all. I've seen the depths of everything. But it's like, it's just gonna be a hard sell to the community to say not only do you need to care, but you need to care how I care. Do you know what I'm saying? Cause I'm just like, that is a hard sell. Yeah, I didn't even go happen. Like, because I'm like, that does mean that you're dedicating all your thing and now you're watching all this stuff and now you're watching 500 YouTube videos on this side, 500 YouTube videos on that side. And I'm like, bro, Asians don't want to fill their brain with this stuff that a lot of Western people are filling their brain with. It's like, I'm a political Asian and if you're Asian and you want to be political, you gotta be like me. Right, right, right. But yeah, so I do think that, you know, I think if it was sold in a more functional way to the Asian community of like maybe we need to do the work to mitigate the cons instead of just popping up and protesting every time the cons flare up, you know, cause it's like a dormant until a situation exposes it. I think that that's ultimately the way to proceed forward. Is it just needs to be sold with different language, new marketing. All right, everybody, thank you so much. Let us know in the comments down below what you think, what are your thoughts, how can Asians be more effective in politics and why is it important? I think it is, but everybody again, hit that like button right now. And please introduce in the comment section and we encourage debates some creative ways because right now, and from an algorithmic bird's eye view, I'm looking down. I don't see any catalytic event yet that's gonna get everybody on the same, same page but maybe a little bit more than they used to be. Until next time, we'd hop up boys, we out, peace.