Childless
Being that some of my uncles are childless, my oldest brother is childless, and I dont seem to be in the direction of having kids anytime soon, I never thought it was a big deal if someone didn't want to have kids.
Apparently, by reading all the advice columns and articles in Salon, some people are so obsessed with parenthood - that they even demand childless couples to have kids of their own.
If someone doesn't want to have kids, just let it go already.
Do we really need more kids whose parents aren't ready to care for them? Think about it next time someone tries to rob you! Think about it next time you hear about kids dropping out of high school! Think about it next you hear about a child abuse story!
Meanwhile, here's some interesting articles and letters about vasectomies (cutting the male tubes)
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2005/02/07/vasectomy/index.html
http://www.salon.com/mwt/letters/2005/02/10/vasectomies/index.html
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Ethnic Jokes
Yesterday's Honolulu Advertiser had a letter from Jerome Nihipali defending ethnic jokes.
(That letter can't be found on the Web version of the Honolulu Advertiser, for some odd reason)
Ethnic jokes, like other jokes, can cause different reactions from different people. You can tell a joke about Filipinos, one Filipino might laugh, another Filipino might get mad, another will just think it's lame.
Ethnic jokes are one of those things you better be MEGA-careful about. You make all the jokes about the opposite sex, you probably won't offend much people.
But when the issue is race, people can get defensive.
Why?
When was the last time you heard about a gender-based riot? Never!
But race riots happen all the time WORLDWIDE! People get killed for having the wrong skin color, the wrong facial shape, wrong eye shape, wrong accent, etc. You're dam eff'n right someone would get defensive when you joke about that.
Nihipali said in his letter that ethnic jokes were a bonding thing between differing ethnicities in the plantation era. Again, context is everything. A Japanese and a Filipino co-worker who get along with each other, can make all the jokes they want about each other. They can say something like "yo mama is so Filipino.... yo mama is so Japanese" and they can laugh about it.
It's when people who dont really know each other, that's when one should restrain from ethnic humor. But some do ethnic humor, not so much to reach out, but to put down. It's the attitude of "what the fuck are you people doing here?"
Think it doesn't happen here? Just look at one of my recent posts about this Chinese guy who hated Polynesians. That didn't pop out of nowhere. And that was from someone who grew up in Hawaii, NOT California.
Nihipali talks about the plantation culture and applies to some people in Hawaii. In high schools like Pearl City, Castle, Campbell, Aiea, Waialua, etc, most students are descendants of the sugar plantation workers of the early 20th century!
NOT IN McKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL! I'd say about HALF the students weren't even born in the U.S. And at least half of the rest have parents who were immigrants who came after the 1970's when the sugar plantations started to fade away. If my predictions were right, that means less than 25% of the student population even relate to the plantation experience through family lines.
The same dynamic can be found at schools like Radford, which has a LARGE number of students who are military dependents. The Hawaii plantation culture that Nihipali so celebrates is something a lot of Radford students can't relate to at all. Plus, the word "plantation" doesn't bring sweet memories to African Americans, it brings the images of slavery.
Yesterday's Honolulu Advertiser had a letter from Jerome Nihipali defending ethnic jokes.
(That letter can't be found on the Web version of the Honolulu Advertiser, for some odd reason)
Ethnic jokes, like other jokes, can cause different reactions from different people. You can tell a joke about Filipinos, one Filipino might laugh, another Filipino might get mad, another will just think it's lame.
Ethnic jokes are one of those things you better be MEGA-careful about. You make all the jokes about the opposite sex, you probably won't offend much people.
But when the issue is race, people can get defensive.
Why?
When was the last time you heard about a gender-based riot? Never!
But race riots happen all the time WORLDWIDE! People get killed for having the wrong skin color, the wrong facial shape, wrong eye shape, wrong accent, etc. You're dam eff'n right someone would get defensive when you joke about that.
Nihipali said in his letter that ethnic jokes were a bonding thing between differing ethnicities in the plantation era. Again, context is everything. A Japanese and a Filipino co-worker who get along with each other, can make all the jokes they want about each other. They can say something like "yo mama is so Filipino.... yo mama is so Japanese" and they can laugh about it.
It's when people who dont really know each other, that's when one should restrain from ethnic humor. But some do ethnic humor, not so much to reach out, but to put down. It's the attitude of "what the fuck are you people doing here?"
Think it doesn't happen here? Just look at one of my recent posts about this Chinese guy who hated Polynesians. That didn't pop out of nowhere. And that was from someone who grew up in Hawaii, NOT California.
