 Do you ever feel like your personality is just a little bit too stereotypical? And what can you do about it? Let's talk about it. Well, there's nothing you can do about it because that's just who you are. So just be who you are and stop complaining. No, that's not what the people want to hear, David. Anyways, there was this viral Reddit thread that was titled, Yo, how do you feel when you're doing something super stereotypically Asian? Do you embrace it? Yeah, this guy, he does Kung Fu. He's an assistant Taekwondo instructor. He loves watching anime and manga. He only eats out at Asian restaurants. And he said, man, I kind of feel like a stereotype because everything that you would think about a stereotypical Asian, I confirm that. And this turned into a whole post about, should he embrace it? Should he try to find more diverse influences? Everybody makes their own decisions growing up in America. How much traditional Asian stereotypical Asian culture are you influenced by? So of course, we got to get into our own takeaways, the comments section. So make sure you like, subscribe and turning your notifications. Well, you know what is not super stereotypical, but a little bit, David, is small ass sauce. It's a Chinese chili oil fused with the Sichuan peppercorn chili oil, but also Italian chili oil. So it's kind of this weird mix. But anyways, guys, pre-orders are still going on right now. Check out the Instagram for all the content that we've been making. So you are saying you're Chinese guys making like Chinese fusion oil because you probably grew up in the West and you are a Chinese fusion yourself. Yeah, you know, I'm trying to balance the East and the West. Anyways, David, so right off the bat, I guess let's get into a real quick, your personal opinion. Do you feel like a stereotypical Asian? Why or why not? Man, I was thinking about it and this is a good Reddit post. You know why? Because it sparks self-reflection and everybody's answer is different. Even two people in a family could be different, right? I would say this. I do feel like stereotypical in some sense, in the sense of like, you know how on TikTok, there's a people breaking down like, oh, Asian Hooper fits like these things and he looks like this and he has a Nike Tech Fleece. Well, I just did a brand deal with Nike for Nike Tech Fleece, you know? Check out his Instagram. So I'm saying like, yes and no. But maybe I would say the extent of the mishmash of stereotypes is more rare in the sense that I've studied a lot of Americana culture, both white and black heritage American culture, as well as international culture from places not Asia, but as well as a very, very deep study of Asian culture. So that mix of those things is not stereotypical, but you meet Asians quite often that fit into one or two of those archetypes. Right. Well, let's just say out of 10 main Asian stereotypical traits, you might rank, just give yourself a ranking. I don't know. Like in some ways, I would like culinary wise, I might be like a seven or eight, you know, but I just think the combination of being so deep in all these different archetypes is rare. Yeah, I mean, I would say most Asians, I guess on a scale of one to 10, probably have some stereotypical traits, but that doesn't mean you're 10 out of 10. And I think this guy is asking this question, this is my hunch, is that probably something happened in his life that made him second guess if being super stereotypically Asian is the best move for him. But was he sort of using, and forgive my language here guys, like a Chinese nerd scale, like or more of an East Asian sort of nerd scale? Well, stereotyped for Filipinos are a little bit different. Right, right. Or even stereotyped for Vietnamese people are slightly different. Or is there one scale in Filipinos just rank way less stereotypical on that scale than Chinese? He's basically saying, yo, man, am I too much of a nerdy Asian? That's kind of what he's asking. And I think what my answer to him is that just based off his short description of himself, I don't know what happened in his life, but I would say he's only, he's a little bit, but it really depends on, I think, how you carry yourself. Because I think in America, interest-wise, that's stereotypical. Maybe he drinks boba. He likes Asian restaurants. He only likes, he likes to watch J.A.V. and all this other like nerdy stuff. But I'm just saying. You're saying he has that, this phone sideways, but it's probably an Android, watching some sort of like cracked anime stream while he's at Shabu Shabu, all you can eat in California. But does he have that American confidence? And I think this American confidence in who you are can carry you very, very far and can make a lot of people feel differently about you. I'm sure he feels outsided from white and black culture in America probably. That's why he's questioning. But let's be clear here. America in a mainstream sense usually has only two polar zones on the spectrum, right? White culture. And there's various versions of white culture, right? You have like corporate white culture. You have like country white culture. But then you have also African-American culture, right? Those are the two things. In Asian and Latino groups, Andrew, we often feel the need to triangulate ourselves with either both or one of these polar cultural spectrums, but also our own country of origin or region of origin culture, right? So for Latinos, that would be being in a reggaeton or mariachi music or the culinary things. And for