 the popularity of boba in america is it helping asians feel more accepted or is it making asians too soft welcome everybody to the hotpot boys david and andrew here we have two very interesting and potentially competing articles about the state of asian america yeah they both came out this week one of them got sent to me like 10 times another one somebody sent to me like five times the first one is called the bogification of america it's written by a time when he's american talking about how you know pizza starbucks dunkin donuts del taco they're all coming out with drinks oh yeah tim hortons in canada they're all doing asian drinks now whether that's jelly popping pearls it's only a matter of time before they got boba boba oh yeah they're doing brown sugar stripes as well so that kind of shows how i guess the profitability of boba has really caught the eye of these major western corporations to for them to incorporate it into their menu items possibly forever so you can get a user citrus sparkler drink you know at pizza now point number two way under the article that also got sent to us was that despite the lack of media coverage because the media switches cycles so much asian hate hasn't really gone down much at all like there's still violent incidents nonviolent incidents of course most recently the more tragic one that comes to mind confund had the same last name as us was murdered in oakland so it's like these two things are happening at the same time and america is becoming more boba eyes on the fancy drink side and then also attacks on asians verbal or or or violent actually physically both also unchanged now i would say a lot of people you know they see these two stats and both are on the rise like if it's on a graph the popularity of boba and you know uh hate incidents towards asians are both rising but why would they be linked because i think a lot of people generally think that if uh you're being more visible if your culture is being more spread if more non asians are consuming uh your culture inspired products whether that be physical or food or whatever it is then maybe more people would have empathy for your group and then maybe there'd be less hate towards it yeah i mean i think the truth is the fancy dessert spot i'm sorry the fancy dessert drink space does not dictate the streets like there's no direct correlation that would be like saying like ballet dictates like the nfl or like something really you know equestrian dictates like track and field so so what you're saying is potentially that if you're like an asian american or let's just narrow it down to chinese american growing up in a middle to upper middle class suburb at the boba shop sharing boba and boba inspired drinks with your non asian friends you're seeing the upside of that yeah you get to show your friend sally or your friend ben the uh yuzu citrus or matcha latte now at pete's where previously you had a drink european drinks like mocha frappuccino chips or whatever yeah but then the the you know more lower income immigrant who's working a blue collar job in the city they're seeing like almost more downside than ever so so the asian americans that are in the upper middle class or in a more comfortable space i'll just say are experiencing a higher upside and then there's other asians that are experiencing a lower downside yeah it feels like i think it's a tale of two asian americas and that's always been that way uh specifically split between east asians and southeast asians but i'll even go so far as to say it's just two different chinese americas because obviously most boba shops being from taiwan are chinese owned and a lot of the people getting shot right now or that i've seen at least on some of the murders you know what i mean and i hate to bring up such a morose thing and tragic thing but i think a lot of them are chinese as well so i just think on both sides like you said the upside is getting higher for the kids growing up in these upper middle class suburbs they got more stuff to share and on the downside you know these first generation immigrants uh not uh as much privilege maybe not as much education may be documented maybe undocumented they're dying at the same rate that they always did or if not more yeah i want to talk about this comment and this kind of like hypothesis i don't know if it's always a half joke on the internet but a lot of people are like man the rise of boba and the popularity of boba is making asians soft because by the way the rise of boba products just goes to show you there's a market for it and ultimately people vote with their wallet books you know asians are showing you what they desire when they want to go see crazy rich asians you want to see rich asians right or you want to go to these fancy boba shops you want to spend your 20 30 here at this dessert spot right for this soft dessert that's like a souffle pancake perhaps you know it's just from japan yeah obviously i don't think that there's a direct link but it does show you where the mindset of the community is at and what they want to invest in and what they want to spend their time to build um you know i think that obviously the in the incidences where people have had a heinous crime committed against them i don't think either party either the victim or the perpetrator drinks boba to be honest like i don't think in the asian hate incidents either side is drinking boba you know what i mean but like as to your point people do focus on certain sectors and it kind of shows you how people are uh where their head is at yeah i mean i think some one way that i look at it and of course we ride for asian culture right guys this is what this whole channel is about so when i say this obviously i'm not like going against asian culture uh but i something it's like when you when there's there's certain pop cultures from asia right that are very like uh clean and very soft and cute right and they come from such a more confusion and save collectivist society about poutine culture gel pen culture tamagotchi culture whatever anime culture k-pop boba cafe culture right let's just put it like that right let's just put up all the things you see corgi butts all this type of things i've seen at boba shops because you guys know we we eat everything gudetama you know like all these fun things like when it comes to like just chinese food we won't just go to gudetama spots even though we've been there but we'll go to her chinese spots with bulletproof glass and whatever whatever and i'm saying like if you take all those products from there and you're trying to shroud yourself and surround yourself in that culture here in america when you're staying here in america then it probably doesn't really fully prepare you for the realities of this country because this is a wild placement people have freedom people are running around with like you know drugs and weapons and guns and all this stuff like potentially right and i'm saying like those societies aren't like that so when you are trying to surround yourself in a product from that society here it's just not it doesn't actually make a lot of sense and i'm not saying people need to be more americanized for sure i'm just saying you have to be aware of this yeah i think that you just have to be aware i have to understand how to use their third places like third places is not school it's not home it's a third place this is a common term used in hospitality and f and b and things like that you're creating a third space for people third spaces especially the boba shops in the suburbs that are meant to be more third spaces i think in cities they tend to be more grab and go because that's the nature of the economics but like these third spaces they are a reprieve from often the hyper contentious and potentially hostile nature of american life uh but i just think that people need to use these third spaces to try to think of programs to to help other people not not that they just have to spend every single conversation you know some people want to talk about singles inferno some people want to talk about the new squid games that's fine who got this movie role on that movie role and all these like foofy things that are still important but they're foofy and it's like we just i just wish we would take the totality more into consideration like yeah i think the people who are enjoying the upside could dedicate a portion of time to thinking how to impact at least in the slightest bit people who are getting it the worst on the downside because you don't understand how big this disparity in this chasm is one is excited that they get to take their friend sally or ben to get a matcha drink at pete's and somebody's literally worried that they're gonna get like really hurt or killed just the next work day yeah and nobody's gonna care yeah and i think like maybe if it's a tall order for a lot of the people that like to hang out at boba shops to think about these big problems at least like figure it out for yourself because it's like you know when you go on a hike and you know you're gonna be in different terrain what do you do david you put on certain shoes like oh which shoes got the hardest rubber got the best grip most stability i'm gonna be hiking all day you don't wear your like soft sold shoes for a hike and america is just kind of that crazy especially in the city i'm not saying all neighborhoods are the same as new york and oakland and philly and everything like that but i'm just saying like you know there's a different world out there and like you know as as it just goes to show you what kind of mindset a lot of asians want to be in yeah i mean it's a good question it's a tough question i think there's no real easy answer let us know what you think in the comment section below we will be donating to confungs you know go fund me for his memorial r.i.p and you know it's just something that is that that we're going to keep talking about i know it's not the most pop thing to talk about but i think it's important please let us know what you think in the comment section below guys until next time with the hot pop boys we out peace