Nihipali talks about the plantation culture and applies to some people in Hawaii. In high schools like Pearl City, Castle, Campbell, Aiea, Waialua, etc, most students are descendants of the sugar plantation workers of the early 20th century!
NOT IN McKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL! I'd say about HALF the students weren't even born in the U.S. And at least half of the rest have parents who were immigrants who came after the 1970's when the sugar plantations started to fade away. If my predictions were right, that means less than 25% of the student population even relate to the plantation experience through family lines.
The same dynamic can be found at schools like Radford, which has a LARGE number of students who are military dependents. The Hawaii plantation culture that Nihipali so celebrates is something a lot of Radford students can't relate to at all. Plus, the word "plantation" doesn't bring sweet memories to African Americans, it brings the images of slavery.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
More on Hawaii's Campus and Race Wars
Yesterday at Nanakuli High School, there was a riot on campus, with the police intervening.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/08/ln/ln01p.html
Meanwhile, Honolulu Advertiser had an article dealing with school conflicts in general.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/08/il/il01a.html
The above article talks about Campbell High School (in Ewa Beach, made up mostly local Filipinos, Polynesians, and a few African Americans) which there is mixed comments on the school's racial climate, Kaiser High School (in mega-rich community Hawaii Kai) and Leilehua High School ( in Wahiawa) a school like Radford, has a mix of local students and military dependents.
What that article FAILED TO INVESTIGATE was the climate in urban Honolulu public schools, with it's LARGE number of immigrants.How do newly arrived immigrants adjust to Hawaii public schools? How do the local students treat them? How do immigrants from differing countries treat each other? What is the Micronesian perspective? The immigrant Filipino perspective? The Vietnamese perspective? The Samoan perspective?
The Honolulu Advertisers failed to investigate such questions. Again, the conflicts between immigrant Asians and Polynesians have been swept under the rug. As well as conflicts between Micronesians vs Polynesians, Micronesians vs Asians, or even Asian vs Asian conflicts (ie Vietnamese vs Filipinos), Micronesian vs Micronesian (ie Marshallese vs Chuukese) or conflict among Polynesian (usually between rival housing projects [ie KPT, MWH, etc], though some have mentioned to me about Samoans and Tongans being suspicious of each other.)
Dont get me wrong, I'm NOT saying all Vietnamese hate all Samoans, etc. I know well adjusted people in McKinely High School who can get along with those of different ethnicities. That should be encouraged.
But sweeping things under the rug gets us absolutely NOWHERE! Meanwhile immature punk-asses from all sides are saying stuff about each other, teasing each other's differences, etc. Real feelings get hurt, fights occur, injuries each other, and animosities that can last a lifetime.
One Chinese guy told me that he hated Polynesian people! Though I am not of Polynesian descent (though you'd never know for sure), his comment made me sick and disgusted! I told him that like everyone else, there's Polynesians I get along with and few I don't. Some of my favorite people at McKinley and UH are Polynesians. And some of my cousins are part-Hawaiian.
That Chinese guy later apologized for proclaiming his racial hatred (this was after I told him I have part-Hawaiian cousins) then mentioned that he was picked on Polynesians. He said he was slapped and robbed by a Samoan member of the Bloods at a public park. He heard Hawaiians making fun of the Chinese language. And on and on.
None of that excuses that person's racist attitudes. But that is what goes on, and that is swept under the rug by Hawaii's media.And that Chinese guy can't be the only one feeling that way. There's probably a few more Asian racists in Hawaii. I probably won't hear from them, being that I'm not Asian (though as I say, you'd never know for sure)
Yesterday at Nanakuli High School, there was a riot on campus, with the police intervening.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/08/ln/ln01p.html
Meanwhile, Honolulu Advertiser had an article dealing with school conflicts in general.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/08/il/il01a.html
The above article talks about Campbell High School (in Ewa Beach, made up mostly local Filipinos, Polynesians, and a few African Americans) which there is mixed comments on the school's racial climate, Kaiser High School (in mega-rich community Hawaii Kai) and Leilehua High School ( in Wahiawa) a school like Radford, has a mix of local students and military dependents.
What that article FAILED TO INVESTIGATE was the climate in urban Honolulu public schools, with it's LARGE number of immigrants.How do newly arrived immigrants adjust to Hawaii public schools? How do the local students treat them? How do immigrants from differing countries treat each other? What is the Micronesian perspective? The immigrant Filipino perspective? The Vietnamese perspective? The Samoan perspective?