Asians, that would be more being into K-pop, K-pop, the culinary things from Asia, as well as of course, Andrew, martial arts or Buddhism. Yeah, exactly. But if they don't choose stereotypical, whatever that means, Asian culture, I know some Asians, David, who leaned into almost what you would feel like is stereotypical white and black culture. Like, we know Asians who almost act, I guess, stereotypically black or stereotypically white. Right. And that was that a function of them wanting to assimilate, to have a better life and fit in with the people in their local environment? Or was that just like something that just happened organically because that was their nurture? I don't know. But anyways, guys, we're getting to the comment section because there's more discussion to go around. This first comment is by a woman. She says, I'm basically a walking stereotype. I like Boba. I prefer Asian food. I enjoy anime, mangas, Asian dramas, J-rock, J-pop. Not to mention I'm a gamer. Oh, she said she likes the MMORPGs. That's the most Asian. That's the most Asian. This woman says, my car has Pokemon stickers. I'm a married woman and I'm a mother and I'm not afraid and I'm not ashamed of all this I embrace that I'm a walking stereotype. Does she have the plushies in the back window though? Because you used to see that in the 6-2-6. She probably has the Sanrio stickers like she says. So my response to this is that this is a woman who is proud to be a stereotype. I don't know what part of the country she lives in or what her friends are. I'm sure she's happy with her life. Shout out to her. And I think that this is a good way to go. But I will say this, for a man seeking, and this is for if a dude is seeking American masculine acceptance in America, then fully being a stereotype or being stereotypical is tough for a guy. While it may not matter as much for a woman because maybe a woman she can live still a good life being very stereotypical. But one thing you lose by a man being a stereotypical Asian is like respect from other men sometimes. That's the feeling. Well specifically probably non-Asian men or even very assimilated fellow Asian Americans. Other Asians too, yeah. I mean I guess I would guess that this girl probably grew up in a heavily Asian enclave on the West Coast. It feels like it because that's where I've seen the most replication of 90s or 2000s or 2010 Asia culture. Dude, she's driving around even Cerritos or San Gabriel Valley or even San Francisco area not like very regular. Right, right, right. I guess it really depends on like what she's trying to do with her life though, right? It is true. If you want to work in music or sports that tends to be more like urban black American heritage culture or if you want to work in corporate America or you want to work in finance or real estate those tend to be more like white culturally. Don't you need to like adopt to the culture of the industry that you're going to enter? Yeah. Or do you think that depending on your upbringing you'll already gravitate towards various industries because if you want to stay very very Asian Andrew you could get a STEM job, be a computer programmer and it's not going to matter because it's going to matter how good you code. Well you know if you feel too stereotypical you know you have to ask yourself too stereotypical for what? What are you trying to do with your life? That's the most important thing and you know this guy I don't know if he really provided those details right to to fully flesh out the post. He said I do whatever I want unapologetically who cares if it's stereotypically Asian. I embrace it. I love being Asian and I'm proud of it. In some ways I don't feel like I'm perpetuating anything however I'm not going to stop enjoying things because it's stereotypical. Why should I feel bad when it's something a part of my culture and something that I enjoy? No you should not feel bad and I think that being unapologetic about the things that you like especially if they're Asian why not? Like you should be able to stand tall but again we're saying also if you like all stereotypical Asian things then don't be surprised if you're walking into a room full of non-Asian people who are very Americanized. You don't even mean non-bober drinkers. Yeah like you walk into a non-bober drinking place non-Asian files and don't be surprised if people don't know what you're talking about. You know what I mean? Like that's fine. Everybody should live their life but also just know what they're getting into. Yeah and I think in terms of like these are very fishbowl industry specific like things to your individual goals and your aspirations. However if you're just talking about having a sense of community I think it's easier nowadays in 2023 to be into whatever niche things you are whether they're big niches medium niches or small niches and build community around that because there's Twitch and there's Discord and there's Cosplay Conventions and there's Comic Con. I think 10, 20, 30 years prior it was much more difficult to find that in your local community but nowadays with the internet the ability to find your tribe and your vibe is your tribe and things like that. Somebody said are white people apologizing for doing things like listening to country music and having BBQs? Are Mexican people apologizing for eating tacos and watching Lucha Libre? I would say maybe are do black people apologize for listening to hip hop and going to being in a basketball or football? Yeah no and obviously those things