Why Asians shouldn’t be mad at ‘Cook Poo’

Why no one should be “angry” about a fake situation from a TV show:

Full disclosure first: I am a GenX 30-ish, white male born and raised in Canadian(beside US border). My ethnicity is mostly a pretty even mix of English & French (with a little German and like 1/16 of native canadian tribe called Metis which we argue about if we are related to a famous one that no one outside of Canada would have ever heard of).

I won’t try and go too far with the “I have [blank] friends.” weak comment, but truthfully especially at University I hung around more with persons of different ethnicities (and extreme left way “radicals” too) as we got along better. I’m the first to admit that my ancestors were just better at pilaging(Cnd ones less violent than down south) and mostly would apologize if the topic came up to natives for stealing land and stuff or for both the internments and slave labor on railroads that also occurred in Canada long ago.

Still any past oppression has nothing to do with this show although I have letter doubt of racism’s still existing under the false cover of PC baloney. I work in the US now and people treat Canadians like the international equivalent of a Priest to confess their racist views as Canada is like some magical land that agrees with them. (well we do have a pretty tolerant and open multi-cultural society;) Those situations still make me sick, but the only relation to this show is that any that exists is underground and hidden.

My university had huge numbers of Asians and more because I am in engineering and it is the largest ethnic group in the city too. Graduation the poor old white profs tried their hardest and still butchered names by accident. Where I work with mostly engineers we are heavily dominated by Asians and I’ve never ever heard anyone make fun of a name on any level like that even in jest.

This TV episode is total fiction as the prof would have been dragged in front of the Dean had this happened, but it never would as most would try hard to say it correctly and never make jokes. Plus is he the dumbest professor in existance. A white guy went to my highschool name Brick Wall. I knew an italian girl whose last name if said right started like F#ck*.

Double entendres across languages can be funny and you have to be able to laugh at such things. If you have ever laughed at a white person trying to learn Chinese when their inflection is wrong and it turns something simple to something sexual then first I do not believe you and second it is the same thing, but you would only expect light teasing among friends and not this ridiculous situation. He would have apologized to her and the class possibly with the Dean and she would not have dropped out. They may have made the “Poo” jokes among his friends, but otherwise it would not have ended that way at the school.

As far as accidental mispronunciation is concerned…unless you can perfectly speak all languages, can roll you tongue for Spanish ones, never miss a sylable for Indian ones(from India), never make the mistake of calling Native Americans “Indians” (like a dumb lost white dude did), never use the insulting term Eskimo(raw meat eater) for Inuit(people of the north), and can do perfect clicks for Australian Aboriganies…then you need to chill out and get a reality check and try to help others gain cultural awareness and also do better yourself and not take things so seriously. A topic avoided breeds ignorance and thought police breeds intolerance and anger.

Cultural understanding requires cultural discussion and although this episode did little to conform to reality it least it touched on the topic. Cultural sharing and and patience to any who are trying is a better approach especially for high context cultures. When you first meet someone from another culture do them a favor and say you name a tad slower so they can get it right. I ask some to repeat it so I do not mess it up and call them something else… possibly stupid or sexual by accident for a year before they tell me.

I also dated a Korean girl seriously for over a year. It’s better now, but racism and reverse (technically it is all racism IMHO) exists and will as long as we do not challenge it and reach out to those willing. The truth is a person like Ted or the real professors I have seen are far more worried about saying your name wrong and insulting you than anything else. Give them a chance, break it down, explain it’s significance if relevant(over time). Building bridges solves problems, burning them solves none.

Agent J.

The whole episode made me so upset! I ended up dropping out of college this morning because I couldn’t get any sleep over it. Now excuse me while I go to pick up my #2 from McLaren’s.

I am Metis. Metis is a mix of French Canadian and Cree. Not a tribe! Now I’m offended. Just kidding I wanted to clear that up.

I use to teach a class for the Federal for an agency that has staff members from several different countries. So, I use to have to have other people pronounce names for me so that I would not mispronounce names in classes. One of the staff members coming to my class one day was Phat Cao (Fat Cow). I had a hard time calling on him in the class. Later I found out that there is a beauty supply store in may area with the name “Cao Dung Beauty Clinic.” What a name.

Oriental. Not “Asian,” Oriental.

I’m Asian and did not see it to be offensive at all. The show has a light-hearted nature and you shouldn’t take a joke like this as a personal assault.