The Honolulu Advertisers failed to investigate such questions. Again, the conflicts between immigrant Asians and Polynesians have been swept under the rug. As well as conflicts between Micronesians vs Polynesians, Micronesians vs Asians, or even Asian vs Asian conflicts (ie Vietnamese vs Filipinos), Micronesian vs Micronesian (ie Marshallese vs Chuukese) or conflict among Polynesian (usually between rival housing projects [ie KPT, MWH, etc], though some have mentioned to me about Samoans and Tongans being suspicious of each other.)
Dont get me wrong, I'm NOT saying all Vietnamese hate all Samoans, etc. I know well adjusted people in McKinely High School who can get along with those of different ethnicities. That should be encouraged.
But sweeping things under the rug gets us absolutely NOWHERE! Meanwhile immature punk-asses from all sides are saying stuff about each other, teasing each other's differences, etc. Real feelings get hurt, fights occur, injuries each other, and animosities that can last a lifetime.
One Chinese guy told me that he hated Polynesian people! Though I am not of Polynesian descent (though you'd never know for sure), his comment made me sick and disgusted! I told him that like everyone else, there's Polynesians I get along with and few I don't. Some of my favorite people at McKinley and UH are Polynesians. And some of my cousins are part-Hawaiian.
That Chinese guy later apologized for proclaiming his racial hatred (this was after I told him I have part-Hawaiian cousins) then mentioned that he was picked on Polynesians. He said he was slapped and robbed by a Samoan member of the Bloods at a public park. He heard Hawaiians making fun of the Chinese language. And on and on.
None of that excuses that person's racist attitudes. But that is what goes on, and that is swept under the rug by Hawaii's media.And that Chinese guy can't be the only one feeling that way. There's probably a few more Asian racists in Hawaii. I probably won't hear from them, being that I'm not Asian (though as I say, you'd never know for sure)
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Campus Wars Get More Coverage
Because of the fight at Radford High School between African American students (mostly children of military personell at Pearl Harbor & Hickam Air Force Base) and "local" students, the media is finally taking notice of violence at other Hawaii schools.
The Honolulu Star Bulletin mentioned that there have been violent incidents at Waianae, Nanakuli and Waipahu high schools
http://starbulletin.com/2005/02/05/news/index1.html
They should've done this earlier. Violent incidents that occured at McKinley High School when I was there was IGNORED by the local papers. I even tried looking up on Google and Yahoo on fights involving Samoans, Vietnamese and Filipinos at McKinley. I found NOTHING, even that's what a lot of students have seen!
The local media spend too much time in the ivory tower, not giving a crap about incidents occuring in local high schools. Those incidents involve real people, involve real pain, involve real animosity!
The schools don't want bad light shed on them, due to a fear that all positive accomplishments at the schools would be ignored. But the schools must understand that we should see it's negatives and positives.
Sticking the heads in the sand has never made any problems go away!
Because of the fight at Radford High School between African American students (mostly children of military personell at Pearl Harbor & Hickam Air Force Base) and "local" students, the media is finally taking notice of violence at other Hawaii schools.
The Honolulu Star Bulletin mentioned that there have been violent incidents at Waianae, Nanakuli and Waipahu high schools
http://starbulletin.com/2005/02/05/news/index1.html
They should've done this earlier. Violent incidents that occured at McKinley High School when I was there was IGNORED by the local papers. I even tried looking up on Google and Yahoo on fights involving Samoans, Vietnamese and Filipinos at McKinley. I found NOTHING, even that's what a lot of students have seen!
The local media spend too much time in the ivory tower, not giving a crap about incidents occuring in local high schools. Those incidents involve real people, involve real pain, involve real animosity!
The schools don't want bad light shed on them, due to a fear that all positive accomplishments at the schools would be ignored. But the schools must understand that we should see it's negatives and positives.
Sticking the heads in the sand has never made any problems go away!
More on the Radford Incident & School Imagery
Yesterday, Radford High School students had a rally to show that not everything at the school is negative.
The negative image came about after last week's fight between African American students (most of them children of military personell at Pearl Harbor Naval Base/ Hickam Air Force Base) and "local" students. Racial slurs were exchanged as well as punches.
Radford students now say that most of its students aren't racist, and some of the African Americans there say that they get along with non-blacks as well.
To learn more check out
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/05/ln/ln15p.html
Of course, just because a negative incident happened, doesn't mean positive stuff doesn't happen at Radford High.