are all generally more accepted as part of American culture. Wow a lot of Asian culture is still kind of seen as like niche, nerdy or alien. Because it comes from the eastern hemisphere versus emanating from the western hemisphere just based on a global latitude, longitude, situation. But I do think that acknowledging that a lot of Asians are questioning themselves about this goes to show you how often we're raised with like a kind of self-doubt or an inferiority complex about Asian culture and I've been through something similar where you know sometimes you reject Asian culture when you're young because you're just trying to fit in and you're like I want to be cool I want to be American and then later in life you're able to balance it all which I think is the beauty of America which I think is great. I think that's the best place to be in America rather than only be 100% in one way or the other. Do you think that this guy posing this question and all these people sort of pontificating in the comments section are from the older generation whereas genre mashing seems more odd and maybe like somebody who's let's just say 25 and under and with heavy internet exposure may not struggle with this balance as much. Yeah, yeah, maybe. I don't know. I mean I know that there's still a lot of like depressed young kids out there too so I don't know if this this is one of the issues that they're dealing with. Somebody says you're only thinking that way because of what you've been predisposed to while living in a country that far too heavily magnifies racial differences and has unfortunately affected the lens with which we live and view the world with as you can see here with this very post. So don't let that affect you because none of the things you are doing are wrong at all. No and that is a good point that the Asian culture being in the Asian culture usually is not a negative on your life. It can make you nerdier or different than other people but it's never gonna make you a like a worse person. So yeah. Also one of the things I want to say is like Asian culture when you travel back to Asia especially nowadays it's very different. They have people that are very much into American culture over there. I mean there's like you know people doing all types of things that used to be considered Western but completely living their life wholly in the Eastern Hemisphere. Right. So it's not necessarily like we only got to be things that emanated from the East a thousand years ago even though those obviously are legitimate columns and pillars of Asian culture. Somebody's saying I'm kind of the opposite. I wish I could be good at something stereotypically Asian. I suck at math. I always had bad academic performance. I'm unemployed. I only make a part time income. I'm unmarried at 35. I can't read Chinese. I know very little science medicine engineering tech. I fidget and I can't concentrate. I wish I could be more Asian. Wow. Wow. He's kind of saying like man I would love the structure and the focus to be a stereotypical Asian. That's very interesting. Right. He's talking about what being having the what the filial piety or the Confucianism or some sort of scholastic aptitude that was more heavily had weight on it in the East. Perhaps the grass is always greener, my fellow. Yeah. But I mean it's not the same when you go to Asia. There's there's bad students too. Yes. Yeah. It's just a lower proportion ratio because all the parents are kind of Asian-y. This guy was saying one of the great privileges of living in America as you can be an individual and carve your own lane. I will agree with this because you look at Jamal Williams in the NFL. He's always like, you know, Sergeant First Class Swagger Kazakage. You know what I mean? Like he's in the NFL and he's promoting anime every day. He's doing the reverse in the sense of like he's probably very rooted in African American culture and the masculinity surrounding that. But he's trying to promote something that's outside of that street. Right. So I guess shouldn't these people like be like yeah, it's all about how you represent it too. Yes. I think I think America is all about marketing something, man. If you market it like it's the coolest thing, super confidently and you're unapologetic and you've mastered it, that's the best way to convince people or something. But are you saying that you can't just live in it in an aloof, detached way not understanding how everybody's perceiving you though? No, yeah. Like I, you know, obviously everybody loves Jackie Chan. Jackie Chan admittedly doesn't know a lot about certain American cultures but he's unapologetic about it because he's mastered his world. So once you know you've mastered a world, you're able to confidently use that to share with other people and I think that's the best. You know what it is? How about this? Master your world and I'll pop up the dictionary definition right here but don't be aloof to the other tribes and like lifestyles around you. Like don't be completely unaware of how they would perceive it. Right. So anyway, Andrew, ultimately what's your final takeaway, man? I think that people want to be into Asian culture the way their parents or their grandparents were but they don't want to feel like they're just like living in that bubble. They still want to know like, you know what I mean? I think people want to bring something to the potluck of America even if they're stereotypical Asian things and have other people sample and enjoy and be exposed to them but sometimes