This reminds me of this time when I was about the go from Kawananakoa Middle School to McKinley High School. One of my then-friends was so chicken-shit about going to McKinley High due to the presence of gangs at the school. I kept telling that guy that my brother attended that school and nothing happened to him. That "friend" continued to whine and be scared.
All that "friend" knew about McKinley High were the gang incidents, the fight between Samoans and Vietnamese, and the presence of students from the notorious Central Middle School. He had no idea that McKinley High School also had a large presence of students who win math meets, science fairs and other intellectual affairs. McKinley has a large # of students who go on to elite universities.
But most middle school students about to enter high school don't care about that stuff. They only talk about violent incidents. That's why that "friend" was so chicken-shit about attending McKinely High School. Only after attending the school did he realize McKinley wasn't as violent as others have said it was!
Of course, neither could we put our hands in the sand and pretend ethnic violence is absent at McKinley High. IT'S NOT! Violent incidents between Samoans and Vietnamese, and Filipinos vs Vietnamese need serious analysis, something the local papers IGNORED!
However, Not all Vietnamese hate all Samoans, not all Samoans hate Vietnamese.
We must focus on both the negative and the positive. To do otherwise will only make things worse!
Yesterday, Radford High School students had a rally to show that not everything at the school is negative.
The negative image came about after last week's fight between African American students (most of them children of military personell at Pearl Harbor Naval Base/ Hickam Air Force Base) and "local" students. Racial slurs were exchanged as well as punches.
Radford students now say that most of its students aren't racist, and some of the African Americans there say that they get along with non-blacks as well.
To learn more check out
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/05/ln/ln15p.html
Of course, just because a negative incident happened, doesn't mean positive stuff doesn't happen at Radford High.
This reminds me of this time when I was about the go from Kawananakoa Middle School to McKinley High School. One of my then-friends was so chicken-shit about going to McKinley High due to the presence of gangs at the school. I kept telling that guy that my brother attended that school and nothing happened to him. That "friend" continued to whine and be scared.
All that "friend" knew about McKinley High were the gang incidents, the fight between Samoans and Vietnamese, and the presence of students from the notorious Central Middle School. He had no idea that McKinley High School also had a large presence of students who win math meets, science fairs and other intellectual affairs. McKinley has a large # of students who go on to elite universities.
But most middle school students about to enter high school don't care about that stuff. They only talk about violent incidents. That's why that "friend" was so chicken-shit about attending McKinely High School. Only after attending the school did he realize McKinley wasn't as violent as others have said it was!
Of course, neither could we put our hands in the sand and pretend ethnic violence is absent at McKinley High. IT'S NOT! Violent incidents between Samoans and Vietnamese, and Filipinos vs Vietnamese need serious analysis, something the local papers IGNORED!
However, Not all Vietnamese hate all Samoans, not all Samoans hate Vietnamese.
We must focus on both the negative and the positive. To do otherwise will only make things worse!
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Racial Incident at Radford High School
At Radford High School (near Pearl Harbor), there was a fight between African American students (most of them children of military personell) and "local" students! This has brought out allegations that too many in Hawaii ignore the racial tensions going on in the islands, as well as the trouble some African Americans go through in Hawaii.
You can read more about it at
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/03/ln/ln01p.html
Meanwhile, the media still hasn't addressed the tensions between immigrant Asians and Polynesians that I have addressed at
http://tinyurl.com/6oc56
I have sent a letter to the Honolulu Advertiser on race relations at Hawaii high schools, hopefully they'll print it. I'll let you know if they do.
At Radford High School (near Pearl Harbor), there was a fight between African American students (most of them children of military personell) and "local" students! This has brought out allegations that too many in Hawaii ignore the racial tensions going on in the islands, as well as the trouble some African Americans go through in Hawaii.
You can read more about it at
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/03/ln/ln01p.html
Meanwhile, the media still hasn't addressed the tensions between immigrant Asians and Polynesians that I have addressed at
http://tinyurl.com/6oc56
I have sent a letter to the Honolulu Advertiser on race relations at Hawaii high schools, hopefully they'll print it. I'll let you know if they do.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Iraqi Democracy
I congratulate Iraq for joining the group of nations with democracy. After all those years with Saddam Hussein, Iraqis finally got a chance to vote, with high turnout.
You can read more at
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006231
I congratulate Iraq for joining the group of nations with democracy. After all those years with Saddam Hussein, Iraqis finally got a chance to vote, with high turnout.
You can read more at
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006231
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