there's a disconnect between being that thing and then being like a PR rep for it to other tribes. Yeah, yeah. I feel like in general don't stop consuming and being who you are. You know, be into all the Asian culture that you want but I do think at the end of the day people are going to respect you for being like effective, effective in your life and effective in the world. Now, if you're into all those niche things you still get stuff done, you're a respectable person, you're fit. You know what I mean? Ultimately that's the best way for people to respect you regardless of your interest. You know, so if you've mastered your subculture or whatever it is and people like respect that then you're going to be good. You're saying whoever is out there from other tribes is going to feel drawn to it if you just confidently project it and you sort of like just display it in an appealed way. Dude, all the coolest Asian icons that we have from the past to present had some stereotypical traits. None of these Asians were 0% stereotypical. Alright, I'll share a talk about Jeremy Ling going to Harvard and getting a perfect SAT score. Even Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, what are they stereotyping? Jackie Chan, Marshall Larch, speaks with an accent, sounds like a Cantonese dad or even Simu, I'm saying Simu loves Boba, he speaks Chinese, he's a nice guy, he's that stereotypical for an Asian icon. Steve and you, all these, like you could go down the list. But then they also have traits that are not too. Exactly, so the best place is the mix but the stereotypical things that you have about you balance out with the other things that you're good at that are like, I guess, non-stereotypical. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think there's a difference between like always having this tractor beam of like stereotypical Asian things and they're like still pushing outwards but still always having that almost a hiking carabiner wire that's like tied back to the old thing. I will say this too, if you don't want to adapt, let's say for example, there's a young girl who looks like Constance Wu, right? But Constance Wu grew up in Virginia, very, very, very upper middle-class whitewash sort of upbringing, right? And this girl's growing up deep in K-pop, K-dramas, J-pop, you know, Wu and everything like that. This girl that looks exactly like Constance Wu but doesn't act like her can be a famous Twitch streamer and still have an entertainment in media, being an independent producer and still doing her own brand deals and like acting in her Twitch world versus like trying to navigate Hollywood where I will be very frank, Hollywood is a world you need to generally 99.99999% of the time need to have a very deep understanding of cultures, not your own if you're Asian, whether that's white or black culture, you will need a very deep understanding of that to navigate that particular ladder. So that may, you know what I mean? You got to judge based off your own individual background, the reps you've seen, your skill sets, which lane you feel like you're going to be more effective in long-term. Right. Yeah, I would say, but yeah, as far as like things they could do, man, like for this guy who's a Taekwondo assistant and he studies Kung Fu, I would say like, maybe you might feel a little less stereotypical if you also picked up like and went to a boxing gym, you know, boxing gyms are very American, that's an American martial arts. Right, that's a Western martial art. Yeah, that's a Western martial art with Western people and, you know, then you're around other people who are respectful of a martial arts, but not and can respect you, but maybe from a different culture because anybody- They're not going to know what who-who means at the boxing gym. Because anybody who joins a Kung Fu class or a Taekwondo class are going to be like more open to Asian culture already. So that's a self-selective population. But when you go to a boxing gym, it's very American. Like they might not know anything about Asians. So you're saying, don't view your love for Taekwondo or Kung Fu strictly as, oh, it's an Eastern thing. It's an Eastern thing. Yes, it is. But it's also just a martial arts thing. Yeah, and you can relate to other martial arts people that way. It's a combat thing. Yeah, anyways, you guys let us know in the comments down below. Do you ever feel like an Asian stereotype? How stereotypically Asian are you? Put yourself on scale. I gotta say, I would say the most stereotypical thing about me is just for sure. I mean, that's at a 10 out of 10 is a love for really deep cut Asian cuisine. I don't even care if it's, if it only exists in like three provinces or two villages of any country in Asia, I want to try it. You know what I mean? I don't want to just try the top 10, top 20 dishes. Give me number, dish rank 642 in that country. Oh man, I think I got some pretty stereotypical facial features. Yeah, you know what's interesting? You know, I feel like people more have visually identified you as more stereotypical than me off the bat. Like when they looked, I remember one time you were in a rap battle back in the day when that, by the way, that was huge. They were like, yeah, put down the mic. This Asian looks like he plays Counter Strike. And you did play Counter Strike. A little bit, yeah. But I wasn't a big gamer either. All right, anyways, guys, let me know what you think in the comments down below. It was an interesting discussion. And until next time, we out. Peace.